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Unexpected Shunts in the Supply Chain
- h2odragon 5y ago> Each kilogram of plastic produced is directly linked to the price of fuel through opportunity costs, because each kilogram of plastic is one fewer kilogram of fuel. Perhaps I'm misinformed; i thought the gasoline and higher fractions were more of a waste product and that the real money lies in the heavier fractions which then become all the plastics and denser things.
- invalidname 5y agoYes. This seems like an opinion piece. Not a factual analysis. While I agree with the gist of it I'm assuming I'm as uninformed as the author.
- morpheos137 5y agoThere should be a direct trade off in terms of opportunity costs. Gasoline is not a "waste product" of refining... Longer chain hydrocarbons can be cracked and broken down into short chain.
- h2odragon 5y agoand vice versa but requiring energy inputs
- marcosdumay 5y agoThe real money lies on selling everything you produce with high certainty and minimal storage. Thus the real money lies on supplying whatever the market you have contracts on will accept. The plastic market is just not big enough to consume every byproduct of oil processing. Besides, a lot of plastics come from the lighter factions, and some come from the middle ones. The heavy fractions are often cracked into lighter stuff, and when it isn't, it's turned into things like asphalt.