From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Plastic shopping bags make a fine diesel fuel, researchers report
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Plastic shopping bags, an abundant source of litter on land and at sea, can be converted into diesel, natural gas and other useful petroleum products, researchers report.
The conversion produces significantly more energy than it requires and results in transportation fuels – diesel, for example – that can be blended with existing ultra-low-sulfur diesels and biodiesels. Other products, such as natural gas, naphtha (a solvent), gasoline, waxes and lubricating oils such as engine oil and hydraulic oil also can be obtained from shopping bags.
Credit: L. Brian Stauffer
A report of the new study appears in the journal Fuel Processing Technology.
There are other advantages to the approach, which involves heating the bags in an oxygen-free chamber, a process called pyrolysis, said Brajendra Kumar Sharma, a senior research scientist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center who led the research. The ISTC is a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois.
“You can get only 50 to 55 percent fuel from the distillation of petroleum crude oil,” Sharma said. “But since this plastic is made from petroleum in the first place, we can recover almost 80 percent fuel from it through distillation.”
Americans throw away about 100 billion plastic shopping bags each year, according to the Worldwatch Institute. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that only about 13 percent are recycled. The rest of the bags end up in landfills or escape to the wild, blowing across the landscape and entering waterways.
Plastic bags make up a sizeable portion of the plastic debris in giant ocean garbage patches that are killing wildlife and littering beaches. Plastic bags “have been detected as far north and south as the poles,” the researchers wrote.
“Over a period of time, this material starts breaking into tiny pieces, and is ingested along with plankton by aquatic animals,” Sharma said. Fish, birds, ocean mammals and other creatures have been found with a lot of plastic particles in their guts.
Whole shopping bags also threaten wildlife, Sharma said.
“Turtles, for example, think that the plastic grocery bags are jellyfish and they try to eat them,” he said. Other creatures become entangled in the bags.
Previous studies have used pyrolysis to convert plastic bags into crude oil. Sharma’s team took the research further, however, by fractionating the crude oil into different petroleum products and testing the diesel fractions to see if they complied with national standards for ultra-low-sulfur diesel and biodiesel fuels.
“A mixture of two distillate fractions, providing an equivalent of U.S. diesel #2, met all of the specifications” required of other diesel fuels in use today – after addition of an antioxidant, Sharma said.
“This diesel mixture had an equivalent energy content, a higher cetane number (a measure of the combustion quality of diesel requiring compression ignition) and better lubricity than ultra-low-sulfur diesel,” he said.
The researchers were able to blend up to 30 percent of their plastic-derived diesel into regular diesel, “and found no compatibility problems with biodiesel,” Sharma said.
“It’s perfect,” he said. “We can just use it as a drop-in fuel in the ultra-low-sulfur diesel without the need for any changes.”
The research team also included Bryan Moser, Karl Vermillion and Kenneth Doll, of the USDA National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, in Peoria, Ill.; and Nandakishore Rajagopalan, of the ISTC at the U. of I.
The Illinois Hazardous Waste Research Fund, and the Environmental Research and Education Foundation supported this study.
Editor’s notes: To reach Brajendra Sharma, call 217-265-6810; email bksharma@illinois.edu.
The paper, “Production, Characterization and Fuel Properties of Alternative Diesel Fuel From Pyrolysis of Waste Plastic Grocery Bags,” is available online or from the U. of I. News Bureau.
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Also the refining process consumes about 8 to 9% of the energy in a barrel of crude, however most refineries use ch4, methane also called Natural Gas for process energy as its much cheaper than crude. One barrel of crude is about 5.8 million BTU’s and costs $100, while 5.8 million BTU’s of NG costs less than $30.
This is not new.
http://www.wksu.org/news/story/38184
D. J. Hawkins says:
February 12, 2014 at 11:57 pm
@catcracking says:
February 12, 2014 at 9:09 pm
“Depending on the quality of the crude, 20 – 35% of the energy value of the feed is burned just to distill the crude.” according to D J Hawkins
Let’s look at some facts
The barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) is a unit of energy based on the approximate energy released by burning one barrel (42 U.S. gallons or 158.9873 litres) of crude oil. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service defines it as equal to 5.8 × 10^ 6 BTU.[
For a 200,000 Barrel/day refinery the distillation process requires 10,000 MMBTU/day
http://valveproducts.metso.com/neles/ApplicationReports/2721_Refinery/2721_01_02en.pdf
According to my quick math that is 0.862069% or about 1%.
Where is my error? What did I miss?
What is the reputable source of crude oil that requires 20-35% of the crude energy value just to distill it?
