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The plastic waste is heated in a boiler to about 700 degrees Celsius, after which it evaporates. The gas is then cooled down and turns into a diesel-like liquid
by jp57 3y ago
The plastic waste is heated in a boiler to about 700 degrees Celsius, after which it evaporates. The gas is then cooled down and turns into a diesel-like liquid one hour later.
A kind of pyrolysis, I assume, and very energy intensive. Does this process really produce more stored energy in the output product than it took to run the reaction?
- dotancohen 3y agoThe source material is industrial waste that the owner is receiving for free. Neither economics nor ecological concerns favor this approach notwithstanding the free source of plastic chips.
- schiffern 3y agoThe article says it produces 300% more CO2, so it's also roughly a 3-to-1 ratio of process energy in to fuel output. "fuel production by burning plastic on the roof is four times more carbon intensive than producing fuel from crude oil in a refinery."
- justsomehnguy 3y agoWhich begs a question if a solar concentrator can be used for this.
- samstave 3y ago>>>diesel-like liquid What, _specifically_ is that liquid and how toxic is that stuff vs diesel/petrol...? If you spill a liter of that stuff into a canal/ditch/stream, What consequences?
- FooBarBizBazz 3y agoYeah, that's my worry. I like the idea of pyrolizing plastic to dispose of it (and get energy), but -- a petrochemical company was just proposing to do this, in what presumably was a much better-controlled process, and there were (justified) protests, because the process was going to send horrible quantities of serious carcinogens up the stack. Which makes me wonder what horrible byproducts this might inadvertently be making. This: https://www.propublica.org/article/chevron-pascagoula-pollution-future-cancer-risk https://www.propublica.org/article/chevron-pascagoula-pollut...
- butlike 3y agoWhat's the byproduct? Is it all accounted for or just being released into the atmosphere?