How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[mercedes 308]

Am just a freshman who is a grand daddy living in the Dark Continent.
I want to develop this project to alleviate the rampant pollution of the entire continent by plastics imported from other continents.

I have dreams of starting on a scale of say 200 liters a day.
I am thinking about mixing shredded plastics with waste oil and scrap metal filings.

This is a bid to facilitate transfer of materials and heat in the apparatus.
The metal filings are heated by an induction heater and they in turn heat the mix right inside: very efficiently. The filings, perhaps even steel balls are recycled.

Of course the tank will be entirely of non-conductive but hard, dense ceramic material: a zirconia or alumina pipe will be sufficient as the mixture flows through it to a chamber where it expands and evaporates.

The induction heating coil surrounds the pipe and heats the oil-and- plastic mixture to cracking temperatures. The temperature in this case can easily be controlled by appropriate switching of the high frequency inverter of the induction heater.

Such a system will be highly efficient and produce much cleaner fuel - I think.

It does not look complicated at least in my head.

Who's gonna try something like that with me?

Somebody, say something!

Looks like an interesting project, what size coil will you use.?
And what sort voltage?

[Stewart]

Oxygen free environment

If I had read page three of the forum I would have know the answer!
Do you introduce a compressed gas into the reactor to evacuate the Oxygen? Perhaps Carbon Dioxide? If you do, what would be the control?
I have seen schematics for more elaborate systems and they all include compressed gas added to the system, to evacuate the Oxygen, I think that this is because of the feeder system that they employ.
From your explanations so far I am thinking that the initial melt in the reactor evacuates the O2. http://www.energeticforum.com/images/smilies/wall.gif

[drmattfombong]

Hi Mercedez 308,

Your Questions:
[I]Looks like an interesting project, what size coil will you use?
[2]And what sort voltage?

My answers:

[1]The idea is to make the process continuous. Thus, the size of the equipment will be reduced compared to the batch equipment. Feeding into the reaction vessel may not necessarily be done by an auger, pumps with valves may be successfully employed. Nor does the reaction vessel need to be ceramic: metallic vessels can also be heated by high frequency currents. Such heating will be external and require internal stirring of the reactor. So you see that at our visualization state, we cannot pin down any sizes. We have to try out with what we have; observe the output and then scale up or down accordingly.

[2]Our voltages are international: 220-240V single phase, 50Hz or 380-440V three phase, 50Hz. It is rather sad that America decides to be the world's odd man-out with its eccentric units and standards. This is one reason America is falling behind in manufacturing and exports.

Regards

[mercedes 308]

Hi Mercedez 308,

Your Questions:
[I]Looks like an interesting project, what size coil will you use?
[2]And what sort voltage?

My answers:

[1]The idea is to make the process continuous. Thus, the size of the equipment will be reduced compared to the batch equipment. Feeding into the reaction vessel may not necessarily be done by an auger, pumps with valves may be successfully employed. Nor does the reaction vessel need to be ceramic: metallic vessels can also be heated by high frequency currents. Such heating will be external and require internal stirring of the reactor. So you see that at our visualization state, we cannot pin down any sizes. We have to try out with what we have; observe the output and then scale up or down accordingly.

[2]Our voltages are international: 220-240V single phase, 50Hz or 380-440V three phase, 50Hz. It is rather sad that America decides to be the world's odd man-out with its eccentric units and standards. This is one reason America is falling behind in manufacturing and exports.

Regards

2" 50 mm seems a good place to start. Possibly vertically fed, with a tee piece at the top to take away gas.
seems you have a interesting project. Will definitely watch, good luck

[Punkinhaidmartin]

A few things that come to mind

Anybody interested in a continuous process instead of a batch based process?
Using an auger to melt and inject the polymer into a reactor would increase output and decrease the size of the reactor vessel.

[Punkinhaidmartin]

A Few things come to mind

I guess I should pay more attention.

