Plastic To Petrol

Plastic To Petrol
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In today’s advanced life various types of plastics have a lots of applications in almost every field of life. From the writing pen to the gigantic parts of the space shuttle various plastics are used widely. And after the use of this plastic comes the question of disposing it. Some plastics can be recycled and reused but what about the non-recyclable and non-reusable plastics? The polyethylene bags of less microns(<= 20 microns), wrappers and other scraps can not be recycled. Here is the most novel technique of utilizing as well as disposing this waste plastic.
The method includes the disintegration of waste plastic in the enclosed container called as the plastic disintegrator. Here the plastic is disintegrated into its basic constitutes by the breaking of polymers due to heating. Mostly ethane, methane and octane are evolved by this disintegration. These gases are then converted into liquid form. The liquid thus formed is then distilled to get pure liquid which is a substitute to pure quality of domestic fuel. As a result the waste plastic is disposed off along with the production of usable fuel and many other by products.
DISCRIPTION:
For the construction of this model no special materials are used. Infact this model can be setup by any person at his own home ! Necessarily, an enclosed container of capacity more than 5 liters (Empty/used containers of paint or oil could be best for this purpose) , steel pipes of 4 inch diameter (about 2 meter long) , some angles for connecting these pipes to the container , cocks/taps for controlling the flow of gas , a beaker or small container for collecting produced impure liquid , and most importantly a furnace for heating the container upto 150 C (Wood , coal or electric furnace can serve the purpose). Also waste plastic is needed for the process.

Construction of this model is the simplest construction ever. Fill the container with plastic below 4 inch from the lid. Arrange the pipes on a stand as shown in figure 1. Close the mouth of the container with suitable lid . Ensure that all the cocks/taps are closed. Heat the furnace upto 150 C. Keep the container on the furnace. Allow the container to heat for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes open the cock/tap which is connects container to the pipes. Allow the gas released during the disintegration to get accumulated inside the pipe. After the next 15 minutes open the cock/tap at the other end of pipe and allow the liquid to get down in the provide beaker at the end. The liquid thus obtained is not in its purest form. This liquid contains the impurities depending upon the source of waste plastic. This obtained impure liquid is then distilled. In the phase one of distillaton, pure form of liquid is obtained while in the next phase pure lubricating oil is obtained. The time required for the disintegration of all plastic filled inside the container is about 2 hours. Also this disintegration of waste plastic is based totally dependent on the temperature. As long as the high temperature is constant the disintegration will take place at higher rate. The total disintegration of plastic inside the disintegrator can be marked when no more liquid is coming out of the pipe into the beaker. At this time the lid of the enclosed container is opened and the container is allowed to get cool down. Then the left over inside the container is taken out and is separated as semi-solid and tough solid. Generally as per the tests conducted , the semi-solid is lubricating material which can be used as a substitute to grease whereas the tough black colored solid is the impure form of activated carbon. Wax is also obtained at the bottom of container when scraps contains traces of outdated mattresses.
As an overall, this model of Plastic Management produces many useful materials along with the disposal of waste plastic.These products have many applications. Firstly, the liquid which is produced after the distillation of impure liquid can be used as a substitute to petrol. Chemically representing, this pure liquid is nothing but the liquefied form of ethane (C2H6)and octane(C8H18). This pure liquid serves as best substitute to petrol because of the reasons like:
1. Cheapest than any other substitute to petrol (viz. kerosene , diesel) as produced from waste plastic.
2. No sulphur content so eco-friendly*(In the sense it has no sulphur and emits less black smoke).
3. Efficient fuel giving an average of 56 km/lit. (Test 1) and 57 km/lit. (Test 2) as tested on Bajaj Pulsar (150 CC).
4. Producing very less amount of carbon monoxide so emitting less or no black smoke.
5. The other semi-liquid solution left during distillation can be used as an lubricating oil for lubrication works. This oil is an ideal oil as it qualifies all the necessary conditions for a solution to be an oil i.e. It doesn't get freezed at temperatures below 0 C and also doesn't get more slippery at temperature more than 60 C. The end product when segregated as semi-solid and tough solid gives various by products like lubricating material, impure form of activated carbon and wax in some cases. The semi-liquid lubricating material produced resembles to grease . Hence, it can be used as lubricating agent in machines. The impure form of activated carbon can be purified further to get pure form of activated carbon or if this carbon gets burnt (in very few cases i.e. 1 of 50 cases) then it can be used along with tar for the making or remaking of tarred roads. Wax is also obtained in some cases if the waste plastic contains traces of mattresses. This wax can be used for making candles as it is a pure wax(color of the wax depends upon the overall color of the waste plastic in the container.).
REFERENCES:
Till the District level of Sci-Exhibition we were not knowing that a project some what replicating to us exists. Till then we were totally dependent on various chemistry books available in our school library as well as some other nearby libraries. We could have also said that this model is the work of our own minds but but due to its replicating existence we can't. If taken into consideration the existing project and our model there are many differences. Infact there is a vast difference. We are quite advanced than the existing once. We also took help from various magazines such as Science Reporter (CSIR), Scientific American etc.

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