An analysis of waste gasification and its contribution to China’s transition towards carbon neutrality and zero waste cities

Waste gasification has the potential to contribute to China’s transition towards carbon neutrality and zero waste cities via the recirculation of waste as secondary carbon feedstock for the production of chemicals with lower/and or zero carbon footprint, green hydrogen with zero carbon footprint and CO₂-neutral synthetic liquid fuels. With China’s significant coal gasification capacity and associated experiences and expertise, Coal-to-X could act as a bridge to Waste-to-X for carbon intensive sectors such as the waste management, chemical production and mobility sectors. To illustrate the opportunities in these areas, this article presented highlights from dynamic global developments in waste gasification, focusing on pioneering industrial developments in Germany between 1980−2000’s as well as current international developments. Lessons learnt from previous and current waste gasification project deployment are shared and enabled the identification of problems which will have to be addressed in the transition from coal gasification towards mono-waste gasification technologies. Additionally, a qualitative evaluation of gasification technologies pointed to the strengths and weaknesses of fixed-bed, fluidized-bed and entrained-flow gasification principles in their application for waste gasification.