Hi.
I guess the biggest point really is the temperature. I think the very fact that about 99% of everything that is in garbage....
You know, you've recycled and done all that at the front end. You do that no matter what. Whatever is left is what you now put into the gasification process. By using plasma at 4,000 to 6,000°C, you are destroying everything and turning it into its molecular base. It is then recombined into usable materials. In China, the most interesting part is that they see the water as being one of the most useful materials produced by this process.
An important point is that you have 99% of this never getting out again. You have slag, which can be used for road material, and then you can use scrubbers and so on to handle that 1%.
In an incinerator, you have 30% of waste ash that is left after you finish. That can be used—some in concrete, and so on—but it's very concentrated, bad stuff, so that's a big concern. No matter how good the scrubber is, you do have the release of a number of materials. That's documented all over.
I guess that's the big difference between the two processes. It's a matter of not releasing anything and turning it into a valuable product, and you can do that with almost 99% of garbage.