How to turn plastic waste into diesel fuel cheaply

[EdCarron]

Hello all, finally started my unit

Here are some pics of the beginnings of my unit. Unfortunately I missed Jetijs presentation of what plastics yield and types. I would be very interested in seeing it. If its at all possible I would appreciate it very much. I own a metal recycling facility just outside of Ottawa Ontario Canada. Anyone from this area should be able to figure out who I am just by looking at my user name but if you would like to email me that's fine too. My email is [email protected] the pictures you are looking at are of a prototype unit. Once I have experimented enough I will be using a 1000 lbs propane tank stood up. I plan to heat it with 4-6 gun burners from furnaces and use the oil produced as fuel. I would like to know if anyone near me is attempting these projects as I have almost 60 acres of equipment to harvest parts from and literally 1000's of tons of steel to work with. Anyway a big thanks to everyone on here who contributes and keep up the excellent work.
Ed

[curlyrocks]

Hi everyone

I'm new to this site but have been checking out this thread for a while now, I too am interested in recovering liquid fuel like gasoline or desile from plastics, but I am also currently interested in recovering copper from computer components and was thinking this would be a great way to dispose of the plastic waste that will accumulate.

I was wondering what will happen or what should I do regarding Brominated flame retardant found in most computer plastics. Will it be an issue or what kind of damage can it cause the environment. I am already taking precautions regarding mercury and other dangerous chemicals and am seperating them out before this stage but I was wondering what to do about the flame retardants found in the plastic.

[Chris@NL]

[Babataku]

50 ppm 0.0050%
200 ppm 0.0200%
500 ppm 0.0500%

Lets go easy and use 1kg of your product, since your BHT is in kg, thats 1000g's so 1000 x 0.0050 = 5 grams , hence 200 parts will be 20 grams and 500 parts will be 50grams of BHT.

IF you insist to work in Litres you will need your specific gravity, lets assume diesel is 0.86 then simply for 1000ml (1L) you will need 5 grams x 0.86 = 4.3 grams of BHT for 1L of your product.

Regards

Thanks AAS,

the explanation is clear and very valuable to this forum. Will update when i have done another run and conducted the trials with BHT. Maybe sometime next week.

[Beyond Biodiesel]

I have a question what would happen if we made the valve after the reactor 'and closes after the completion of the pyrolysis process' in order to prevent the return of air conditioning or sparkling water to cool down and twisted' then we can open it safely

One could just lift the hose out of the bubbler as soon as the heat is cut. Otherwise, if the retort did not have thick walls, then the vacuum formed would collapse the retort.

50 ppm 0.0050%
200 ppm 0.0200%
500 ppm 0.0500%

Lets go easy and use 1kg of your product, since your BHT is in kg, thats 1000g's so 1000 x 0.0050 = 5 grams , hence 200 parts will be 20 grams and 500 parts will be 50grams of BHT.

IF you insist to work in Litres you will need your specific gravity, lets assume diesel is 0.86 then simply for 1000ml (1L) you will need 5 grams x 0.86 = 4.3 grams of BHT for 1L of your product.

Regards

Thank-you AAS, for providing valuable information about reducing polymerization, which is new material for us all here.
Chris, I find band heaters are much more efficient for heating a retort with, because they rely upon conduction; verses kiln heaters rely upon radiant heat, which is far less efficient for heat transference.

However, the insulating material that comes with the kiln, if it is the right size to surround your retort, would be very valuable, because fire brick and kaowool are quite expensive.

You could also recycle ash and crushed glass into making your own fire bricks.

[Chris@NL]

Chris
I agree, the extruder is a good idea. They are fitted with heaters along the length of the screw. They will be 3phase I believe. So look for redundant equipment where plastic is injection molded or blow molded. Also a granulator from this industry is of the right quality to handle the task of chipping the waste raw material.

See this animated video of a commercial plant for some ideas. This is gas fired but worth a look.

Getting people to agree on anything can be a challenge. Perhaps look at all design ideas presented and then cherry pick the pieces you like.

[AAS]

Hi All,

Need some help:

1.I have found some BHT Food grade available, has anyone tried this or i need to use some other BHT for Industrial or specifically for petroleum industry?

