How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[Excalibur]

Some one emailed me to say that the link to the video on the last page did not work for him. Here it is again , I hope its ok this time.
Waste plastic to kerosene fuel - YouTube
IMB Biodiesel Processors

FYI, both the links work for me.

[jonathan]

retort catalyst

thanks lmakebiodiesel l make one l will post photos soon but l dont know what l am going to put as catalyst l will try pieces of steel for know

[mjohnson1]

thanks lmakebiodiesel l make one l will post photos soon but l dont know what l am going to put as catalyst l will try pieces of steel for know

Steel has no catalytic effect that im aware of. I would use some type of clay as it is cheap and readily available.

[jonathan]

retort catalyst

thanks mjonhson1 its difficult to buy clay from malta can you give a link to buy from internet like ebay or can l use other material like stianless steel or glass marbles

[Excalibur]

thanks mjonhson1 its difficult to buy clay from malta can you give a link to buy from internet like ebay or can l use other material like stianless steel or glass marbles

Perhaps old terracotta clay planter pots are available? Like these I've broken these with a hammer to small bits and used them that way. Around here damaged ones are free. Otherwise I see certain old drainage pipes made from the same material.

But go ahead and try the stainless or glass marbles. I haven't tried them so I can't say how they'd be.

[jonathan]

retort catalyst

thanks excalibur l will try buy some l have 2 small pots can you tell me the size u break them please

[jonathan]

retort catalyst

hello excalibur did you try terra cotta pot as catalyst? how did you make fuel every kilo plastic

[Excalibur]

hello excalibur did you try terra cotta pot as catalyst? how did you make fuel every kilo plastic

Yes, I had the terracotta so it looked like a good idea and worth trying. All of the batch runs I've done using terracotta have been with plastic AND waste oil mix, or waste oil alone. I think I listed the yields in previous posts.

I have some Zeolite which I'm probably going to try at some stage. It's used in aquariums and for cat litter so widely available.

[jonathan]

retort catalyst

thanks a lot excalibur l will try terracotta first what size u make terra cotta its good like 1cm by 1cm thanks

[mjohnson1]

thanks a lot excalibur l will try terracotta first what size u make terra cotta its good like 1cm by 1cm thanks

1cm by 1cm is fine. If you make them smaller you get more surface area and thus more catalytic affect on your material being pyrolyzed. However if you keep them at 1cm by 1cm or go as small as 2mm by 2mm you will easily be able to filter the clay out from the carbon black that is produced with a simple mesh screen.

After you filter them out you can reuse them for 1-3 batches depending on how much material your processed with them. Then, you can burn off the junk that's in the micro pores by heating them in the open air and allow combustion to take place.

What I usually do is place some catalyst at the bottom of my retort and then fill it with plastic. I'll then place the rest of the catalyst on top of the plastic creating a sandwich.

Imakebiodiesel uses his in the gas phase. In my tests, I've found that placing them directly with the plastic lowers the energy required for pyrolysis to begin. However, catalyst in the gas phase produced less coke on the catalyst.

Another catalyst you could try is perlite. It is cheap and used for gardening.

[Beyond Biodiesel]

because im interested to make some unit/units that can convert all domestic waste. Having a zero waste household.

Anyway I have another concern. I was wondering what would be the most optimal way to ddesign a reactor so least possible heat escapes. In other word -how to construct the reactor so the maximum of the heat is being used and not dispersed?

Here on the picture i designed what I was thinking about. What do you think of it? How do you perceive it ? Do you know of more convenient ways to build optimat heat absobtion reactor ?



what about inner heating source - what is the best heater for inner heating and will it make enought temperature - 450 - 500c ??

Your design is similar to mine. I run a 5-gallon (20L) pyrolysis unit. I found 4" of high temperature insulation will require about 1500watts to distill 5 gallons (20L) of WMO in 4 hours at 400c.

I use a hot plate, 2 band heaters and 1 line wrap for all of my electrical heating needs.

[jonathan]

retort catalyst

thanks mjohnson1 l will try that 2cm by 2cm and what u mean gas phase l put terra cotta in retort

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Lowriderzzz, Why do you want to turn organic waste into fuel? I make about half a ton of compost every year from organic waste from my home, my garden and my vegetable plot. Its worth more, both economically and environmentally, than half a ton of fuel and it doesnt cost a cent to make.

I happen to agree with imakebiodiesel, as an organic gardener, decomposable biomass is far more useful as compost, mulch and fertilizer than as fuel.

However, I do agree with Lowriderzzz, having zero waste by recycling it into fuel is a noble goal that I am actively working on. Nonetheless, I am more interested in converting plastic and waste mineral oils into fuel, than converting my compost into fuel. And, I believe if more farmers converted their agricultural wastes into fuel, then they would soon deplete their soil.

I ventured into pyrolysis of biomass last week.
I filled up my retort with animal fat, veg oil and sawdust. I heated it up to 400C and ran it for about 5 hours. I got about 20 litres of liquid bio oil and a lot of gas( 42 kg of feedstock) The gas burned bright blue just like propane. The bio oil is the most evil smelling fuel I have ever encountered. My eyes start to sting as soon as I open the container. It is black with a layer of watery sludge in the bottom. It has about the same viscosity as diesel.
The retort was still half full of tar when opened with the same acrid blinding smell. It was a horrible job to clean it out. Even my next batch of nice clean plastic was contaminated by it until about halfway through.
I believe that the horrible smell is propenal (acrolein) which is produced by the thermal decomposition of the glycerol content of oils and fats.
The yield was so low, the fuel so nasty and the residue so troublesome that I wont be trying that again.

This is really useful information. In my process I have been dumping the sludge, from turning WVO into fuel, into my WMO sludge bucket, and I have run some of it through my pyrolysis unit. I have not noticed any offensive odors, but then I have a bubbler now, which might handle the acrolein.

acrolein: Highly poisonous. Causes severe irritation to exposed membranes. Extremely flammable liquid and vapor.

This suggests that if it is not soluble in water, then it could be consumed by an exhaust burner.

[mjohnson1]

thanks mjohnson1 l will try that 2cm by 2cm and what u mean gas phase l put terra cotta in retort

2cm by 2cm is too big in my opinion. In my post I said 2mm by 2mm (millimeters).

[jonathan]

retort catalyst

ok thanks johnson1 it was my mistaking its 2mm by 2mm ok thanks but l am worry that my reflux was clogged