How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[Alec]

Question

What is a good design for a Condenser. I think I am loosing a lot of fuel with my current Condenser. It is a pipe within a pipe. PS: how can I send more pics?

[imakebiodiesel]

Dushkriv, the answers you are looking for are all in this threrad, you really have to read it from the start.

Fibuslitero,I can see the attraction of feeding the return into the bottom of the reactor, it would certainly assure complete recracking but I think there might be problems of coking and possible blockages.

Alec, At the moment I am using a single water cooled condenser to collect everything that exits the reflux column, except the gas of course.
On the full sized outfit I am starting to assemble I will have 3 condensers. the first will be heated, possibly with the excess gas. the second will be air cooled and the third will be water cooled. This way by, playing around with the temperatures , I hope to be able to separate diesel, kerosene and gasoline type fractions.

[imakebiodiesel]

Alec, Im no expert with up loading pictures but I use imageshack. Its freel and is easy to use. The pictures are a bit small

[dushkriv]

need help

any chemical need 2 use for better output as i made 1 liter model inspired from ur design n its output is 1kg plastic = 350 ml fuel a liquid made my me is evoprating it lose vapour heavily and very flameble i can burn this liquid thow cooking gas lighter

how can i increase output can i use any chemical what type of plastic best for it


need ur helping hand plz answer the question dont say me 2 read all forum

[imakebiodiesel]

There are no definitive answers to your questions, if fact this forum is about investigating these problems to find some answers. we are happy to share our ideas with you and these may help you get a better yeild.
Use PE and PP.
Dont use any other plastic, especially not PET and PVC.
Cracking of plastic occurs between 380 and 450 degrees C and the lower range is better for good liquid product.
Hydrated lime is a useful additive to improve colour and smell.
The catalysts mentioned so far include, red clay, blue clay, broken pottery, bentonite, perlite, pumice and Im sure there are many more.
At present I and others are trying out these catalysts and are posting our findings here on the forum. Thats why I suggest you should read the forum from the start, all the information so far is there.

[dushkriv]

sory my frnd i think u get angry thks for explaning i will read all posts from starting

[congnghiah4]

how to trun plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

dear all!
when we are performed on different experimental devices, the parameters are only relative.
We need to create a device generally has the same design parameters, we are experimental in the devices sharing information the better
In particular I found the design of the jetijs and Ilender;imakebiodiesel are the two best designs easily control the process
I myself learned a lot from this particular forum topic Private.
I note that the melting temperature of PE, PP of about 270oC of them startmoving vapor.
thanks!

[imakebiodiesel]

When comparing results it is very important that we measure our temperatures accurately. Up to now I have been using an infrared temperature reader which is convenient but not completely accurate. It failed on the last batch so I am fitting K type temperature sensors to my reactor. One in the top of the reactor and one in the reflux column. These sensors will work with a simple temp reader or with a PID controller. The thread is 3/8 NTP which is an American fitting but it will also screw into a 3/8 BSP with a little sealant. As you can see below they can be bought on ebay and are not too expensive.

[imakebiodiesel]

Sorry, I forgot to post the ebay link, here it is
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/250824170050?...84.m1423.l2649

[extraloud]

my design

here is a picture of my design - i first did with no reflux - tried to separate into 2 fractions - but mostly wax came from the first catalyst chamber outlet and very little came from the 2nd. so i changed to reflux

i do not use electric heating - i use propane burner - i do not use the ceramic bricks as shown in this thread - but i believe for a burner this would be better - i have use a sheet metal shell - ( a turkey smoker cooker) and added 2 inches of 2300F insulation blanket - this was easier than the bricks because i am lazy - it hold the heat in - but the bricks are better for keeping uniform heating around the vessel.

i used arduino micro process system with a type K temperature shield to read several temperatures. and graph them and log the data used "processing" Processing.org language - some people suggested python as well.

i plan on using this to output PID to control the burner temp - with the green valve. the burner is a 75000 BTUH burner - which is too much - i have chnaged the orifice to operate at more like 15000 - 20000- BTUH - this is about the same as a good restaurant burner - when it get upto temperature it has to barely be on to keep around 400C

with the reflux - i am getting similar results as Jetijs with pure HDPE - for low temperatures in the reactor I am getting very light product that is less waxy - however it is very slow to come out. hotter reactor makes product faster but it is dark in color and turns to wax when cooled.

for example the temperature leaving the reflux and going to the condensor is 150C to 220C - i get very light oil - but slowly - when it is upto 250C to 300C then the oil comes quickly.

