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| Science & Technology |
| Giant microwave turns plastics back to oil |
| 2007-06-26 |
| A US company is taking plastics recycling to another level – turning them back into the oil they were made from, and gas. All that is needed, claims Global Resource Corporation (GRC), is a finely tuned microwave and – hey presto! – a mix of materials that were made from oil can be reduced back to oil and combustible gas (and a few leftovers). Key to GRC’s process is a machine that uses 1200 different frequencies within the microwave range, which act on specific hydrocarbon materials. As the material is zapped at the appropriate wavelength, part of the hydrocarbons that make up the plastic and rubber in the material are broken down into diesel oil and combustible gas. GRC's machine is called the Hawk-10. Its smaller incarnations look just like an industrial microwave with bits of machinery attached to it. Larger versions resemble a concrete mixer. "Anything that has a hydrocarbon base will be affected by our process," says Jerry Meddick, director of business development at GRC, based in New Jersey. "We release those hydrocarbon molecules from the material and it then becomes gas and oil." Whatever does not have a hydrocarbon base is left behind, minus any water it contained as this gets evaporated in the microwave. Simplified recycling "Take a piece of copper wiring," says Meddick. "It is encased in plastic – a kind of hydrocarbon material. We release all the hydrocarbons, which strips the casing off the wire." Not only does the process produce fuel in the form of oil and gas, it also makes it easier to extract the copper wire for recycling. Similarly, running 9.1 kilograms of ground-up tyres through the Hawk-10 produces 4.54 litres of diesel oil, 1.42 cubic metres of combustible gas, 1 kg of steel and 3.40 kg of carbon black, Meddick says. Gershow Recycling, a scrap metal company based in New York, US, has just said it will be the first to buy a Hawk-10. Gershow collects metal products, shreds them and turns them into usable pure metals. Most of its scrap comes from old cars, but for every ton of steel that the company recovers, between 226 kg and 318 kg of "autofluff" is produced. Autofluff is the stuff that is left over after a car has been shredded and the steel extracted. It contains plastics, rubber, wood, paper, fabrics, glass, sand, dirt, and various bits of metal. GRC says its Hawk-10 can extract enough oil and gas from the left-over fluff to run the Hawk-10 itself and a number of other machines used by Gershow. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #15 Fun page: Unwise Microwave Experiments: http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/weird/microexp.html |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-06-26 23:19 |
| #14 My oldest son tried a similar experiment the other night. As a family we discovered that while a Philly Cheesesteak can be turned into a coal like briquette by cooking it for 11 minutes and 30 seconds instead of a minute and a half, the smell results are not optimal. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2007-06-26 22:55 |
| #13 USN, Ret. -- Best laugh all day. Good one. |
| Posted by: jds 2007-06-26 22:05 |
| #12 The current stuff you run your car on is actually made by thermal depolymerization of living dinosaurs see: Senators from Mass., NY., and CA. and we should be set |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-06-26 18:29 |
| #11 well, there's a feedback loop. The hotter it gets, the more dinosaur herds there are... |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-06-26 17:35 |
| #10 So THAT's where all that global warming CO2 is coming from .... |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-06-26 17:11 |
| #9 "...turning them back into (what) they were made from..." Hope they don't overcook it; we could see dinosaurs again if they do The world actually ran out of oil a while back. The current stuff you run your car on is actually made by thermal depolymerization of living dinosaurs. There are vast herds in the remoter regions of the world, like the Empty Quarter, or Central Asia... huge schools of plesiosaurs offshore in the gulf or in the North Sea... all caught, chopped up, and fed into the depolymerizers. Finding new sources of oil is really based on finding new dinosaur herds, which is why so much progress is being made in places like sub-saharan Africa. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2007-06-26 17:00 |
| #8 According to their 1st qtr 2007 filing, they're negotiating to use an industrial site in Bucks County, PA for a continuous feed tire processing plant. Looking for industrial revenue bonds to finance it. I don't see any investor money in this thing, VC limited partner fund or private angel money anywhere. It'll be interesting to see if what they have is economically viable and can be patent defended, both. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-06-26 16:48 |
| #7 Between that and the plasma converter - oh, the humanity, putting all those chicoms out of work. |
| Posted by: anonymous2u 2007-06-26 16:47 |
| #6 Unclear - possibly mentioned in their pending patent applications. The article says that when fed all the non-metal stuff from junked cars, the machine produces enough energy to run itself plus other machines. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-06-26 16:43 |
| #5 What are the energy requirements? |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-06-26 16:41 |
| #4 I found the latest SEC filings on their website, including their Form 10-KSB for 2006 (which would normally be their annual report, except that in April the original co. merged with GRC, which was a public shell corporation, so it covers April - Dec). Hmmmm. Really small company whose founder / President lacks much in the way of engineering or chemical training beyond basic undergrad stuff in the early-mid 60s. Business experience in glass recycling, tho. Local CPA firm as auditors. Claims that tests of the output from tires has the same BTUs/oz as diesel oil. The company "thinks" it might have commercial value as fuel, but hasn't done a complete chemical analysis of the output yet. So it's a bit of a swag to call it 'diesel oil' at this point. Don't think I'll be looking to purchase stock anytime soon, but it's interesting that they did land a first sale for their equipment. |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-06-26 16:40 |
| #3 "...turning them back into (what) they were made from..." Hope they don't overcook it; we could see dinosaurs again if they do |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-06-26 16:20 |
| #2 It looks like the end to the plastic bag problem is in sight. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2007-06-26 16:16 |
| #1 SWEET! |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2007-06-26 16:08 |