How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Thanks, imakebiodiesel, that looks like a useful way of consuming the glycerin and animal fat I have stockpiled.

[imakebiodiesel]

Here is the sketch.

It will be of more interest to biodiesel brewers who want to use up their by product but I would value your input on the idea.



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IMB Biodiesel Processors

[imakebiodiesel]

Beyond biodiesel, production of acrolein starts at 280C well before cracking temperatures. It has a boiling point of 53C so will condense in an efficient condenser. So most if not all of the acrolein will be in the liquid output which is what gives it the terrible smell.
This is not directly on subject But since doing my batch of veg oil/ lard/sawdust I have been thinking of a glycerol processor using a vapourizing pot burner like the US army M1945 tent heater insert.
The advantage would be that the acrolein would be used immediately as a fuel for the process and to heat water so no problems of the horrible smell while in storage.

Ill post a sketch.

[Excalibur]

Jonathan,
What fuel are you burning? What adjustment have you got on the blower?
How are you metering the fuel?
Please post up some pics so we can better understand.
The Air/fuel ratio will need tweaking for the exhaust will be clear. Also the exhaust sound should be like..."howling"! Allow some warm up time before expecting efficiency.

[jonathan]

retort burner

thanks excalibur l try to make one but not working very well l thing my problem is because l leave 3 inch from the holes to the bottom. l try cut 3 inch from the top to take more oxygen it works better but not good did someone have the exactly size please

[Excalibur]

A turk burner is a very simple concept. See many videos on Youtube and you will quickly understand the idea. Also my blog has a pic in the archives of one of my early prototypes. While the design is simple, it's getting the required fuel in to achieve the target temperature that is the more difficult part.

[jonathan]

pyrolysis

did some one have schematic for turk burner that work 100 percent

[Beyond Biodiesel]

I use aluminum bug screening from the hardware store. I think it is a 1/8" mesh (.125", 3mm). It seems to work fine at reducing boil-over.

[jonathan]

retort catalyst

thanks excalibur l will try it today l will try my oil burner l find schematics on net if it works l will try my pyrolysis thanks all for help

[Excalibur]

l put terra cotta in retort

To be clear, I put mine in the reflux. Size was 10mm - 40mm pieces.

2mm by 2mm ok thanks but l am worry that my reflux was clogged

That thought occurred to me too. For the 2mm particles to be captive by the strainer screen in the reflux, the holes in it would need to be tiny.
In my prototypes, I used 6mm mesh (hole size) so consequently I used 10mm+ catalyst pieces. What are others using for screen mesh in the reflux? And what minimum particle size?

[jonathan]

retort catalyst

ok thanks johnson1 it was my mistaking its 2mm by 2mm ok thanks but l am worry that my reflux was clogged

[mjohnson1]

thanks mjohnson1 l will try that 2cm by 2cm and what u mean gas phase l put terra cotta in retort

2cm by 2cm is too big in my opinion. In my post I said 2mm by 2mm (millimeters).

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Lowriderzzz, Why do you want to turn organic waste into fuel? I make about half a ton of compost every year from organic waste from my home, my garden and my vegetable plot. Its worth more, both economically and environmentally, than half a ton of fuel and it doesnt cost a cent to make.

I happen to agree with imakebiodiesel, as an organic gardener, decomposable biomass is far more useful as compost, mulch and fertilizer than as fuel.

However, I do agree with Lowriderzzz, having zero waste by recycling it into fuel is a noble goal that I am actively working on. Nonetheless, I am more interested in converting plastic and waste mineral oils into fuel, than converting my compost into fuel. And, I believe if more farmers converted their agricultural wastes into fuel, then they would soon deplete their soil.

I ventured into pyrolysis of biomass last week.
I filled up my retort with animal fat, veg oil and sawdust. I heated it up to 400C and ran it for about 5 hours. I got about 20 litres of liquid bio oil and a lot of gas( 42 kg of feedstock) The gas burned bright blue just like propane. The bio oil is the most evil smelling fuel I have ever encountered. My eyes start to sting as soon as I open the container. It is black with a layer of watery sludge in the bottom. It has about the same viscosity as diesel.
The retort was still half full of tar when opened with the same acrid blinding smell. It was a horrible job to clean it out. Even my next batch of nice clean plastic was contaminated by it until about halfway through.
I believe that the horrible smell is propenal (acrolein) which is produced by the thermal decomposition of the glycerol content of oils and fats.
The yield was so low, the fuel so nasty and the residue so troublesome that I wont be trying that again.

This is really useful information. In my process I have been dumping the sludge, from turning WVO into fuel, into my WMO sludge bucket, and I have run some of it through my pyrolysis unit. I have not noticed any offensive odors, but then I have a bubbler now, which might handle the acrolein.

acrolein: Highly poisonous. Causes severe irritation to exposed membranes. Extremely flammable liquid and vapor.

This suggests that if it is not soluble in water, then it could be consumed by an exhaust burner.

[jonathan]

retort catalyst

thanks mjohnson1 l will try that 2cm by 2cm and what u mean gas phase l put terra cotta in retort

[Beyond Biodiesel]

because im interested to make some unit/units that can convert all domestic waste. Having a zero waste household.

Anyway I have another concern. I was wondering what would be the most optimal way to ddesign a reactor so least possible heat escapes. In other word -how to construct the reactor so the maximum of the heat is being used and not dispersed?

Here on the picture i designed what I was thinking about. What do you think of it? How do you perceive it ? Do you know of more convenient ways to build optimat heat absobtion reactor ?



what about inner heating source - what is the best heater for inner heating and will it make enought temperature - 450 - 500c ??

Your design is similar to mine. I run a 5-gallon (20L) pyrolysis unit. I found 4" of high temperature insulation will require about 1500watts to distill 5 gallons (20L) of WMO in 4 hours at 400c.

I use a hot plate, 2 band heaters and 1 line wrap for all of my electrical heating needs.