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Years ago, there were high hopes for technologies like this, such as from Changing World Technologies. [1] The idea was that the thermal depolymerization proce
by ansible 7y ago
Years ago, there were high hopes for technologies like this, such as from Changing World Technologies. [1]
The idea was that the thermal depolymerization process would yield useful hydrocarbons and enough methane to run the entire process. Initially they had a pilot plant running on turkey processing waste (feathers and other stuff). In practice, it wasn't economically feasible.
We can recycle just about anything, the trick is to get it to be economical enough.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changing_World_Technologies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changing_World_Technologies
- pstuart 7y agoI was completely enamored with CWT when they first announced, and I'm bummed to this day that they failed. It still seems like a technology worth refining -- despite having to compete with fossil fuels when they've been so heavily subsidized.
- ansible 7y agoYes, it all sounded reasonable and scientifically plausible, speaking as a guy who's not done much beyond high school chemistry. (Though I did get A's!) The idea that we could take random carbon-based materials and turn it into useful oil / feedstock was so cool.