How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[Jetijs]

Hi Asad.
My recent tests show that it is very well possible to get clear light yellow green fuel from PE on the first run. To do this you need dried clay pieces in the refluctor chamber so that the vapors pass through it. This way I got great results on the first try, no waxes, just clear fuel. The lower the temperature of the reactor, the lighter the color of the fuel. If the temperature is too high, many of the heavy fractions pass through the refluctor, turning the fuel more yellow and darker with the tendency to darken a bit after a while and some wax sediments collecting on the bottorm. But still, this is a very neat method of dealing with waxes. Here are the results:


Depending on the temperature you get different colors and fraction ranges. The smaller the temperature the lighter the fuel. Almost no filtering is needed, comes out very clear. The one on the right was done at 420 degrees, the middle one at 400 degrees and the left one with 380 degrees. I can go as low as 330 degrees with good results, but the process becomes longer. Also the lighter the color, the more light fractions are inside, I determinated this by freezing all three samples. After 1 hour in the fridge the right one was already completely solid like wax. The middle one just a bit misty, the left one still clear. And over night, the middle one turned into kinda liquid souce, but the left one still clear and bright with no signs of waxing.
I have tried blue clay and red clay in the refluctor, both work very well.
Hope this helps.

[Jetijs]

On another note, my band heater died today, I knew that mica type heaters are not intended for such temperatures, but I hopd it woud work and it did for quite a while. Now it has infinite resistance on the power terminals and produces no heat anymore. Will need to buy a new one, this time a ceramic one.

[mbrownn]

Hi Asad.
My recent tests show that it is very well possible to get clear light yellow green fuel from PE on the first run. To do this you need dried clay pieces in the refluctor chamber so that the vapors pass through it. This way I got great results on the first try, no waxes, just clear fuel. The lower the temperature of the reactor, the lighter the color of the fuel. If the temperature is too high, many of the heavy fractions pass through the refluctor, turning the fuel more yellow and darker with the tendency to darken a bit after a while and some wax sediments collecting on the bottorm. But still, this is a very neat method of dealing with waxes. Here are the results:


Depending on the temperature you get different colors and fraction ranges. The smaller the temperature the lighter the fuel. Almost no filtering is needed, comes out very clear. The one on the right was done at 420 degrees, the middle one at 400 degrees and the left one with 380 degrees. I can go as low as 330 degrees with good results, but the process becomes longer. Also the lighter the color, the more light fractions are inside, I determinated this by freezing all three samples. After 1 hour in the fridge the right one was already completely solid like wax. The middle one just a bit misty, the left one still clear. And over night, the middle one turned into kinda liquid souce, but the left one still clear and bright with no signs of waxing.
I have tried blue clay and red clay in the refluctor, both work very well.
Hope this helps.

Very useful information. At 380 degrees, does all the feedstock eventually crack into kerosene, if not what happens to the wax? If you have time I think it would be worth investigating cracking at even lower temperatures

For heating elements, would the elements from an electric oven be more reliable? If so used ones from old ovens would be a cheap source.

[islander]

To jetijs and m.Brown

Congratulations for your great job and useful analysis !

For M.Brown : I beleive you are true to try common oven resistance, as they can heat at least 600c without a problem, and also they are bendable material so may be you can take one and roll it around your reactor pot.

[Jetijs]

In my opinion this process with catalysts in the refluctor works about 50% using the catalytic effect and other 50% using good olt thermal cracking. We found that better results are obtained if the refluctor is cooled and not allowed to get past 150 degree celsius, becouse othervise the heavy fractions get past the refluctor. Also, the bottom of the refluctor should be made in a cone shape, like this \/, well not so sharp, just to make a little funnel so that the condensed fuel in the refluctor can pour back in the reactor. When I used a hydraulic press to press out the plastic that filled the refluctor in one of my mishaps, I bent it inside a bit by accident, like this ^ and the results after that were very bad, I got waxes again and semliquid fuel, more like a souce. This is because some of the condensed liquid in the refluctor could not get back to the reactor. When I fixed this problem, fuel came out good and clear again. Clay can be used at least for 5 runs and maybe even more, I just never tried it for more times

[fibuslitero]

Thank you very much for what you are doing and sharing

In my opinion this process with catalysts in the refluctor works about 50% using the catalytic effect and other 50% using good olt thermal cracking. We found that better results are obtained if the refluctor is cooled and not allowed to get past 150 degree celsius, becouse othervise the heavy fractions get past the refluctor. Also, the bottom of the refluctor should be made in a cone shape, like this \/, well not so sharp, just to make a little funnel so that the condensed fuel in the refluctor can pour back in the reactor. When I used a hydraulic press to press out the plastic that filled the refluctor in one of my mishaps, I bent it inside a bit by accident, like this ^ and the results after that were very bad, I got waxes again and semliquid fuel, more like a souce. This is because some of the condensed liquid in the refluctor could not get back to the reactor. When I fixed this problem, fuel came out good and clear again. Clay can be used at least for 5 runs and maybe even more, I just never tried it for more times

[imakebiodiesel]

Well done Jetijs, you have truly "cracked" the problem!
Have you weighed the different samples? The weight of one litre (specific gravity) would tell us a lot about the content of each sample.
Do you bake the clay or simply air dry it?

