Thermal plasma co-gasification of polyvinylchloride and biomass mixtures under steam atmospheres: Gasification characteristics and chlorine release behavior

This study systematically explores the syngas characteristics and chlorine release behavior during plasma cogasification of polyvinylchloride (PVC) and biomass through experimental and thermodynamic methods. The results indicate that carbon conversion rate and chlorine release ratio are positively associated with power and steam/carbon ratio. Plasma co-gasification of PVC and biomass yields 4.96-16.95% higher H2 proportion and 1.84-41.41% lower chlorine release ratio than the weighted sum values of mono-gasification. The thermodynamic calculation also verifies the lower percentage (16.33-97.47 wt%) of gaseous chlorides (HCl(g), KCl(g), etc.) from plasma co-gasification than mono-gasification. The low level of average relative error (0.059) of thermodynamic simulation demonstrates its potential for quantitative analysis of chlorine release behavior. Redundancy analysis reveals that temperature is the most significant factor of carbon conversion rate, H2 proportion, and chlorine release ratio. This study could provide theoretical guidance for operational optimization and pollution control of plasma gasification.