How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Yes, we used variations on the Laboratory Glass Distillation Flask.

And there was a mantel top and bottom

Pyrex has a low coefficient of thermal conductivity, so the stoppered end got hot, some time burned the stopper a little, but not much.

[jonathan]

pyrolysis toxic

sorry is this system good for ambient? because someone say that had toxics ..is this toxics when u burn pete or pvc or everything ? l mean if u put only pp pe ps is it good for health? thanks

[DrGoldSmith]

Reply to post and private message-

Hello Jetijs!

Could you give me the schemes and drawings of this setup? And, if available, preliminary theoretical calculations which describe thermal processes inside the unit, which determines the thickness of insulation, and more.

Thank you

Ilunga23,

In response to your questions, please follow the following link and read pages 1-68-

http://www.energeticforum.com/renewa...l-cheaply.html

All of the answers including preliminary theoretical calculations, description of the thermal processes, thickness of insulation, attachment drawings, schematics, pictures, video and more can be found there.

I think there is even a silver platter if you look closely.


you're welcome

[Beyond Biodiesel]

sorry is this system good for ambient? because someone say that had toxics ..is this toxics when u burn pete or pvc or everything ? l mean if u put only pp pe ps is it good for health? thanks

There are at the very least various flammable, possibly explosive, toxic and/or corrosive byproducts of the pyrolysis of almost anything, including wood; so one would never want to operate any pyrolysis unit indoors, or in an enclosed space; and the exhaust should be condensed, then bubbled, then consumed before venting.

You will especially wan to stay away from PTFE, PVC and ABS plastics, because they are especially toxic.

However, PP, PS and PE have low level emissions

Toxic by products of pyrolysis of Polypropylene (PP)
Since Polypropylene is not a halogenated hydrocarbon, then the by products of pyrolysis are going to be just petroleum vapors, which are toxic, and flammable; however, they can be effectively handled with simple condensation via a succession of air, water and ice cooled condensers. Any non-condensable hydrocarbon can be burned in a flue gas controlled burner.

Toxic by products of pyrolysis of polystyrene (PS)
Since polystyrene is not a halogenated hydrocarbon, then the by products of pyrolysis are going to be just petroleum vapors, which are toxic, and flammable; however, they can be effectively handled with simple condensation via a succession of air, water and ice cooled condensers. Any non-condensable hydrocarbon can be burned in a flue gas controlled burner.

Thermal decomposition of Polyethylene (PETE, PET, HDPE, LDPE)
The thermal decomposition of Polyethylene (PETE, PET, HDPE, LDPE) can lead to the production of terephthalic acid; however, studies shows terephthalic acid is of low order of toxicity, and it is non-irritating to the skin and eyes.
www.inchem.org/documents/sids/sids/100-21-0.pdf

You can find more details on the toxic byproducts of pyrolysis by clicking the link.

[mjohnson1]

Although it would be possible to regenerate my catalyst the amount of heat required, 7 - 800C, would not be practical. It is relatively cheap and so can be disposed of after each batch. 1kg will process 100 kg of plastics.
I have experimented with liquid phase catalysts but found that it only worked with large amounts of catalyst, as much as 30% by volume.. I believe that so called liquid phase catalysts are really working as gas phase catalysts, reacting with bubbles of gas in the liquid as it boils. Plastics in truly liquid form do not have sufficient energy to crack, even with a catalyst.

You mentioned earlier that you are able to control the output of the liquids based on your catalyst formulation.

Have you had the chance to test the maximum gasoline range output you can achieve with your catalyst formulation?

[Asad Farooqui]

Liquid phase catalyst

[QUOTE= I have experimented with liquid phase catalysts but found that it only worked with large amounts of catalyst, as much as 30% by volume.. I believe that so called liquid phase catalysts are really working as gas phase catalysts, reacting with bubbles of gas in the liquid as it boils. Plastics in truly liquid form do not have sufficient energy to crack, even with a catalyst.[/QUOTE]

Happy New year to the forum community .

Hello IMBD ;
For your information Liquid phase catalyst do work very effectively even as low as 05% b/w of waste plastics .
I have made & tested many liquid phase catalyst which works very good even with PE. No wax produced, 100% of waste PE is converted into Liquid fuel .

I read about H-ZSM-5 used with PE can convert all the resultant fuel to C1-4 type hydrocarbons, meaning we can get 100% syn-gas output no liquid fuel .


The other benifit of the liquid phase catalyst is that it lowers the pyrolysis temperature about 50 celsius.

