Plastic to Oil Recycling

James HOLM / Swaminathan RAMESH
Catalytic Thermal Depolymerisation ( Plastic to Diesel )

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170403083052.htm

Ridding the oceans of plastics by turning the waste into valuable fuel

...For years, Ramesh explains, pyrolysis technologies have been used to break down or depolymerize unwanted polymers, such as plastic wastes, leaving a hydrocarbon-based fuel. But the process usually calls for complex and costly refining steps to make the fuel useable.

Ramesh set out to change the game and developed a metallocene catalyst deposited on a porous support material that, coupled with a controlled pyrolysis reaction, yields diesel fuels directly without further refining. It is also cost-effective on a small scale, runs at lower temperatures and is mobile.

"The catalyst system also allows us to perform the pyrolysis as a continuous-feed process and shrink the footprint of the whole system," Ramesh says. "We can scale the capacity to handle anywhere from 200 pounds per 10-hour day to 10,000 or more pounds per 10-hour day. Because of its small size, we also can take the technological process to where the plastic wastes are." The whole system can fit in a 20-foot shipping container or on the back of a flat-bed truck, Holm says.

The next step, they say, is to show the technology works well and that it can create a useable drop-in diesel fuel. They will soon conduct a demonstration project for the government of the city of Santa Cruz, California. Officials there are interested in implementing the technology to address waste plastics that currently cannot be recycled, as well as to formulate diesel fuel the city can use for its vehicles, Holm adds.

"If we can get people around the world to pick this up and use it to shift waste plastics to fuel and make money, we are winning," Holm says. "We can even eliminate plastic waste before it gets to the oceans by creating value for it locally on a global basis."...

US9802184 -- CATALYST FOR RECYCLING A PLASTIC

Abstract
A catalyst for recycling a plastic chosen from polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and combinations thereof includes a porous support having an exterior surface and at least one pore therein, a depolymerization catalyst component comprising a metallocene catalyst disposed on the exterior surface of the porous support, and a reducing catalyst component disposed in the at least one pore. The exterior surface of the porous support comprises less than 10 parts by weight of the reducing catalyst component based on 100 parts by weight of the depolymerization catalyst component as determined using Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS). Moreover, the reducing catalyst component comprises a transition metal selected from the group of iron, nickel, palladium, platinum, and combinations thereof. The at least one pore in the porous support has an average pore size of 10 Angstroms.

Plastic to Oil Fantastic
by Carol Smith

We are all well aware of plastic’s “rap-sheet.” It has been found guilty on many counts, including the way its production and disposal raises resource issues and lets loose extremely negative environmental impacts.

Typically made from petroleum, it is estimated that 7% of the world’s annual oil production is used to produce and manufacture plastic. That is more than the oil consumed by the entire African continent.

Plastic’s carbon footprint includes landfilling and incineration, since sadly, its recycle rate is dismally low around the globe.

Plastic trash is also polluting our oceans and washing up on beaches around the world. Tons of plastic from the US and Japan are floating in the Pacific Ocean, killing mammals and birds. Perhaps this tragedy is best captured in the TED presentation by Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.

Using less, or use it better?

Thankfully, there are those who fully appreciate that plastic has a higher energy value than anything else commonly found in the waste stream. A Japanese company called Blest created a small, very safe and easy to use machine that can convert several types of plastic back into oil.

"If we burn the plastic, we generate toxins and a large amount of CO2. If we convert it into oil, we save CO2 and at the same time increase people’s awareness about the value of plastic garbage. " — Akinori Ito, CEO of Blest.

Though Japan has much improved its “effective utilization” rate over the years to 72% in 2006, that leaves 28% of plastic to be buried in landfills or burned. According to Plastic Waste Management Institute data, “effective utilization” includes not just the 20% that is actually recycled, but also 52% that is being incinerated for “energy recovery” purposes, i.e., generating heat or electric power.

“If we burn the plastic, we generate toxins and a large amount of CO2. If we convert it into oil, we save CO2 and at the same time increase people’s awareness about the value of plastic garbage,” says Akinori Ito, CEO of Blest.

Blest’s conversion technology is very safe because it uses a temperature controlling electric heater rather than flame. The machines are able to process polyethylene, polystyrene and polypropylene (numbers 2-4) but not PET bottles (number 1). The result is a crude gas that can fuel things like generators or stoves and, when refined, can even be pumped into a car, a boat or motorbike. One kilogram of plastic produces almost one liter of oil. To convert that amount takes about 1 kilowatt of electricity, which is approximately ¥20 or 20 cents’ worth.

The company makes the machines in various sizes and has 60 in place at farms, fisheries and small factories in Japan and several abroad.

“To make a machine that anyone can use is my dream,” Ito says. “The home is the oil field of the future.”

Perhaps that statement is not as crazy as it sounds, since the makeup of Japanese household waste has been found to contain over 30 % plastic, most of it from packaging.

