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Plastic to Oil – Produces 80% Oil

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Re: Plastic to Oil – Produces 80% Oil

#41

Post by smcg »

stonemetal12 wrote: post #21
actionfromafar wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But of what use is that mystery oil? All current petroluem products are highly quality controlled, both for lubrication and use in engines. You didn't get rid of the plastic, you converted it into a liquid which you must now dispose of safely. The only upside I see is that the plastic won't litter and turn into micro plastics in the ocean, but since it's already collected, then burn in a central plant ASAP IMHO.

Last I checked oil was the primary ingredient in making plastic. This could be a way to recycle plastic that is not recyclable by normal means.

plastic is a byproduct of the petroleum production process.

Re: Plastic to Oil – Produces 80% Oil

#44

Post by Cthulhu_ »

danuker wrote: post #32
georgyo wrote: post #26

1kW/h for 3 hours or 3kw. 400g plastic to 286g oil. Seems extremely carbon negative.

It can't be carbon negative if you burn the resulting oil. The carbon in the atmosphere goes up. Ths technology is pointless. The carbon can be sequestered as plastic.

But they don't like doing that because it does break down over time and starts leeching into the soil underneath.

Which can be caught and prevented, of course, but nobody wants to build a landfill like that.

I too think it should be sequestered, ideally in fairly stable conditions; worst case, it stays there for the next thousand years and the plastic breaks down into whatever it does (entropy etc). But in a good case, they discover a means to effectively reuse, recycle or break down plastics, so that the sequestered plastic can be processed.

But it's not economically viable, not when it's cheaper to export it AND get paid by counties and the government (in the form of subsidies) for the box-ticking exercise of separating it out and calling it recycled.

Re: Plastic to Oil – Produces 80% Oil

#45

Post by beanjuice »

AuthorizedCust wrote: post #15
actionfromafar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, plastics can contain all sorts of nasty toxic surprises. Better to burn it at a centralized location with proper filtering and treatment than having little batches or mystery oil of varying quality and toxicity.

> Better to burn it at a centralized location with proper filtering and treatment than having little batches or mystery oil of varying quality and toxicity. If we can assure that the output meets a standard should we burn it, then certainly we should be able to assure the output meets a standard should we refine/convert it.

And the conversion of plastic into oil will have cost much more energy, producing the same pollution in the end.

Re: Plastic to Oil – Produces 80% Oil

#46

Post by finnh »

naravara wrote: post #29
fnordpiglet wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than if you have a Mr Fusion you can’t run a car off of solid plastics. But, I assume some additional steps are required to make it usable. The site doesn’t detail the possible uses of the the oil, but generally liquids and solids can be used in different situations. The oil could also be used as lubricant rather than an energy source.

I don't know if most households have enough use for lubricants to be able to consume a quantity equivalent to 80% of the volume of plastics they're disposing of. My door hinges and bike-chains can only be so smooth. Even if it was converting it into usable motor-oil (which I doubt it is) I don't think I could consume that much. I suppose if it's usable for a kerosine type of lamp maybe, but is it pure enough to not p…

Airplanes run off kerosene, so that's a sizeable market if this fuel is good enough

Re: Plastic to Oil – Produces 80% Oil

#47

Post by actionfromafar »

eloff wrote: post #19
actionfromafar wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But of what use is that mystery oil? All current petroluem products are highly quality controlled, both for lubrication and use in engines. You didn't get rid of the plastic, you converted it into a liquid which you must now dispose of safely. The only upside I see is that the plastic won't litter and turn into micro plastics in the ocean, but since it's already collected, then burn in a central plant ASAP IMHO.

You could probably use it in a diesel engine. People filter used frying oil from restaurants and run their diesels on that.

Yes, you absolutely can, especially in an old diesel engine, they can run on all kinds of oil. But the engine might not fare well, depending on the properties of the oil, and the exhaust might contain "interesting" stuff like dioxins, depending on what was in the mystery plastic to begin with.

Re: Plastic to Oil – Produces 80% Oil

#48

Post by bloomingeek »

Great, another reason I'm pissed off about plastic recycling! I've been collecting my plastic for as long as I can remember and recycling it, then they tell us only about 12% has EVER been recycled.

Now we can break it down to get the oil back! A$$holes!

Re: Plastic to Oil – Produces 80% Oil

#49

Post by trompetenaccoun »

p886 wrote: post #16
profstasiak wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

would you cook your dinner with gasoline?

Seed oils that are now widespread as cooking oils were originally used as machine lubricants.

So was olive oil, in addition to the use in food.

Re: Plastic to Oil – Produces 80% Oil

#50

Post by actionfromafar »

AuthorizedCust wrote: post #15
actionfromafar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, plastics can contain all sorts of nasty toxic surprises. Better to burn it at a centralized location with proper filtering and treatment than having little batches or mystery oil of varying quality and toxicity.

> Better to burn it at a centralized location with proper filtering and treatment than having little batches or mystery oil of varying quality and toxicity. If we can assure that the output meets a standard should we burn it, then certainly we should be able to assure the output meets a standard should we refine/convert it.

All these processes best done in centralized plants with quality controls, not in bench processors.
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