From PESWiki

Non-oil-derived plastics, recycling plastic, solar applications of plastic; and other alternative, clean-energy related applications or contexts of plastic.

Contents 1 Plastic Harvesting 1.1 Polymers Back to Polymers and Fuel 1.2 Plastic to Energy 1.3 Plastic Back to Oil 1.4 Non-Fossil-Based Oil for Plastic 1.5 Plant-Based Plastic 1.6 Non-Oil-Based Plastic 2 Other Alternative Energy Applications 2.1 Plastic Batteries 2.2 Solar 3 Remediation 4 Resources 5 See also

Plastic Harvesting

Polymers Back to Polymers and Fuel

• 
  Featured: Directory:Waste-to-Energy / Plastic >
  Polyflow converts polymer waste to valuable aromatic chemicals - Ohio company says they can convert all forms of mixed contaminated polymer waste, including previously 'unrecyclable' polymers, such as tires, carpeting, and e-waste, into valuable aromatic chemicals -- 1/3 going to new plastics and 2/3 going to gasoline and diesel. (PESWiki; June 19, 2009)
  

• Waste to Energy / Tire Recycling Breakthrough - Delta Energy's DEPolymerization™ process takes one of the world's biggest pollution problems - discarded tires - and turns them into usable fuel, made possible by a secret chemical compound. 99% of the original tire is turned into something useful, from natural gas to diesel fuel to carbon that can be reused in the rubber and plastics industry. (KXNet.com; Nov. 12, 2007)

Plastic to Energy

• 
  Featured: Alt Fuels > Waste to Energy > Plastic >
  JBI's Plastic2Oil Technology Turns Waste into Fuel - The Ontario, Canada based company, JBI is actively using a technology called Plastic2Oil, which converts waste plastic into low sulfur fuels -- such as diesel, furnace oil, and fuel oil. Although it's not a panacea solution to the energy crisis, their technology addresses the issue of what to do with plastic waste. (PESN and BeforeItsNews; December 13, 2011)
  

• 
  Waste to Energy / Plastic >
  Plastic Bags Into Power? - In a process that is as simple as throwing bits of plastic in a chamber and heating it up, Vilas Pol of Argonne National Laboratory can turn the plastic into tiny spheres of pure carbon just a few microns across. These spheres, which conduct heat and electricity, could be useful in a long list of applications from tires to batteries to lubricants. (Discovery; June 25, 2010)
  

• 
  Waste to Energy > Plastic and Energy >
  Transforming waste plastic into an alternative fuel - A team of researchers at Northeastern University are developing a double-tank waste combustor for converts plastic waste into energy without creating harmful emissions. Plastic is first processed in an upper tank, which converts the material into gas through pyrolysis. Then, the gas moves to a lower tank, where it’s burned with oxidants, generating heat and steam, which drive combustion and generate electric power. (PhysOrg; May 10, 2010)
  

Plastic Back to Oil

• 
  Featured: Waste to Energy > Plastic > Oil >
  Blest Machine recycles plastic back into oil - A Japanese device converts certain plastics into oil -- and it is presently commercially available in sizes ranging from a tabletop version for a home to larger continuous feed versions for small industrial use. The plastic is boiled, not burnt, and the gaseous fumes are vented into a water bubbler, which cools the gas into oil. (PESWiki; December 17, 2010)
  

• GRC Microwave Turns Carbon Items into Oil and Gas - Frank Pringle of Global Resource Corp (GRC) has invented and refined an efficient microwave energy process to turn plastics, discarded tires, and other carbon-based substances such as shale, coal, and tar sands into gas and oil.
  

• Polymer Energy LLC Turns Waste Plastics into Renewable Energy - The Polymer Energy™ system uses catalytic pyrolysis to efficiently convert plastics (primarily polyolefins) into crude oil. The system can handle as high as 30% impurities such as metals, glass, dirt, water, etc. in the feedstock, making pre-sorting, cleaning, or drying unnecessary, reducing overall operational costs.
  

