How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[aigu]

Aigu, looking at the diagram of your setup, it is almost identical to mine. However I notice you are using a pump to force the gas into the propane stream going to the burner. This may draw the vapours through the catalyst too quickly and prevent proper cracking. It might be better to replace the pump with a check valve so that the gas flows more slowly but at the same time prevents propane from flowing into the condenser There are check valves on the fuel lines of many diesel cars so you could get one cheaply in a breakers yard.
A water bubbler is also a good safety feature.

Good point. I will try w/o the pump. My plan (like I really have one; other than "trial and error"...lol) was to use the gas in a separate circuit since both, the propane and the gas, have different pressures regardless of the use of a pump. I could also regulate the vacuum pressure on the pump thus preventing the scenario you pictured. I still think that I have to use two separate circuits due to the difference in pressure specially if I am not going to use the pump.

Anyway, I really don´t know if enough gas will be produced to be able to shut off the propane or at least make a considerable difference. Do you have any idea?

Another thing: Do you have a suggestion for the temperatures I should use on the catalyst and the first condenser?

Thanks for your help.

[imakebiodiesel]

My catalyst seems to work best at 220C I can be of much help with condenser temperatures because I still catch all of my condensed fuel in one cold condenser.
A small reactor will not produce enough gas to do much, but a larger processor might. Trouble is, its a bit irregular, nothing to start with, then loads when cracking gets going and then it gradually drops off. If you open a valve it stops for a while.
I promised to report on the life of my clay catalyst. Just to recap I used 300gms of local clay in my reflux column. Each batch was 500gms of plastic.

Batch 1. Waxy, semi-solid fuel which darkened in a couple of days.
Batch 2. Clear, golden liquid fuel, very little wax, slight darkening.
Batch 3. Perfectly clear,lemon colour liquid, no waxing, no darkening.
Batch 4. Same as batch 3.
Batch 5 Same as batch 2
Batch 6 Same as batch 2 but more darkening.
Batch 7. Same as batch 2 but more darkening still and a little waxing.

The catalyst seems to need while to activate fully and then after a certain quantity of fuel slowly stops working. This may be because the catalyst gets soaked with condensed oil in the reflux tower. At present I dont know if this is a factor or not.

[Asad Farooqui]

catalyst usage

[QUOTE
Batch 1. Waxy, semi-solid fuel which darkened in a couple of days.
Batch 2. Clear, golden liquid fuel, very little wax, slight darkening.
Batch 3. Perfectly clear,lemon colour liquid, no waxing, no darkening.
Batch 4. Same as batch 3.
Batch 5 Same as batch 2
Batch 6 Same as batch 2 but more darkening.
Batch 7. Same as batch 2 but more darkening still and a little waxing.
[/QUOTE]

Hello ;
Your catalyst is dying gradually , i would prefer to change it after batch-4 .
Acid activated clay I tried & they work much more effectively than the normal clays as they are very low in acidity & all the expensive Zeolites are quite acidic .
Another way of reducing the wax factor is by adding about 10% of waste PS in your feed stock as it will increase the pour point of your fuel .

[Asad Farooqui]

Syn gas produced

Good point. I will try w/o the pump.
Anyway, I really don´t know if enough gas will be produced to be able to shut off the propane or at least make a considerable difference. Do you have any idea?
Thanks for your help.

Hello ;
1) The syn gas produced in your case will be about 05% of the feedstock only.

2) You should replace your pump with a non-return valve, it's a one-way flowing valve & please get it new, junk is always junk .

3) I would suggest you add one more condensor for getting the kerosene out of your diesel range . If you want a good quality diesel fuel .

[gtistephen]

feedstock types

ive been reading these posts with much interest...

question: are you guys using all plastic types mixed (1 through 7) as your feedstocks or just specific streams? also, are you using any rubber within your feedstocks?

thanks in advance...

[Asad Farooqui]

bio-diesel mix

[QUOTE=imakebiodiesel[/QUOTE]

Hello Imakebiodiesel ;
I would like you to get test result of.
Is it possible to blend Plastic derived diesel with Bio-diesel ???
Kindly check how this mixture perform in a Diesel Engine & let me know the result.

I donot have bio-diesel to conduct this test , I thought you would be the best person to test it .
If this blend is workable than it would be quite easy to sell such products in countries where bio-diesel sale is allowed .


Regards

ASAD FAROOQUI

[imakebiodiesel]

hello Asad,
This is something that I want to try out. The viscosity of biodiesel is quite high and this causes stress to the injector pump. The viscosity of diesel from plastic is low so this might be a good mix. I may be able to use more of the kerosene fraction if mixing it with biodiesel. My main concern is that it may separate in the vehicle tank. I will mix a sample and let it stand in a bottle for a week to see.

