Pyrolysis and gasification
Pyrolysis is a heat treatment in the absence of oxygen that converts the hydrocarbon into a gaseous phase (syngas) and the liquid phase (tar): in these conditions the gaseous phase has significant calorific power and so can be used as a fuel, permitting valuable energy recovery.
In gasification plants partial oxidation of the hydrocarbon is implemented in a sub- stoichiometric atmosphere so as to produce a gaseous phase made up of products typical of the process such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen. In this case that he needed for the reaction is supplied by the partial combustion of the hydrocarbon with the process oxygen.
The use of an inert gas such as nitrogen as an energy vector for pyrolysis and pure oxygen as a combustion agent for gasification, with SOL usage technologies, makes possible accurate process control and efficient running of the plant.