Gasification Processes
Gasification is a technology that thermally breaks down
solid or liquid organic material (in fact, any carbonaceous
material) to simple molecules (CO H2
) under an atmosphere poor in oxygen, that is, a reductive atmosphere, by
supplying a gasification agent (typically steam).7,29 The
gas stream produced is known as synthesis gas or syngas.
The gasification process has been studied extensively,
and, in practice, the syngas obtained is used as fuel to
generate electricity and steam and as raw material in the
production of a vast amount of chemical compounds,
such as methanol and ammonia.6,30