The machine that turns plastic into fuel passes the second

[Christophe]

Reread with your finger ... It's 800L for 1000Kg of plastic, a yield of 80% (gross).

Uh it's not performance there ... rather productivity or efficiency ... And it's not 80% but 80 * 0.85 (kg / L) = 68%

Question: what happens to the 320 kg lost from the 1000 kg? CO2? Ultimate waste?

The transformation of plastic into fuel had been the subject of one of the FIRST subjects of forums...in 2004: Biofuels / l-India-could carburer au-plastic t118.html

So it's not really new as an idea ...

[GuyGadebois]

Reread with your finger ... It's 800L for 1000Kg of plastic, a yield of 80% (gross).

Uh it's not performance there ... rather productivity or efficiency ... And it's not 80% but 80 * 0.85 (kg / L) = 68%

Question: what happens to the 320 kg lost from the 1000 kg? CO2? Ultimate waste?

The transformation of plastic into fuel had been the subject of one of the FIRST subjects of forums...in 2004: Biofuels / l-India-could carburer au-plastic t118.html

So it's not really new as an idea ...

Thank you for the precision, indeed 1L of fuel does not weigh 1Kg.
As for the 320kg, they will (perhaps not be lost, but recycled and used for other tasks.

[Christophe]

As for the 320kg, it may not be lost, but recycled and used for other tasks.

We don't know ... there is a good chance that they will go into "smoke" ...

[Did67]

Logically, when we smash polymers, therefore very long carbon chains, we collect a bit of everything: very short chains ("debris"), therefore indeed gases (methane, ethane, propane, butane ... ) which it is to be hoped that they are all recovered, medium chains (liquids at ordinary temperature - therefore this famous "fuel" - with no doubt heptanes, octanes, nonanes, etc ...), which is the goal, and long chains, with viscous products at ordinary temperature (therefore kinds of fats and tars) ...

We must not forget that petroleum, at the start, is not pretty pretty ... And that refineries are needed to "distil" the various products. We do not get what we want, but what was in the oil at the start. From where a certain% of diesel fuel, gasoline, wite spirit, oils, greases, tar ... The oil companies know, to a certain extent, recomposed all this. Our high-end oils are synthetic oils.

I doubt that in the barbecue that we saw in the photo, we manage to do all this ... Because I don't think that the refiners build complex refineries only to make a "Christmas tree" when we go to rated at night?

PS: What is lacking in econology is an Excel with all the ideas of genius that we discussed, to make a point 10 years later. Then 20 years ... In my memories, there is not much. Even if I saw the other day, and even took a look in a Tesla 3 - I didn't believe Elon Musk's escapades either, I admit ...

[GuyGadebois]

Thank you for the details. It is therefore possible to use and recycle almost 100% "plastic" if we give ourselves the means.

[Did67]

I think that for polyethylene, which is polymer of ethylene, indeed it should not be too complicated, because polymerization amounts to making a long carbon chain carrying hydrogen atoms.

See here the different PE and their uses: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly%C3%A9thyl%C3%A8ne

Then there is plastic and plastic. The difficulty is that even when you sort, you mix almost everything!

What the article does not talk about is also that there are often more or less nice "additives": anti-UV, etc ...

The "PET" from which plastic bottles (drinks, etc.) are made is not polyethylene, but polyethylene terephthalate (it is a polyester).

I am not talking about PVC, which is more difficult to destroy. Its combustion releases hydrochloric acid !!! Ditto without doubt if it is "pyrolyzed" ... It is chlorine, the basis of its molecule (vinyl chloride), which recombines.

Please note: PET is easily transformed into ... PET (bottles can easily be made from bottles). Perhaps the simplest thing would be to stop making bottles from petroleum and then transform bottles into petroleum substitutes.

[Christophe]

Agree with Didier.

I am not a plasturgist (I had a few lessons in common with them) but I know that it is very costly in energy to break polymers which are very stable molecules ... hence their extreme non-biodegradability ... and high calorific value ...

It seems to me that polyethylene is the cleanest (simple?) Of plastics: its combustion releases only CO2 and H2O ... at least in theory and for the PELD I think HDPE (milk bottle) is less "clean" and PVC and PET are ... much more disgusting!

So there is plastic AND plastic ...

Everything is a story of energy-financial "profitability": if you have to spend 5 fossil calories-euros to recover 1 "ex-plastico" calorie-euro (copyrighted lol) ... we forget ... end of the story!

Maybe the 320 kg is ultimately the part of plastic that cannot be recycled via this process (assuming that the 1000 kg is not sorted)

The difficulty is that even when you sort, you mix almost everything!

It all depends on the sorting system in place ... in Belgium (since at least 2005) plastics are sorted by type AND by color!

We had a report ... in 2006 (13 years ago therefore): https://www.econologie.com/tri-selectif ... rs-idelux/ et https://www.econologie.com/tri-selectif ... -idelux-2/

Linked topic: waste-and-recycling / a reportage-park-containers and tri-selective-in-belgium-t2273.html

The photo is not of very good quality, 2006 requires but the sorting system is always the same:



France, even in the "greenest" regions, it is still not at this level of sorting at the level of individuals ... Belgium is therefore more than 15 years ahead on this point ... Irony it is is Suez (among others) a French group that manages the collection!

In short I imagine that plastic recyclers know how to sort beforehand ... if the process requires it ...

ps: I don't think the color of the plastic is important in the process of this subject ...

[Did67]

This sorting is at the reception at the station ??? Manuel? Or individuals at the start?

Although today, the packaging is almost always coded (like PET-7), the vast majority of French people are reluctant to such a "thorough" sorting. But you also have to recognize that brands are doing their best to confuse you. I try to sort as much as possible and often find myself in front of a "complex" packaging which I do not know where to put it ... Questions of "design" surely. But all the tests on people's behavior agree with the manufacturers: put a shitty product in a nice package and 90% of people will buy it.

I believe that mechanical sorting is making great progress and that bottles can be "flashed" at very high speed to be mechanically oriented to the right bins in sorting facilities. 2 or 3 years ago, sorting on collection was simplified for us (because downstream, the factory was modernized). for example metal and different plastics go in the same bag ...

[44Olive]

The African version (fired with wood)

[GuyGadeboisTheBack]

Deforestation to make gasoline, it goes without saying.