How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[WeirdoC]

I think we need to comprise a list of materials that can be pyrolised into fuel,
Other than plastic, waste oil and tyres....

Unfortunately, I don't think that there is a lot else that can be pyrolyzed to directly create liquid hydrocarbon fuels that will run in normal engines. Biomass generally doesn't contain much in the way of hydrocarbons, especially the long-chain hydrocarbons needed to create clean, condensable liquid fuels.

What biomass does have in abundance are carbohydrates. If you pyrolyze woody biomass (especially softwoods like pine that contain high levels of aromatics and tars), you can precipitate out a flammable liquid called pyrolysis oil. Unfortunately, it is acidic, loaded with oxygen, and unsuitable for use in an internal combustion engine. It would work alright in an external combustion engine, though (e.g. a steam engine).

I believe that there is a catalytic process for removing the oxygen from pyrolysis oil, but I believe that it also involves platinum, high pressures and temperatures, and the use of hydrogen gas. In other words, it's WAY beyond the scope of a home-brew device.

Now, if someone could develop a low-cost, small scale Fischer-Tropsch reactor, we could fully pyrolyze darn near anything and convert the resulting syngas to diesel fuel. I know the people at All Power Labs (makers of the GEK) are trying to develop one, but they haven't been successful yet. Until then, we're stuck with using pure hydrocarbon feedstock or burning lower-grade fuels in external combustion engines.

[Excalibur]

Yes, I'll have to make a trip to the bigger yard. I didn't find anything nearby and few companies I tried (from China) are scam. Those legitimate don't want to bother with retail order. If I would have a lathe....

Thanks
Vtech

I just happened to be passing by one of the scrap metal dealers today. Sure enough there were some 3-4"pipe flanges I could have had.
I want a bigger opening for the char removal and the upper filler is only going to be large BSP fittings anyway, so these weren't any good for me.
Also caught my eye was some LPG and CNG cylinders in the 50-80L range, one of which was stainless.
One thought I'd had earlier was to get 2 x 80L LPG cylinders... cut one end off each .... then weld together to form a 150L vessel. For the oven part, 2 x 200L drums could be welded together in similar fashion. However 150L seems a bit small as I use more that monthly.

If I would have a lathe....

Yes, I don't know how I got on before I got the lathe. I use it quite a bit. It's more than paid for itself!

[imakebiodiesel]

Of course now that I think about it there is no such thing a methene, my mistake. I did not include alkynes because I have no evidence for triple bonds but I do for double bonds. When a small amount of my fuel is added to bromine water the brown colour turns clear. This indicates the presence of double bonds. So at least some of my fuel is unsaturated.
I have a hunch this is the reason some batches of fuel darken a little within 24 hours of being made. The less stable unsaturated fuel is reacting with oxygen in the air. Is this feasible?
It does not seem to make any difference to the fuel as used in an engine.

[aleksandarrado]

Based on the harbor frieght tools I've have seen , from China, I'd be leery. Old saying, "Its like buying OATS; You want clean, top grade oats, your going to pay 'top dollar'; now, if you don't mind oats that have already been run through the horse a few times, well, thats MUCH cheaper!

Coarse I realise we all have different goals, and different budgets, etc. I suspect unless these flanges from China are cheap enough that you can buy say,...100 of them at a time, and change them out after each run, it MAY be more practical to pay the 'top dollar' price. Jim

Does anyone know the drawing is on Page 45 as the right condenser and that temperature should be bablerot three other condenzers where diesel, kerosene and gasoline

[aleksandarrado]

Yes, I'll have to make a trip to the bigger yard. I didn't find anything nearby and few companies I tried (from China) are scam. Those legitimate don't want to bother with retail order. If I would have a lathe....

Thanks
Vtech

Your drawing that co reported on Page 45 Moses will I get my district you or anyone else how many degrees should be babler, how many degrees should be condenzers and how to make a catalyst. Please help because I started doing it.

[ndsunil]

Material For Construction Of Reactor

Hello ;
Good ,Your reactor drawing seems to be quite close to my drawing which I suggested few months back .

I would like to suggest you to use only NEW-Stainless steel sheet for fabricating the Main-reactor .

I would like to share my experience with you . I made a small 02-3kg reactor with electric heater-bands & Bottom gas-burner .
I used M/steel for the reactor . It use to take 05-6 hours to reach 400 celcius .
I threw away the M/steel & instead re-fabricated reactor with S/Steel.
Same heating system was installed on the S/S reactor .
Amazingly the 400 ceclius reached in less than 01-hour instead of 5-hours.

I think EN 41 B is the right material over stainless steel. Would you comment on this ?

[blackchisel97]

Your drawing that co reported on Page 45 Moses will I get my district you or anyone else how many degrees should be babler, how many degrees should be condenzers and how to make a catalyst. Please help because I started doing it.