• New Envion Facility Turns Plastic Waste into $10/Barrel Fuel - Washington, DC company claims it can turn plastic into an oil-like fuel for just $10 per barrel, which can be blended with other components and used as either gasoline or diesel. The process entails heating up plastic using infrared light, which removes hydrocarbons without the use of a catalyst. (Inhabitat; September 16, 2009)
  

Non-Fossil-Based Oil for Plastic

• Biomass / Alternative Fuels / Non-Fossil Oil >
  Bacteria Make Oil from Biomass - A Georgia company has announced that they have devised a simple, natural way to convert anything that grows out of the Earth into oil. The inventor's formula is simple. Basically, biomass (such as grass clippings or wood chips) plus the right bacteria equals hydrocarbons, which make not just fuel but plastics and other petroleum products. (PESWiki; May 10, 2008)
  

Plant-Based Plastic

See Directory:Plant-Based Plastic - separate index page

Non-Oil-Based Plastic

• Genomatica develops novel bioplastic - San Diego-based Genomatica said today it has developed genetically engineered E.Coli bacteria that could replace the need for petroleum in the process to make some plastics. (CleanTech; Sept. 16, 2008)
  

• US Survey: 70+% of Americans Don't Know Plastic is Made from Oil - 40% believe plastic will biodegrade at some point. In truth, nearly 10 percent of U.S. oil consumption – approximately 2 million barrels a day – is used to make non-biodegradable plastic. Survey was cosponsored by Metabolix, Inc., a company using bioscience to provide clean solutions for plastics, fuels and chemicals. (BusinessWire; Apr. 20, 2007)
  

• New Bio Plastics from DuPont - More biopolymers are approaching commercial viability, adding to latex rubber and nylon-11 (made from a by-product of castor bean oil), which presently account for only a small fraction of the millions of polymer products in use today. (TreeHugger; July 6, 2006)
  

• Waste Plastic Becomes Clean Burning Fuel - Penn. State University has developed PlastoFuel pellets from dirty waste Agri-plastics. GR Technologies of Korea has patented burner converting same to alternative energy. (Blogspot; June 6, 2005)

• Plastics > Huge potential for bioplastics - It almost sounds too good to be true - turning cow pats into plastic. But the unlikely-looking liquid in the flask Dr Steven Pratt holds is the key ingredient to an environmentally friendlier drink bottle. (PhysOrg; July 17, 2006)
  

• 'Plastic oil' could improve fuel economy in cars, chemists say - Recycled plastic bottles could one day be used to lubricate your car's engine. These polyethylene-derived oils could help improve fuel economy and reduce the frequency of oil changes. (EurekAlert; June 12, 2005)

• Bacteria are key to 'green' plastics, drugs - Scientists are using a genetically modified bacteria that metabolizes glucose from grain sorghum and produces almost pure succinate, a key ingredient of many plastics, drugs, solvents and food additives. (EurekAlert; Aug. 22, 2005)

Other Alternative Energy Applications

Plastic Batteries

• 
  Plastic / Batteries >
  The battery's dead: Scientists invent wafer-thin plastic that can store electricity - British scientists say they have created a plastic that can store and release electricity, revolutionising the way we use phones, drive cars - and even wear clothes. The technology could also lead to flexible computer screens that can be folded up and carried around like a piece of paper. (DailyMail; Feb. 6, 2010)
  

Solar

• 
  Plastic / Solar > PV >
  Low-cost, more efficient solar cells mostly plastic - By growing arrays of silicon wires in a polymer substrate, researchers at Caltech have demonstrated what they say are flexible solar cells that absorb up to 96 percent of incident light and harvest over 90 percent quantum efficiency, compared with 25 percent for the best silicon solar cells. The wires are made up of 98 percent plastic, potentially lowering the cost of photovoltaics by using just 1/50th the amount of semiconductor material used today. (EETimes; Feb. 18, 2010)
  

• Konarka and Solaris Nanosciences Create Joint Research Program - Solaris' nanoscale metalic structures could boost the solar energy conversion efficiency of Konarka's portable power plastics. (PESN; June 12, 2005)
  

• XsunX Developing Solar Film for Buildings' Windows - See-through thin film plastic Power Glass™ integrates solar collection capabilities in a cost-comparable substrate to existing film products, taking energy gain into consideration. (PESN; June 9, 2005) (Thanks Sandi)
  

• Spray-On Solar-Power Cells Are True Breakthrough - Scientists have invented a plastic solar cell that can turn the sun's power into electrical energy, even on a cloudy day.

