5-minute video: Man invents portable machine that converts plastic to oil

[I Have A Dream]

The inventor is speaking Japanese, but it's well worth watching and the subtitles are easy to read.

http://www.wimp.com/plasticoil


Here's an article that discusses it:

http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/plastic-to-oil-fantastic

[LaurenG]

1. Synchronicity

I was just telling Chris about this about an hour ago.

[I Have A Dream]

3. Wow! That's wonderful!

:D

Did you see it on Wimp as well, Lauren?

[LaurenG]

5. No - I saw it somewhere yesterday but couldn't remember where

:hi: :D

[TheDebbieDee]

2. I didn't watch the video, but I remember some of my chemistry.

Plastic is made from oil so this gentleman's process must somehow revert to plastic to its orginal form.

So, is there any chance that we can someday get the type of fuel used to run combustion engines from this process for plastic?

[I Have A Dream]

4. The video claims that this machine does that. nt

[Speck Tater]

6. So that great Pacific garbage patch, all that floating plastic, is oil just waiting to be collected.

I wonder what it would take to make it profitable to start mining that Pacific garbage patch for plastic to make oil.

At the very least, something like this could be done on a home scale to provide cooking fuel or fuel for oil lamps in developing countries.

[NickB79]

7. Most of the Pacific Plastic Patch is decomposed plastics

Meaning the plastic has broken down into pieces so small they're barely visible by eye and spread out over hundreds of square miles.

It is almost impossible to collect it.

[NickB79]

8. It's a good way to recycle plastics, but it doesn't solve the energy crisis

Because we use more energy to convert oil to plastic than we get back from converting plastic to oil.

Google "thermal depolymerization" for similar work that has been conducted for years. The only difference is that this model is portable rather than a stationary factory.

[Speck Tater]

13. That's true, but

I just think it's cool that a motivated individual could have a way to get off the grid by recycling plastics at home. It may not mean anything on a global scale, but on a local scale it could make a big difference to small family in Somalia to be able to create their own cooking and heating fuel.

It wold be especially nice if the heat could come from a solar collector.

[Speck Tater]

14. Maybe the water could be pumped and filtered and

the oil extracted from the slop that's filtered out. Especially if a fully automated robot pumping tanker could sit out there for months at a time using solar power to collect the plastic and reclaim the oil. Then when the tanker is full of oil a crew arrives to drive it to port to unload. Crazier things have been tried.

[I Have A Dream]

15. It's such an amazingly large area.

I hope that something can ultimately be done. :(

[Speck Tater]

17. "Ulitmately" Nature will clean it up, but that may be long after mankind is extinct. nt

[I Have A Dream]

18. Let's hope that we get smart before then.

This floating plastic wasteland is the very type of thing that will ultimately make us become extinct. Humanity has the ability to deal with it. It just lacks the will or even the desire to do so.

[Book Lover]

9. "5-minute video: Man invents portable machine that converts plastic *back in*to oil"

There, fixed that for ya.

[I Have A Dream]

11. Much better!

:thumbsup:

[Liberal In Texas]

10. Very interesting. If the electricity used to heat the plastic was generated via

solar it would be much cleaner.

[I Have A Dream]

12. Yes, maybe that could be the next generation of the machine.

:)

[Gin]

16. Fascinating story...thanks for posting it....

[NickB79]

21. If this is anything like other garbage-to-oil converters, it will need a LOT of electricity

Because you need a lot of heat to break down the plastics.

That might require very large solar panels, possibly too large to be practical or portable.

[HughBeaumont]

19. Who would un-rec this?

Probably the serial flamethrower curmudgeon dungeon. Usually they hop over threads like this with their "woo woo" and "snake oil" comments in tow. Surprised.

[I Have A Dream]

20. I'll never understand how people think.

:shrug: