gasification (Score 2, Informative)

I seem to detect a distinct misunderstanding with how this technology works. Solid waste material is fed into a plasma arc chamber where there is very little oxygen present. The waste is converted into 2 separate streams. The gaseous stream is made mostly of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, the liquid stream is made up mostly of non combustables (ash). The gas is piped to a rather normal looking furnace and burned in a fashion similar to natural gas. The liquids pass over a heat exchanger to cool them down and allow them to solidify. The energy used to create the plasma arc is mostly recovered. The reason that this is more efficient than just incinerating the trash directly is because of the difference in excess air requirements. Gaseous fuels require about 5-10% above stoichiometric ratio of air to fuel. Incinerating trash in a retort style furnace requires 100-150% excess air. That is a huge volume of air that is being heated for no good reason.