How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[palmtrees]

diesel

Nice one Palmtrees. Porous fired clay has a low but dependable catalytic action and placing it inside the retort is a good idea. The higher temperatures will make it work better. Did you also use a reflux column? I dont see the top of your retort in the picture. It takes quite a lot of this catalyst to crack the plastic, roughly 2 / 1 ratio of plastic / catalyst but its plentiful and cheap so it hardly matters.
Using your mixture in a petrol car is a safer bet than a diesel. Petrol with some heavier fractions in it may smoke a little but will run safely. Running a diesel engine on diesel fuel with a lot of lighter fractions in it will cause excessive wear and may cause injector damage.

Hi imakebiodiesel, no i did not use a reflux column but i plan on doing this see what u think, with my new reactor which is a 45 gallon drum is just over halfway in the same drum is were the cat will go and then get a pepper tray with channels to caches the fuel just above the cat at the top of the drum which will act like a reflux tower each zone in the reactor should be at the right sort of temps,

[imakebiodiesel]

In fact the top half of your retort is acting as a reflux and in a situation where you need a lot of bulky catalyst this is probably the best way to go.

Be careful with an oildrum as a retort. The joint at the bottom will not withstand serious heat for long and the last thing you want to happen is the bottom of the barrel to leak molten plastic and explosive gases onto your heat source. A welded steel retort is a safer bet.

[palmtrees]

diesel

In fact the top half of your retort is acting as a reflux and in a situation where you need a lot of bulky catalyst this is probably the best way to go.

Be careful with an oildrum as a retort. The joint at the bottom will not withstand serious heat for long and the last thing you want to happen is the bottom of the barrel to leak molten plastic and explosive gases onto your heat source. A welded steel retort is a safer bet.

ok i will re think about the oil drum find some thing else, also what u are doing wmo can u do with wvo as well like put it in a reactor and heat it up and condense it

[imakebiodiesel]

I have little experience with either wmo or wvo in this type of process. All of my wvo gets converted into biodiesel by a low temperature chemical method. I dont use WMO in my retort. Beyond Biodiesel may have some information on distilling wmo.

[Allcanadian]

Good answers guys

I decided to go with what I felt was an easier route with Co-gen using a GEET like system. Using natural gas as the idle mixture and waste hydrocarbons as the primary fuel. You guys may be interested in the Arduino engine controller I'm working on which could be adapted to automate your gassifiers. I am going to open source it on my website once it is up and can drop a link here.

I'm still working on the plastic issue, now if a person could use hemp as a binder it may be workable.

Regards
AC

[palmtrees]

diesel

I was looking at refractory insulation for my new build and I was astounded at the cost of fire bricks. Some $400-$500 worth.
Surely there's something cheaper. Two possibilities came to mind. Firstly the bricks could be homemade from clay, vermiculite, perlite, etc. This method also has the advantage that they could be made to measure and shape required. In my case, ideally I want crescent shape bricks.
The second idea was to pour vermiculite or perlite between walls of the retort to form a sandwiched barrier. I saw the idea used on rocket stoves. Further study turned up pumice as another cheap possible insulation. Vermiculite or perlite is a cheap solution and I could fullfill my needs for under $100 or significantly less if pumice proved to be good enough.

Actually dry clay poured in and compacted would be the easiest on the pocket. I could most probably find some for free. Various brick recipes show ash, sawdust and charcoal as ingredients however there doesn't appear to be an outright need to make bricks as such. The material only need be captive between layers.

Hi Excalibur, what type of fuel are u making diesel or petrol or all three and have u got good results yet and do u use the fuel,

[Excalibur]

AC, I would be most interested in the Arduino engine controller. I've just recently purchased a 2560 mega for the electronic needs of my retort. I've just started out with it so am learning as I go along. I'm like a dog with a bone! Thanks.