Continually honing their technology, the company is now able to sell the machines for less than before, and Ito hopes to achieve a product “that any one can buy.” Currently the smallest version, shown in the videobrief, costs ¥950,000 (US $9,500).

Changing how we think

But it is the educational application of the small model of the machine that Ito is most passionate about. He’s taken it on planes on many occasions as part of a project that began some years ago in the Marshall Islands. There he worked with local government and schools to teach people about recycling culture and the value of discarded plastic, spreading the Japanese concept of mottainai, the idea that waste is sad and regrettable.

In such remote places, the machine also serves as a practical solution to the plastic problem, much of it left behind by tourists: the oil produced is used for tour buses or boats, Ito says.

Plastic’s carbon footprint includes landfilling and incineration, since sadly, its recycle rate is dismally low around the globe.

“Teaching this at schools is the most important work that I do,” Ito reflects. In Japan too, he visits schools where he shows children, teachers and parents how to convert the packaging and drinking straws leftover from lunch.

If we were to use only the world’s plastic waste rather than oil from oil fields, CO2 emissions could be slashed dramatically, he says.

“It’s a waste isn’t it?” Ito asks. “This plastic is every where in the world, and everyone throws it away.”

A mountain to climb down

The wonderful invention of plastics has spawned a huge problem that we are struggling to solve. With peak oil looming, things are set to change, but we find ourselves on top of an oil and plastic mountain, and the only way forward is down.

So while many solutions like this are not without hiccups or detractors, they are a step forward in coming to terms with our oil and plastics dependence and help raise awareness of the carbon footprint of its production and use. Somehow we all know that plastics is a habit we need to kick. But that doesn’t seem to make it any easier.

Perhaps the best thing you can do is to look more deeply into this issue. A good place to start is the 2008 Addicted to Plastic documentary from Cryptic Moth productions. You can watch the trailer online and maybe request it at your local video rental store.

According to the blurb, “the film details plastic’s path over the last 100 years and provides a wealth of expert interviews on practical and cutting edge solutions to recycling, toxicity and biodegradability.”

Next it is just a matter of taking action to break our love affair with plastic.

USP Appln 2009117015 // KR20090031685 -- LIQUEFYING APPARATUS

Abstract -- A liquefying apparatus capable of efficient disposal of plastics. There is provided a liquefying apparatus comprising melting section (1) for heating charged plastic so as to melt the same and cracking section (2) for further heating the plastic melted in the melting section (1) so as to attain gasification cracking thereof, wherein the cracking section (2) slants upward and in its interior is fitted with lead screw (LS), the upper end portion thereof equipped with upward directed catalyst tube (19) and with downward directed residue takeoff section (R), and wherein the cracking section (2) is furnished with means for preventing descending of any plastic melt gas through the residue takeoff section

WO2008004612 -- APPARATUS FOR CONVERSION INTO OIL AND PROCESS FOR PRODUCING OIL

Abstract -- An apparatus for efficiently converting foamed styrene resins into an oil. It can have a smaller size. Also provided is a process for producing an oil. The apparatus for conversion into oil (M1) includes a device for conversion into oil (6) which comprises a gelation unit (72) for converting foamed styrene resins into a molten gel and a decomposition part (75) for heating the molten gel to vaporize and decompose it, and which serves to pyrolyze foamed styrene resins and convert them into an oil. A volume reduction unit (1) for reducing the volume of foamed styrene resins has been united to the apparatus for conversion into oil

JP 2008195821 -- SMALL-SIZED LIQUEFACTION EQUIPMENT

Abstract -- PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a small-sized liquefaction apparatus without requiring a special heating device for a catalyst tube and also without requiring a water-circulating device. ; SOLUTION: The operation of the small-sized liquefaction apparatus comprises putting plastics into a melting pot 2, heating/melting/vaporizing the plastic by a heater 7 wound around its surroundings, decomposing the evaporated gas by a catalyst in the catalyst tube 15 a part 15a of which is hanged in the gas-vaporizing pot, cooling the evaporated gas by a cooling device 3 having a transparent main body 20 storing cooling water 23 to float hydrocarbon oil on the cooling water and recovering the hydrocarbon oil from an oil-recovering tube 24 slightly protruding from the water surface.

JP 2007314654 -- SYSTEM FOR TREATING STYRENE FOAM

Abstract -- PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system achieving an efficient plastic liquefaction utilizing a solvent and to utilize spent lard being an animal fat for energy. ; SOLUTION: Plastic foams are disintegrated and dissolved in a solvent in the volume reduction vessel unit 1. The obtained gel-like mixture is collected in the vessel 13. The gel-like mixture is thinly filmed on the heated wall of the solvent separation apparatus 4 to vaporize the solvent. The vaporized solvent is cooled with a condenser 5 and recovered. The de-solvented gel-like styrene is poured through the receiving port 100 of a dissolving section 72 of a liquefaction apparatus 6, vaporized and decomposed on the slanting decomposition section 75 and liquified in the condenser 80. The liquid is collected in the generated oil tank 82. The styrene oil dissolves animal lard at ordinary temperature. The mixed oil of the lard and the styrene oil drives the generator.

