Gasification is a process that converts organic materials into combustible gases.
The resulting gas is called producer gas (or wood gas when fueled by wood) and may be more efficiently converted to energy such as electricity than would be possible by direct combustion of the fuel. Also, corrosive ash elements such as chloride and potassium may be retained by the gasification process, allowing high temperature combustion of the gas from otherwise problematic fuels.
Within the last years gasification technologies were developed that use also plastic rich waste as a feed. In a plant in Germany such a technology - on large scale - converts plastic waste via producer gas into methanol. For details see [1] or [2]
Gasification relies on chemical processes at elevated temperatures >700°C, contrary to biological processes such as anaerobic fermentation (digestion) which produces biogas.
Breakdown of hydrocarbons into syngas is done by carefully controlling the amount of oxygen present while heating the hydrocarbons to extreme temperatures.