Posted on 06/26/2007 2:48:23 PM PDT by blam
Giant microwave turns plastic back to oil
17:44 26 June 2007
NewScientist.com news service
Catherine Brahic
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at environment.newscientist.com ...
I look forward to the demonstration project. Necessity truly is the mother of invention.
Cool stuff. Kinda Back to the Future 2-ish, eh?
Suck it, OPEC!
Can it be used as a weapon? Imagine melting enemy vehicles or equipment.
Can it be used as a weapon? Imagine melting enemy vehicles or equipment.
Beyond the Veba unit.
Now we’ll have to have studies, grants, focus-group-tested slogans, CONgressional panels, lobbying efforts, outsourcing to Bangladesh, global warming protests, global cooling to counter the global warming...
We MIGHT see practical application of this technology when Chelsea’s cloned daughter receives her lifetime SCOTUS appointment.
This is interesting and much more useful than my microwave that excels in turning popcorn into carbon. If the government would give me huge subsidies for doing it, I’d be singing a different tune...
If they have one rated for home use, I’d buy one!
“Can it be used as a weapon?”
Burnt Popcorn extract, overwhelms the enemy’s senses.
Hmmm. Fire Department is at the front door, BBL....
I would suggest the first major, huge...or is that hugh?.. trial be done on Congress.
Melt them down.
I bet he hasn't actually TRIED this yet. Maybe he should stick a spoon in his fancy microwave and see what happens first...
Damn, you beat me to it. That’s the reply I was going to post.
All Washington wants to know...Can it be Taxed?
http://www.globalresourcecorp.com/
Welcome to Global Resource Corporation
Global Resource Corporation is a Worldwide Petroleum Research, Engineering, Development, and Manufacturing Company that thinks outside the box and is responsible for bringing innovation and new technologies to the petrochemical industries where we offer many proprietary solutions in Enhanced Oil & Energy Recovery Processes.
Click on any of the sections below to learn more about our unique energy recovery applications.
Process explained by GRC’s Chief Engineer and why our innovative patent pending technologies are different from any and all others.
To everything there is a frequency that excites its molecules best. Just like the 2450MHz frequency magnetron in your kitchen microwave oven which is specific to water (H2O) molecules, GRC’s hydrocarbon specific frequencies are generated by much higher RF klystrons that actually crack the hydrocarbon chain into its characteristic fuels.
By definition it is not pyrolysis because cracking the hydrocarbon chain is inherent to specific frequencies and has little to do with the amount of heat generated. The process however is done without water and performed in an oxygen starved environment. We call this technology: High-Frequency Attenuating Wave Kinetics or HAWK for short.
There is also no CO2 or CO produced in the process because there is no oxidation other than possibly a miniscule amount that may be pre-existing in the material or minerals processed. GRC’s vacuum environment creates an accelerated pressure thereby assimilating what Mother Nature has done through countless years to make fuels.
The two basic elements offered for all GRC’s applications are insitu and offsitu. We have designed klystron machinery for gasifying hydrocarbons where they exist or in fabricated systems. In-situ meaning processed deep in the ground, rock formations or anywhere naturally occurring and off-situ meaning processed above ground that is mined or material removed from site.
A klystron is a microwave electron tube with velocity modulation that is different from magnetrons. Its uses were privy to military applications for radar jamming before stealth technologies became more dominant in later years. GRC is the first to commercialize this technology and by modifying amplifiers and power supplies to suit our applications, we now possess the technology that will free America from foreign oil imports
If they microwaved the immigration bill, would it turn back into sh**? Oh, that’s right. That’s what it is in its present condition.
Never stand in front of a 200kw microwave,,you could revert back to oil..!!
Similar tech has been weaponized for use against rioters.
(Heats up skin, or more acuately, the water inside skin.)
Dude! Peoples are hydrocarbon.... and soylent green is people
The first thing I’m thinking is “weaponize it”.
The second thing is, the article says anything with a hydrocarbon base can be fed into the machine. Does this go for... say, maybe... vegetable matter?
I can just imagine this... Turn all their tires and plastics into combustible fluids and gases... and then light it on fire.
And exactly how much energy does it take to make a gallon of oil this way?
I am not, either. Can you explain to those of us who are not, the errors in Post 11?
Thanks.
I'm pretty sure he used the "Pizza" setting on the microwave.
Sure, it can be a weapon against anyone you can get into a vacuum. LOL
How many gigawatts does it require? The Chinese also have a solution, they just throw everything into their furnace burners.
Those are not landfills they are urban mining resource areas.
Giant Microwave Turns Plastic Back To Oil
Mayor Rocky Anderson, Mayor Gavin Newsom & Bloomberg need to read this!
Salt Lake mayor calls for bottled water ban
12/15/2006 2:17:29 PM
SALT LAKE CITY — Mayor Rocky Anderson has asked the city staff of 400 to stop buying and drinking bottled water for public meetings and office events and to use tap water instead, according to a December 15 story from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Anderson told city department heads in a memo that the manufacturing of plastic water bottles consume over 10 million barrels of oil year and 80 percent of the bottles end up in landfills, the article said.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1855170/posts
Space based weapon... Recycle enemy satellites into fuel and spare parts for our own satellites. :-)
“Can it be used as a weapon? Imagine melting enemy vehicles or equipment.”
Actually the Japs decided to build a microwave superweapon instead of the atomic bomb. I saw a show on it one time. It was pretty impressive for it’s day and good thing for us they didn’t have it perfected by the end of the war.
Sounds totally cool to me. Industrial strength electronics “modifying amplifiers and power supplies” is something I used to be involved in.
Induction heating has been around for a long time; basically, you’re able to heat steel by placing it in a varying magnetic field. The molecules inside the steel are forced to keep changing their alignment building heat: ‘hysteresis losses’.
I recall something like 50kw and 450kHz. You could turn steel cherry red in about 20 seconds. That’s why I always thought of it as a microwave for steel. It was just an oscillator - water cooled vacuum tubes - and the output coil was really very much like the antenna on a transmitter.
Back to the HAWK, like so many new energy devices it’s going to depend on the cost of energy at any given time and a whole host of other factors, markets, and governments around the world. But it sure sounds cool.
What if you stuck Jerry Lewis’s head in this thing?
Excellent.
Please Freep Mail me if you'd like on/off
This is interesting.
How much plastic do we have out there, and is it economic-worthy....
Great. Buy stock in tree seedling companies because it’s going to take a lot of carbon credits to provide the energy.
/sarc.
Slightly more seriously, it’s discrimination against Tree-Americans to not produce as much CO2 as possible! ;^)
Everybody, pitch in, do your part.
Reclaiming rubber and/or plastic using microwaves is not new. We did this in the 70’s to reclaim cured EPDM rubber waste and re-use it in product. The process used was a significant cost savings - the process cost, including energy requirements, was much less than the cost of the raw materials that would have been required.
thanks, bfl
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.