Remediation

• 
  Feature: Environment > Pollution > Plastic and Energy >
  Ocean trash vortexes are the greatest ecological disaster - The five oceanic trash vortexes are said to cover as much as 40% of the ocean surface. The North Pacific gyre is split into two smaller gyres, each the size of Texas. With all the attention that the Gulf Oil catastrophe is getting, don't forget that these ocean trash vortexes pose perhaps the largest ecological blight that consumerism-bent mankind has imposed on the planet. (PESWiki; June 9, 2010)
  

• New Plastic to Cut CO2 Emissions and Purify Water - Scientists have created a plastic material that mimics pores found in plants and is exceptionally efficient. It can separate carbon dioxide from natural gas a few hundred times faster than current plastic membranes. (Slashdot; Oct. 15, 2007)
  

• Recycling >
  Plastics Recycling Industry 'Starving For Materials' - Consumers have unknowingly put the plastics recycling industry in the United States on a starvation diet by failing to recycle sufficient quantities of soft drink bottles and other waste. (Science Daily; Oct. 16, 2007)
  

Resources

• DMOZ > Polymers > Plastic
• DMOZ > Recycling > Polymers
• Plastic as Energy

See also

• Directory:BioElectricity

GENERAL W2E

• Directory:Waste to Energy
• News:Waste to Energy
• Directory:Thermal Electric - e.g. waste heat

PREVENTION OF WASTE

• Directory:Energy Efficiency
• Directory:Conservation
• Directory:Recycling
• Directory:Home Generation:Gray Water Recycling
• Directory:Nuclear Remediation

TYPES OF WASTE-TO-ENERGY

• Directory:Plasma
• Directory:Energy from Sewage
  • Directory:Urine Power
• Directory:Plastic and Energy
• Directory:Plant-Based Plastic
• Directory:Biomass
• Directory:Biodiesel from Algae Oil
• Directory:Microorganisms in Energy Production
• Directory:Microbial Fuel Cells
• Directory:Non-Fossil Oil
• Directory:Refinery Flaring Recovery

OIL FOOTER

• Directory:Oil | News:Oil
• PowerPedia:Fossil fuel
• Directory:Diesel
• Directory:Lubricants

OIL POLLUTION

• Directory:Ecological Impact of Oil
  • Directory:BP's Gulf Oil Volcano
• Directory:Fracking
• Directory:Ocean Trash Vortexes (Gyres)

OIL REMEDIES

• Directory:Fuel Efficiency - many more links here
• Directory:Microwave-based Oil Extraction
• Directory:GeoBioreactors
• Directory:Clean Coal
• Directory:Recycling

FOSSIL-BASED OIL REPLACEMENTS

• Directory:Non-Fossil Oil
  • Directory:Abiotic Oil
  • Directory:Alternative Fuels - many more oil-replacement links here, including fuel treatment solutions
    • Directory:Water as Fuel
    • Directory:Algae for Oil
    • Directory:Biodiesel
      • Directory:Biodiesel from Algae Oil
    • Directory:Biomass
    • Directory:Ethanol

SPECIFIC COMPANIES

• Directory:West Fabrication Institute's Taylor/Pyrox Technology
• Directory:Green Power Inc's NanoDiesel:Catalytic Pressureless Depolymerization (Oiling)
• Directory:Global Resource Corp:High-Frequency Attenuating Wave Kinetics or HAWK
• Directory:Changing World Technology - Thermal Depolymerization Process

OIL 'SCARCITY'

• Site:LRP:The Energy Non-Crisis
• Directory:Peak Oil
• Directory:North American Oil Fields

OTHER RESOURCES

• Directory:Plastic and Energy
• Directory:Fuelwatch Worldwide
• Directory:Energy Business Reports

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