[keith20mm]

I am in the process of making a heated catalyst on top of the reactor and from there it will go into a heated condenser and into a final condenser. I have seen different temperature recomendations on this thread... Do you have any suggestions?

Aigu, in your diagram, you are running a gas pump from the final stage, and burning the gas for heat in the initial retort.

I'd like to propose that, instead of burning the hydrogen-rich gas as fuel, that, instead, you return the gas into the stream just above the first condenser, after reflux. The hydrogen-rich gas can be used to saturate the molecules, such that the reverse polymerization into waxy base is reduced.

The above is a common practice in industrial refining.

As to 'how much' hydrogen gas 'should be' applied, I'd suppose that, were it possible, more, could be supplied, than is available... but we use what we have on hand.

[Alec]

Return gas

Any ideas on the most efficient way to use the return gas to fire the reactor?
I use a air pump (vacuum cleaner blow side) to T into the return pipe.
2 problems: a) increase pressure. b) I must manually adjust the airflow constantly to get a blue flame.
Thanks.

[Kris3033]

Dear Friend
Special thanks to Jetijs and Asad and others who have done wonderful task and took lot of pain for our bright future.
As Jetijs mention that all tech know how is in the Posts. I have gone through it few times and definitely he is right for anyone who is new can start working on this, similarly I started the work.
I have taken a used Pipe of 5mm thickness to build reactor and Reflector.
I made some simple Calculation or assumptions.
Cylinder Dia 140 mm and length of 560mm, so volume comes to be 8616160 Cubic mm. Density of PP is about 950 kgs/m3 so net wt of PP in reactor 8.5 kgs.
To heat this I guess I need 3 ceramic heaters of about 1 Kw. I need to maintain temp. of about 380 C for about 4 -6 hours. Covered it with Glass wool for heat insulation.
I plan to use pieces of earthen vessel (house hold earthen pot used for storing water) in reflexcer and add CaOH in reactor with PP raw material. Hope it will work.
I have used about 1inch pipe for output gases and one heater to maintain Reflexer at about 150 C.
I am going with only one Condenser tank and output of it in next tank through which final vent.
Hope so this will work.
Top plate machining is under progress. May be by week end I will have my Baby….
I need some help, please clear if output pipe size is ok.
If I have to dip the pipe in water in half filled condenser tank and another pipe from top to second condenser tank output of which is vent.
How will I remove the Diesel/Fuel oil from my 1st condenser tank, I guess from Bottom through valve.
Last is what all precautions I have to take care for 1st trial.

[imakebiodiesel]

What about a venturi? I have made and used them for liquids but they are supposed to work just as well for gases. The more gas flows through the main venturi pipe , the more air is drawn into the side pipe, making it self adjusting . It would take a bit of experimenting to get the mixture right initially. If you look at www.biodiesl.infopop.cc and do a search for venturi you will find some designs to make a suitable one. Ive seen a nice one thats made from copper pipe that might work.

[aigu]

Aigu, in your diagram, you are running a gas pump from the final stage, and burning the gas for heat in the initial retort.

I'd like to propose that, instead of burning the hydrogen-rich gas as fuel, that, instead, you return the gas into the stream just above the first condenser, after reflux. The hydrogen-rich gas can be used to saturate the molecules, such that the reverse polymerization into waxy base is reduced.

The above is a common practice in industrial refining.

As to 'how much' hydrogen gas 'should be' applied, I'd suppose that, were it possible, more, could be supplied, than is available... but we use what we have on hand.

Thanks for the info. I will give it a try after I do a few runs... that way I can compare. I will let you know how it goes.

[Insearch]

Well done is Half begin

Dear Friend
Special thanks to Jetijs and Asad and others who have done wonderful task and took lot of pain for our bright future.
As Jetijs mention that all tech know how is in the Posts. I have gone through it few times and definitely he is right for anyone who is new can start working on this, similarly I started the work.
I have taken a used Pipe of 5mm thickness to build reactor and Reflector.
I made some simple Calculation or assumptions.
Cylinder Dia 140 mm and length of 560mm, so volume comes to be 8616160 Cubic mm. Density of PP is about 950 kgs/m3 so net wt of PP in reactor 8.5 kgs.
To heat this I guess I need 3 ceramic heaters of about 1 Kw. I need to maintain temp. of about 380 C for about 4 -6 hours. Covered it with Glass wool for heat insulation.
I plan to use pieces of earthen vessel (house hold earthen pot used for storing water) in reflexcer and add CaOH in reactor with PP raw material. Hope it will work.
I have used about 1inch pipe for output gases and one heater to maintain Reflexer at about 150 C.
I am going with only one Condenser tank and output of it in next tank through which final vent.
Hope so this will work.
Top plate machining is under progress. May be by week end I will have my Baby….
I need some help, please clear if output pipe size is ok.
If I have to dip the pipe in water in half filled condenser tank and another pipe from top to second condenser tank output of which is vent.
How will I remove the Diesel/Fuel oil from my 1st condenser tank, I guess from Bottom through valve.
Last is what all precautions I have to take care for 1st trial.

