Microwave Oil from Plastic

[xoxoxoBruce]

This sounds a hell of a lot better than burning or burying it.

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).............................

"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."..................

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.

The key here is not a sudden new fuel source, but efficiency and recycling for the plastics that can't be recycled into new plastic.

[orthodoc]

Wow, think of the possibilities ... considering that non-recyclable plastics are in just about everything we manufacture and use, this could be huge.

Maybe the next step will be to see if some polymers are more susceptible than others to microwave reverse engineering, and use them preferentially where possible (if they are adequate for the product). We could become really efficient about getting the most energy out of fossil fuels!

[lumberjim]

and if this technology could be applied on the battlefield....a ray gun directing these microwaves at enemy troops could melt the weapons, vehicles and armor right out from under them. or something.

cool though...

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by orthodoc

Wow, think of the possibilities ... considering that non-recyclable plastics are in just about everything we manufacture and use, this could be huge.

Maybe the next step will be to see if some polymers are more susceptible than others to microwave reverse engineering, and use them preferentially where possible (if they are adequate for the product). We could become really efficient about getting the most energy out of fossil fuels!

Some of the plastics we use for containers would be better recycled because it takes less energy and materials(oil) than making new plastic.

But your right, the plastics they know won't/can't be recycled might be able to be fine tuned for this method of disposal. The "fluff" generated from salvaging cars has become a huge problem that's only going to get worse as less metal and more composites, formerly used in high end exotics, show up in production cars.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

and if this technology could be applied on the battlefield....a ray gun directing these microwaves at enemy troops could melt the weapons, vehicles and armor right out from under them. or something.

cool though...

Yah, turn the enemy into oil... we could start invading easier countries.