The perils of plastic are nothing new to most of us. A
lesser-known fact, however, is that plastic has a higher energy value
than just about any other type of waste. To harness this energy while
addressing the waste problem, Japanese company Blest has created a machine that converts several types of plastic into oil.
Rather than burning the plastic using flame, which generates CO2, the
machine uses a temperature-controlled electric heater to convert
plastic into crude gas, which can then be used to power gas-based
household appliances like stoves, boilers and generators or, if refined,
can even be pumped into a car or motorcycle. Small yet highly
efficient, the machine produces nearly one liter of oil – gasoline,
diesel or kerosine – from every kilogram of plastic, requiring only 1
kilowatt of electricity for the conversion.
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Though
the machine currently processes only plastic class 2, 3 and 4
(polyethylene, polystyrene and polypropylene) and not class 1 (PET
bottles), it still offers a remarkable solution to a serious problem and
has many potential applications. Blest CEO Akinori Ito says there
currently over 60 machines installed at farms, fisheries and small
factories in Japan as well as a handful abroad. They can be used for
everything from converting trash left behind by tourists into oil to
power tour busses and boats to powering restaurant kitchen stoves with
plastic from food packaging.
Maria Popova is the editor of Brain Pickings, a curated inventory of miscellaneous interestingness. She writes for Wired UK, GOOD Magazine and Huffington Post, and spends a shameful amount of time on Twitter. source: http://bigthink.com/design-for-good/japanese-machine-converts-plastic-to-oil
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