Plasma technology has existed since the 1960s. The first 2 commercial plants capable of treating MSW were both built in Japan.
From the pilot plant (30 tons per day) commissioned by Hitachi Metals in Yoshii, given the enormous potential, the plant was immediately built in the zero emission Mihama-Mikata industrial park. The Utashinai plasma gasification plant, whose original project had a capacity of around 170 tons per day of MSW and residues of car shredders (ASR), after initial problems that delayed the opening of a few years, is It has been completely revised to evolve into a plant capable of processing around 300 tons per day: the plant generates up to 7.9 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity, selling approximately 4.3 MWh to the electricity grid net of self-consumption.
In France, plasma gasification is used to melt asbestos making it inert, but still in the Bordeaux area another Plasma Torch has been processing organic waste for years with the production of syngas and therefore of energy. Today these are followed by numerous systems, also mounted on cruise and military ships, including the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) Supercarrier - US Navy.
Another very interesting case of application of plasma to the MSW is the Brasov plant in Romania capable of no less than 12 tons per hour and the first in the world to have exceeded the gross production of 1,200 kWh per ton using a plasma torch.
A 72-ton per day waste-to-energy plant located in Pune, India, was commissioned in 2008. The plant is the world’s largest plasma gasification WTE plant that treats hazardous waste. The gas produced burned in a steam boiler that drives a flow turbine that produces up to 1.6 MW (net) of electricity.
