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The technology for turning plastic trash into fuels isn’t new. The latest fuel though comes from Washington State University where they’ve been able to reach an 85% conversion rate to jet fuel and the remaining 15% as diesel fuel mix. According to Hanwu Lei, an associate professor in WSU’s Department of Biological System Engineering, it’s all diesel fuel unless you separate the two components.
Hydrogen in the plastic is the main component for the fuel. The process uses activated carbon and high temperatures to produce a high quality fuel from which they can reuse the newly created carbon and fuel to run the process on another batch of plastic waste.
I wonder though how much pollution comes with it. I believe the use of plastic for diesel started around 2013 but it’s a difficult thing to pin down in an internet search. It might not be a cost effective way to produce jet fuel but if it can reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean and dumps it should be researched as an almost self sustaining way to destroy plastic waste.
You can find more details here.
Jet fuel production from waste plastics via catalytic pyrolysis with activated carbons
Scientists turning plastic waste into jet fuel
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