Life cycle thinking of plasma gasification as a waste-to-energy tool: Review on environmental, economic and social aspects

Following the actual pace of industrial development, due to the ever-growing tech- and resource-savvy society, unprecedented waste amounts are generated on a daily basis. Therefore, “waste-to-energy” (WtE) techniques appear as a possible approach to convert solid residues into energy, within more energy-efficient processes to emit less or no CO2. Plasma gasification constitutes a proficient and clean alternative with multiple environmental gains, simultaneously reducing or eliminating toxicity and pollution issues while avoiding the landfilling of huge amounts of residues. To evaluate the performance of this WtE treatment, the life cycle thinking (LCT) methodology gathers useful impact assessment tools, providing quantifiable indicators on multiple domains. The lack of works reporting the combined assessment of the environmental, technical, economic and social spheres of WtE has been previously noticed and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no such review so far for plasma gasification. This work proposes a deep review of literature on the life cycle assessment, life cycle costing and social impact assessment of plasma gasification, to evaluate how LCT tools are applied to the energetic valorization of solid residues by this technique, as a measure of sustainability. This provides insights on the contribution of energy recovery as a circular strategy, diverting waste from open dumps or landfills, while producing renewable energy and/or by-products that will replace the use of virgin materials. Herein, an attempt to complement the knowledge in the sectors of renewable energies and waste management is conducted, to support the fulfillment of circular economy goals and contribute to a more sustainable society and way of living.