Past, present and future of thermal gasification of biomass and waste

Abstract

The thermal gasification has been used for nearly 200 years. At the beginning coal or peat were used as a feedstock to produce gas for cooking and lighting. Nowadays, the coal gasification is still actual, anyway, in times without fossils the biomass and waste gasification becomes more important. In this paper, the past, present and future of the biomass and waste gasification (BWG) is discussed. The current status of BWG in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and USA is detailed described and the future potential of the technology is outlined.