Oil from plastic

[autogyro]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... GGabrorRS8

[rjsa]

Now how is the net energy availiable after the process? Because when you show it as a way to peoduce energy in Sfrica it has to be reasonable.

[SectorOne]

I don´t think i have ever seen a better use of "another man´s trash is another man´s treasure"
He won´t run out of plastic either that´s for sure. Very cool stuff, thanks for posting.

I´m sure he will be popular at Exxon and the other oil giants...

[strad]

How much energy does it cost though?

[EngineerMiltonKeynes]

If you do an online search for Pyrolysis, that should give you a lot more info. Plenty of videos on it, too. The most common DIY use is to put a load of chopped up car tyres in a 50 gallon steel drum and seal the lid on with a pipe and condenser leading out from the lid. Build yourself a good wood fire under the drum and away it goes. What condenses out is usable as diesel oil (apparently) and the gas which isn't condensed is used to help feed the fire. What's left afterwards in the drum is just carbon. It's supposed to work with waste plastic, too. My business is next door to a tyre fitters and there are 100s of scrap tyres just laying around...tempting, lol...

[MOWOG]

Since most plastics are derived from petroleum, it seems logical that some of that petroleum can be recaptured from the plastic at the end of its useful life.

The issue, it seems to me, is whether the energy recaptured equals or exceeds the energy required by the recycling process itself.

[iotar__]

This man is sooo dead

[Shrieker]

It's been on youtube for 3 years and it's amazing (negatively amazing) that it hasn't taken off yet. Who cares if there is no energy to gain ? Imagine you could get rid of all that plastic garbage and put it to good use. That's much more important.

[rjsa]

It's been on youtube for 3 years and it's amazing (negatively amazing) that it hasn't taken off yet. Who cares if there is no energy to gain ? Imagine you could get rid of all that plastic garbage and put it to good use. That's much more important.

That is relative.

If you are getting rid off all plastic while burning more fuel than you are producing just to burn into CO2 whatever you produced, do you still think it's a good idead?

Better just burn all the stuff from the start.

I'm not saying it works that way. I'm asking if someone knows.

[turbof1]

It's been on youtube for 3 years and it's amazing (negatively amazing) that it hasn't taken off yet. Who cares if there is no energy to gain ? Imagine you could get rid of all that plastic garbage and put it to good use. That's much more important.

That is relative.

If you are getting rid off all plastic while burning more fuel than you are producing just to burn into CO2 whatever you produced, do you still think it's a good idead?

Better just burn all the stuff from the start.

I'm not saying it works that way. I'm asking if someone knows.

Or better yet recycle it (burning it away is the biggest waste of all).

I think to get more energy out of it then you put in it, you need to have a good amount of plastic before you are at the break-even point. The machine showed in the video looks like it is below it; at a bigger size with more efficiency it would be way above it.
1kg of plastic can be converted to 1l of oil. Not bad at all. I wonder though if it isn't better to directly convert the plastic into energy.

[autogyro]

How much energy does it cost though?

To do what? extract oil and gas by fracking?

A lot.

[strad]

Or better yet recycle it (burning it away is the biggest waste of all).

Yep!!!

[Richard]

Just be a little geeky - what is the energy conversion, ie input energy for the process compared to energy released?

[strad]

Just be a little geeky - what is the energy conversion, ie input energy for the process compared to energy released?

That was my question Richard, but all I got was a smart assed answer.

[EngineerMiltonKeynes]

How cost effective it is depends on how much you pay for the heating of the waste plastic/rubber/etc. If you used mirror focused solar energy, it wouldn't be much. Using biomass would be more expensive, etc, etc. You have to also factor in how much it costs to get crude oil out of the ground and crack it, so you can do a comparison.