Dear Kris,
As said " Well begin is Half done".
Hope U get success with ur baby. I guess you need 2 condenser Tanks to have separate Gasoline n Diesel. Your Top plate machine work seems to be good.
Further I think Mr. Jeti and Mr. Asad can help you out as Asad was the first to come up with idea of Refluxer and CaOH also Mr. Jeti who is the Father of all this can help you out.
God bless u and wish u success.

[Asad Farooqui]

First trial

Dear Friend
Special thanks to Jetijs and Asad and others who have done wonderful task and took lot of pain for our bright future.
As Jetijs mention that all tech know how is in the Posts. I have gone I plan to use pieces of earthen vessel (house hold earthen pot used for storing water) in reflexcer and add CaOH in reactor with PP raw material. Hope it will work.
I have used about 1inch pipe for output gases and one heater to maintain Reflexer at about 150 C.
I am going with only one Condenser tank and output of it in next tank through which final vent.
Hope so this will work.
Top plate machining is under progress. May be by week end I will have my Baby….
I need some help, please clear if output pipe size is ok.
If I have to output pipe size is ok.in half filled condenser tank and another pipe from top to second condenser tank output of which is vent.
How will I remove the Diesel/Fuel oil from my 1st condenser tank, I guess from Bottom through valve.
Last is what all precautions I have to take care for 1st trial.

Hello Kris ;
Thanks for the complement & I would like to thank our Grand Pa Jetijs again for creating such a wonderful forum .

Jetijs were are you nowadays, haven't heard from you LONG. Are you on a honeymoon ???

Now Kris your preparation is in the right direction & remember
'Sucess never come in one SHOT . You have to try Again & Again & Improvise accordingly.
Answers to your questions.
1) Your output pipe size is ok.
2) Diping pipe in Chilled water should be done , infact i would suggest that place your pipe in an 4"inch-oversize pipe having water inlet & outlet . Hang it vertically & Water coming in from the bottom inlet & the outlet is placed on top of the oversized pipe .
The efficiency of vapor condensing to liquid will double .
3) for removing liquid fuel from condensors you have to place a Gate-Valve at the bottom of the condensor.
remember one thing that for few runs normal gatewall or ball type valves will work but the material they are madeup are not much resistant to high temperature upto 400 celcius . There are special valves for this job U have to hunt for it .

4) Jetijs lid arrangement is very important I would say it is the heart of the reactor . The V-GROOVE male-female arrangement is very important . Double check it . I use to sit with the Lathe machinest & as soon as he says its ready I use to mark the upper lid with chalk & place it back on the lower portion & rotate it to confirm the Vogroove is perfect . I hope U got it, if not than just read these lines to your machinest he will understand it .

4) Your First TEST run should be with plain water only without putting CaoH even your reflux chamber should be empty . I did it to make sure that the unit is working properly.

a) No Vapor leakages specially from the Flange & pipe joints .
b) Heater+temperature control systems working properly .
c) Water vapors are properly condensing.
d) Second trial run you should do with waste motor oil (WMO) only .
Again no CaoH & reflux chamber EMPTY .

You will gain a lot of confidence if you follow this Golden path

When I started experimenting I was jobless for about an year & my first reactor used to catch FIRE as soon i hit the temerature 300 celcius the last fire went so strong it nearly burned my neighbors truck .
There was no one to guide me through I use to ponder whole night what to do next .
Alhamdullilah My 100 gallon baby is running perfectly & Iam getting serious inquiries from many countries to make a unit for them .
Infact I just signed an Joint-venture Agreement with a Getleman from Dubai to make a reactor for extracting Styrene Monomer from waste plastic .

You are lucky as so many people on this forum are here to guide You .

Wish you all the luck .
Go Ahead ...

[newdar]

Microwaves

Hi all!
I am going to buy a small house at my near countryside, in the near future.Unfortunately,until then I have no place where to do experiments.
In the meantime, I am thinking about theoretical issues only.
I saw a pretty new idea on the Internet.It seems that that the pyrolysis needed energy for heating can be provided by microwaves means.Some danish company already made a pretty big kit for converting plastic to oil by means of microwaves.They seem to use a magnetron in order to generate the microwaves.It seems to me that involving microwaves has the potential of more simple designs.However there seem to be a pretty precise combination of the microwaves wavelenght/frequency.Does anyone have some more informations
concerning this issue?