[Peak Oil] Oil and Plastics?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I was just wondering about high oil prices and plastics. Given that we use plastics for a lot of things and oil is used in the manufacture of plastics, what happens when we run out of oil and what other alternative materials are there that can be used to substitute oil in the manufacture of plastics?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I was just wondering about high oil prices and plastics. Given that we use plastics for a lot of things and oil is used in the manufacture of plastics, what happens when we run out of oil and what other alternative materials are there that can be used to substitute oil in the manufacture of plastics?

Bioplastics are already in use for most applications; Toyota has a very large facility in Japan that just came on line, and there's numerous other manufacturers. Producing these materials is not an issue. The issue is the oil required to grow, transport, and store the materials. Fortunately, they come from far more diverse sources than ethanol, so they don't hinder food crops to much. If we can eliminate oil from the growth (by gene-engineering) and transport (by electrification of railroads and development of nuclear powered freighters and hydrogen cell fueled smaller craft) phases, production will be indefinitely sustainable. That's the reason it hasn't come up before.

[Gil Hamilton]

You can make a variety of plastics out hydrocarbons that didn't come from crude oil. Like most things, fractional distillation of oil just makes alot easier since alot of the hydrocarbons you want are in the mix already. The variety of plastics out there will still be available even if oil disappears, but many might cost more.

[Sikon]

Aside from the bioplastic options, carbon monoxide and hydrogen can be converted to hydrocarbons, e.g. by the Fischer-Tropsch process. Such is frequently associated with fuel, such as how the Sasol company in South Africa produces 40% of the country's diesel and liquid fuel usage from natural gas and coal or the work of UPM in Finland on biodiesel synthesis from wood and paper mill waste. But, when hydrocarbons are obtained, such can alternatively instead be converted to plastic.

The quantities of hydrocarbons needed for plastics are relatively small compared to hydrocarbon fuel usage today. Aside from those readers who don't have a car or drive particularly little, when you fuel up your car with tens of gallons a month of gasoline, you consume hundreds of pounds a month, thousands of pounds per year, and tens of thousands of pounds per decade. But the amount of plastic you use is vastly less, especially the relatively small amount really needed for important applications.

[J]

A lot of plastics can also be melted down and recycled instead of being tossed into landfills. We'll always need "new" plastic coming into the system as not everything can be recycled, but the amount of oil needed for that is vastly smaller than what's consumed in our cars every day.

Look on the bright side, if the cost of oil becomes high enough we won't have to deal with infernal plastic shrinkwrap and excessive plastic packaging on everything we buy!

[Spin Echo]

There was conversation at the lab I was visiting about making plastic from fish. Apparently, they've managed to do it, but it smells very fishy. We suggested it could be used to make cat bowls.