i control the temp of the vapor with the temp of the reactor wall - for a wall temperature of 430 C - i get the 150 - 200C vapor and

i think i need to control the temp of the reflux better - in order to speed things up - right now the reflux chamber temp is only being heated and cooled by the hot vapor being produced.

make sure your reactor and pipes are sealed well - i have had a few fires - this can be a little dangerous - the vapors are very flammable

this whole thing cost about $2000 US - it is a little over the top. i have done the control system and the type-k reading before - this can be tricky

[extraloud]

to bio diesel

i like what you are saying - with the reflux path back - i wanted to do somthing like this - but did not - the dip in the pipe will prob work - you have to keep this path back hot - the relux wax is waxy and can plug things up if cooled.

i think this is best - and going back into the vessel at a low point is good - i am worried that with the reflux down - sharing the vapor up - the reflux wax does not get a chance to go all the way back into the vessel for hotter temperature.

now i am trying to add a feed hopper - to try to continuously add feed into the vessel without opening the lid eat time.

[fibuslitero]

To extraloud

Congratulations Extraloud, fantastic
I am afraid you are going to be asked a lot of questions in the forum now
The oxygen purge with CO2 or N2 allows the usage of ABS, PC or PA in the feedstock though it is better to still consider using poliolefins as the main input.
Keep up the good work

here is a picture of my design - i first did with no reflux - tried to separate into 2 fractions - but mostly wax came from the first catalyst chamber outlet and very little came from the 2nd. so i changed to reflux

i do not use electric heating - i use propane burner - i do not use the ceramic bricks as shown in this thread - but i believe for a burner this would be better - i have use a sheet metal shell - ( a turkey smoker cooker) and added 2 inches of 2300F insulation blanket - this was easier than the bricks because i am lazy - it hold the heat in - but the bricks are better for keeping uniform heating around the vessel.

i used arduino micro process system with a type K temperature shield to read several temperatures. and graph them and log the data used "processing" Processing.org language - some people suggested python as well.

i plan on using this to output PID to control the burner temp - with the green valve. the burner is a 75000 BTUH burner - which is too much - i have chnaged the orifice to operate at more like 15000 - 20000- BTUH - this is about the same as a good restaurant burner - when it get upto temperature it has to barely be on to keep around 400C

with the reflux - i am getting similar results as Jetijs with pure HDPE - for low temperatures in the reactor I am getting very light product that is less waxy - however it is very slow to come out. hotter reactor makes product faster but it is dark in color and turns to wax when cooled.

for example the temperature leaving the reflux and going to the condensor is 150C to 220C - i get very light oil - but slowly - when it is upto 250C to 300C then the oil comes quickly.

i control the temp of the vapor with the temp of the reactor wall - for a wall temperature of 430 C - i get the 150 - 200C vapor and

i think i need to control the temp of the reflux better - in order to speed things up - right now the reflux chamber temp is only being heated and cooled by the hot vapor being produced.

make sure your reactor and pipes are sealed well - i have had a few fires - this can be a little dangerous - the vapors are very flammable

this whole thing cost about $2000 US - it is a little over the top. i have done the control system and the type-k reading before - this can be tricky

[congnghiah4]

to extraloud

hi EXTRALOUD
First I would like suggestions for you, don’t input CO2 into the catalyst “clay”, because catalyst poisoning (loss of catalyst when it reacts with Co2)
To the reactor without O2 you to a vacuum pump at the bottom of the air constantly; you can pump some gas instead of propane into reactor
Acceleration for a faster vapors through the reflux when reflux reduction temperature in reactor
to Wish you success
NGHIA

[Alec]

Petrol from Plastic

My new Toy with the plastic bags feedstock and the resulting Petrol. I have put it in my VW Golf and it runs just fine. PS. The black fuel is before and the light one is after the cat. I dont know what the water colour at the bottom is. My reflux is at the top of the boiler at 170 c. The cat. and boiler are gas fired.

[imakebiodiesel]

Congratulations Extraloud, great outfit, well thought out. Like everybody else I will have a few questions. Are you using a catalyt? How do you seal the stirrer?
I fitted one of my new temperature probes to my reflux tower today and did a "run" using only PE. Previously I had monitored the temp of the reflux with an infrared reader so I only knew the temp of the outside. The cracked fuel began to flow at 120C and reached maximum flow at 180c. I allowed the temp to rise as high as 230 but no extra fuel came out. as Jetijs,predicted the second run on the catalyst was much better with clear golden fuel with no waxing.
Im not sure if the Co2 is really necessary, in the initial heat up stage any moisture, oil, dirt, paper glue etc adhering to the waste plastic will boil or gasify, driving out the air. And as previously mentioned it could poison a clay based catalyst.
But well done, congratulations again.