Industry consensus is growing that as much post-industrial and post-consumer plastics should be recycled as possible, as long as it's both cost-effective and environmentally efficient. Otherwise, energy recovery becomes the best solution. For example, NRPs may be contaminated, such as single-serve items used in a fast-food restaurant, or may be unrecyclable because multiple types are mixed and recycling would consume too much energy or water, said Keith Christman, managing director of plastic markets for the plastics division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC).
In contrast to mechanical recycling, where plastics are chopped up or melted and turned into another plastic product, chemical recycling turns polymers into chemical feedstock via depolymerization or into fuel via pyrolysis. Other processes, solid recovery fuel (SRF) or refuse derived fuel (RDF), take mixed paper and plastics and produce compressed pellets used in paper mills, cement kilns, and coal-fired plants, said Wooster. They are common in Europe.
In February 2012 JBI launched its second Plastic2Oil processor, the prototype of the company's commercial rollout. (Source: JBI)
Plastic-to-fuel usually refers to pyrolysis, according to "Conversion technology: A complement to plastic recycling," a landmark research report by 4R Sustainability and funded by the ACC. Pyrolysis is the thermochemical decomposition of a material without the presence of air or oxygen. It heats materials to very high temperatures, resulting in their physical phase change.
Pyrolysis typically results in about 65 percent diesel-like fuel, about 5 percent heavier-weight or waste-product fuel, and about 30 percent vaporous gas, according to Wooster. This gas can be burned within the same plant to power the pyrolysis process. These efficiencies are much higher than turning fossil fuel or natural gas into electricity, which is only about 33 1/3 percent efficient. "That's why it doesn't make sense to burn natural gas in a plant to make electricity, and then heat homes with that electricity."
Any of these energy-recovery processes can be used for either post-consumer or post-industrial waste, but some work better with known sources. A process that works only with a specific plastic feedstock is better suited for post-industrial waste, since contamination is more likely with post-consumer waste.
RDF works with any plastic, but the energy content differs. Polyethylene and polypropylene have the highest energy content and polyethylene terephthalate or polyester have the lowest energy content. Some of the newer processes work better with some plastics than with others, said Wooster.
Joseph Stalin was said to have said " he who votes doesn't count, but, he who counts the votes counts " obama takes this seriously, by assigning ACORN spinter groups responsibility for census, which includes voter protocol, he plans to be relected by whatever method it takes, being in control of the country gives him the authority to investigate whomever he selects, and investigate, or not all compli]aints regarding election fraud, like the 2008 election where thousands of voter fraud compliants went uninvestigated by Holder His Attorney General. Our future looks bleak unless there is intervention to eliminate criminality from government---Palin was planning to end lobbie influence in law making, McCain planned to end affirmative action, or biggotry in he muticultural nation we are, micromanaged by affirmative administraitors assigned their jb because of color rather than job integrity, the significant variable of any position of authority. This mistake has caused chaos with uqualified personnel forcing their misinformed opinions on americas citizens, This should not be interpreted as racial, its simply doing he right things or doing the wrong things.
Many countries reuse virtually all paper, plastics glass, metal, and have no landfill. Thorium reactors more economical and safe are thorium reactors, by bombarding thorium compounds with neutrons it becomes radioactive parallel to unanium, when problems occur, shut off the wave resonant frequenct and amplitude of neutrons, and radioactivity ceases to exist, plus thorium is more abundent than uranium, using the reactors currently used to supply electricity---Gasoline from coal becomes cheaper to distill from liquified coal when petroleum reaches 34 dollars a barrel. Hitler fueled his armed forces with coal gasoline and diesel, politicians lobbies, cash bribes, manipulating the epa, prevents us from doing the right thnigs
Glenn , what do you think the solution is? Isn't obvious? One just collects the neighbors, local business plastic waste that they don't use. They are already available in Japan for home use.
PV has dropped a lot. You can get them for $1/wt until the trade war over them with China heats up and prices will go up some, 20-30% so if you want them, buy now.
But shop well and learn what it takes or you'll pay 2-3x's too much. sunelec.com is a site to start and probably buy from as their prices are hard to beat though others match them.
Where is the Gov in this Droid? It doesn't need it at all. From what I've researched and Ann's numbers it's clear it's profitable to do.
What I want is the huge subsidies to big oil, coal which are in the order of $500B/yr from health to oil war, etc costs. If that we in them where it belongs, paid for by those who cause the problems, costs, then RE is clearly cheaper now in many cases and sites and needs no subsidies.
You need mandate to keep us from going off a cliff when oil spikes. Just how much do you think an oil recession costs? We've had 5 over 35 yrs or so.