[Asad Farooqui]

bentone clay

Hi Asad.
My recent tests show that it is very well possible to get clear light yellow green fuel from PE on the first run. To do this you need dried clay pieces in the refluctor chamber so that the vapors pass through it.

Hello Jetijs ;
Good job, yes Ur right lower them temperature lighter the color & No wax .
Yesturday I mentioned that Bentonite clay if mixed with feedstock in the reactor , can lower the cracking temperature to 300 celcius & the oil yield can also increase from 50% to 70% .
Tomorrow I will get clay & plan to try immediatly & will let U know the results.

[Asad Farooqui]

Elec heaters bands

Also, the bottom of the refluctor should be made in a cone shape, like this \/, well not so sharp, just to make a little funnel so that the condensed fuel in the refluctor can pour back in the reactor.

hi Jetijs ;
I try to upload my 100G Baby pic again showing the electric heater bands . They have to be fitted EXTRA-tight Only than they will last long & secondly after two three runs U have to tighten them again as they expand a bit & get apart from the walls .
Mica heaters I didn't selected because they couldn't be fasten with the reactor walls so tightly .
Kindly try elec heater bands next time .

Reflux chamber has a conical-V, joining it with the main reactor. I installed heater bands on the reflactor initially but soon realized that they are not necessary so I took them out.

[CRMoore]

More like a souce or a sauce? Does the clay eventually simply filter/precipitate out?

[Jetijs]

Hi all.
My question is how do you measure your yield? I mean, I can get 1 liter of fuel per 1kg of PE. One liter of course has a smaller weigth than water, about 23% smaller. So If we consider the mass only, my yield is 77%, right? Or did I calculate something wrong?

[silver]

Hello jetijs,
I planned everything perfect and feeling frightened about one thing. The shell is heated and the gases will reach the condenser. How there will be no explosion when the oxygen in the condenser meets the gases. And when you open the pipe to releive the oil from the condensor how it is sure that the outside air will not leak inside again causing explosion.

[Jetijs]

Hi silver.
I don't consider this a problem. First of all, if you have a bubbler, most of the air inside the system will expand when the unit is heated, this will force most of the air out, and what is left is nowhere even close to enough to cause problems. And even if the condenser leaks some air inside while pouring off some fuel, the perfect air to fuel ratio is hard to achieve and even then it needs about 300-400 degrees celsius to ignite and if your system is built correctly, those temperatures will be only in the reactor, the refluctor will already be way too cool to cause the explosion and the condenser even cooler. There is no way that air from the condenser will ever reach the reactor. So you can be safe. I know it is scary to run the system for the first time, because you don't know what is and is not normal - sounds, bubbling ect. But if you are past the first run, then there will be no problems

[aby2maria]

Help Please ...

Hello Jetijs

I am Aby ... I would Like to ask some questions about the Plastic To Diesel Project ..

1) Can I do it in a small scale .. I mean .. using a smaller furnace .. and single phase connection ??


2) Can I use a steel Furnace ?? ..


3) If we just condense the vapor coming out .. we gets a mix of fuel ...Can I use that in all diesel engines..

4) since i use steel furnace .. and its small .. it ll be very hot once i make some fuel ... so do i need to install some cooling system to the furnace so that i can add more plastic when i want ... other wise it may cause serious burns right ??


Thanks .. Thanks you would help ... and I am 16 y old .. is that a problem ??

Regards

[HOPE_FOR_HUMANITY]

Hello Jetijs

I am Aby ... I would Like to ask some questions about the Plastic To Diesel Project ..

1) Can I do it in a small scale .. I mean .. using a smaller furnace .. and single phase connection ??


2) Can I use a steel Furnace ?? ..


3) If we just condense the vapor coming out .. we gets a mix of fuel ...Can I use that in all diesel engines..

4) since i use steel furnace .. and its small .. it ll be very hot once i make some fuel ... so do i need to install some cooling system to the furnace so that i can add more plastic when i want ... other wise it may cause serious burns right ??


Thanks .. Thanks you would help ... and I am 16 y old .. is that a problem ??

Regards

I think, you can receive something like fuel but not diesel!
The process is not so simple. If you will use fuel for burning-yes, but for car you can not.
You will receive something like kerosine/gasoline the oven can reach the temperature max. 250 C on that temperature you will melt the plastic, but you can not crack the chain!
And on 250 c you will wait all life for fuel come out