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There isn't any sort of chemistry that could be used to refine it to a higher quality state?
by umvi 7y ago
There isn't any sort of chemistry that could be used to refine it to a higher quality state?
- derefr 7y agoCertainly, you can turn plastic back into its constituents (e.g. PET into ethylene), with input of enough energy. But where do you get that energy? Consider: any drop of fossil fuel that is spent recovering plastic back into oil, could instead have been used to make new plastic in the first place, obviating that recovery. It's more efficient to turn oil into plastic directly, than to use oil to turn plastic into oil, and then turn that oil into plastic. And, of course, any watt of renewable energy used on this process, is one that drives up grid demand and thus makes fossil fuels more competitive as grid base-load supply...