Supercritical Water Gasification (SCWG)
Technology for Municipal Solid Waste
(MSW) Treatment
A. A. Gado, Anbazhagi Muthukumar, Muthukumar Muthuchamy,
and Terrell M. Thompson
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
1.1 Background and Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
2 Conventional Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Treatment Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
3 Advanced Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Treatment Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
3.1 Plasma Arc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
3.2 Autoclaving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
3.3 Microwave Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
3.4 Biorefinery (Bioconversion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
4 Advanced Thermal Treatment (Hydrothermal Treatment of Municipal Solid Wastes) . . . 190
4.1 Hydrothermal Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
4.2 The Basic Principle of Supercritical Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
4.3 Supercritical Water Gasification of Biomass (SCWG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
4.4 Syngas Treatment Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
4.5 Advantages of Supercritical Water Gasification of Biomass (SCWG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
A. A. Gado
Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth Science Systems, Central University of
Kerala Kasaragod, Periye, Kerala, India
Department of Physics, Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aliero, Kebbi,
Nigeria
A. Muthukumar (*) and M. Muthuchamy
Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth Science Systems, Central University of
Kerala Kasaragod, Periye, Kerala, India
e-mail: sanbazhagi@gmail.com
T. M. Thompson
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland,
New Zealand
Manuel Jerold, Santhiagu Arockiasamy, and Velmurugan Sivasubramanian (eds.),
Bioprocess Engineering for Bioremediation: Valorization and Management
Techniques, Hdb Env Chem (2020) 104: 177–200, DOI 10.1007/698_2020_582,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020, Published online: 8 July 2020
177
Technology for Municipal Solid Waste
(MSW) Treatment
A. A. Gado, Anbazhagi Muthukumar, Muthukumar Muthuchamy,
and Terrell M. Thompson
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
1.1 Background and Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
2 Conventional Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Treatment Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
3 Advanced Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Treatment Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
3.1 Plasma Arc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
3.2 Autoclaving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
3.3 Microwave Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
3.4 Biorefinery (Bioconversion) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
4 Advanced Thermal Treatment (Hydrothermal Treatment of Municipal Solid Wastes) . . . 190
4.1 Hydrothermal Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
4.2 The Basic Principle of Supercritical Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
4.3 Supercritical Water Gasification of Biomass (SCWG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
4.4 Syngas Treatment Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
4.5 Advantages of Supercritical Water Gasification of Biomass (SCWG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
A. A. Gado
Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth Science Systems, Central University of
Kerala Kasaragod, Periye, Kerala, India
Department of Physics, Kebbi State University of Science and Technology, Aliero, Kebbi,
Nigeria
A. Muthukumar (*) and M. Muthuchamy
Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth Science Systems, Central University of
Kerala Kasaragod, Periye, Kerala, India
e-mail: sanbazhagi@gmail.com
T. M. Thompson
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland,
New Zealand
Manuel Jerold, Santhiagu Arockiasamy, and Velmurugan Sivasubramanian (eds.),
Bioprocess Engineering for Bioremediation: Valorization and Management
Techniques, Hdb Env Chem (2020) 104: 177–200, DOI 10.1007/698_2020_582,
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020, Published online: 8 July 2020
177