We need to get millions of small energy producers, say 1 every 10-20 people to collect, convert the closest viable RE and sell it to the others instead of our money going to protect oil dictators and international oil companies that do their expensing here but keep profit overseas. What thanks for protecting them. For 50% of that money we could be energy independent in 5-7 yrs.
I see many small 1-5 person businesses because collecting is the biggest cost, one must be close to the supply so must be kept small, making a nice profit. Since oil will only go up over time, it only gets more profitable.
Jerry dycus; One of the 'small' units produces 1 gallon of oil per hour. Another 'small' unit consumes 22 lbs of plastic and produces 2.7 gallons of oil per hour. How would you feed one of these ? How much plastic waste do you think a household would generate ? And would it be the best 'grade' of plastic to feed one of theswe systems ? I think this is a great concept, but I don't think it would be a good fit for household use, yet. Also, I have looked into wind turbines, but not really seriously - the wind where I live is not enough to power one. I like the idea of solar for household water heating. I don't know if the efficiency of photovoltaic cost-justifies a single-home system.
Dennis, I'm not sure which technology you mean that "burns," but the main one mentioned in this article, pyrolysis, does not. Despite the Greek word for "fire" at the root of "pyrolysis," when applied to the chemical conversion of plastics the term doesn't mean burning or incineration. As the article states, "Pyrolysis is the thermochemical decomposition of a material without the presence of air or oxygen." As just mentioned, even WTE, which does burn, is by law an entirely closed-loop emission-contained system. Today, this is a non-issue, at least in the US.
Tim and naperlou, these technologies, primarily pyrolysis, could not be widely used previously because they are just on the verge of scaling up. One of the reasons it's taken so long is because of widespread misunderstanding of what pyrolysis is and what it entails, on the part of both law-makers and citizens/voters. Much of this has been due to confusion about its name and what it means, and to confusing this technology with those that do, in fact, burn. However, even those that do, like WTE, are, by law, entirely closed-loop emission-contained systems.
Personally - I wish we could get the government out of all this. The whole economics and marketplace interaction between various green and "non-green" technologies is confused by introducing government money and mandates into the mix. Plus its picking winners and losers. Solyndra comes to mind.
That said, this is interesting technology with high potential. Right now, the company I work for ships all sorts of plastic scrap over to China. Whatever we cannot recover and use internally goes there. I have no idea what they do with it.
My guess is the situation at my company is just a microcosm of the plastics industry and would be curious to know how many other plastics processors do the same. Maybe at some point it would pay for processors to recover energy from their scrap - if reusing the plastic itself isn't feasible.
Thanks for the additional links Ann. I've been following JBI for the last year. There's so much controversy around the way the comapny's being run, that it's interferring with the day-to-day progress.
It's a great idea given the world situation. If they can get more gov't contracts, wider appeal and use will follow.
The old phrase "follow the money" applies here though. I've noticed over the last few years, it seems to be in most industries and countries best interest to keep the price of oil high-even artificailly high. That's quite a shift from previous decades.
No doubt that we need viable alternatives but, as usual, the "how" and not the "what" needs to be examined.
Doubt the govt would invest in this, even if it does make sense. Green "investment" is, IMO, about securing the votes of a particular group. This tech creates and burns (horrors) petroleum products. Combustion of any kind will be anethema to them.
Inspired by the hooks a parasitic worm uses to penetrate its host's intestines, the Karp Lab has invented a flexible adhesive patch covered with microneedles that adheres well to wet, soft tissues, but doesn't cause damage when removed.
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego are designing a robotic arm that takes inspiration from the loose, flexible, yet very strong structure of the armored plates on a seahorse's tail.
Researchers at the Missouri University of Science & Technology have designed a new nanoscale material that can transmit light faster than the 186,000 miles per second it usually takes to travel through air.
It has often been said that as California goes, so goes the nation. This spring, the state's wind power is setting energy generation records and solar energy generation is expected to rise sharply during the second half of 2013.
The latest model of Liquid Robotics' Wave Glider autonomous, unmanned marine vehicle (UMV), the SV3, is reportedly the world's first hybrid wave- and solar-power-propelled unmanned ocean robot.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 3
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
A quick look into the merger of two powerhouse 3D printing OEMs and the new leader in rapid prototyping solutions, Stratasys. The industrial revolution is now led by 3D printing and engineers are given the opportunity to fully maximize their design capabilities, reduce their time-to-market and functionally test prototypes cheaper, faster and easier. Bruce Bradshaw, Director of Marketing in North America, will explore the large product offering and variety of materials that will help CAD designers articulate their product design with actual, physical prototypes. This broadcast will dive deep into technical information including application specific stories from real world customers and their experiences with 3D printing. 3D Printing is
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
7 
