How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[Excalibur]

Reflux tower is finally put together. 28" column with dual filter plates and high pressure clamps. Weighs 26lbs without packing or the 1/2" sintered 316l plate I plan to use on top of the filter plates which should double as flame arrestors. I will use sintered plates with my pressure relief valves as well. Also ordered header wrap and 2" ceramic insulation for the column but plan on testing to see where temps are before I insulate. I see Im a few pages behind on reading since I have been finishing my build.

Very nice work! I'm excited for you..

[mindxploration]

Reflux tower is finally put together. 28" column with dual filter plates and high pressure clamps. Weighs 26lbs without packing or the 1/2" sintered 316l plate I plan to use on top of the filter plates which should double as flame arrestors. I will use sintered plates with my pressure relief valves as well. Also ordered header wrap and 2" ceramic insulation for the column but plan on testing to see where temps are before I insulate. I see Im a few pages behind on reading since I have been finishing my build.

[sunilkm153]

Arr, i see. Sorry my mistake and I apologize. I didn't understand what the empty circles and the "nd" represented.

By the way, we here in NZ are not allowed Benzene. It has been banned from use in fuel for many years. I don't know about other countries and your country may allow it.

In my country INDIA here also only 1% of benzene is allowed till 2016 then no benzene will be allowed But this plastic pyrolysis oil we cant sell it as automobile fuel but we sell it to industries as generator fuel or fuel to heat furnace

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Pyrolysis plant fires

Motor-oil drums explode in huge industrial fire south of downtown Phoenix

[wheels]

3-bromopantane and 2-bromo-2-methylpropane are not present in the sample test no. 5 (bottam line of test report clearly shows nd means not detected / not present and empty circle means present / detected ) if these two are not present in oil why should I bother about them

Arr, i see. Sorry my mistake and I apologize. I didn't understand what the empty circles and the "nd" represented.

By the way, we here in NZ are not allowed Benzene. It has been banned from use in fuel for many years. I don't know about other countries and your country may allow it.

[sunilkm153]

Do you know what 3-bromopentane and 2-bromo-2-methylpropane is?

Apart from that, I cannot understand why these are not picked up in the first samples, but are present in the last.

3-bromopantane and 2-bromo-2-methylpropane are not present in the sample test no. 5 (bottam line of test report clearly shows nd means not detected / not present and empty circle means present / detected ) if these two are not present in oil why should I bother about them

[wheels]

1 st one is simple thermal pyrolysis 2nd one with 1 st stage of my catalyst , 3 rd & 4 th are with zeolite of different particle size in case of zeolite bromine content is less in oil but higher in uncondensed gas and the last one that is 5 th sample is pyrolysed with my finally improved proprietary catalyst here bromine content in oil as well as gas is negligible and the same uncondensed gas is totally got burnt to heat the process (sorry due to commercial obligation I can not divulge its name this time because to get it I spend a hefty sum of money as well as lot of time )

Do you know what 3-bromopentane and 2-bromo-2-methylpropane is?

Apart from that, I cannot understand why these are not picked up in the first samples, but are present in the last.

[sunilkm153]

So of those 5 samples tested, which sample relates to what point in your process?

1 st one is simple thermal pyrolysis 2nd one with 1 st stage of my catalyst , 3 rd & 4 th are with zeolite of different particle size in case of zeolite bromine content is less in oil but higher in uncondensed gas and the last one that is 5 th sample is pyrolysed with my finally improved proprietary catalyst here bromine content in oil as well as gas is negligible and the same unconednsed gas is totally got burnt to heat the process (sorry due to commercial obligation I can not divulge its name this time because to get it I spend a hefty sum of money as well as lot of time )

[wheels]

I m doing this on commercial basis Almost 99% of halogen is get trapped in residual char I have x ray diffraction & chromatography reports for the same
see v th column of the report for content of oil we produce and the carbon produced is going to safely incinerate in furnace of cement manufacturing plant where temperature is about 1600 degree centigrade and chimney is about 100 mtr high

So of those 5 samples tested, which sample relates to what point in your process?

