Study of preheating temperature and electrode consumption in a plasma gasification system for waste processing

Given the present challenges in waste management and the constraints of existing conventional technologies, comprehensive research into enhanced waste treatment facilities is needed. This study focuses on optimizing the operational parameters necessary to achieve a preheating temperature of 850 °C, a critical threshold for effective waste treatment. The experiments are carried out for various carrier gases at 250 A and 300 A with a voltage range of 25–35 V to analyse chamber temperature profiles over an hour and identify the suitable carrier gas for minimal power consumption. The carrier gases are argon, nitrogen, air, and mixtures such as argon-nitrogen and argon-air. The optimized cases identified include argon plasma (15 LPM, 300A), achieved 850 °C in 16 min with a power consumption of 1.95 kW; air plasma (15 LPM, 300 A), attained in 20 min, consuming 2.33 kW, and argon-air plasma (10 LPM & 5 LPM, 300A) in 20 min with 2.23 kW. Also, an electrode consumption study assesses its long-term operational feasibility. The lowest electrode consumption is observed with argon-nitrogen plasma (9 g/h for anode and 3 g/h for cathode), while argon-air plasma exhibited the highest (66 g/h for the anode and 48 g/h for the cathode).