A data-driven model of waste gasification and pyrolysis: One tailored approach for an experimental facility from the...

The increasing demand for sustainable energy production necessitates the development of innovative technologies for converting municipal waste into valuable energy offering a viable alternative to fossil fuels. This study presents a flexible, portable, and expandable waste-to-energy concept that integrates gasification and pyrolysis processes production of combustible gases and liquid fuels. Particular emphasis is placed on the use of transparent and interpretable modelling approaches to support system optimization and future scalability. The proposed methodology is demonstrated on two experimental systems currently operated at CEET Explorer, VSB - Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic: (i) A primary gasification facility equipped with a plasma torch, reactor, hydrogen separator and tank, fuel cells, and renewable grid connections; and (ii) a secondary pyrolysis unit designed to maximize pyrolysis oil production. Both systems are modelled and simulated using in-house software developed in Python, employing stoichiometric balances, symbolic regression, and polynomial regression to represent chemical reactions and energy flows. The findings demonstrate that transparent models - such as stoichiometric modelling combined with interpretable machine learning - can accurately reproduce the operational behaviour of waste-to-energy processes. Gasification is optimized for hydrogen generation and electricity production via fuel cells, whereas pyrolysis favours liquid fuel yield with syngas as a by-product. Molar mass relations are applied to ensure consistent conversion between mass and volume across gasification, pyrolysis, and combustion pathways, maintaining the conservation of mass. Overall, the integration of stoichiometric balance models with symbolic and polynomial regression provides a reliable and interpretable framework for simulating real waste-to-energy systems. The current results, based on bio-wood waste from the Czech Republic, validate the proposed methodology, which is made openly available to promote transparency, reproducibility, and further advancement of sustainable waste-to-energy technologies.