[sunilkm153]

This is what I do. My Plant is used to dispose of toxic plastics.
Bromine is NOT left behind in the Carbon waste. Or not all of it that is. The vast majority passes through with the Fuel.
In saying that, how do you clean, handle and dispose of the Carbon waste? It is deadly toxic and highly carcinogenic. Even if you only process PP and PE, it is still a serious Hazard. WMO is worse than PP and PE and also needs serious consideration when cleaning.
There is a very big difference between doing this for real in a commercial plant and doing this as an experiment in a Lab. If it was not for the dangers and damage it can cause to Plant, many Commercial Fuel producing plants would be using these plastics. Many around the World are struggling to get enough Plastic and having another plastic type they can use would be a huge advantage to them.

I m doing this on commercial basis Almost 99% of halogen is get trapped in residual char I have x ray diffraction & chromatography reports for the same
see v th column of the report for content of oil we produce and the carbon produced is going to safely incinerate in furnace of cement manufacturing plant where temperature is about 1600 degree centigrade and chimney is about 100 mtr high

[Excalibur]

If one takes a look at Excaliburs home page, you look at his reflux system, you will see that he has packed the inside with metal coils to assist the process.
Is this not recommended? Thanks.
/

I improvised with my reflux packing to use what I had from the scrap pile. In a Refinery, one distillation setup uses packing called raschig rings or berl saddles. Whatever the packing type, the object is to promote better intimate contact between falling condensate and rising vapors. Think of it like this, as cooler condensate falls it has to run over the packing and is spread across a large area. The rising vapor is hotter and upon contact with condensate, it encourages any lighter fractions to boil and rise. Heavier fractions remain condensed and continue to fall. Don't confuse this method with a catalyst.
When I rebuild my plant I'll probably go with raschig rings as these are easy and could be ideally made from scrap stainless tube/pipe.

[wheels]

yes you may be right that bromine or halogen output may be there in oil and gas but dear friend please get through my statement properly where i mentioned pyrolysis of such flame retardant or brominated plastic can be done safely only with some intermediate solvent thermal pyrolysis can't remove these halogens from oil or gas but when we use these intermediary solvents these halogen get trapped in carbon char leaving oil and gas totally free don't blame these scientists and there article as fake these are renowned persons and the platform where this research paper is presented is ISFR ( International Symposium for Feed stock Recycling held once every two year in different parts of world ) where 300-400 experts from all over the world participate in it . Also I myself attended this prestigious conference

This is what I do. My Plant is used to dispose of toxic plastics.
Bromine is NOT left behind in the Carbon waste. Or not all of it that is. The vast majority passes through with the Fuel.
In saying that, how do you clean, handle and dispose of the Carbon waste? It is deadly toxic and highly carcinogenic. Even if you only process PP and PE, it is still a serious Hazard. WMO is worse than PP and PE and also needs serious consideration when cleaning.
There is a very big difference between doing this for real in a commercial plant and doing this as an experiment in a Lab. If it was not for the dangers and damage it can cause to Plant, many Commercial Fuel producing plants would be using these plastics. Many around the World are struggling to get enough Plastic and having another plastic type they can use would be a huge advantage to them.

[sunilkm153]

That article is incorrect. They are referring to WEEE plastics which they have incorrectly called Polycarbonate. But WEEE plastics are in fact ABS plastic. WEEE plastics contain flame retardants. The most common is Bromine. Bromine is a Halogen. Bromine is both Toxic and a very powerful corrosive to metals.
Whether it is ABS or Polycarbonate, if you are processing a plastic that has a flame retardant in it, you will be corroding the inside of your retort and all the pipe work. Secondly, you will have Bromine in your fuel produced. It produces a Redish Brown colour and has a strong smell. If this is not removed, you will damage an engine, but at the least, Bromine will be retarding the burning process of the fuel and you will not have the power that would normally be produced.
Bromine in very small amounts can used as a disinfectant and has been used in swimming pools, but has been discontinued from such use because of People having serious skin reactions to it.
DO NOT get the fuel on your skin. You can end up with a very bad skin reaction.
If you are putting a Halogen via the output gas into the atmosphere, you are running the risk of killing or poisoning people, or at the least, causing damage to the Ozone layer in our atmosphere.
It is dangerous enough for the amateur processing small amounts of plastics and several of us here are very vocal about safety to ensure people remain safe. But unless you understand what it is you are processing, the Chemistry of such, the Dangers and the potential damage you can cause to environment and peoples Vehicles, YOU SHOULD NOT be trying to do this commercially. You will note that all the commercial Plastic to Fuel plants around the world process two plastic types only. Simply because they are the safest. That is PE and PP. They do not touch any other plastic type due to the dangers of doing such and just one plastic item of a wrong type can contaminate and make useless for sale, 1000ltrs of good fuel.

