Gasification of plastic waste is an emerging technology of particular interest to the scientific world given the production of a hydrogen-rich gas from waste material. Devolatilization is a first step thermochemical decomposition process which is crucial in determining the quality of the gas in the whole gasification process. The devolatilization of polypropylene (a key compound of plastic waste) has been investigated experimentally in a bench-scale fluidized bed reactor. Experimental tests were carried out by varying two key parameters of the process—the size of the polypropylene spheres (8–12 mm) and temperature (650–850 °C). Temperature shows the highest influence on the process. Greater molecular cracking results were more pronounced at higher temperatures, increasing the production of light hydrocarbons along with the formation of solid carbon residue and tar. The overall syngas output reduced, while the H₂ content increased. Furthermore, a pseudo-first-order kinetic model was developed to describe the devolatilization process (E_app = 11.8 kJ/mol, A₁ = 0.55 s⁻¹, ψ = 0.77).

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells are a promising technology for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) are a promising technology For high-efficiency electrochemical conversion of a vast range of fuel gas mixtures, thigh operating temperature conditions (650–900 °C) represent a challenge both at system level and at laboratory testing level, in terms of material properties and performance dynamics. In this work a detailed procedural analysis is presented for an innovative all-ceramic compact SOFC test rig and first experimental testing results are reported in terms of polarization curves obtained under parametric variation of operating conditions (H₂ content, air ratio λ and temperature) and short-term voltage stability test under load (140 h at 0.3 A/cm²). The electrochemical characterization results confirm the validity of the used all-ceramic cell holder, showing excellent cell performances in terms of polarization. H₂ content has the most impact on SOFC performance, followed by temperature and finally air ratio, whose impact in the analyzed range is hardly seen. From the short-term stability test, the test bench setup reliability is demonstrated, showing no significant performance degradation after 140 continuous hours under load, which confirms the high quality and reproducibility of the results.

High-temperature desulfurization techniques are fundamental for the development of reliable and efficient conversion systems of low-cost fuels and biomass that answer to the nowadays environmental and energy security issues. This is particularly true for biomass gasification coupled to SOFC systems where the sulfur content has to be minimized before being fed to the SOFC. Thus, commercially available zinc oxide has been studied and characterized as a desulfurizing agent in a fixed-bed reactor at high temperatures from 400 °C to 600 °C. The sorbent material was characterized by XRD, BET, SEM, and EDS analyses before and after adsorption. The sorbent’s sorption capacity has been evaluated at different temperatures, as well as the breakthrough curves. Moreover, the kinetic parameters as the initial sorption rate constant k₀, the deactivation rate constant k_d, and the activation energy have been calculated using the linearized deactivation model. The best performances have been obtained at 550 °C, obtaining a sorption capacity of 5.4 g per 100 g of sorbent and a breakthrough time of 2.7 h. These results can be used to extend ZnO desulfurization techniques to a higher temperature than the ones used today (i.e., 550 °C with respect to 400 °C).