How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[fox32]

I had my first run yesterday, unsuccesfull unfotunatley, the temeprature took ages to rise, about 2 hours to 130c, and after 3 hours it reached 210 c, stayed at this temp for a while then started to slowly drop, to about 180, when i shut things down. I was thinking this happened because it was getting dark and chilli and the draft cooled it... I am using gpl gas and a crude flamethrower(need to change it), also my temperature probe isn't in direct contact with the air from the reactor, but it is a prope inside a tube that goes in the reactor, need to change that as well... I will post some pictures later, maybe you can shed some thoughts. Thanks!

Also i filled the reactor with unshreded plastic, big pieces, il post pictures!

[fox32]

I opened the reactor earlier today, one thing is sure, the smell is unbearable. I noticed some wax in the reflux, and also water drops, and also some wax formed on the outside of the v groove, i think will try it without the green gasket(made of something called clingherit) next time.
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Also i think i need a bigger burner with a more diffuse flame.

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I Intentionally left the reflux and pipes unisolated to see if there are any gases seeping through at the joints and seals.

In the metal basket i plan on putting the red clay to act as catalist, or more baffles to be a better reflux.
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But my problem is why it hasn't heated enough and why the temperature drop, maybe because of the hollow heat exxchanger that goes through, maybe if i put some sort of elicoidal "screw" in it it will slow the heat down a bit. Will try that.
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Best regards!

[Beyond Biodiesel]

...I also seem to have a period in my system when the temps stabilize{128*c} and even drop down10-15*c before increasing again.Does anybody else have this problem.Also this last run of yours was it all done around 350*C.
DEREK.

This kind of fluctuation in temperature is typical of fractionation. It is due to the heat of absorption of a fraction when it begins to boil. So, it is normal and expected.

ciao BB, non so se fare l' isolamento sul mio reattore perchè sto provando a togliere la pompa del vuoto quindi avrò bisogno 400 gradi nel mio reattore e di temperature più basse nel reflusso e nel frazionamento, quindi ci siamo o lo spero oppure isolerò

[QUOTEenglish]Hello BB, do not know if the 'insulation on my gear because I'm trying to remove the vacuum pump 400 degrees so I'll need in my reactor and lower temperatures in the reflux and splitting, so we or I hope so or I'll isolate[/QUOTE]

ciao rozier56, il mio reattore prima di modificare riusciva a riscaldare da 20/400 gradi in 25 minuti ma troppo potente. tu che tipo di bruciatore usi? a gas o elettrico?

[QUOTEenglish]rozier56 hello, my reactor before change could heat up by 20/400 degrees in 25 minutes, but too powerful. what kind of burner you are using? gas or electric?[/QUOTE]

I had my first run yesterday, unsuccesfull unfotunatley, the temeprature took ages to rise, about 2 hours to 130c, and after 3 hours it reached 210 c, stayed at this temp for a while then started to slowly drop, to about 180, when i shut things down. I was thinking this happened because it was getting dark and chilli and the draft cooled it... I am using gpl gas and a crude flamethrower(need to change it), also my temperature probe isn't in direct contact with the air from the reactor, but it is a prope inside a tube that goes in the reactor, need to change that as well... I will post some pictures later, maybe you can shed some thoughts. Thanks!

Also i filled the reactor with unshreded plastic, big pieces, il post pictures!

Nice photos, thanks, and your system looks well made with good flanges; however, it looks like you need to insulate your reflux, which would explain why it takes so long for your system to come up to temperature and produce anything.

[dedooo]

Hello all, today I had an accident, filled retort to cut plastic and ignited Mod nearly two hours, and after strabismus on three liters of diesel is what happened in pictures

[piccolo chimico]

doo hello, I'm sorry for your problem but I hope you went well with what is successo.ma what happened has burned the gasket, or you skipped some welding?

[Excalibur]

Dedoo, it appears as though there is leaking vapor from the flange??.
If that's the case then you most likely have a blockage in the piping. Also the last photo shows melted plastic, perhaps plastic in the waxy stage??
For your system to work correctly, you need to fit a reflux chamber above the reactor.

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Good remarks Excalibur. Dedooo, additionally you would want the line from your retort to be insulated and heated to the retort temperature, or otherwise you will have plastics and/or waxes condensing out in the line, and plugging it up, which is possibly what happened. You are lucky the whole thing did not blow up.

[dedooo]

Thank you for your advice, I want to ask: if you want to produce ten liters of fuel once, how much capacity will be skewed, "reactor" in liters, which accommodates ten kilograms of plastic

[Excalibur]

According to Jetijs on page one of this thread ,he said: 100 kg plastic yields 95 liters diesel, so your 10kg would be 9.5 liters

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Which, due to the specific gravity of plastics, and the amount of air space contained in ground plastic means, if you want 10L of fuel from plastic, then you will need to process 100L of plastics to get it.

[dedooo]

Dear Mr Excalibur. looks like you did not understand me very probably due to the translation of Google, will rephrase my question: How is the area of the reactor iron needed to produce 10 liters of fuel, I know that 10 kg of plastic gives about 10 liters of fuel / but Reactor in my area of 29 liters, a propane gas cylinder empty house, widened to only 5 or 7 kg of waste plastic

[dedooo]

Dear Mr. Beyond Biodiesel Thank you for your interest, but is it reasonable to use the retort area of 100 liters to put inside an empty 10 kg of plastic to produce 10 liters of fuel? And what about you How much space you have and how much the reactor put inside plastic? Wait for your reply eagerly repeat my thanks to you, but Google translation

[Col]

Flame arrestor

In relation to the flame arrestor - does anyone think there would be a problem if the diameter of the pipe stuffed with steel wool was larger than required by the system? I want to build the system downstream from the retort oversized so that I can simply swap out the retort but keep the rest when I am ready to upscale. I think an oversized flame arrestor will let oxygen / air pass back up to the pipe to the bubbler but it would stop there so I can't see it being a problem in a normal operational scenario. But if the flame travelled back to the steel wool, and there was a lot of steel wool in a large diameter pipe I wonder if the flame could still maintain enough velocity to pass through the steel wool. Or perhaps a lot of steel wool is even better because the heat quench will be better. I think I'll submerge my flame arrestor in water just to be sure (not the end, just the middle part). I want to have 100mm diameter pipes running from the retort to the last condenser, then 50mm steel pipes from the bubbler to the flame arrestor. But at first the system might only need a 20mm flame arrestor. Any thoughts?
Col

[fox32]

Dear Mr. Beyond Biodiesel Thank you for your interest, but is it reasonable to use the retort area of 100 liters to put inside an empty 10 kg of plastic to produce 10 liters of fuel? And what about you How much space you have and how much the reactor put inside plastic? Wait for your reply eagerly repeat my thanks to you, but Google translation

From what i understand i reckon you want to know how much free space it reamains? If this is the case, you have to leave at least a quarter (1/4) from your reactor free, to avoid any boil over. You cannot fill it up entirely. Hope this helps.

[peterkyjovsky]

Driwings

Hi all.
I made a 3d cad drawing of the reactor, lid, cage, brick ring and outer barrel assembly. You will need edrawings software to view the file, you can download it for free here:
eDrawings - 3D and 2D CAD Viewer and Publisher

After that you can view the assembly in 3d and make parts transparent to see what is behind them. Hope this will help to understand the design better. The hollow part between the brick rings and outer barren should be stuffed with glassfirber insulation. Here is the drawing file:

pyrolysis reactor assembly.EASM

I would like to ask for measure of reaktor as I need pass them to welder man. I need diameter and hight of vessel.