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

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Abstract:

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.

Full citation:

Dejan Brkić, Pavel Praks, Judita Buchlovská Nagyová, Michal Běloch, Martin Marek, Jan Najser, Renáta Praksová, Jan Kielar (2026). A data-driven model of waste gasification and pyrolysis: One tailored approach for an experimental facility from the Czech Republic. Science Progress, 109(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/00368504251412556

Funding:

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic through the e–INFRA CZ (ID: 90254) project; EU funds under the project “Increasing the resilience of power grids in the context of decarbonisation, decentralisation and sustainable socioeconomic development”, CZ.02.01.01/00/23_021/0008759, through the Operational Programme Johannes Amos Comenius; Technology Agency of the Czech Republic through the CEET project – “Center of Energy and Environmental Technologies” TK03020027; This article has been produced with the financial support of the European Union under the REFRESH - Research Excellence For REgion Sustainability and High-tech Industries project number CZ.10.03.01/00/22_003/0000048 via the Operational Programme Just Transition. Dejan Brkić additionally wants to acknowledge Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia, grant number: 451-03-136/2025-03/200102.