chrisser
04-29-2008, 06:26 AM
Anyone looked into this?
I know there is one plant converting turkey waste and a handful of new plants are being built, but so far its all large scale.
There's a lot of general info on the web. But reading this article that supposedly is an interview with one of the primaries involved in the first plant (http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2003/Anything-Into-Oil1may03.htm) I came across this paragraph:
"Brian Appel, CEO of Changing World Technologies, strolls through a thermal depolymerization plant In Philadelphia. Experiments at the pilot facility revealed that the process Is scalable—plants can sprawl over acres and handle 4,000 tons of waste a day or be "small enough to go on the back of a flatbed truck" and handle Just one ton daily, says Appel.
"
For those who haven't heard, thermal depolymerization is a two stage process that can process just about any sort of carbon-based source (garbage, coal, tires, human waste, agricultural waste, plastics, medical waste) into usable components. The resulting products are generally distilled water, pure carbon, an oil similar to light sweet crude that can be distilled the same way, hydrocarbon gases that can be burned, and minerals that can be used for fertilizer or for industrial processes. It treats pathogens and bacteria the same way as everything else which renders them harmless. Only thing it can't treat is radioactive waste.
Only other limit I can find is, since it is essentially breaks complex molecules into simple ones, it doesn't do much for simple products like methane. Great for coal though.
The process operates within very modest heats and pressures (first stage is 500degrees and 600 psi, second stage about 900 degrees) and you can use the resulting flammable gas as a fuel to run the reaction. All of it is proven technology.
Its not some magic energy device - it just converts the energy already contained in the sources to a more useful form, and/or a bunch of usable basic materials.
Seems like a small-scale reactor would be perfect for a homestead just to process waste or, perhaps, wood.
Could also be a small scale money maker (however, there are patents on the process). Plastics, especially, contain 60-70% oil.
Sure would be interesting to produce something workbench-sized. Even if it wasn't as efficient as the large-scale stuff - just to prove the concept and play around with it.
I know there is one plant converting turkey waste and a handful of new plants are being built, but so far its all large scale.
There's a lot of general info on the web. But reading this article that supposedly is an interview with one of the primaries involved in the first plant (http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2003/Anything-Into-Oil1may03.htm) I came across this paragraph:
"Brian Appel, CEO of Changing World Technologies, strolls through a thermal depolymerization plant In Philadelphia. Experiments at the pilot facility revealed that the process Is scalable—plants can sprawl over acres and handle 4,000 tons of waste a day or be "small enough to go on the back of a flatbed truck" and handle Just one ton daily, says Appel.
"
For those who haven't heard, thermal depolymerization is a two stage process that can process just about any sort of carbon-based source (garbage, coal, tires, human waste, agricultural waste, plastics, medical waste) into usable components. The resulting products are generally distilled water, pure carbon, an oil similar to light sweet crude that can be distilled the same way, hydrocarbon gases that can be burned, and minerals that can be used for fertilizer or for industrial processes. It treats pathogens and bacteria the same way as everything else which renders them harmless. Only thing it can't treat is radioactive waste.
Only other limit I can find is, since it is essentially breaks complex molecules into simple ones, it doesn't do much for simple products like methane. Great for coal though.
The process operates within very modest heats and pressures (first stage is 500degrees and 600 psi, second stage about 900 degrees) and you can use the resulting flammable gas as a fuel to run the reaction. All of it is proven technology.
Its not some magic energy device - it just converts the energy already contained in the sources to a more useful form, and/or a bunch of usable basic materials.
Seems like a small-scale reactor would be perfect for a homestead just to process waste or, perhaps, wood.
Could also be a small scale money maker (however, there are patents on the process). Plastics, especially, contain 60-70% oil.
Sure would be interesting to produce something workbench-sized. Even if it wasn't as efficient as the large-scale stuff - just to prove the concept and play around with it.