Thermal plasma treatment of simulated medical waste using CO2 as a gasification agent for carbon utilization at pilot scale

Jakub Pilař; Jafar Fathi; Vineet Singh Sikarwar; Alan Mašláni; Oldřich Živný; Michal Hlína; Michal Jeremiáš; Tomáš Mates; Dominik Kralik; Michael Pohořelý; Ondřej Jankovský; Michal Lojka; Maksym Buryi

doi:10.1016/j.cej.2026.179337

Thermal plasma treatment of simulated medical waste using CO₂ as a gasification agent for carbon utilization at pilot scale

Jakub Pilař^*
, Jafar Fathi
, Vineet Singh Sikarwar
, Alan Mašláni
, Oldřich Živný
, Michal Hlína
, Michal Jeremiáš
, Tomáš Mates
, Dominik Kralik
, Michael Pohořelý
, Ondřej Jankovský
, Michal Lojka
, Maksym Buryi^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

BA5206 Gasification and synthesis gas processing

University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague
Czech Academy of Sciences
Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS)
HVM Plasma spol. s.r.o

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

Treatment of hazardous medical waste streams represents a significant environmental challenge, commonly associated with greenhouse gas emissions and limited energy recovery. This study experimentally and theoretically investigates the valorization of simulated medical waste (SMW) via a thermochemical upcycling approach, employing a pilot-scale (up to 160 kW) high-enthalpy (>100 MJ kg⁻¹) direct-current (DC) discharge thermal plasma reactor processing 6.2–9.0 kg h⁻¹ of feedstock with CO₂ injection rates of 0–164 slm as a reactive gasifying agent, corresponding to an input CO₂-to-SMW mass-flow ratio of 0.0–2.1. The unique reactor environment, characterized by temperatures of 1250–1450 °C is favorable for the decomposition of potentially hazardous compounds while enabling Carbon capture and utilization (CCU). The results demonstrate that externally supplied CO₂ actively participates in high-temperature gasification, promoting carbon monoxide formation through dry reforming and Boudouard reactions. The produced syngas was rich in CO and H₂, with lower heating values (LHV) ranging from 13.9 to 18.8 MJ kg⁻¹. A key finding was the successful upgrading of low-grade waste into a valuable fuel usable for downstream applications, evidenced by a chemical energy ratio of the output syngas to the input waste fuel reaching up to 1.9. The cold gas efficiency experimentally reached nearly 56%, while equilibrium-based analysis indicates a theoretical upper limit exceeding 62% under optimized power matching. Overall, this study shows that CO₂-assisted thermal plasma gasification of simulated medical waste has strong application potential for the treatment of real hazardous medical wastes, enabling efficient syngas production while utilizing CO₂ as a reactive gasification agent.

Original language	English
Article number	179337
Journal	Chemical Engineering Journal
Volume	545
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2026.179337
Publication status	Published - 2026
MoE publication type	A1 Journal article-refereed

Funding

The financial support from the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic (project MATCA, No. TN02000069) is gratefully acknowledged. We also gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Flemish Government and Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) through the Moonshot project SUSPLASM (HBC.2024.0632). Moreover, this work was supported by the project ‘The Energy Conversion and Storage’, funded as project No. CZ.02.01.01/00/22_008/0004617 by Programme Johannes Amos Comenius, call Excellent Research. Finally, financial support from the Czech Science Foundation project No. 24- 12872S and the program ‘Strategy AV 21’ of the Czech Academy of Sciences, specifically the work package VP 27 Sustainable Energy (Renewable energy resources and distributed energy systems), is gratefully acknowledged. Additional support from the CTU Student Grant Competition (No. SGS25/138/OHK3/3 T/13) is also acknowledged.

Keywords

CCU
Circular economy
Gasification and pyrolysis
Simulated medical waste
Thermal plasma

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10.1016/j.cej.2026.179337Licence: CC BY

Cite this

Pilař, J., Fathi, J., Sikarwar, V. S., Mašláni, A., Živný, O., Hlína, M., Jeremiáš, M., Mates, T., Kralik, D., Pohořelý, M., Jankovský, O., Lojka, M., & Buryi, M. (2026). Thermal plasma treatment of simulated medical waste using CO₂ as a gasification agent for carbon utilization at pilot scale. Chemical Engineering Journal, 545, Article 179337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2026.179337

@article{a5fcb764b4314ec6a61fb61e1d9a769b,

title = "Thermal plasma treatment of simulated medical waste using CO2 as a gasification agent for carbon utilization at pilot scale",

abstract = "Treatment of hazardous medical waste streams represents a significant environmental challenge, commonly associated with greenhouse gas emissions and limited energy recovery. This study experimentally and theoretically investigates the valorization of simulated medical waste (SMW) via a thermochemical upcycling approach, employing a pilot-scale (up to 160 kW) high-enthalpy (>100 MJ kg−1) direct-current (DC) discharge thermal plasma reactor processing 6.2{\textendash}9.0 kg h−1 of feedstock with CO2 injection rates of 0{\textendash}164 slm as a reactive gasifying agent, corresponding to an input CO2-to-SMW mass-flow ratio of 0.0{\textendash}2.1. The unique reactor environment, characterized by temperatures of 1250{\textendash}1450 °C is favorable for the decomposition of potentially hazardous compounds while enabling Carbon capture and utilization (CCU). The results demonstrate that externally supplied CO2 actively participates in high-temperature gasification, promoting carbon monoxide formation through dry reforming and Boudouard reactions. The produced syngas was rich in CO and H2, with lower heating values (LHV) ranging from 13.9 to 18.8 MJ kg−1. A key finding was the successful upgrading of low-grade waste into a valuable fuel usable for downstream applications, evidenced by a chemical energy ratio of the output syngas to the input waste fuel reaching up to 1.9. The cold gas efficiency experimentally reached nearly 56\%, while equilibrium-based analysis indicates a theoretical upper limit exceeding 62\% under optimized power matching. Overall, this study shows that CO2-assisted thermal plasma gasification of simulated medical waste has strong application potential for the treatment of real hazardous medical wastes, enabling efficient syngas production while utilizing CO2 as a reactive gasification agent.",

