Syngas - Associação Brasileira de Produtores de Florestas Plantadas

SyngasSyngas (from synthesis gas) is the name given to gasses of varying composition that aregenerated in coal gasification and some types of waste-to-energy facilities. The name comesfrom their use in creating synthetic petroleum for use as a fuel or lubricant via Fischer-Tropschsynthesis.Syngas consists primarily of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, and has less than half the energydensity of natural gas. It also contains some sulfur compounds, a safety feature since thisallows for its detection in the case of leakage. Syngas can be produced from natural gas asfollows:CH 4+ H 2O → CO + 3 H 2These gasses are combustible, and are often stored to be burned as a fuel source.For the most part, the amount of synthetic gas produced in a waste to energy facility is onlyenough to keep the plant operating.Coal gasification processes(e.g., the water gas process) are reasonably efficient and wereused for many years to manufacture illuminating gas (coal gas) for gas lighting, before electriclighting became widely available.