How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[fibuslitero]

Thanks for sharing Mjohnson1, you are working hard with your setup.
Did you buy online that shredder?.
I saw it on youtube, can be very useful but please be extremely careful specially when unblocking.
Regards.

[imakebiodiesel]

Cow manure will contain a high percentage of water(80-90%) which will use a lot of energy to boil off. The manure itself will yield a very small amount of pyrolysis oil (10-20% of dry weight) and some syngas. Im afraid pyrolysing cow manure will use up a lot of good quality energy and yield a small amount of low grade fuel. Composting or a methane digester are better low energy options.
Pyrolysis is only going to be viable with feedstocks that contain very high hydrocarbon content, plastics, waste oils etc.

[mortimer.dan]

Hello All

Dear All,

Great information all 92 pages of it, what a marathon read yet so informative. I miss assads input, he was/is wise and very clever. I see via the Aston links that this technology is becoming more widespread and the fact the military are interested means to me that its going to be become the norm in many respects for the future. It seems to me that collectively this forum holds knowledge that most people can only hope to gain by going to university to study. Myself I have decided to try and get the local recycling company to make a unit instead of shipping the local plastic waste to china via container. I am also very interested in cow manure and possibly pine needles/cones and woodchips as New Zealand where I live has lots of these. The Cow crap is a really bad polluter of the countries water ways, dairy farming is huge and big business out here. It seem that a continuous feed system is the way to go. I have a lot of questions but I will post them slowly. The first simple question is, to ask anyone with a working pyrolysis machine/system if they would be prepared to have a go with cow manure only?.

My gratitude regards this forum extends to jetsis of course and all senior and junior members for the wealth of knowledge and information, safety measures and down right common sense approach to a simple yet difficult process. Thanks Dan

[lowriderzzz]

nice pictures

@ mjohnson1

nice pictures (pretty large though). So your experimental unit is way smaller.

[mjohnson1]

This is my catalyst testing setup as of now. Very simple and made out of pipe fittings with a few welded additions.

Testing reactor used for 100 gram plastic samples-




Outlet pipe for fuel to come out of. Has a steel box welded on the outside that is water tight and I fill it full of ice water. Also has a piece of stainless wool in there to make sure things condense.



Plastic shredder with temporary wood hopper. Works great for HDPE/PP.



Here's the shredder I purchased-

[lowriderzzz]

If you are using a purge gas and aren't burning your off gases you don't need a bubbler.

It will take ~3 hours to convert 5kg feedstock into fuel once the retort is up to temperature. I run mine at 450C.

thanks one more time. How big is your unit btw? Do you have an image online of it ?

[mjohnson1]

Yes I'll take care for the off gases as well. I still don't have the bubbler ready, but I'm working on it.

Perhaps will start with batch type as you recommend. How much time you think it will take to convert 5 kg feedstock into fuel. I mean how long the whole process should be ?

Thanks.

If you are using a purge gas and aren't burning your off gases you don't need a bubbler.

It will take ~3 hours to convert 5kg feedstock into fuel once the retort is up to temperature. I run mine at 450C.

[lowriderzzz]

I think you should start with insulation on the reflux. As temps come up to target, then progressively remove the insulation. It may be on the large side but try it first.


380 - 420'c for the retort, don't rush it. About 300'c for diesel at the reflux and tweak from there.


Yes, I used 6mm blind tube and slipped in the tiny thermocouples. Worked well.


I worry about the small pipe size.

Best to fit the reflux directly overhead of the retort with a single pipe. This will ensure the reflux can work correctly and so distillate doesn't pool in the bottom of the reflux.

Threaded pipe joins at retort/reflux will need a high temperature sealant. Thread tape etc will burn out and leak!.

Thank you for the feedback. I'll take into consideration all of what you say and do the necessary modifications.

