Make plastic fuel at home

A Japanese inventor has developed a home pyrolysis machine that can turn plastic waste into liquid fuel. Is this an important environmental solution?

By Dr. Daniel Mader, Angle, Science and Environment News Agency

In the absence of sustainable transportation or employment solutions in Israel, which would allow us to get to work and back quickly, comfortably and cheaply, or alternatively walk to work - many people dream of becoming energy independent. If you get stuck in traffic, then at least you don't have to pay hundreds or even thousands of shekels a month for the pleasure.

In recent years, in a cyclical manner, news and videos repeatedly appear on the Internet dealing with the development of a Japanese inventor named Akinori Ito, who invented a home pyrolysis machine that he claims turns plastic into fuel. Pyrolysis is a process of thermochemical decomposition of hydrocarbons at high temperatures and in the absence of oxygen. The high heat breaks chemical bonds in the solid material, turning it into other materials that can be gaseous, liquid and solid. The lack of oxygen prevents burning of the pyrolysis products, and reduces the formation of acids in the process. Industrial pyrolysis is certainly not a new technology and is used, among other things, in the production of charcoal.

In recent years, industrial pyrolysis facilities have been established around the world to produce fuels from organic waste and plastic waste. Such facilities can help turn waste into a source of energy, reduce the use of landfills, reduce pollution of the oceans and seas in dangerous plastic and get rid of hazardous waste. In Israel too, Naot Hovav, for example, was established Industrial pyrolysis facility which is designed to convert hazardous plastic packaging waste that cannot be recycled into liquid fuels.

A small facility

The concept of the Ito home pyrolysis machine is to turn our plastic waste at home into liquid fuel and thus reduce our dependence on external energy sources. The machine can use polyethylene PE (plastic bags), polystyrene PS (styrofoam and packaging), polypropylene PP (packaging) - but not the common plastic bottles (which are made of PET Polyethylene terephthalate). Ito was able to miniaturize the industrial pyrolysis facilities to a small facility the size of about two microwaves. According to him, his facility can convert a kilogram of plastic waste into a liter of liquid fuel, using one kWh (kilowatt-hour), which in Israel costs 50-60 agora. The facility also produces flammable gases such as methane, ethane and propane - but for safety reasons these are neutralized and are not used.

Before you run to order the facility online, note that this concept has quite a few problems. Like any new technology, it doesn't come cheap. The home pyrolysis device costs about $10,000. I mean, the same price of fuel that an average car in Israel consumes in about four years (about 15 thousand kilometers a year, 10-15 kilometers per liter, 1,500-1,000 liters of gasoline, cost of 6-7 NIS per liter, 3.7 NIS to the dollar). If we take into account the production cost of the fuel in pyrolysis from electricity, we will add another NIS 500-750 per year. These are just the basic costs, assuming no device malfunctions.

A major problem with the home pyrolysis facility is that the liquid fuel it produces is not suitable for use in car engines. This is because it is a mixture of different substances (gasoline, diesel, kerosene, fuel oil). In order to adapt it for use in a car, it must be distilled. You can also purchase a distillation device. However, refining raises costs even further and causes fuel loss in the process. In fact, this liquid fuel can be used mainly for heating by a simple stove that burns liquid fuel, for stoves, or for certain types of generators. Such devices are powered by fuels that are significantly cheaper than fuel for cars. Since such devices are not common in Israel, the home pyrolysis machine is even less economically viable.

An environmental solution?

And what about the raw material needed for this machine? The average Israeli Produces about 1.7 kilograms of waste per day, of which about 0.3 kilograms is plastic. That is, an average Israeli will only be able to produce about 1200 liters of fuel per year. This is on the assumption that he does not collect plastic waste beyond the plastic waste he produces himself. And what about pollution and greenhouse gases? Such a conversion of plastic to fuel will not save carbon dioxide emissions, because the burning of pyrolysis fuels emits carbon dioxide like the burning of regular fuel. It can indeed contribute to reducing the use of oil, because instead of using a liter of oil to produce fuel and a liter of oil to produce plastic - the same liter of oil can also be used as plastic, and after being thrown away also as fuel.

According to the developer, no toxic substances are emitted when the permitted raw materials are used. At the same time, burning the mixture of liquid fuels for heating or cooking pollutes more than the exhaust smoke in your car - this is because a mixture of fuels makes it difficult for the fuels to burn evenly and completely, and because a significant percentage of them are fuels pollutants very (similar tokerosene, and fuel oil).

A relatively small number of people or companies may be able to profit from this invention in the future, when its price has fallen. On a national and global level, it can provide a partial solution to our plastic waste problem, and perhaps help a little as a source of energy, but it You will not solve the fuel problem for our transportation, and as mentioned, does not contribute to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.