How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[otpadnoulje]

hello Imakebiodiesel ;
1) The diesel fuel with CaOH performance is as good as the normal fuel , Only the gasoline fraction Under-performs .
I checked the S.gravity as follows ;
gasoline without CaOH = 695 g
gasoline with 5% CaOH = 700 g
kerosine with 5% CaOH = 760 g
Diesel without CaOH = 780 g
Diesel with 5% CaOH = 785 g



2) You mentioned addition of Nickel fine power as catalyst .
How much dose is required ?
Normally where to find it ?

Hadn't you been saying about 2 % of Ca(OH)2

[imakebiodiesel]

The changes to the specific gravity of both fuel are very small which would suggest that it is not simply a case of getting more diesel in the gasoline fraction. If it was then the gasoline sample with CaOH would weigh significantly more.
I suspect what has happened is a change in the make up of the gasoline itself.
The process of hydrogenation which I believe may have occurred, converts alkynes (aromatic hydrocarbons) into alkenes (napthenes) and Alkenes into alkanes ( paraffins). It is the very volatile aromatic hydrocarbons that give gasoline its high octane rating and gives the engine more power, better economy and easier starting.
The diesel fraction will not have been much changed by the hydrogenation because it does not depend on aromatic hydrocarbons for its performance,quite the opposite in fact.I think that reducing theCaOH to the minimum that will improve the colour and smell will help by depriving the reaction of excess hydrogen.
The nickel fine powder catalyst is used in food production, especially in margarine, so perhaps there is a factory in your city where you could get a sample. I have no idea about cost or dosage.However I think that adding this catalyst will make your problem even worse as it will accelerate the hydrogenation process.

[CRMoore]

A little organic chemistry lesson-Alkynes have triple bonds where as aromatics eg benzene etc are conjugated rings. Both are highly unsaturated however aromatics are notably stable w/r to hydrogenation.

[keith20mm]

Today I played around with the messy extruder setup a bit more. I turned the temperature way up and this resulted in lots of smoke on the otput and the plastic came out like a thick oil or boiling tar. Some of the smoke also came back into hopper. This means that the extruder temperatures need to be monitored and constant. A thermal sensor and thermostat needs to be used to prevent that from happening. But on the bright side, that liquid plastic vas very britle when hardened, just like solidified candle wax. This means that a partial cracking has already occured in the extruder

In the video your motor is loading down heavily.

Here is a half-baked idea for pre-heating the input stream:



Heat input is heat input... so this small effort is to divide and conquer... that is, avoid shredding completely, and go from whole pieces into liquid or near-liquid form, into the screw injector.

[Asad Farooqui]

hydrogenation

e process of hydrogenation which I believe may have occurred, converts alkynes (aromatic hydrocarbons) into alkenes (napthenes) and Alkenes into alkanes ( paraffins). It is the very volatile aromatic hydrocarbons that give gasoline its high octane rating and gives the engine more power, better economy and easier starting.
The diesel fraction will not have been much changed by the hydrogenation because it does not depend on aromatic hydrocarbons for its performance,quite the opposite in fact.

Hello Imakebiodiesel ;
Thanks for describing the hydrogenation factor .

Hydrogenation as I experienced disturbs the gasoline range Not Kerosine & Diesel range .
gasoline fuel attained even without CaOH has a good color .
Our 85% fuel output is kero+Diesel range & there color is quite dark.

I am wondering, if I add in the SOUP CaOH, AFTER separating gasoline fraction & than heat the balance SOUP fuel upto 215 Celsius to separate kerosine range & than increase the temperature upto 350 celsius to get the Diesel Range .

So by reacting it with CaOH IMPROVES the color & Smell .

Any suggestion ???

