# Make Gas and Diesel from Plastic



## Backroad Acres (5 mo ago)

I've always been very interested in how to make your own fuel but most options out there aren't all that feasible. Seeing this guy make gas and diesel on an island is pretty intriguing. There is waste plastic everywhere. For every one pound of plastic, you get about one pound of fuel.


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## kinderfeld (Jan 29, 2006)

More on this.









Plastic to Fuel


Converting plastic into oil. The technology is here and it is not excessively polluting. Could it save our oceans?




insteading.com


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## Pobept75 (6 mo ago)

kinderfeld said:


> More on this.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Not until this process will make a profit for the person/company converting plastic to fuel.


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## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

DH has looked into this over the years. I think it may become a retirement project for him.


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

Fascinating, but I see very serious potential problems.

First, and foremost, toxic fumes/toxic waste. We all know that burning plastics degerates some nasty toxic fumes. Also, what happens to the sludge at the bottom of the pot once a run is finished? I'd expect that to be hazardous too. Does it all get dumped on the back side of the island? Maybe that's OK if you're on an island all by yourself. What though if you have neighbors?

Second, is quality control. He mentions making both gasoline, and diesel out of plastics. How do you know what exactly you are making? Plastics are basically long hydrocarbon polymers, and I can see how heating them breaks them down into shorter polymers. Gasoline is a hydrocarbon polymer ~C7-C8 in length. Diesel is about C10-C15. Vegetable oil is C16-C18. How does he know what's coming off the distillery collumn is closer to gasoline, or closer to diesel. Do you stick a finger in and swirl it around?

I can see an engine being quickly destroyed by feeding it the wrong grade of fuel. There are lots of totally uncontrolled variables here.


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