Palmtrees, I aim to make diesel, but some lighter fractions get produced as well. I'm looking to find the sweet spot for the reflux temperature where most of the feedstock comes out as diesel. Yes the fuel which I make from wmo and/or plastic works well. I have a lot of work ahead with development of my process. Much of what I've learnt will be adapted to the new turk-retort currently under construction. View my blog for progress updates of the mk6 over coming weeks.

[Beyond Biodiesel]

ok i will re think about the oil drum find some thing else, also what u are doing wmo can u do with wvo as well like put it in a reactor and heat it up and condense it

I use a pyrolysis unit, much like what is discussed here to distill and crack WMO into fuel. The feed stock is not important, because any hydrocarbon can be cracked into a lighter hydrocarbon.

I do not distill WVO, I blend it with light fractions, such as gasoline, to make diesel fuel, then filter it, and it has run fine on my engine for more than 6 years.

I am planning on running animal fat, and the other heavy precipitates from my WVO blending through my pyrolysis unit, but I have not yet done so. I still have about 200 gallons of WMO to distill first.

I look at it as first work on the easy stuff, then work on the harder hydrocarbons.

Good answers guys

I decided to go with what I felt was an easier route with Co-gen using a GEET like system. Using natural gas as the idle mixture and waste hydrocarbons as the primary fuel. You guys may be interested in the Arduino engine controller I'm working on which could be adapted to automate your gassifiers. I am going to open source it on my website once it is up and can drop a link here.

I'm still working on the plastic issue, now if a person could use hemp as a binder it may be workable.

Regards
AC

"GEET' (Global Environmental Energy Technology) System (a.k.a. plasma reactor) is a fuel vapor plasma unit, developed by Paul Pantone. A GEET system "cracks" the fuel molecules allowing for much more efficient combustion.

Very interesting.

I am working on an Arduino system to control my pyrolysis unit, so I am interested in sharing ideas on that front, so I would like to hear more.

I recently received a 2560 mega board, and some shields. I have ordered an 8 TC mutitplexer shield for it. Excalibur and I are exploring it now and posting our findings on this thread Data acquisitation. Microcontroler project. Please post your ideas.

[Allcanadian]

Lol, you know that doesn't surprise me a bit that were on the same page. I was watching video's on the GEET and I thought the year is 2013 and here we have people trying to deal with complex control functions manually like it was 1920. There has to be a better solution and it was right in front of me as I have been working with micro-controller LAN systems for over 10 years.

What makes the Arduino exceptional is it's price point and ease of use as the code is super simple. My project came down to two key area's 1)sensor input including RPM, exhaust temp, inlet temp and inlet flow and 2) control outputs including servo controlled fuel input, inlet air, bypass exhaust gas and exhaust throttling. As well some might try and tell you this is not a real micro-controller however I work with Johnson and Siemen's controllers in a large LAN system (3000+ control/sensor points) every day and the Ardunio is as good as any.

It is not common knowledge but if we add a shim on the body of an ordinary ball valve to add more clearance to the seal it will rotate with almost no resistance yet still seal perfectly. So I simply added a servo bracket and have a great $12 one inch servo-valve. You have to pre-heat the valve body to get it apart as they use some nasty sealer on the threads.

As well a small amount of water injected at the inlet will prevent pre-detonation and allow an engine to run under load down to 500 RPM which was my target RPM. Slow and consistent wins the race in this respect and I want the engine/generator to generate 1Kw reliably over a long period of time.

If you guys have issues with coding just give me a ring. Here is a picture of my Arduino based power panel.

Regards
AC

[palmtrees]

diesel

I have little experience with either wmo or wvo in this type of process. All of my wvo gets converted into biodiesel by a low temperature chemical method. I dont use WMO in my retort. Beyond Biodiesel may have some information on distilling wmo.

Hi imakebiodiesel, i think i have crack it just got to run some more test over the weekend and show the results it looks good so far,

[palmtrees]

diesel

I use a pyrolysis unit, much like what is discussed here to distill and crack WMO into fuel. The feed stock is not important, because any hydrocarbon can be cracked into a lighter hydrocarbon.

