How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[jonathan]

smell

hello i hope everyone is ok..i have a question if anyone can help me..i make a retort and 1 condenser to try waste oil..my proplem is the nasty smell..i dont have bubbler and i dont burn the fumes..my question is does waste oil make alot of smell? or maybe the condensor not efficient?

[jonathan]

smell

sorry for my english if i dont explain it well..but i need to know if i heat waste oil and have good condensor does the smell go away? or i need to burn the fumes?

[Excalibur]

hello i hope everyone is ok..i have a question if anyone can help me..i make a retort and 1 condenser to try waste oil..my proplem is the nasty smell..i dont have bubbler and i dont burn the fumes..my question is does waste oil make alot of smell? or maybe the condensor not efficient?

Cracking oil will make that nasty smell. Burning the off-gases is the usual solution. Use a flame trap.

[jonathan]

smell

thanks alot EXCALIBUR i will try to find to make simple flame trap because right now i dont have welding..if you can give me an idea its better because i dont need to make explosion..hehe thanks

[jonathan]

smell

excalibur when you say flame trap do you mean water bubbler?

[Excalibur]

Flame can't travel through small gaps. Something simple would be lathe turnings /swarf inside a cannister. The system still needs to breathe so not too tightly packed.
Depending on the nature of the gases ,above a certain temperature a flame trap will become ineffective so keeping them cool is something to be mindful.
There is a pic of my flash-back arrestor (flame trap) on Blog page: Bubbler & draw-back-arrestor Orion #9 Fuel from waste oil and plastic DIY Orion: Bubbler & draw-back-arrestor Orion #9

[jonathan]

smell

so thanks i will do that flame trap like yours and try again..so my last question please..if i burn my fumes i will eliminate all the smell?

[rozier56]

rozier56

Is HIPS (hi impact polystyrene) user friendly in our pyrolysis systems?
When making diesel from WMO, are you folks centrifuging or using seperators to take out the fine carbon particles before using in your vechiles?

[Excalibur]

When making diesel from WMO, are you folks centrifuging or using seperators to take out the fine carbon particles before using in your vechiles?

I use upflow settling, aiming for 6 week duration. Then I polish with filters to 1µ.

[jonathan]

gases

i read that wmo pyrolysis produce h2s and hcl gases.so if i use water bubbler it is good for hcl? and h2s as i read it can be burned. and my other question is about plastic pyrolysis..if i use only ps.pe.hdpe and ldpe are they safe? i mean no danger gases like hcn hcl and other? because i find this post says:...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.thanks

[Excalibur]

i read that wmo pyrolysis produce h2s and hcl gases.so if i use water bubbler it is good for hcl? and h2s as i read it can be burned. and my other question is about plastic pyrolysis..if i use only ps.pe.hdpe and ldpe are they safe? i mean no danger gases like hcn hcl and other? because i find this post says:...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.thanks

As I recall, there was good talk about these very topics earlier in the forum. Researching there would be a good start.

[jonathan]

gases

thanks excalibur but many opinions and now i am confused

[Excalibur]

It might help to post those opinions here...

[jonathan]

gases

EXCALIBUR i mean i read posts but some poeple say that pp and pe doesnt produce h2s and hcl and others is saying that it is imposiple..

[wheels]

EXCALIBUR i mean i read posts but some poeple say that pp and pe doesnt produce h2s and hcl and others is saying that it is imposiple..

I have been busy and have not had time to check in. It's good to see some posts again.
Jonathan, I suggest you use a bubbler. It is the easiest thing to do and will eliminate many different issues for you.

Flame will indeed travel through a small gap. Don't get fooled on that one. There are three key points to having a fame. Fuel, Heat and Oxygen. Take one of those three away and you do not have a flame (combustion). What fine mesh or lathe swarf effectively does is to remove heat. It wicks away so much heat so quickly that a flame cannot be supported. Providing the heat of the swarf is held below the flash point of the fuel. Which brings me to the next point. Because there should be no oxygen present, there should be no combustion either. Using a bubbler does isolate any possible combustion, but it also aids in providing a cold means of condensing the gasses quickly and the result is that the gasses that may escape into the air will condense and float on the water surface to be collected.
Does waste oil produce acid?? Yes it can. It depends on what is in the waste oil. A Petrol engine produces acid when it operates. For every 10ltrs of fuel burned, 1 ltr is water vapor (ruffly, because it depends on air humidity) and 1 tenth of a ltr is Sulphuric acid (ruffly, because it depends on fuel quality). That acid seeps down into the engine oil and is then changed out when the engine has an oil change. There can be many things in waste oil. Like solvents and other cleaners a mechanic may have used and discarded. So unless you know 100% the quality of the WMO, you do need to take great caution in the gasses that come off during processing.