[lowriderzzz]

lowriderzzz

The purge gas is put into the retort by going from a high pressure to a low pressure. You use a tank filled with nitrogen or co2 and hook a hose up to the gas inlet to your retort. If you want to use a rubber gas hose make sure you have an extension pipe coming off of your retort otherwise the rubber will melt.

The oxygen may flow out naturally but that isn't something you want to take a chance with.

Yes water would evacuate any air in any close container once it's heated to 100c or above and turned into steam.

Continuous feed is tricky and I would suggest you start out with a batch reactor.

I noticed in your picture that you don't have a way for the off gases to be vented. I could be wrong and it's just not visible in the picture. You need a way for the gases generated from your retort to be released. Otherwise you're going to have a big pipe bomb on your hands.

I don't wish to reveal the catalyst I use. It has taken me months of research and testing to get to where i'm at. I would suggest using some perlite or broken clay pots for your catalyst.

Yes I'll take care for the off gases as well. I still don't have the bubbler ready, but I'm working on it.

Perhaps will start with batch type as you recommend. How much time you think it will take to convert 5 kg feedstock into fuel. I mean how long the whole process should be ?

Thanks.

[ashiki]

Kaowool is good to 1200'c or so.

Thanks excaliber,infact it was a misunderstanding and what we bought was not glass wool but something else(a small scale insulator),and im gonna get wool immedietly.

[mercedes 308]

I havnt seen a second video, post a link and ill have a look.
Mtrans, dont use exhaust from an engine. Exhaust contains a lot of oxygen, up to 35%. Propane requires just 40% to easily ignite. Water is the way to do it.

There's three links in that post,

[Excalibur]

Do you think the reflux column and condenser are too large for this unit ?
.

I think you should start with insulation on the reflux. As temps come up to target, then progressively remove the insulation. It may be on the large side but try it first.

What temperature should I maintain on both of them, if I want to make diesel that comes out at 380C (right ?) for the retort unit?
.

380 - 420'c for the retort, don't rush it. About 300'c for diesel at the reflux and tweak from there.

Do you think its a good idea to use blind pipes to put my thermometer probe in for the condenser and reflux column ?
.

Yes, I used 6mm blind tube and slipped in the tiny thermocouples. Worked well.

Any other critics and feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

I worry about the small pipe size.

Best to fit the reflux directly overhead of the retort with a single pipe. This will ensure the reflux can work correctly and so distillate doesn't pool in the bottom of the reflux.

Threaded pipe joins at retort/reflux will need a high temperature sealant. Thread tape etc will burn out and leak!.

[Excalibur]

hai everybody,
i am new to this place and have only been able readed a bunch of pages yet. i am in the process of making a plastic pyrolisis plant of 20ltr capcity,but i want the thing to be mobile and ultra light weight.what insulator to use? my design is almost like jetjis's ,just scaled down. i tried using glass wool sort of thing,but it just started smoking at 300°C. help me. it must be light weight

Kaowool is good to 1200'c or so.

[Excalibur]

I heard,not try,to put exhaust gas from car inside the bottle,only water isn`t enough as they say to me.
And don`t harry with exhaust,give it time.

I've used the exhaust gas method for motor vehicle petrol tanks since the 70's.
It's good from the point of view that the tank can be immediately returned to service without having to dry the water out.

Even a few drops of water can make a problem with car petrol tank and fuel systems. Also a car fuel tank can't be water filled to capacity and at the same time be soldered or oxy welded.

Degassing and cutting LPG cylinders differ in that some residual water doesn't matter at all so I prefer the water & suds method for them.

My disclaimer is that I first used the exhaust gas method 40 years ago though I haven't used it on an LPG cylinder. Also I only use exhaust gases from a petrol engine.

[ashiki]

hai everybody,
i am new to this place and have only been able readed a bunch of pages yet. i am in the process of making a plastic pyrolisis plant of 20ltr capcity,but i want the thing to be mobile and ultra light weight.what insulator to use? my design is almost like jetjis's ,just scaled down. i tried using glass wool sort of thing,but it just started smoking at 300°C. help me. it must be light weight