Turning Plastic to Oil, U.K. Startup Sees Money in Saving Oceans – gCaptain
▻http://gcaptain.com/turning-plastic-oil-u-k-startup-sees-money-saving-oceans
A clump of plastic and other debris drifts in the ocean.
Photo By Steven Guerrisi via Flickr
At a garbage dump about 80 miles west of London, Adrian Griffiths is testing an invention he’s confident will save the world’s oceans from choking in plastic waste. And earn him millions.
His machine, about the size of a tennis court, churns all sorts of petroleum-based products — cling wrap, polyester clothing, carpets, electronics — back into oil. It takes less than a second and the resulting fuel, called Plaxx, can be used to make plastic again or power ship engines.
[…]
Griffiths’ project is unique in that it doesn’t target a specific type of plastic, but rather seeks to find a solution for the so-called plastic soup inundating the world’s water bodies. By 2050, plastic will outweigh fish in the oceans, according to a study presented at this year’s World Economic Forum by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
[…]
At the moment, only about 10 percent of plastic gets reprocessed because it’s cheaper to pump new oil for petrochemical feedstock, especially after crude prices collapsed in recent years. The rest is incinerated, disposed in landfills, or dumped into oceans, releasing toxic chemicals that harm coral reefs and get swallowed by the marine life humans eat.
[…]
The technique is similar to thermal cracking, whereby crude is transformed into gasoline and jet fuel, only a different material is used in heating that Recycling Technologies is in the process of patenting, according to technical director Mike Keast, a former oil refinery designer.
“We have to create new technology so we can both live how we want and not destroy the planet,” he said, shouting to be heard over the screech of Coke and Sprite cans being pressed into cubes at an aluminum-can crusher next door.
The vapor is cooled at different temperatures to create one of three materials, each emerging from separate taps at the bottom of the machine. Out of one, a straw-colored light fuel that can be sold to petrochemicals companies. A second pumps out a heavier substance reminiscent of candle wax, similar to what’s burned in ship engines. From the third, a thick brown wax that can be used to make shoe polish or cosmetics.
#thermocraquage tout bête…
mais avec procédé de chauffage (combustible ?) spécifique (en cours de brevet) si je comprends bien.