Can a charcoal generating process be a low carbon footprint incinerator?
If kept at 200°C with water under pressure, any organic molecules break down after a while, that's called hydrothermal carbonisation, basically how coal was formed geologically
With pure sugar, the gross reaction is
$\ce{4CHO -&gt; 3C + CO2 + 2H2O }$.
Lignin is approximately $\ce{C31H34O11}$ (varies a lot of course), so
$\ce{C31H34O11 -&gt; 31C + 6H2 + 11 H2O}$
or
$\ce{C31H34O11 -&gt; 28C + 3CH4 + 11 H2O}$,
and other hydrocarbons, depending on the exact conditions.
You can also throw in finely shredded plastic, works the same.
The process obviously produces heat, and some $\ce{CO2}$, because once formed, it only very slowly reacts with hydrocarbon to carbon and water (you need higher temperatures and a potent catalyst for that).
Sulfur containing products can be handled by the same processes as in regular coal power plants, burn and wash out and turn into elementar sulfur.