I do not distill WVO, I blend it with light fractions, such as gasoline, to make diesel fuel, then filter it, and it has run fine on my engine for more than 6 years.

I am planning on running animal fat, and the other heavy precipitates from my WVO blending through my pyrolysis unit, but I have not yet done so. I still have about 200 gallons of WMO to distill first.

I look at it as first work on the easy stuff, then work on the harder hydrocarbons.


Very interesting.

I am working on an Arduino system to control my pyrolysis unit, so I am interested in sharing ideas on that front, so I would like to hear more.



I recently received a 2560 mega board, and some shields. I have ordered an 8 TC mutitplexer shield for it. Excalibur and I are exploring it now and posting our findings on this thread Data acquisitation. Microcontroler project. Please post your ideas.

thank for the info it is getting hard to get wvo here in spain they are asking a lot of money for it but i have got some one that will give me 250liters of wmo, so can i just but it in a oil gas container and heat it up and let it condense though a pipe and drip out into a bottle, and then fractional distillation i hope this makes sense,

[Excalibur]

trying to deal with complex control functions manually like it was 1920.

That is so true. The Arduino looks to be a great solution to my heating stability problems. No doubt there'll be other things I will find to do with it like datalogging and alarms.

It is not common knowledge but if we add a shim on the body of an ordinary ball valve to add more clearance to the seal it will rotate with almost no resistance yet still seal perfectly.

This is such a good idea. Thanks for sharing. I've already added the shim and it will do nicely for control of gases. Actually I have some steppers from old inkjet printers so I was hoping to adapt one. No doubt part of the puzzle will be sorting the wiring/pins.

If you guys have issues with coding just give me a ring.

Thanks

[Beyond Biodiesel]

If you guys have issues with coding just give me a ring. Here is a picture of my Arduino based power panel.

Regards
AC

Thanks, AC, I will definitely be looking your way for help with programming my Arduino to monitor and control my pyrolysis unit.

thank for the info it is getting hard to get wvo here in spain they are asking a lot of money for it but i have got some one that will give me 250liters of wmo, so can i just but it in a oil gas container and heat it up and let it condense though a pipe and drip out into a bottle, and then fractional distillation i hope this makes sense,

It has been getting hard to fine WVO here in the USA since the oil inflation of 2007. This is why I am working on pyrolysis. The reason why I am distilling WMO is because just blending and filtering it ruined my engine. So, distilling it seems to be the way to go. And, distilling WMO is 5 gallons (20L) in is 4.5 gallons (18L) out; whereas, pyrolizing plastics is 55 gallons (220L) in is only 5 gallons out. However, all a WMO distillation system needs to crack plastics and other solid hydrocarbons into fuel is a large lid.

[imakebiodiesel]

Where did you get the information about the yeild from plastic processing? From 1kg of PE and PP I get 920 grams (1.1litre) of liquid fuel and 20grams of char. ( the missing 60gms is gas.)
Admittedly without a catalyst the yeild is lower but even then 700 grams from a kg would be acceptable.
You seem to be saying that the yeild would be 90 grams.

[mjohnson1]

Where did you get the information about the yeild from plastic processing? From 1kg of PE and PP I get 920 grams (1.1litre) of liquid fuel and 20grams of char. ( the missing 60gms is gas.)
Admittedly without a catalyst the yeild is lower but even then 700 grams from a kg would be acceptable.
You seem to be saying that the yeild would be 90 grams.

Beyond Biodiesel was referencing a unit of liters for plastic which is not a good way to measure plastic input. You can have 10 liters of plastic that weigh 4kg or 10 liters of plastic that weigh 1kg. There is so much trapped air in plastic even when it is finely shredder so using a volume based measurement is never a good idea in my opinion.

Your yields seem to be on par with my results as well as the results i've read in science journals.