The gasification process is a process that allows the breaking down of solid material into a gas, which is composed of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. There's not enough oxygen to burn it, so we don't produce CO2. We produce CO. That's really key.
It's what we call partial oxidation. It's really just enough. It's like when you want to use a stove with your wood. If there's not enough oxygen, you're not going to be able to get a fire out of your fireplace. That's the basic principle of gasification.
There are different ways of doing gasification. Plasco here in Ottawa is doing plasma gasification. This is very high temperature, 4,000 to 5,000 degrees Celsius. We have a unique gasification process that we developed that operates at low severity, below 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Thermochemical is a combination of gasification up front, but then with other chemical processes that allow the transformation of that chemical-grade syngas into liquid products. Plasco can only basically burn its syngas to produce electricity. In our thermochemical process there are various steps after the gasification to make that chemical-grade syngas into liquid products.