For further assistance you can e-mail me at ;
ahl_asadfarooqui@yahoo.com

[imakebiodiesel]

My experience with liquid phase catalysts is admittedly limited to materials such as bentonite , fullers earth etc. In these cases a lot of catalyst was needed but Im sure you are right other materials may give much better results.

Highly active synthetic catalysts will produce more gasoline ( light fraction) and less kerosene (middle fraction) but will also produce much more gas. You need to be prepared for the amount of gas you will get as a single bubbler may not cope with it. Synthetic oil cracking catalysts are expensive, suffer from rapid coking, and need regular regeneration by heating to 800C in an oxygen rich atmosphere. But they do work very well.
I am working on a version of my catalyst that will produce 50/50 middle and light fraction but I dont foresee being able to go much further than that with a disposable catalyst.

[Asad Farooqui]

Liquid pahse catalyst

My experience with liquid phase catalysts is admittedly limited to materials such as bentonite , fullers earth etc. In these cases a lot of catalyst was needed but Im sure you are right other materials may give much better results.

Highly active synthetic catalysts will produce more gasoline ( light fraction) and less kerosene (middle fraction) but will also produce much more gas. You need to be prepared for the amount of gas you will get as a single bubbler may not cope with it. Synthetic oil cracking catalysts are expensive, suffer from rapid coking, and need regular regeneration by heating to 800C in an oxygen rich atmosphere. But they do work very well.
I am working on a version of my catalyst that will produce 50/50 middle and light fraction but I dont foresee being able to go much further than that with a disposable catalyst.

IMBD ;
yes you are right the synthetic zeolites are very expensive & produce more gas & coke also .

But some liquid phase catalyst are inexpensive affordable for onetime use.
Doesnot produce much gas .
50% oil is in C1-14 gasoline-kero range
50& oil is in C15-24 diesel range

[otpadnoulje]

Asad, can you tell us, about that catalyst, or it is your secret?
Thanks

[imakebiodiesel]

I have had two samples of fuel analysed by mass spectrometry in a local college and the results are interesting. The first sample (orange) is the result of thermal cracking only. The second is thermal and catalytic cracking (blue).
As you can see the catalytic cracking moves the output further towards shorter hydrocarbons which is quite predictable. What is a little suprising is the fact that the catalyst produces a narrower band of hydrocarbon lengths.
The fuels were of course liquids so my figures for the gas output are calculated by subtracting the liquid output and the char residue from the original quantity of plastic. For that reason they are a little bit approximate but it is still notable that catalytic cracking produces about twice as much gas. This suits me quite well as I use this gas to power the second stage of my process, separating the light and middle fractions.



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[imakebiodiesel]

Just to clarify the above diagram.
C1-4 is flammable gas.
C5-10 is petrol
C10-15 is kerosene
C15- 19 is winter diesel ( in the mild Irish climate)
C15 -24 is summer diesel.

The vertical scale is measured in grams per kg of plastic feedstock. You will notice that if you add all the blue lines it is longer than all of the orange lines. this is because the thermal only process produces less fuel and more char.

[Asad Farooqui]

My continuous Reactor

Iam pleased to upload my New continuous reactor Design which Iam working-on nowadays .

The reactor temperature is maintained b/w 450-500 ceclius .
reactor is made in Stainless steel so it reaches the required temperature in an hour .
Residence time of feedstock is 05-07 minutes only . Not hours .

Feedstock is continuously feeded in & instantly pyrolysed under Nitrogen blanket.

My goal is to make a machine which can run upto 20-hours continuously, if required .


My e-mail : ahl_asadfarooqui@yahoo.com

[sriveni.muddani]

help me in guiding me

hello,
iam a student from India. I wanna do a project on converting plastic into fuel. I dont understand how to start this project and what equipment i need for this that means full details of the equipment. and iam not going to use that much amount of plastic.so may you please guide me equipment used for about converting 100 grams plastic to fuel.can you please reply me urgently.

[mjohnson1]

Iam pleased to upload my New continuous reactor Design which Iam working-on nowadays .

The reactor temperature is maintained b/w 450-500 ceclius .
reactor is made in Stainless steel so it reaches the required temperature in an hour .
Residence time of feedstock is 05-07 minutes only . Not hours .

Feedstock is continuously feeded in & instantly pyrolysed under Nitrogen blanket.

My goal is to make a machine which can run upto 20-hours continuously, if required .


My e-mail : ahl_asadfarooqui@yahoo.com

Why could your design not run 24 hours continuously?

Do you plan on using a only vapor phase catalyst, liquid catalyst, or both?

[pravin]

Hi ASAD, Congrats for the achievement. What is the R P M of screw fedder in continous reteort and how many kgs u load at a time.