[dutchdivco]

Perhaps

In ALL forums, and ALL threads, there should be (at the risk of 'shoulding' on anyone) a rule or guideline that says BEFORE posting, read the thread from the beginning, to see if your question or idea has already been covered.

It ALSO 'should' be 'understood' that EVERY post, from anyone, comes with a built in disclaimer; "This is just MY 'opinion'; and opinions are like *ssholes; everyone HAS one, and most ALL of us, (at one time or another), ARE one."

Speaking for myself, I KNOW there are times when I've acted or reacted in a very *sshole like way, and only realised it AFTER the fact,...;-( Hey, its just part of the human condition!

Anyway, no harm, no foul. Jim

[City Smith]

Wowzers

Hi, I am doing a project on reducing wastage of not fully utilizing plastic bags. How long did you make this converter?

[mercedes 308]

"O2 sensors" like the ones used on autos, in the exhaust, don't actually measure oxygen; they measure temperature, and can go up to 1000 degreesF. I'm just thinking that may be what he was referring to? Jim

Actually they do measure the oxygen content. One of there uses is to measure oxygen levels for divers, not much heat there.

They measure resistance changes across the platinum, due to oxygen reacting with it.

@Asad Farooqui The reason new cars don't run well on some diesels is because of the common rail system.
A primary pump in the tank feeds fuel to a high pressure pump, it then charges a common rail, that all the injectors feed from.
These injectors have a finer nozzle than ordinary injectors.
They are pulsed electrically by the CPU, this is why new cars have better mpg.

Ever thought of building a oil/plastic recycling plant in a steel shipping container ?, using the container as a frame (ease of shipping, drop on site, start and go recycling). you could even cut a hatch at one end, that folds out to form a loading chute.

[drmattfombong]

Profitable Waste Plastics to Fuel

This forum has been so helpful.

I want to make a business out of what I Have learnt here: Starting small.
I am an engineer consulting for renewable energies and industrial processes [also a part-time university lecturer] but I have spent a greater part of my life in studies moving from one continent to another in pursuit of knowledge. So I am self-employed and am nearing 60. This plastics-to-fuel deal [and free energy harvesting] has captured me entirely. Therefore I wish to retire with a running industry that will feed my later years. I must make profit out of it or there is no reason learning more about it. Thus, I will give jobs to many and I will endeavour to prevent accidents and injury in the process. So discourage me who can!

Wherefrom do I get my plastics?
Plastics abound: everywhere. They are wafted in dusty air of our streets. They float in murky pools of our backyards. They pile up in the reeking garbage dumps at street intersections. They smoulder with pungent odours, eye-stinging clouds and breath-choking gases in the incinerated municipal solid waste dumps.

In China, there are street sweepers who collect and sell waste plastics. In South America, there are the “cartoneros” who salvage plastics from garbage dumps and sell or process into products such as roofing tiles. We shall copy these two ways.
We shall set up collection points for the plastics. Each collector must bring at least 20 kg and be paid about $4: that is 20 cents per kilo. This in more than adequate for a day’s job [if a gatherer collects 20kg/day] according to the labour laws of my country where millions are searching for employment .So a tonne [MT] will cost $200. Shredding cost is about $100 per tonne and is done at the factory.
So here in Africa, we can get shredded plastics at $300/MT [maximum cost, man]. The plastics are shredded using two gangs of wood saws driven at low speed and rotating in counter directions.

What process will I use?
When I jumped into this forum I was dreaming of the exotic: induction heating of slurry of shredded plastics and metallic particles in oil. Yeah, I have worked with guys over there to depolymerise plastics and biomass using microwaves, infra-red and lasers. So, I thought high frequency radio waves will serve in my quest. Wrong! I have found out that this is not feasible at a small scale. The induction current generators, the non-metallic reaction chamber, the sealing of joints and the control equipment will make the project exorbitant.

Therefore, I follow the experimenters of this forum. A batch process requires larger equipment and involves much labour while a continuous process entails complex control of moving and heated components. So I have visualised up a hybrid scheme that will use a horizontal reaction tank fed by gravity from a hopper through a spherical valve [mindful that our feedstuff is a suspension of shredded plastic in heavy oil that comes out at the bottom of the reflux tower].

The tank is stirred and scraped by a propeller-like device under which is mounted an auger for removal of char. The bottom of the tank is heated by two stoves, one for bottled gas and the other for waste gases from the process. At the top and around the middle of the reactor, a catalyst chamber is welded with one removable end which allows the catalyst to be renewed. This is the only part of the equipment requiring a gas seal and at the low temperature of 220oC.

Welded directly above the catalyst chamber [but offset somewhat so as to prevent catalyst drenching by reflux down-flow] is the reflux tower filled with inert particles. Welded to the reflux tower and inclined downwards are three condenser pipes, each of which is enclosed in a larger pipe through which cooling water flows.

What problems will be solved relevant to this forum?
1. RAW MATERIALS: Thermoplastics are shredded and mixed with hot heavy oils [produced in the process] to form an easily flowing semi-solution slurry
2. REACTOR: does not need to be opened to be refilled, instead it is re-filled through a ball valve manually actuated outside of the feed hopper
3. HEAT DISTRIBUTION: heat source spread at bottom of the horizontal reactor and by stirring the mixture internally
4. CATALYST SOAKING: reflux column offset from sitting on the catalytic chamber
5. CHAR REMOVAL by an auger mounted at the bottom of the reactor: this is done during or at the end of each batch which may take about three to four runs and when the catalyst has to be changed
6. TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS reduced by insolating the tank, catalyst chamber and reflux column. It is possible to make the flues from the stoves below the reactor to rise through the outsides of these components.
7. JOINTS, SEALS AND MECHANIZATION are limited to a minimum. All joints except one are welded and there are two mechanical drives [which can be reduced to one] in the entire process from raw waste input to output of fuels
8. FORUM MIX-UP: members can experiment and give their suggestions to perfect the system and this can lead to something like a standard for micro scale processing developed by the forum.

The schema is attached in jpeg format

[mercedes 308]

I'm waiting for the day, I can park the Delorean up and fill up with waste like
Dr. Emmett Brown

But I'd settle for a12v pyrolysis chamber heated by induction coils and an inverter.

[kalaboxs]

Sveiks Jetij!

Kā nopratu pie 400 grādiem pirmreizeejais ir kaut kas liidziigs diizelim, ja?
Ja es veelos dabuut benziinu?
Kas un kaa ir jaakarsee?
P.S Vai obligaati ir nepieciesams elektriskais deglis?
Varbuut var to pashu benziina degli, piem. kaadreiz svilinaaja cuukas artaadu degli.. ?

Gaidiishu atbildi.

[Jetijs]

Kā jau es te daudziem esmu teicis, 99% no visiem jautājumiem topikā jau ir atbildēti, jāpārvar slinkums un jāizlasa viss no paša sākuma, tad nebūs lieku jautājumu. To visu vienā postā es nevaru sarakstīt un atkārtoties nav vēlmes. Ja tiešām tas viss ļoti interesē, tad vari braukt ciemos, uz vietas pastāstīšu un parādīšu, bet rakstīt slinkums, īpaši ja viss jau vienreiz ir pateikts.
Jetijs

[mercedes 308]

Is a cyclonic filter more efficient before or after a catalytic chamber ?

[TeemuT]

Melting tires

Thank you for very inspiring thread. It took a while to read everything but it was totally worth of it.

I have given a thought for this non stop for a week. My target would be making oil from tires when everything is tuned. I had a thought how to handle tire melting. I would make separate unit which would contain some oil which have higher evaporating point than where tires melt. So eventually tires should melt and I would have liquids in two layers + steel sinks in the bottom.

Then the liquid tire soup would be transferred to actual distilling unit. I have no problems with generated carbon and steel waste.

Would this work? I mostly need oil to heat house and carbon can be used for heating green house.