keywords = "CCU, Circular economy, Gasification and pyrolysis, Simulated medical waste, Thermal plasma",

author = "Jakub Pila{\v r} and Jafar Fathi and Sikarwar, \{Vineet Singh\} and Alan Ma{\v s}l{\'a}ni and Old{\v r}ich {\v Z}ivn{\'y} and Michal Hl{\'i}na and Michal Jeremi{\'a}{\v s} and Tom{\'a}{\v s} Mates and Dominik Kralik and Michael Poho{\v r}el{\'y} and Ond{\v r}ej Jankovsk{\'y} and Michal Lojka and Maksym Buryi",

year = "2026",

doi = "10.1016/j.cej.2026.179337",

language = "English",

volume = "545",

journal = "Chemical Engineering Journal",

issn = "1385-8947",

publisher = "Elsevier",

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Pilař, J, Fathi, J, Sikarwar, VS, Mašláni, A, Živný, O, Hlína, M, Jeremiáš, M, Mates, T, Kralik, D, Pohořelý, M, Jankovský, O, Lojka, M & Buryi, M 2026, 'Thermal plasma treatment of simulated medical waste using CO₂ as a gasification agent for carbon utilization at pilot scale', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 545, 179337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2026.179337

TY - JOUR

T1 - Thermal plasma treatment of simulated medical waste using CO2 as a gasification agent for carbon utilization at pilot scale

AU - Pilař, Jakub

AU - Fathi, Jafar

AU - Sikarwar, Vineet Singh

AU - Mašláni, Alan

AU - Živný, Oldřich

AU - Hlína, Michal

AU - Jeremiáš, Michal

AU - Mates, Tomáš

AU - Kralik, Dominik

AU - Pohořelý, Michael

AU - Jankovský, Ondřej

AU - Lojka, Michal

AU - Buryi, Maksym

PY - 2026

Y1 - 2026

N2 - Treatment of hazardous medical waste streams represents a significant environmental challenge, commonly associated with greenhouse gas emissions and limited energy recovery. This study experimentally and theoretically investigates the valorization of simulated medical waste (SMW) via a thermochemical upcycling approach, employing a pilot-scale (up to 160 kW) high-enthalpy (>100 MJ kg−1) direct-current (DC) discharge thermal plasma reactor processing 6.2–9.0 kg h−1 of feedstock with CO2 injection rates of 0–164 slm as a reactive gasifying agent, corresponding to an input CO2-to-SMW mass-flow ratio of 0.0–2.1. The unique reactor environment, characterized by temperatures of 1250–1450 °C is favorable for the decomposition of potentially hazardous compounds while enabling Carbon capture and utilization (CCU). The results demonstrate that externally supplied CO2 actively participates in high-temperature gasification, promoting carbon monoxide formation through dry reforming and Boudouard reactions. The produced syngas was rich in CO and H2, with lower heating values (LHV) ranging from 13.9 to 18.8 MJ kg−1. A key finding was the successful upgrading of low-grade waste into a valuable fuel usable for downstream applications, evidenced by a chemical energy ratio of the output syngas to the input waste fuel reaching up to 1.9. The cold gas efficiency experimentally reached nearly 56%, while equilibrium-based analysis indicates a theoretical upper limit exceeding 62% under optimized power matching. Overall, this study shows that CO2-assisted thermal plasma gasification of simulated medical waste has strong application potential for the treatment of real hazardous medical wastes, enabling efficient syngas production while utilizing CO2 as a reactive gasification agent.

AB - Treatment of hazardous medical waste streams represents a significant environmental challenge, commonly associated with greenhouse gas emissions and limited energy recovery. This study experimentally and theoretically investigates the valorization of simulated medical waste (SMW) via a thermochemical upcycling approach, employing a pilot-scale (up to 160 kW) high-enthalpy (>100 MJ kg−1) direct-current (DC) discharge thermal plasma reactor processing 6.2–9.0 kg h−1 of feedstock with CO2 injection rates of 0–164 slm as a reactive gasifying agent, corresponding to an input CO2-to-SMW mass-flow ratio of 0.0–2.1. The unique reactor environment, characterized by temperatures of 1250–1450 °C is favorable for the decomposition of potentially hazardous compounds while enabling Carbon capture and utilization (CCU). The results demonstrate that externally supplied CO2 actively participates in high-temperature gasification, promoting carbon monoxide formation through dry reforming and Boudouard reactions. The produced syngas was rich in CO and H2, with lower heating values (LHV) ranging from 13.9 to 18.8 MJ kg−1. A key finding was the successful upgrading of low-grade waste into a valuable fuel usable for downstream applications, evidenced by a chemical energy ratio of the output syngas to the input waste fuel reaching up to 1.9. The cold gas efficiency experimentally reached nearly 56%, while equilibrium-based analysis indicates a theoretical upper limit exceeding 62% under optimized power matching. Overall, this study shows that CO2-assisted thermal plasma gasification of simulated medical waste has strong application potential for the treatment of real hazardous medical wastes, enabling efficient syngas production while utilizing CO2 as a reactive gasification agent.

KW - CCU

KW - Circular economy

KW - Gasification and pyrolysis

KW - Simulated medical waste

KW - Thermal plasma

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DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2026.179337

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