Recycling plastic back into oil

Jun 28, 2007 09:33

"A US company is taking plastics recycling to another level - turning them back into the oil they were made from, and gas ( Read more... )

microwave, plastic, technology, oil, engineering, alternative energy, recycling

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vrimj June 28 2007, 14:04:13 UTC
This is a really neat idea. I wonder about toxic by-products too, but it seems like a really brillant way to reduce landfill space even if the energy was a net null.

I often wonder if it is better to burn (or fermient) paper then to recycle it. There is the tree-preservation aspect, but making pulp-wood less valuable was a motivator for St. Joe to go in to real-estate.

Better soucres of paper fiber (such as hemp, grows fater and doesn't need bleaching) would make it an even tougher call.

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tevarin June 28 2007, 15:01:26 UTC
A net-null-energy plastic-to-oil conversion would trade solid landfill waste for CO2 and possible air pollution. Might be worth it, especially if you can use the waste heat or get useful byproducts that were mixed into the plastic (metal, carbon black, etc).

Is it feasible to ferment paper to make fuel? This seems like a cool idea. I've wondered whether consumer paper-recycling was really cost-effective.

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