[imakebiodiesel]

CRMoore, thanks for the correction to my post, its been a long time since I studied chemistry and I need all the help I can get.
Do you think it possible that partial hydrogenation occurred in Asads reactor? 425 degrees Celsius at just above atmospheric pressure seems barely sufficient, although the temperature is measured at the top of his reactor, the temperature lower down near the heater bands may have been much higher.
Im just guessing that he lost some aromatics/ unsaturates because it fits with the loss of performance in the gasoline fraction while the specific gravity remained almost constant.
Asad your specific gravity figures for the diesel fraction seem low to me. Here in Ireland diesel fuel weighs 840gms per litre which would suggest you need more "heavies" not less. The heavier fractions are what gives diesel its lubricity and protects the moving parts in the engine's injectors and injector pump. Would a small proportion of polyethelene added to the mix increase the weight of the diesel fraction or would it just foul up the condensers with wax?

[Asad Farooqui]

diesel S.Gravity

Asad your specific gravity figures for the diesel fraction seem low to me. Here in Ireland diesel fuel weighs 840gms per litre which would suggest you need more "heavies" not less. The heavier fractions are what gives diesel its lubricity and protects the moving parts in the engine's injectors and injector pump. Would a small proportion of polyethelene added to the mix increase the weight of the diesel fraction or would it just foul up the condensers with wax?

Hello Imakebiodiesel ;
Thanks for your quick replies .
You R right, after getting the S.gravity results of my diesel. I planned to remove/Separate Kerosine range OUT of the diesel range .
This will make it havier & S.gravity will increase.
My guess is that Iam getting White Smoke out from my Diesel Car exhaust-pipe , which may be the unburned kerosine range vapours ???

The test results will be available in a couple of days . I hope it works .

[imakebiodiesel]

You may be right about the white smoke, a couple of years ago I accidentally started to fill my diesel cars tank with petrol. I stopped after a few litres but the car produced white smoke for days afterwards. Another condenser to separate the kerosene will push up the density of the diesel fraction.

[otpadnoulje]

i catch all together , gasoline, kero, diesel. i have only one condensor.
no smoke! nothing. no odor.

[imakebiodiesel]

Otpadnoulje
if you weigh exactly one litre of your fuel, the number of grams will tell us what the mixture is made of, diesel, kerosene and gasoline.
What type of car and engine do you drive. Some engines are very tolerant of fuel, others are not.

[mbrownn]

The dark color may be caused by very small particles of carbon, the type of fuel you get depends upon the plastics used. This carbon can be reduced by using a filter such as these Welcome To KleenOil Filtration These can easily be made using toilet rolls but waxes will clog the filter.

Using a single condenser you will have waxes, kerosine, diesel gasoline all in the mix

Kerosenes and "diesel" come out at the same temperature

[otpadnoulje]

Otpadnoulje
if you weigh exactly one litre of your fuel, the number of grams will tell us what the mixture is made of, diesel, kerosene and gasoline.
What type of car and engine do you drive. Some engines are very tolerant of fuel, others are not.

w123 mercedes 300 d from 1982 and 220 cdi from 1997 Mercedes E-klasa 290 TD automatik, 1996 god.

[imakebiodiesel]

The Mercedes 300D is famous for being tolerant of fuel quality. Lots of owners run them on vegetable oil blends. The CDi is a very different machine and I would think is not tolerant of off spec fuel at all. If Your CDi is running well on your plastic derived diesel then it must be pretty good quality.
I dont know the 290, I dont think that model is sold here.
Were you able to weigh a litre of your fuel?

[CRMoore]

Partial hydrogenation -hmm

Hydrogen balance -Hydrogen is added to the ends of the shorter chains as the polymers are cracked which could result in unsatuation(eg aromatics) in the same or different chains when there is insufficient extramolecular H2. Given a variety of polymers and temperatures throughout these mixtures their aromatic content could vary significantly.

There is a text referenced a few pages back that probably addresses this,

[CRMoore]

Addition to the chem note

The base Ca(OH)2 may be converting some acidic elements to salts or it might be catalyzing some rxn however its not a source of hydrogen.