How to create fuel from recycled plastics Wednesday, 14 September 2016

A researcher at Griffith University has developed a waste disposal system that turns household plastic waste, contaminated plastic waste, and targeted plastic waste, into fuel that is cleaner and more energy efficient than petrol or diesel.

PhD student Songpol Boonsawat says his waste disposal system could revolutionise how to sustainably eliminate plastic waste from landfill and reduce the contamination of plastic in nature, by closing the loop of the plastic product lifecycle.

If implemented across homes and councils across Australia, the solution could result in an 80 per cent reduction of plastic waste in landfill.

The aim, according to Boonsawat, is to use a thermal conversion process to convert any organic compound produced from crude oil back into oil.

The plastic is heated in a vacuum chamber using an LPG gas system, until the plastic is converted into a gas. It then travels through a cooling system where the gas condenses into liquid fuel. Left over particles are recycled back into the heating system, so the system is scalable: the more plastic fed to the system, the less gas is needed for heating.

Australia has 560 local government bodies each handling thousands of tonnes of plastic waste per year, the vast majority of which goes into landfill sites. According to Songpol, there is the potential to convert plastics into as much as 73 million litres of oil each year.

The oil produced could generate electric power up to 7566 MW/year, with an Australian market value of at least $21 million from selling by-products.

According to Songpol, the fuel generated from the plastic can be used for petrol or diesel generators, engines or even gas or jet turbines.

"We have been successfully producing quality fuels such as petrol, kerosene, diesel and fuel oil with lower emission and the technology also closes the loop of plastic product lifecycle compared to the current available waste disposal treatments worldwide," he says.

"The fuel can be used effectively in systems like power generators or in machine engines."

Songpol's research is supported by Viro Solutions Group, NSW Environment Protection Authority and Clarence Valley Council.

[Photo: FreeImages.com/Ove Tøpfer]

Energy will be a major topic of discussion at the Australian Engineering Conference 2016 in Brisbane on November 23-25.