yes you may be right that bromine or halogen output may be there in oil and gas but dear friend please get through my statement properly where i mentioned pyrolysis of such flame retardant or brominated plastic can be done safely only with some intermediate solvent thermal pyrolysis can't remove these halogens from oil or gas but when we use these intermediary solvents these halogen get trapped in carbon char leaving oil and gas totally free don't blame these scientists and there article as fake these are renowned persons and the platform where this research paper is presented is ISFR ( International Symposium for Feed stock Recycling held once every two year in different parts of world ) where 300-400 experts from all over the world participate in it . Also I myself attended this prestigious conference

[wheels]

If one takes a look at Excaliburs home page, you look at his reflux system, you will see that he has packed the inside with metal coils to assist the process.
Is this not recommended? Thanks.

Is the application of catalyst i.e. clay/ zeolite reused for a few burns? How do you know when to replace such catalyst?
Is the catalyst added in the gas phase or by passing your condensate/diesel through it/

I will leave it to excalibur to explain what the coils or whatever they are, are for.
Remember that firstly he is dealing with WMO. That firstly is a heavy weight molecule and has a much higher Boiling point. The Molecules in Vapor form need a lot more cracking than the outputs of Plastics. You can't compare the two feedstocks. There are many points to consider and unless you have the exact design Excalibur has, one variance will change the outcome.
Feedstock type,
Heating Power input,
Retort design and volume,
Reflux design and volume,
Pipe work size/flow rate.
You have to remember that a Pyrolysis plant is a large Chemistry set. One change in the set will change the result of the output.

Catalyst: What a Catalyst does, ii it produces a chemical reaction. Normally a Chemical reaction means all components reacting change from one thing to another. The difference with a catalyst is that there are several parts to a reaction and the final part is that the catalyst that was used in the first part of the reaction is regenerated in the second part, thus the catalyst is never used up. Because it is a Chemical Reaction, all reactions require energy. Some reactions produce energy(exothermic) some suck up energy(endothermic) and some require outside energy. Energy is seen as heat of course. For a catalyst, usually an energy input is required to get the reaction started, then the reaction usually becomes exothermic and self sustaining. ( usually, but not always the case in Chemistry)
So do not confuse a Catalyst with a filter. A Molecular Filter will become clogged and need cleaning after use. A Catalyst does not work that way.
Do you need a catalyst?? That is a real difficult one to answer is also related to the list above. It is a case of needing try and see what happens. Catalysts are highly protected secrets in the Commercial industry and they are used to break a Molecular chain in a very specific way, that recracking via heat cannot do. But you need access to some expensive equipment to test if you are making the required output. You also need a good knowledge of Petrochemistry.
If you are getting an output that works for you, I would not bother with a catalyst. If you are having problems with oxidising or a too heavy fraction, you may improve things with a catalyst. But using one is complex. Catalysts can also produce cracking at very much lower temperatures and thus produce a greater amount of Fuel rather than Gas as an output.
My plant uses a Catalyst to eliminate Bromine. It is one of the few catalytic reactions that use up the catalyst instead of regeneration.

[rozier56]

rozier56

If one takes a look at Excaliburs home page, you look at his reflux system, you will see that he has packed the inside with metal coils to assist the process.
Is this not recommended? Thanks.

Is the application of catalyst i.e. clay/ zeolite reused for a few burns? How do you know when to replace such catalyst?
Is the catalyst added in the gas phase or by passing your condensate/diesel through it/