Abstract: A waste treatment system is disclosed having: (1) a pyrolyzer comprising an inner and outer chamber, wherein the inner chamber further comprises a syngas outlet; (2) a thermal oxidizer comprising an elongated combustion chamber; (3) an exhaust gas transfer duct fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber of the thermal oxidizer and the outer chamber of the pyrolyzer; and (4) a particulate separator for removing particulates from the syngas. In preferred embodiments the pyrolyzer and the thermal oxidizer are aligned in piggybacked configuration, such that the hot exhaust gases from the thermal oxidizer are shunted back to the outer chamber of the pyrolyzer. Preferred thermal oxidizer and the exhaust gas transfer duct are configured to allow a three second residence time of the syngas, such that the system operates at an efficiency of at least 15 therms (thm) per ton of municipal waste.

Abstract: A pyrolysis device has a pyrolyzer (retort) and a thermal oxidizer, each with its own burner, but coupled so that the burner of the pyrolyzer can be down-regulated as heat from the thermal oxidizer is used to hear the pyrolyzer. One or more automatic controllers preferably adjust a burn rate of the extrinsic gas by the first burner as a function of a rate at which heat is transferred from the thermal oxidizer to the pyrolyzer. In preferred embodiments, the burn rate of the extrinsic gas can be adjusted to ?50%, ?30% or even lower relative to a base rate that would be required to pyrolyze the waste without the heat thermal oxidizer.