JP 2007316903 -- RECYCLE SYSTEM FOR PLASTIC PRODUCT

Abstract -- PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recycle system for plastic products, which efficiently collects useful resources and uses IC cards to effectively use the resources. ; SOLUTION: The recycle system 100 for the plastic product 6 has a shop 10 which collects the plastic product 6 that a user 2 who has the IC card 5 brings, and an oil center 30 which converts the plastic product 6 to oil, and reuses the plastic product 6 as oil. The shop 10 has a collection box 20 which collects the plastic product 6 that the user 2 throws and an IC card writer 25 which writes a point corresponding to the thrown plastic product 6 into the IC card 5 when the user throws the plastic product 6, and reads a point from the IC card 5 when the user pays for merchandise at the shop 10 to provide a plastic bag 6a to the user 2 based on the point.

JP 2005126454 -- PLASTIC TREATMENT APPARATUS

Abstract -- PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the treatment capacity of a plastic treatment apparatus by increasing the vaporization area of a liquified molten plastic; and to enable the treatment apparatus to be conveyed by constructing the whole of the apparatus compactly and accommodating its main part in a casing. ; SOLUTION: The apparatus has a drying section 1 having a hopper 7 and an almost horizontally arranged vaporization section 6 installed below the drying section 1. In each of the sections 1 and 6, a lead screw 11 is installed. A crushed plastic and a residue are sent under heating to the vaporization section 6 to be vaporized, and this vaporized gas is cooled to give an oil or is directly sent to a boiler or the like to be used as a fuel.

JP 2004315686 -- OIL-FORMING PLANT AND WASTE PLASTIC RECOVERY SYSTEM

Abstract -- PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an oil-forming plant capable of being easily designed according to a required treating performance. ; SOLUTION: The oil-forming plant 1 has a decomposition part 3 constituted of a head unit 31, two or more repeating units 32 and a tail unit 33, and forming a decomposed gas by depolymerizing a plastic by heating, and an oil-forming part 4 for forming an oil by cooling the decomposed gas formed at the decomposition.

JP 2004269755 -- LIQUEFACTION PLANT

Abstract -- PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a liquefaction plant capable of heating plastics speedily, highly precisely and efficiently. ; SOLUTION: This liquefaction plant 1 is equipped with a melting zone 2 wherein plastics are heated and molten, a decomposition zone 3 wherein the plastics molten in the melting zone 2 are further heated to cause depolymerization and produce decomposition gases, and a liquefaction zone 4 wherein the decomposition gases generated in the decomposition zone 3 are cooled to produce an oil. The plant is so constructed as to employ at least an electric heater 42 as a heating means when heating the plastics in the decomposition zone.

JP 2004175917 -- OIL-LIQUEFACTION APPARATUS

Abstract -- PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an oil-liquefaction apparatus which efficiently and quickly can dissolve a crushed plastic, and a petroleum refining method which can effectively utilize a collected oil collected by this oil-liquefaction apparatus. ; SOLUTION: This oil-liquefaction apparatus comprises housing a previously collected oil in a dissolution tank 1; feeding the crushed plastic into this collected oil from a plastic feed device 2; conveying this mixed molten liquid diagonally upward by a feed screw 6 while heating at the vaporization temperature; cooling the vaporized gas in a condenser 12 to collect an oil; returning a part of this oil to the dissolution tank 1; and further utilizing a part of the collected oil as a hydrogen source in a petroleum refining step.

"To everything there is a frequency that excites its molecules best. Just like the 2450MHz frequency magnetron in your kitchen microwave oven which is specific to water (H2O) molecules, GRC’s hydrocarbon specific frequencies are generated by much higher RF klystrons that actually crack the hydrocarbon chain into its characteristic fuels.

"By definition it is not pyrolysis because cracking the hydrocarbon chain is inherent to specific frequencies and has little to do with the amount of heat generated. The process however is done without water and performed in an oxygen starved environment. We call this technology: High-Frequency Attenuating Wave Kinetics or HAWK for short.

"There is also no CO2 or CO produced in the process because there is no oxidation other than possibly a miniscule amount that may be pre-existing in the material or minerals processed. GRC’s vacuum environment creates an accelerated pressure thereby assimilating what Mother Nature has done through countless years to make fuels.

"The two basic elements offered for all GRC’s applications are in situ and off situ. We have designed klystron machinery for gasifying hydrocarbons where they exist or in fabricated systems. In-situ meaning processed deep in the ground, rock formations or anywhere naturally occurring and off-situ meaning processed above ground that is mined or material removed from site.