How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[extraloud]

To Jetijs

Hello - thank you for you contributions to the community

you have said you have only sun dried your clays ? or have you also baked them ?

red clay pots like this are common - they have been baked i believe :



i am figuring I could crush clay pots like this - what are you thoughts ?

I also have access to wet clays which can be formed and sun dried - what would you suggest ? baked or sun dried ?

thank you very much

[Jetijs]

Hi,
I have never tried baked clay. This is yet to be tried. My setup is not operational at the moment and I am not sure when I will resume the tests as there are currently other matters at my hands. I only have tried three catalysts - red clay, blye clay and aluminum oxide. Clays work well, aluminum oxide not at all.
Thanks,
Jetijs.

[imakebiodiesel]

Hi Jetijs, I hope you are back in operation soon, your experiments have been invaluable. I have finished making my reflux column today. I got some red clay last week and moulded it into small cubes about 15mm square. They have been drying for several days now so should be ready. Im going to pack the column full of these.
The temperature I intend to use in the reactor is 380C. previously I let the temp rise to 420c and always got waxes. From what Ive researched we want the vapours to enter the bottom of the column at around 220c and exit at the top at 150c. Does that sound right?
Keith 20mm a tall water bubbler will work better than a short one and will also increase the internal pressure within the system but I found that placing several dry condensers before the bubbler saves the hassle of separating the water and fuel. I use an air cooled condenser followed by a water cooled condenser followed by the bubbler. That way almost no fuel makes it as far as the bubbler.

[Jetijs]

Hi imakebiodiesel,
Your temperature settings sound right. If tou can maintain them, everything should be fine. In the first run you will probably have some ammounts of water in the produced fuel as the sun dried clay is never perfectly dry, also the fuel yield in the first time wont be as much as in second or thrid run as the dry clay tends to soak up some fuel like a sponge. In the first run I always get a bit misty fuel, but that filters out easily leaving you great looking fuel, clear and bright. On the second and third run you might net even have to filter it
Hope everything will work out well in your setup.
As for me, I am stuck a bit. I got the ceramic band heater for my test setup, but I noticed that it is intended for 480V and those voltages are not available for me here, as far as I know that is an industrial electrical standard in US. The best I can get is only 400V between phases in delta configuration, this means that my ceramic heater rated 4.2kW will only operate at 70% power, or around 3kW, which is still good, but could be better. I also got my bigger heaters - two 5.4KW 9.75" diameter and 8" tall ones. This will allow me to make a reactor with a volume of around 40L. But they are also on 480V, this means that at 400V the combined power will be 7.56KW. Not as good as 10.8kW at full power, but still better than our first version that had 50L reactor and only 6kW heaters. I am thinking of maybe using a 3 phase rectifier between phases, but my calculations show that this would give around 540V or a bit more, and that is too much. Maybe there is a way to limit the power a bit? Any thoughts? On the other hand, those big heaters use mica insulation, just as my small setup did and it did fail eventually, so maybe using it on reduced power will prevent it from failing? Might be that the small one failed because it was constantly removed off the reactor after every run, and this physical deformation is the cause of the fail. Those big heaters I intend to put on the reactor and not remove so as not to cause any physical damage. As far as I know, depending on the brand, 350-380 degrees is the max mica heaters can handle. My test setup went as high as 440 degrees, but that was at the beginning of the tests, later I only get as high as 380 degrees. Some food for thought

Jetijs

[Jetijs]

imakebiodiesel, can you post any pictures of your setup?

[fibuslitero]

Japanese machinery

Hi:
I have found this japanese machinery with continuous operation system by gravity.
I think it give us a lot of information for domestic setups
Also says their process can be also used for biodiesel instead of transesterification (I think that only with very few modifications over the plastics setup).

CONTINUOUS WASTE PLASTIC CATALYTIC CRACKING OIL PRODUCTION - YouTube

Recycle Energy Co.,Ltd - CONTINUOUS WASTE PLASTIC CATALYTIC CRACKING OIL PRODUCTION and CATALYTIC CRACKING BIODIESEL PRODUCTION-

[fibuslitero]

Also this link :

CATALYTIC CRACKING OIL PRODUCTION - YouTube

[fibuslitero]

To Extraloud

Hi:
In this experiment (cracking a hydrocarbon) the teacher says the catalyst can be pumice stone or pieces of broken plant pot so what you suggested seems to be right

Cracking a Hydrocarbon - YouTube

The experiment is basic but very very interesting for all of us imho

Hello - thank you for you contributions to the community

you have said you have only sun dried your clays ? or have you also baked them ?

red clay pots like this are common - they have been baked i believe :



i am figuring I could crush clay pots like this - what are you thoughts ?

