How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[khouchaymi]

Retort wall thickness

Dear all
what should be the thickness of the retort wall. I noticed that the cover is more than 10mm in thickness and the screwes and bolts are very strong.
Can an oil barel by it self do as retort with fire underneth.
I heard a story about some body who was operating a retort and it exploded and killed him. What would have happened??

[Excalibur]

My new retort is 8mm wall though I would have settled for 5-6mm if I could have found some. My flange is machined from 25mm plate. In my opinion, flame heated retorts would require a thicker wall thickness than electrically heated ones.
An oil drum wouldn't be substantial enough. Also I noticed that plastic film was used to seal a drums' rolled edges so the first thing that would happen is that plastic would melt and create a leak. Whether all drums are like this one I saw is unknown. Either way they are too thin.
An old retired gas cylinder would be a much better candidate.

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Dear all
...I heard a story about some body who was operating a retort and it exploded and killed him. What would have happened??

Most probably a plug in is refluxing column. The reflux needs to be the same temperature as the boiler or trap before it.

[AetherScientist]

Has anyone here tried to make synthethic methanol?
There is also a way to convert methanol to gasoline.

[kerrsy]

making a school size heater

Hi
I'm a technician at a technical college and we have come across this thread
I'm hoping that we can make a small demonstration unit that will allow the students to see this process in the classroom, using the fuel to run a small diesel engine.
First question, is it possible?
I have a section of 6" steel pipe that I thought we could use and heat it with a gas ring underneath.
With out going into any further dialog could you tell me if this is possible?

Thank you

Alan

[Excalibur]

That is the basics of it , yes. You need heat the plastic to evaporation temperature in an oxygen free environment. There are numerous cases on this thread that show it working at that most simple level.

Some months ago there was talk about lab pyrex for observation purposes of the principles of plastic pyrolysis. Sadly there hasn't been any video or pics posted showing the phenomena but hopefully at some stage we can all see such a thing.
A picture would be a thousand words, a video would be a million.

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Has anyone here tried to make synthethic methanol?
There is also a way to convert methanol to gasoline.

While I am aware that methanol can be extracted from wood, I was not aware of other ways to extract it, nor ways to turn methanol into gasoline, other than burning it straight. So, please tell us more.

Hi
I'm a technician at a technical college and we have come across this thread
I'm hoping that we can make a small demonstration unit that will allow the students to see this process in the classroom, using the fuel to run a small diesel engine.
First question, is it possible?
I have a section of 6" steel pipe that I thought we could use and heat it with a gas ring underneath.
With out going into any further dialog could you tell me if this is possible?

Thank you

Alan

I agree with Excalibur, a Pyrex demonstration unit might reveal the most to students, but you will need 5-gallon (20L) capacity to get about 1-gallon (4L) of fuel. So, your idea of using a section of 6" pipe is a good one.

[mnp346]

hi
We can use all type of plastic in this device?

[AetherScientist]

hi
We can use all type of plastic in this device?

No, the chinese man said that you can use only 3 or 4 types of plastic:
polyethylene, polystyrene and polypropylene.

[AetherScientist]

While I am aware that methanol can be extracted from wood, I was not aware of other ways to extract it, nor ways to turn methanol into gasoline, other than burning it straight. So, please tell us more.

Chemical composition of methanol is CH4O. The chemical components needed are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. You can extract hydrogen from water electrolysis and C and O from CO2, carbon dioxide. To get carbon dioxide you need a chemical filter to capure it. H2O + NaOH (cautic soda). Reacting them in a well configured chamber will give as a result CH4O.

[imakebiodiesel]

Just got back from Houston Texas where my son Ruairi won a bronze metal in the ISWEEP science competition for his Plastic to oil project. It was great fun and saw lots of very clever projects. There was one other plastic to oil project on show but without a catalyst it had only produced a soft wax so far. I was able to give him, a Bosnian student, some advice about a reflux column and possible catalysts.

[Jetijs]

Just got back from Houston Texas where my son Ruairi won a bronze metal in the ISWEEP science competition for his Plastic to oil project. It was great fun and saw lots of very clever projects. There was one other plastic to oil project on show but without a catalyst it had only produced a soft wax so far. I was able to give him, a Bosnian student, some advice about a reflux column and possible catalysts.

Nice work. I am happy to hear that

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Good to hear from you imakebiodiesel, and that you took your pyrolysis unit to a science competition and won a medal. Good work.

[kerrsy]

While I am aware that methanol can be extracted from wood, I was not aware of other ways to extract it, nor ways to turn methanol into gasoline, other than burning it straight. So, please tell us more.


I agree with Excalibur, a Pyrex demonstration unit might reveal the most to students, but you will need 5-gallon (20L) capacity to get about 1-gallon (4L) of fuel. So, your idea of using a section of 6" pipe is a good one.

Thank you for your replies
I'm not quite sure what you mean by "Pyrex demonstration unit"

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Thank you for your replies
I'm not quite sure what you mean by "Pyrex demonstration unit"

Hello kerrsy, since you are a technician at a technical college, and you are interested in building a pyrolysis unit for student demonstration, then making one out of glassware would afford the greatest demonstration, because students could see inside the unit at various stages. Someone here up thread posted several photos of such a demonstration unit.