How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[jonathan]

pyrolysis oil

excalibur did u test your diesel in car? and l read that fuel oxidize after days and turn black....does your diesel turn black also? thanks

[jonathan]

retort tempreture

thanks excalibur yes it was boil over because i do another test... as i said before i have another system but i dont have insulation.....i do a test with coffe can i put 110g pe plastic and do 100ml of oil but turn to wax but my reflux was 360...so thats why it turn to wax...l will wait for your oil feed preheater..thanks in advance excalibur

[Excalibur]

jonathan, sounding suspiciously like boil over. What was the temperature of the retort when the diesel was coming out black? Temperature is however, only one piece of the puzzle. One gauge of retort activity is to monitor bubbler liveliness. Another really good gauge is a sight glass so you can see flow and fuel color, clear to yellow is good. Dark suggests the process is being forced so the heat may need trimming back.
I suggest you solve the current problems with your system before thinking about upgrading. Proceed one step at a time.

I'm scheduling Tuesday as my next diesel making session. Am hoping to do 300 liters. I'll be updating the schematic for the preheater oil feed soon after.

[jonathan]

tempreture proplem

thanks excalibur i try it when tempreture of reflux was about 220 degrees c it was yellow when tempreture begun to rise it comes out black.....can some one help me about waste oil continuous system? thanks

[David007]

mmm... somethink

Banding Ceramic Heating Element to Pipe - YouTube

ASB Heating Elements Ltd.

do you like, any idea?

[David007]

thanks

exalibur now i try to build, and i like to make with band heater.

Beyond Biodiesel thanks i have see your site about fire brick, is more safe, and more simple to use band heater, i can find free mica.

i have see in internet but nothing conctert, just some picture.
any idea, something more how to build band heater?

[Excalibur]

i have heat proplem with my system so i am finding insulation....l try small system with pe plastic i produce like gold fuel then turn to wax...i try pp plastic and waste oil but fuel comes black...my reflux was 240 and rise up to 340..how can l make fuel from pp and waste oil to yellow fuel? whats the proplem? can it be retort tempreture to hi thanks

http://www.energeticforum.com/renewa...tml#post149814 ..post 680
The black color might indicate boil over or if you're sure it's not boil over then perhaps try terracotta pieces in the reflux.

[jonathan]

oil retort

excalibur can you help me to do waste oil continuous system? l mean the system before retort do you have drawing?

[jonathan]

tempreture proplem

i have heat proplem with my system so i am finding insulation....l try small system with pe plastic i produce like gold fuel then turn to wax...i try pp plastic and waste oil but fuel comes black...my reflux was 240 and rise up to 340..how can l make fuel from pp and waste oil to yellow fuel? whats the proplem? can it be retort tempreture to hi thanks

[Beyond Biodiesel]

i have think and to make heater with nichrome wire, is possibility to have short circuit when nichrome may be cut off (broken).

with nichrome wire, need and fire brick, and i see how to build fire brick but need more work to make it.

with nichrome wire non are safe!!! may be ... more bad expol...

i like to buy or to build band heater with mic a, becouse the surface of contat is more safe with mica.
is better if build, becouse can make with best dimension of your "refinery".
any idea???

Mica can handle the heat, but it tends to be expensive, unless you have access to it cheap. ceramic slieving is available, but you may have to order it.

Since our working temperature is so low, compared to insulation materials, then Another option for the band heater is wrapping it around graphite sheet gasket would work, and it is more flexible than mica.

I have found, and used high temperature band heaters on eBay for cheap.

Here is a link to some high temperature insulation experiments I did inlcuding making my own firebrick High temperature insulation

thank you i use brass

Brass melts at around 800f (425c), so it will not make a good seal, or fitting for the retort.

[Excalibur]

Might be worth noting that brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Also it's harder but would still seal given appropriate flange clamping force. My copper gasket has been re-used perhaps 6 times with no apparent issue that I'm aware of. It covers the top of the reflux as a full width "disk", not like a donut shape like one expect of a 'normal' gasket. So there is a fair bit of exposure to vapors and it comes out looking fine. For casual readers of this thread, I mention it hasn't been exposed to any PE/PP as yet, only wmo.

Wheels, exiting times with the maiden run. Best of luck Am chilling the beer in anticipation...

I'm prepping for another run as soon as I get the current batch of modifications completed. Perhaps early next week. I have the wmo preheater feed pump set to 30 liters per hour.

Edit:
Aluminum could be used as gasket material. It was occasionally used for motorcycle head gaskets as well. I prefer copper as it anneals easily so I'll keep using it unless it causes unwanted reactions. 1mm - 1.25mm is common thickness but I have used as thin as .6mm without issue on bikes. My reflux has a 1mm copper gasket which is from a recycled copper water cylinder.

[David007]

band heater

i have think and to make heater with nichrome wire, is possibility to have short circuit when nichrome may be cut off (broken).

with nichrome wire, need and fire brick, and i see how to build fire brick but need more work to make it.

with nichrome wire non are safe!!! may be ... more bad expol...

i like to buy or to build band heater with mic a, becouse the surface of contat is more safe with mica.
is better if build, becouse can make with best dimension of your "refinery".
any idea???

thank you i use brass

[David007]

band heater

i have think and to make heater with nichrome wire, is possibility to have short circuit when nichrome may be cut off (broken).

with nichrome wire, need and fire brick, and i see how to build fire brick but need more work to make it.

with nichrome wire non are safe!!! may be ... more bad expol...

i like to buy or to build band heater with mic a, becouse the surface of contat is more safe with mica.
is better if i build, becouse can make with best dimension of your "refinery".
any idea???

[Beyond Biodiesel]

i read all, and i have understande more in this forume.

Welcome David007. Good work

i see to bay band heater, but need 2-4 week to come in me, is possible to build the band heater, with mica for this process, hight temperture????

You will not need mic, if you are going to build your own band heaters. I have access to lots of free nichrome wire, so I planned to build my own band heaters from the wire and shoving it into ceramic sleeving.

what tipe of gasket can use??? copper

Copper will work as a gasket, but if you have access to graphite gaskets, then they will work better, because I found copper oxidizes heavily at our working temperature.

[wheels]

David007
Re: copper gasket
Forum talk about copper gaskets on pages 69 & 91.
I use a copper gasket at the top flange of the reflux tower and where a sealing washer is required i.e. thermocouple adaptor in retort flange.
My retort flange uses a v-groove seal though I'd have no hesitation using solid copper gasket there as well. Vintage motorcycles were commonly factory fitted with solid copper gaskets till as late as the 70's and these really 'stood the test of time'. Common practice was to anneal a gasket by heating to cherry red hot and allowing to cool or optionally quenching. This softened it ready for re-use. A retort runs hotter than a motorcycle engine though copper appears to be more than up to the task.

Heat would not be a issue with copper. The only issue would be for plastics that are not PP/PE that would produce Acids. Not a problem if you don't have any of those plastic types. Although Copper can act as a Catalyst, which is not a bad thing, the exposed edge will not be a large enough surface and also probably too cold to actually catalyse anything. I don't recommend it for pipe work, however others have used it with seemingly no issues. But technically, it could be doing things to the fuel.
I have used a brass ring for a seal. It is pushed by a Wedge shape lip on one collar, out hard against the flat face lip on the other collar and is then squeezed between. Then there is a face above that again that squeezes a Glass woven rope down on top as an extra secondary seal. The Top collar is pulled down by 6 bolts around the Collar. It should have it's first run over this weekend and will report on how it goes.