Assessment study of an advanced gasification strategy at low temperature for syngas generation

Low temperature gasification for solid residues is herein presented, its environmental impacts evaluated through life cycle assessment (LCA) and further compared with those from other techniques, including incineration. One tonne of municipal solid waste (MSW) was established as functional unit and investigated within defined boundaries. The environmental assessment of low temperature gasification revealed poor results for some of the evaluated impact categories, causes for the higher incineration performance being stated. Also, future perspectives on the combination of plasma and gasification were highlighted as a way to overcome the encountered weaknesses.