2. In what proportion should i add the BHT to the produced fuel? 1Kg to how many liters,etc?

Please help, i need to deal with stability of produced fuel.

50 ppm 0.0050%
200 ppm 0.0200%
500 ppm 0.0500%

Lets go easy and use 1kg of your product, since your BHT is in kg, thats 1000g's so 1000 x 0.0050 = 5 grams , hence 200 parts will be 20 grams and 500 parts will be 50grams of BHT.

IF you insist to work in Litres you will need your specific gravity, lets assume diesel is 0.86 then simply for 1000ml (1L) you will need 5 grams x 0.86 = 4.3 grams of BHT for 1L of your product.

Regards

[Excalibur]

Chris
I agree, the extruder is a good idea. They are fitted with heaters along the length of the screw. They will be 3phase I believe. So look for redundant equipment where plastic is injection molded or blow molded. Also a granulator from this industry is of the right quality to handle the task of chipping the waste raw material.

See this animated video of a commercial plant for some ideas. This is gas fired but worth a look.

Getting people to agree on anything can be a challenge. Perhaps look at all design ideas presented and then cherry pick the pieces you like.

[Chris@NL]

Ofcourse i don't want to make the mistakes that beginners have.

I think this thread is meant to be a lesson for anyone who is interested and so they dont have begin all the way from the start.

Thats why i suggested to make a drawing.
everytime someone makes a improvement and everyone agrees, there will be a next edition of the drawing. (Any volunteers who can make technical drawings?)

In the end we should have a perfect working machine with no dangerous situations.

Ofcourse there has to be some extra safeties buildt in.

Is this a good idea or am i asking too much for a beginner on this forum?

[dedooo]

I have a question what would happen if we made the valve after the reactor 'and closes after the completion of the pyrolysis process' in order to prevent the return of air conditioning or sparkling water to cool down and twisted' then we can open it safely

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Welcome Chris, building a pilot plant is a necessary developmental process for each and everyone who wishes to design and build a pyrolysis unit, because in a pilot plant you can make lots of mistakes without killing a lot of people.

Hello all I have now finished reading the 107 page 'I would like to thank all who contributed to the publication of his ideas on the subject' do not blame Jetijs and imb have returned to what they're writing 'but I would encourage
Excalibur and Beyond Biodiesel to provide support to all and thank you

Welcome dedooo

To answer your last question. I would go for a device for about 500 kg.

And i would like to have an automatic feed for plastic and maybe also automatic char removal. (Sorry for my bad english)

I was thinking to use an old extruder from an injection moulding machine to preheat the plastic and to inject it into the reactor.

Can someone explain the different types of metal because in Holland i think they use other names for this?

Using an old extruder from an injection molding machine to preheat the plastic and to inject it into the reactor sounds like an excellent idea. We should all go looking for such a device.

[ndsunil]

To answer your last question. I would go for a device for about 500 kg.

And i would like to have an automatic feed for plastic and maybe also automatic char removal. (Sorry for my bad english)

I was thinking to use an old extruder from an injection moulding machine to preheat the plastic and to inject it into the reactor.

Can someone explain the different types of metal because in Holland i think they use other names for this?

What you have thought about pre heating in extruder is very correct idea . You are on right track .

[Chris@NL]

To answer your last question. I would go for a device for about 500 kg.

And i would like to have an automatic feed for plastic and maybe also automatic char removal. (Sorry for my bad english)

I was thinking to use an old extruder from an injection moulding machine to preheat the plastic and to inject it into the reactor.

Can someone explain the different types of metal because in Holland i think they use other names for this?

[Chris@NL]

First i thought iT would be a good idea to use the fuel and gas for heating the device. But after some Reading electric heating looks better.
Its not so expensive as i thought it would be.
Also it works cleaner i guess.

I have a very big power supply, so that won't be an issue.

[dedooo]

Hello all I have now finished reading the 107 page 'I would like to thank all who contributed to the publication of his ideas on the subject' do not blame Jetijs and imb have returned to what they're writing 'but I would encourage
Excalibur and Beyond Biodiesel to provide support to all and thank you