plastic to oil

[Heinz]

Looks interesting and very simple
http://www.flixxy.com/convert-plastic-to-oil.htm
Unless I'm missing something this is just a heated chamber, 420deg C according to the LCD screen, with a water bath to cool and condense the vapour into oil. Should be easy enough to duplicate this in the workshop...  Wonder if there's any ash or residue?

Heinz

[djh]

Hmm, I smell plastic snake oil.

The similar device under discussion on the green building forum and peddled by an american company for three years uses microwaves at various frequencies, supposedly to excite the molecular bonds in hydrocarbons. So probably not quite so simple to duplicate.

[Justme]

Looks interesting. I wonder how much elec it uses to turn 1kg of plastic into 1L of oil.

The oil does look quite volatile if it can be ignited with a spark.


Edit to add

Ah just spotted its 1kwh

[Billy]

Exactly Justme,

If the oil is worth about 10kW/l then how much electrickery is being used to get it back?  It would need to be a decent return don't ya think?

But surely its all been done before, I mean it is rather obvious isn't it?   

Wookey will know for sure.

Billy

 

[Greenbeast]

http://blest.co.jp/

it's a 1kW device and takes on average 3 hours to convert 1kg plastic.

then you've got to distill the various 'flavours' from the oil.

The video on his website looks quite legit

[DonL]

Hi,
This is pyrolysis (heating in the absence of air) and results in gaseous products, tars and a char residue. It is apparently already used in this application on an industrial scale? http://www.wme.com.au/categories/waste_managemt/feb6_05.php
I'm a bit unsure about the CO2 balance as the liquid product will be used as a fuel and combusted and the remainder have to be disposed of in some way, but I suppose it is recycling and certainly reduces landfill.
I was involved in some work donkeys years ago on pyrolising rubber tyres. It worked well with steel reinforced tyres and we got a liquid oil, carbon black and recovered the steel for recycling. I don't know why it wasn't applied industrially except for being unable to get venture capital at the time. Maybe someone is doing it now.
Don
Quick search, looks like someone is doing it www.pyreco.com

[tz0c0s]

Mr. Fusion 

[Philip R]

I wrote about this a few weeks ago. Please look at the link

http://www.sita.co.uk/news-and-views/press-releases/sita-uk-subsidiary-of-suez-environnement-and-cynar

Cynar ( Not the drink) are using a process developped in australia, lookat the following link, from the horses mouth.

http://207.57.92.209/wordpress/?page_id=7

Plant already built in the Irish Republic, soon to have a few in UK.

No mention if crude pyrolydis/distillation or a bit of Fischer Tropsch thrown in using some catalysts to optimise the middle distillate yield.

Philip R