Second articleGiant microwave turns plastic back to oil
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).
Key to GRC’s process is a machine that uses 1200 different frequencies within the microwave range, which act on specific hydrocarbon materials. As the material is zapped at the appropriate wavelength, part of the hydrocarbons that make up the plastic and rubber in the material are broken down into diesel oil and combustible gas.
GRC's machine is called the Hawk-10. Its smaller incarnations look just like an industrial microwave with bits of machinery attached to it. Larger versions resemble a concrete mixer.
"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."
Whatever does not have a hydrocarbon base is left behind, minus any water it contained as this gets evaporated in the microwave.
Simplified recycling
"Take a piece of copper wiring," says Meddick. "It is encased in plastic – a kind of hydrocarbon material. We release all the hydrocarbons, which strips the casing off the wire." Not only does the process produce fuel in the form of oil and gas, it also makes it easier to extract the copper wire for recycling.
Similarly, running 9.1 kilograms of ground-up tyres through the Hawk-10 produces 4.54 litres of diesel oil, 1.42 cubic metres of combustible gas, 1 kg of steel and 3.40 kg of carbon black, Meddick says.
Less landfill
Gershow Recycling, a scrap metal company based in New York, US, has just said it will be the first to buy a Hawk-10. Gershow collects metal products, shreds them and turns them into usable pure metals. Most of its scrap comes from old cars, but for every ton of steel that the company recovers, between 226 kg and 318 kg of "autofluff" is produced.
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.
Because it makes extracting reusable metal more efficient and evaporates water from autofluff, the Hawk-10 should also reduce the amount of end material that needs to be deposited in landfill sites.
So we now have a nice way to recycle discarded plastic into useful materials, lower the amount of landfill contents, and could potentially be used to processing oil shale.Microwave Treatment May Yield Massive Energy Resources
Global Resource Corporation announced today that they were recognized by the United States Department of Energy as a company that may one day unlock billions of barrels of energy from domestic United States deposits. Patent pending gasification technology, developed by engineers at Global Resource, is applied to various materials to unlock energy in the form of oil and gas, and this technology, when commercialized, may succeed in satisfying domestic energy consumption.
The Department of Energy issued a report on Wednesday, June 20, 2007, identifying 25 companies that possess unconventional fuel production technologies. The report includes a profile on Global Resource and its energy production technologies, which can potentially unlock billions of barrels of oil from various oil shale, tar sands, coal and capped oil wells located in the USA.
It is anticipated that the report will be found on the DOE's website later today.
"Our technology may one day allow the United States to rely on its own resources for the country's energy needs, and this report is a testament to the potential our process holds," says Frank Pringle, CEO of Global Resource Corporation. "The experts at the DOE see value in our system, and we are honored to be counted among the giants of the petro-chemical industry as a company that may one day help solve the global energy crisis."
The technology gasifies hydrocarbons, the chemical building blocks of oil and gas products, which are found in oil shale, tar sands, coal, capped oil wells and other natural resources. However, unlike other petroleum production processes, Global Resource has discovered a way to cut carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide emissions. Since no oxygen is introduced into the process, and the process is performed in a closed-loop vacuum, harmful pollutants are eliminated.
Representatives from the DOE have reviewed Global Resource's technology and process in-person at the Company's test facility in southern New Jersey. DOE experts witnessed tests performed in Global Resource's emissions-free laboratory unit and analyzed tests preformed on various petro-chemical byproducts. High frequency microwaves are applied to shale, tar sands, resid oil, coal and resources, to heat and gasify hydrocarbons. Those gases condense when they travel through a closed-loop system, creating fuel grade gases and oil, and are collected for storage and transportation. A cutting edge gas chromatograph analyzes the oil and gases to evaluate what fuels have been derived in the process at Global's site.
Global Resource's patent pending technology has been proven in laboratory conditions, and the process is designed to be a cost and energy efficient system. Representatives from major energy companies and emerging energy sectors have visited Global Resource on multiple occasions and have demonstrated faith in the viability of the technology. The process breaks down existing domestic energy sources and produces methane, diesel fuel and heating oil in vast quantities. When commercialized and built on a larger scale, Global Resource's technology will potentially produce oil and multiple gases with minimal refining, energy input, and cost and most importantly without harmful green house gases.