I also have access to wet clays which can be formed and sun dried - what would you suggest ? baked or sun dried ?

thank you very much

[Asad Farooqui]

heater bands .

I got the ceramic band heater for my test setup, but I noticed that it is intended for 480V and those voltages are not available for me here, as far as I know that is an industrial electrical standard in US. The best I can get is only 400V between phases in delta configuration Any thoughts?

Might be that the small one failed because it was constantly removed off the reactor after every run, and this physical deformation is the cause of the fail. Some food for thought

hello jetijs ;
Iam using electric heater about six months or so & was the first one to mention it on this forum.
1) I found out that heaters once fitted very tightly with the reactor walls should not be removed again & again . If once they are loose fitted they will DIE . Iam quite sure this what happened in your case .

2) Electric heater first I connected in a three phase 440V setting but now i changed the wiring of the same heaters in a single phase configuration .
This consumes more elec power but makes the heats the reactor quickly, infact in half the time .

3) I use electric heater Bands & cover/wrap them in ceramic wool which can resist upto 1000 celcius .
I've gone upto 450-Celsius temperature without any problem .

4) Did U try to use clay mixed with waste plastic in the reactor & pyrolyse it ??? Let the fun begin ......
Iam nowadays experimenting it & getting very funny results .

[Jetijs]

Hi Asad
Thank you for the info. Now I am convinced that mica bands should handle the task and it was constant taking off and putting on action that killed it.
I have never tried mixing catalysts with the reactor contents, I believe the catalyst must meet the feedstock only in vapor/gas form
Thanks,
Jetijs

[Jetijs]

Asad, I am curious of how you got 440V? Do you have some industrial power line or that can be achieved with some kind of 3 phase setup?

[Asad Farooqui]

440V setup

Asad, I am curious of how you got 440V?

Hello Jetijs ;
In my country 220V A/C power in single & three phase is available .
First I SIMPLY connected TWO phases of 220V each with the band heaters.
This gave the 220+220=440V .

Now I simply connect single phase 220V (One neutral & One phase of 220V).
This heats the reactor more quickly although consumes more power .

[Asad Farooqui]

catalyst types

Hi Asad
I have never tried mixing catalysts with the reactor contents, I believe the catalyst must meet the feedstock only in vapor/gas form
Thanks,
Jetijs

Hello Again ;
I've studied there are two types of catalyst cintacts ;
1) gaseous phase contact catalyst
2) Liquid Phase contact catalyst

Your type is the gaseous phase where the vapors reacts .

In the liquid phase type the feedstock is mixed with the catalyst so the reaction starts as soon as the feedstock turns into liquid form .
The benefits achieved could be faster cracking speed (could be half the time) and at relatively lower temperatures .
Iam experimenting to achieve a cracking temperature of 300 celsius .

I would like to invite the community to start experimenting with the liquid phase catalysts also ....

[Jetijs]

Hello Jetijs ;
In my country 220V A/C power in single & three phase is available .
First I SIMPLY connected TWO phases of 220V each with the band heaters.
This gave the 220+220=440V .

Now I simply connect single phase 220V (One neutral & One phase of 220V).
This heats the reactor more quickly although consumes more power .

Do you have a circuit schematic? As far as I know, then max you can get in delta config (between phases) is 400V. I measured it and there really are 400V at least in this config:

Also in delta (triangle) config. Where did you get those extra 40V? A drawing would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Jetijs

[extraloud]

to Asad ( catalyst )

i agree that some catalyst are effective in the liquid - at first i had my doubts, but i have read that this is effective in the way you described. Do you have any comments or suggestions to add to the following list - especially the liquid ?

for vapor phase i will try the following:
pumice stone
baked red clay ( pottery )
sun dried clays
calcium Bentonite or sodium Bentonite (maybe both - using kitty litter/oil spill clean)

for liquid phase I will try:
CaOH2
???
maybe something from this list ---> Raw Materials, Stains, Dry Clay & Glaze Ingredients

I should be up and running this week and will be trying the following with PE & PP plastics