Здраво Aleksandarrado. На bubbler не треба да се загрее. Оние пареа минува низ не се растворливи гасови кои не се жешки. Bubbler делува како една искра arrester за да се спречи пламенот од подршка во кондензаторите и предизвикување експлозија.

Реактор сад треба да се работи меѓу 380-450° C. Не ќе зависи от типот на пластика и ова е нешто што ќе мора да се експериментира. Катализатор и првиот кондензаторот за нафта треба да се изолираат за да се задржи на температурата на високо ниво. Прво кондензаторот треба да биде помеѓу 170-220° C.
Второ кондензаторот ќе се загрева со пареа доаѓаат и тоа ќе биде околу 70°C. Тоа не треба да се загрее или изолирани. Третиот кондензаторот за керозин можеби ќе треба да се ладат во вода јакна за да се задржи на температурата во близина на 20°C. Се надевам дека мојот превод е во ред.

Vtech

[khouchaymi]

Diagrams

Dear members

I am new to the forum. Please where can I find the detailed step by step to build a 50 to 100 kg pyrolysis reactor.
what are the dangers of the reactor if any
Thanks

[mercedes 308]

Dear members

I am new to the forum. Please where can I find the detailed step by step to build a 50 to 100 kg pyrolysis reactor.
what are the dangers of the reactor if any
Thanks

In this thread, please read all of it
And welcome

[faki]

how much hetting in boil to plastic

plz send me any member my Q ans

[Excalibur]

Experiment went well

My thermocouple arrived yesterday from HongKong. It took exactly 6 days to land on my doorstep. One of the main reasons I went with this is because the feedback for the seller was so much better than some of the others.

So I got down to business staying with my simplified reactor. I fitted a bigger flue which worked much better.
The thermocouple was inserted in the top of the reactor, into a tube which was brazed to the BSP blanking plug.
I started the fire going and ran it for about 5-6hours. There were a few issues. Some of wood was wet and it rained as well.
At first white lumps were appearing, floating in the water. I soon realized this was wax and not bits of plastic.
So I made some liters of creamy yellow wax.

Ok, so next I need to get my condensers arranged. I picked up some great vessels for this purpose from a scrap metal dealer yesterday.
With regard to piping of reflux condensers, I notice that the "in" and "out" are sometimes in the top and sometimes in the side, near the top. Is there particular advantage to favor either top or side,near top?

Also, I've got various oils I'd like to try, amongst them is about 400L of vegetable oils. Is the theory the same for vege oils in a Pyrolysis reactor? Logically I'd think it is.

I've just started my 3rd sweep of reading all the posts from the start. I hope to be finished by the end of the week. It's amazing how much more the info makes sense each subsequent time it's read. Of course my memory isnt what it used to be either!

[quintusk]

I would not use UVO/WVO not even SVO, it will burn/carbonize:
Smoke point - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WMO is the way to go!

[Excalibur]

Thanks for the reply quintusk. It gives me the opportunity to think it through and study the situation. I'd only thought about the possibility just this week so the prospect is quite new.
Firstly, I Googled the subject. I got a number of hits including a pilot study in a Brazilian University on Soybean oil. 450'C - 600'C were temperatures reportedly employed.
Your smoke point link shows a number of oils, all of which are cooking types. The thought occurred that smoke point might only be important for frying, etc??
At this moment, I think WMO would have a smoke point too and so would plastic. Both these I think would be somewhat below 400'C.
In the reactor, oxygen is excluded so the feedstock can't burn.
Carbon char is what we want remaining after we extract the "goodness".
Perhaps I'm missing something...?
Thanks

[quintusk]

The key is lack of oxigen inside the pyro chamber, so using SVO may work.
WVO with all those acids inside, i dont like it,but what the hell, ABS gives out an acid acid too

As soon as i have my setup ready i will test some WVO

[aleksandarrado]

Здраво Aleksandarrado. На bubbler не треба да се загрее. Оние пареа минува низ не се растворливи гасови кои не се жешки. Bubbler делува како една искра arrester за да се спречи пламенот од подршка во кондензаторите и предизвикување експлозија.

Реактор сад треба да се работи меѓу 380-450° C. Не ќе зависи от типот на пластика и ова е нешто што ќе мора да се експериментира. Катализатор и првиот кондензаторот за нафта треба да се изолираат за да се задржи на температурата на високо ниво. Прво кондензаторот треба да биде помеѓу 170-220° C.
Второ кондензаторот ќе се загрева со пареа доаѓаат и тоа ќе биде околу 70°C. Тоа не треба да се загрее или изолирани. Третиот кондензаторот за керозин можеби ќе треба да се ладат во вода јакна за да се задржи на температурата во близина на 20°C. Се надевам дека мојот превод е во ред.

Vtech

Thanks so much translation is good but you want more details tell me what's in cataylist only pipe or is there something inside details please