Evolution of pyrolysis and gasification as waste to energy tools for low carbon economy

Abstract

The paper aims to review the state of the art in the field of pyrolysis and gasification of waste and to identify approaches that can be prospective considering the upcoming transformation of society. The results show that the transition to a circular, low carbon economy will significantly change the composition of municipal wastes, making thermochemical approaches more and more competitive. However, it does not mean that pyrolysis and gasification will outperform incineration in the field of traditional waste to energy. Novel thermochemical waste management approaches must not be viewed as competitors, but rather as the successors of the traditional mass‐burn incineration. The transition to a circular, low carbon economy will result in an emergence of new needs, new products and thus in possibilities of new pyrolysis and gasification‐based business models different from the waste to energy concept. Negative emissions, energy storage, stabilization of renewable grids as well as renewable fuels must be mentioned as examples of such new products. Thus, thermochemical processing technologies should be embedded into the wider concept of circular, low carbon economy as the source of energy for recycling, a technology of tertiary recycling of synthetic polymers and as a way to transform nonrecyclable rejects into fuels, negative emissions, and other marketable products.