Co-gasification of plastic waste blended with coal and biomass: a comprehensive review

ABSTRACT Plastic waste (PW) poses risks to human health and the environment, but it is now being viewed as a potential energy resource through waste-to-energy conversion, particularly using the efficient gasification technology. This technology can replace traditional fossil fuels by generating power. However, gasifying only plastic faces challenges like agglomeration and the production of toxic components. Co-gasification is a solution that provides benefits such as improved yield, cold gas efficiency, consistent feedstock supply, and cost-effective production. To expedite technology adoption, an efficient and cost-effective system with optimal parametric performance is required. Because, different types of feed stock, gasification technology, and operation condition significantly trades off the quality of producer gas. So far, several studies have been performed into gasification of individual PW, but few reports on co-gasification of PW with coal-biomass. Therefore, it must be reviewed the pros and cons of co-gasification in order to use producer gas as a fuel with very promising solution of waste to energy conversion. Hence, this review aims to attend PW co-gasification with coal and biomass and the consequence of these feedstock proportions on gasification performance. Specially, this review summarizes the effects of several operating parameters: gasifying agents, feed material like PW, coal, biomass, and their blending fraction on the producer gas composition. Moreover, it explores the impact on co-gasification performance, like carbon conversion, cold gas efficiency, gas yield, tar content, and calorific value. Thus, this review will provide altogether co-gasification parametric study as a prerequisite for further technology improvement. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT