How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[Beyond Biodiesel]

I've taken another good step forward with the recently completed run, cracking WMO. Each time I run the Orion retort, I learn new things about it.
She is slowly revealing her secrets!!...

I made a new video viewable on my DIYDiesel blog. I hope it helps.
Keep safe!

Congratulations, Excalibur, on your progress. Note to those wishing to see Excalibur's work, I have installed a link to it above.

I am designing a New unit for 100kg Capaicty tuned mostly for Diesal.
A couple of questions.
1. Is it advisable to have the Reflux/Retort Pipe as wide as possible? There have been many comments to have the Reflux very close to the retort, Why not make the reflux an extension of the Retort welded directly with a smaller diameter?

Yes, that is what most of us are doing. It is advisable to have the Reflux/Retort Pipe as wide as possible, and as close as possible to the retort, and have it insulated, and even heated to control its temperature.

2. In the Reflux, iron Wool has been recomended to increase surface area, is this better than having a series of Baffles?

I have both baffles and packing in my Reflux and condenser traps. I find creating as many opportunities to condense the vapor stream the better.

3. Im proposing to install a Cyclone between the Reflux and First Condensor.
Would a Cyclone also end up acting as a Condensor or should it be much smaller in size in comparison to a Condensor ?

I think a cyclone is a good idea for trapping condensate. The cyclone will definitely function as a condenser, so you will want to accommodate condensate there.

4.Last do you know if a Magnetic Seperator in line would be beneficial to collect Carbon particles and clean the fuel (This iis for my next development)
Thankyou

Dippy

To get carbon magnetic requires some pretty exotic manipulation, so under normal conditions, a magnet will not help in pyrolysis, but it could be used in a DIY fuel filter.

Hi Guys. So I did the first run. Still have some electrical problems causing some of my banks to trip in the electricity box, caused me to run for about 24Hours, but eventually got the run done and was left with only fine ash in bottom of reactor.

Basically got about 400L of a lovely yellow product. No waxy product.
However specific density of the combined final product is 1.05.

A specific gravity of 1.05 makes it not a normal hydrocarbon, or petroleum distillate, so you were probably cracking a halogenated hydrocarbon, which means your exhaust will have been very toxic. For safety reasons, if you are going to be cracking unsorted plastic trash, then it is best to float it through a trough, so that you can easily separate the halogenated hydrocarbon from the non-halogenated, then your distillate will be useable.

I tried to blend it with 50% commercial diesel, however the phases separate, due to the large variation in density of the two products.

This is not surprising, because halogenated hydrocarbons do not readily dissolve into petroleum distillates, so this is another good reason to avoid cracking halogenated hydrocarbons.

Seems like the thermal de-polymerization was insufficient. Any suggestions, perhaps increase the length of my reflux? The is no insulation at present on the reflux.

Kind Regards
AJ

Well, if you do not insulate and heat your reflux, then your unit is likely to reflux indefinitely.

[jonathan]

pyrolysis

thanks excalibur for sharing videos and information on your blog thanks for everyone for sharing photos l wish to share my system how it works but l am still having trouble with oil burner but now l am trying home made siphon nozzle keep it up

[Excalibur]

Hi Guys.
Basically got about 400L of a lovely yellow product. No waxy product.
However specific density of the combined final product is 1.05.

I tried to blend it with 50% commercial diesel, however the phases separate, due to the large variation in density of the two products.

Seems like the thermal de-polymerization was insufficient. Any suggestions, perhaps increase the length of my reflux? The is no insulation at present on the reflux.

Congrats on getting first run completed. Sorry it hasn't worked as expected.
Wow 1.05, that's heavy! What was the feedstock?
My first thought is to increase the effectiveness of the reflux. You'll be wanting to run the reflux cooler, so increasing length, size or additional cooling might be the go. What was the temperature of the reflux throughout the run?
The relationship between retort and reflux is a fine balance. The reflux needs to deal with all the heat of the vapor stream and it's "relentless". Too much or too little reflux temperature will put the product outside the range you are looking for.

[Excalibur]

Excalibur
Do you have a Video showing your complete set up including condensor's, this one shows the Retort and reflux mostly .
I am designing a New unit for 100kg Capaicty tuned mostly for Diesal.
A couple of questions.
1. Is it advisable to have the Reflux/Retort Pipe as wide as possible? There have been many comments to have the Reflux very close to the retort, Why not make the reflux an extension of the Retort welded directly with a smaller diameter?
2. In the Reflux, iron Wool has been recomended to increase surface area, is this better than having a series of Baffles?
3. Im proposing to install a Cyclone between the Reflux and First Condensor.
Would a Cyclone also end up acting as a Condensor or should it be much smaller in size in comparison to a Condensor ?
4.Last do you know if a Magnetic Seperator in line would be beneficial to collect Carbon particles and clean the fuel (This iis for my next development)

At present there are three Youtube videos that show the newest prototype.
More videos may be made soon. Photos of the parts can be seen amongst the 14 attached pages of my DIYDiesel blog. Please realize that the set up is under constant change and review in the search for improved performance. For example, the recent run included 2 additional condenser vessels for capturing gasoline fraction.
1. It will work. Altering the size, distance away and connecting aperture are means to tuning the reflux performance.
2. Both will work. Make it removable for tuning purposes. Currently I have one baffle plus steel wool but I now have too much refluxing, so I think I'll remove the wool only and retry. After that I'll try adjusting the aperture size between the vessels. Also baffles/steel wool could possibly help arrest boil-over.
3. I haven't seen the use of a cyclone for our application so difficult to know for sure. I do wonder if the gas speed would be fast enough to have real benefit. It would act as another condenser in my opinion.
4.Interesting article on magnetism

[AAS]

reactor

all the electrical energy supplied = heat energy absorbed by the plastic
Just a typo sorry, water is around 4500 J kg-1 oC-1

Hi Guys.

So I did the first run. Still have some electrical problems causing some of my banks to trip in the electricity box, caused me to run for about 24Hours, but eventually got the run done and was left with only fine ash in bottom of reactor.

Basically got about 400L of a lovely yellow product. No waxy product.
However specific density of the combined final product is 1.05.

I tried to blend it with 50% commercial diesel, however the phases separate, due to the large variation in density of the two products.

Seems like the thermal de-polymerization was insufficient. Any suggestions, perhaps increase the length of my reflux? The is no insulation at present on the reflux.

Kind Regards
AJ

[dippy909]

Excalibur
Do you have a Video showing your complete set up including condensor's, this one shows the Retort and reflux mostly .

I am designing a New unit for 100kg Capaicty tuned mostly for Diesal.
A couple of questions.
1. Is it advisable to have the Reflux/Retort Pipe as wide as possible? There have been many comments to have the Reflux very close to the retort, Why not make the reflux an extension of the Retort welded directly with a smaller diameter?
2. In the Reflux, iron Wool has been recomended to increase surface area, is this better than having a series of Baffles?
3. Im proposing to install a Cyclone between the Reflux and First Condensor.
Would a Cyclone also end up acting as a Condensor or should it be much smaller in size in comparison to a Condensor ?
4.Last do you know if a Magnetic Seperator in line would be beneficial to collect Carbon particles and clean the fuel (This iis for my next development)
Thankyou

Dippy

[Excalibur]

I've taken another good step forward with the recently completed run, cracking WMO. Each time I run the Orion retort, I learn new things about it.
She is slowly revealing her secrets!!

The total yield was 185L diesel & 5L petrol. This time I chose to trap the petrol in an uncooled condenser at ambient temperature of about 30*C which worked out quite well as the gases available for the turk burner head gave its' best result ever. At one stage, it burned continuous for over two hours just on gases alone. Just as satisfying was the flue stack emission which was clear as one could wish for, on either fuel. The turk IP benefitted from having the fuel thinned down so it vaporized much easier, making ignition more immediate. Also I discovered the IP idle screw was not where I thought so resetting a new minimum helped outright controllability.

It was some surprise to find that the diesel could come at a rate of a liter a minute! Please realize that this is at its' maximum and isn't sustainable as fresh feedstock dips the temperature, reducing evaporation activity.

For the first time I monitored ingoing heat. It was over 800*C at times. No wonder the 3" inlet pipe was bright red hot. I rue not making this bigger diameter and wall thickness.

I now have no fewer than 8 temperature monitoring LCD devices on various parts of my plant. I regard these as essential and I plan more. Knowledge is power as the saying goes, and knowing what's happening in any part of a distillation unit is key to proper control. Highly recommended!

I made a new video viewable on my DIYDiesel blog. I hope it helps.
Keep safe!

[skumarroyal]

can you send me the pictures of this work at my address
Email id: skumarroyal@gmail.com

[skumarroyal]

hi Jetijs..
thanks for your post and for a beautiful work.
I want to know about the detail of this project with the help of all pictures and total profit of the this plant after the output product. we have 7 cent per kW of energy cost.

[Excalibur]

Originally Posted by Beyond Biodiesel:
Copper or aluminum radiators as condensers of the vapor stream should work fine, you would only want to make sure that the radiator never sees temperatures above 100c

.

WAY? i need diesel???

Copper or brass automotive radiators would have the joints sweated with solder which has a likely melting point of about 180 - 200*C. Should a radiator exceed the melt point during operation, it could collapse venting highly explosive volatile gasses. Immediate containment would be difficult.
For a diesel condenser, you need something better!

[faraway]

Copper or aluminum radiators as condensers of the vapor stream should work fine, you would only want to make sure that the radiator never sees temperatures above 100c.

WAY? i need diesel???

[Beyond Biodiesel]

thanks for replay, this was my test idea and i was think it will work, anyway,
this week i will test 50 liter drum with waste plastic, i will use red clay as catalytic and i will mix it 50/50 waste engine oil, did water car radiator work for distillation ,, aluminium or copper is better for radiator ?

Copper or aluminum radiators as condensers of the vapor stream should work fine, you would only want to make sure that the radiator never sees temperatures above 100c.

I do not use any catalyst. catalysts What it does?
I'm doing 2-ton system. AAS's same system. Is there anything you can suggest to me?
thans

prototype no problem. i have 3 prototip. now bigger system time. maybe someone can tell me different things. I think for plastic automatic feeding. with valve blade. I did not use the catalyst. I need information about it. AAS in systems such as the ones I'm waiting for help from them. have basically information. I do not know what use zeolite or sulfuric acid. I've done without the use of catalysts. What happens as a catalyst not use the new system?We need to know about it. I have no problems with the prototype.
I broke the previous prototypes. No photos for this reason. The first prototype in the video.
1234567890 - YouTube

Catalysts aide in cracking large hydrocarbon molecules, like plastics, into smaller hydrocarbon molecules, like diesel and petrol (gasoline). A wide range of substances can be used as a Catalyst, including ash, clay, volcanic ash, marine sediments, such as diatomateous earth, Zeolite, etc.

To use a Catalyst one simply adds it on top of the contents in the retort, and/or puts it into the reflux column, then start your run, and the vapors will contact the Catalyst and crack on their way to the condensers.

[Babataku]

Kedigen,

I Suggest that you start with a small prototype system maybe 10 - 20ltr capacity and then when you have mastered how it all works and you have gained experience, then you can build a bigger unit...

[faraway]

thanks for replay, this was my test idea and i was think it will work, anyway,
this week i will test 50 liter drum with waste plastic, i will use red clay as catalytic and i will mix it 50/50 waste engine oil, did water car radiator work for distillation ,, aluminium or copper is better for radiator ?

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Also, faraway, a standard immersion heater, such as is used for a water heater, is not designed for cracking temperatures, so it will fail on the first run, and the elastomeric seal will leak.