U.S. Firm Says It's Found Cheap, Easy Way to Convert Plastic to Oil
Editor's Note: It has come to our attention that the claims expressed by Moinuddin Sarker might not be rooted in good science, but we are not in a position to disprove them.
Plastic and petroleum fuels come from the same place - crude oil. So with more than 15 million tons of plastic entering the nation's waste stream every year, and with the U.S. importing more than 12 million barrels of oil per day, why not turn some plastic into oil?
That's the question a Connecticut-based startup asked itself - and it intends to provide the answer.
Moinuddin Sarker says that his company, Natural State Research, has developed a way to turn waste plastic into finished oil products for a final cost of less than $1 a gallon.
The process, Sarker said, is as simple as heating up the plastic until it becomes vapor, and then letting it condense back into liquid - the way water droplets condense on the cover of a pot of boiling water.
It works because both plastic and oil are made up of carbon molecules, only plastics' molecules are long chains called polymers. Breaking the bonds in the chains, Sarker said, results in smaller carbon-based molecules - the basis for fuels.
While at least six other companies in the U.S. and abroad are already converting plastic to fuel, Sarker said that the technology that NSR has developed is simpler and cheaper.
The company uses a natural air mix at normal pressures, whereas most other companies depend on processes that use oxygen-free air and high pressures, said Sarker, vice president of research and development at NSR.
Almost any type of plastic can be used, Sarker said, and various types of finished fuels - like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel - would be the result.
Sarker said the company is still tweaking the process, but its plan is to build a pilot facility in the next six months, and by 2011 or 2012 to start commercially licensing or selling the technology, which is currently pending patent approval.
Because each ton of plastic can yield about 8 barrels of oil, U.S. plastic waste could theoretically generate 120 million barrels of oil per year. With U.S. oil consumption at more than 19 million barrels a day, that would amount to reducing 2 percent of annual oil use by, essentially, recycling some of it.
Cities and Fleets
Sarker envisions cities being a major user, with plenty of free plastic, and with fleets that could benefit from free fuel.
Northern Technologies International Corp., a Minnesota-based company, builds plastic-to-fuel plants that produce crude oil instead of finished products. Currently, two plants are operating - one in India and one in Thailand - and another has been contracted for Thailand.
"The restriction has been us, it hasn't been interest," said Kathy Radosevich, vice president of Polymer Energy, the division of NTIC in charge of the technology. Radosevich, who has worked for the company for about a year, estimates that she gets about 100 inquiries into its technology per month.
She said that India, like many developing countries, imports solid waste from rich nations like the United States and Canada. Thailand is also suffering from an overabundance of solid waste.
"What we saw was a need in India," Radosevich said.
Radosevich said the company's technology, which is different from the NSR process, has a two- to five-year payback period. Sarker estimated that the payback for the NSR plants would be about two years.
Sarker said that emissions are controlled and did not see any downsides. Radosevich agreed.
"It's taking a product that's devastating the Earth in trash ... and consuming it. So, to me, it's only a good thing," Radosevich said. "The economics of it should be somewhat secondary, because the benefits of what it is doing is huge."
- Posted by
- Scott Doggett August 18, 2009, 11:28 AM
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- Alternative Fuels, Diesel, India, Oil
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- Alt Fuel, Alternate Fuel, Crude, Diesel, Moinuddin Sarker, Natural State Research, Oil, Plastic
Sounds like a cool idea.
I wonder if the process could be reduced to home use. Imagine composting your organic waste and distilling your plastic into gas for your car. Even if you only got a gallon or two from a months worth of household waste, I'd bet there would be a market. .