Josh Matthews says:
February 12, 2014 at 7:56 pm
If this blog is one hundred percent accurate I do not understand why it is not a law to recycle things such as plastic bags.
==============
locally stores charge between 1 to 5 centers per bag for the customer to “buy” them, but they don’t “buy” them back when you return them.
Catcracking says: February 13, 2014 at 5:42 am
Your point 862% is correct, however my 8-9% number includes all energy required in producing all the materials and equipment required for crude production from upstream rock formations to product delivery.
Now people can see the effects of movies such as WALL-E. Kids see them at an early age and “get the message” that people are bad, and killing the planet. First it was killing trees, so no paper bags, now plastic bags and bottles are ruining things, so let’s go to reusable bags, oh, oh, reusable bags get contaminated from food – what to do, what to do? At least going from paper to plastic we reduced the energy requirements, then from plastic to reusable we send the cost well past the equivalent paper costs and they’re made in sweatshops in the third world…
Intelligent commentary explaining the real cost of high energy prices zooms right over the heads of those who think we’re the problem. I sometimes wonder if some members of the NGOs in the third world countries are actually trying to prevent recovery in subtle ways. Just like the “helpful” people in the US who’ve fought the War on Poverty for 40+ years and we have the same percentage of folks living in poverty.
Peter Yates says: @ur momisugly February 13, 2014 at 4:43 am
By the way … talking about diesel fuel….
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That is why anyone running diesels adds a diesel prep of some nature to the fuel generally year round. Most have an Anti-Gel added for winter use.
This isn’t the one I use but it shows why you would use it http://penray.com/products/fuel-prep-1000-diesel-fuel-conditioner/
I got my first VW diesel in New Hampshire in the 1970s. You learn the tricks fast – like an extension cord for the block heater AND battery charger plus a couple gallons of diesel kept at room temp to warm the fuel sitting overnight at minus 30 °F or below.
Any trucker who gets caught with gelling fuel didn’t pay attention in truck driving class. That subject was well covered in the class I took in North Carolina.
dipchip,
Sorry I did not read you post before replying to DJ Hawkins.
He specifically talked about “just” Distillation which is as good as adding a period after the claim.
I knew the total is more like what you quoted, but I stuck to his claim of 20% to 35% to reply.
I don’t know if there are any significant refineries that do not upgrade after distillation using some or all the following technologies: Hydrotreating, Hydrocracking, Catcracking, Reforming, Coking, Low sulfur diesel, etc. Of course these increase the value and volume of product and are essential to a profitable refinery and to meet customer and environmental requirements.
Now you probably know where I got the nickname catcracking
Don K says:
February 12, 2014 at 9:55 pm
If one recycles or reuses this stuff — which responsible folks really should do — …”
So if folks don’t do as you say they are irresponsible.
People that exercise their freedom to do with their property what they wish (legally) is not being irresponsible.
I remember well the propaganda of how plastic bags were going to SAVE THE PLANET by reducing the number of trees we cut.
The key is the economics, of course – I’ll be from Missouri.
Economics must include how viable the fuel is – diesels vary, engines vary, synthetics have some drawbacks but are purer AFAIK. (Just ask owners of German cars circa 2000 about synthetic oil in combination with smaller passages in engines – coking big time. I know of a 1999 Passat you could buy cheap if you are into the time and parts cost of rebuilding engines.)
As a long-time re-user, which today’s eco-freaks work against (illegal to take items out of curb-side recycling, for example), I am very annoyed with grocery stores who make their bags bio-degradable but don’t label them as such.
They fall aprt in the closet, resulting in a mess of little pieces.
(Amusing that people are now pitching re-use of clothing by re-making. My mother did that 60 years ago. And made clothing from flour sacks, which often came with a print pattern on them for that purpose. There was a company on the Canadian prairies that made blankets/socks out of old blankets/socks and such – send remains to them, get good items back. (Perhaps got their start using old army blankets after WW II.) Today of course products like pet food and laundry detergent come in plastic pails that are re-usable. (Petroleum is good.))
Re Biodiesel and cold weather not that kids got time off because mandatory biodiesel clogged filters so Busses would not start.
URL:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/01/20/cold-weather-green-fuel-yellow-bus-failure/
Maybe this problem has been corrected possibly by not using biofuel in the cold winter.
negrum says:
February 12, 2014 at 11:30 pm
I feel that the biggest practical effect of recycling is that the concept of “waste not want not” is reinforced in the younger generation.
And I feel that teaching that concept without also teaching a concept of market pricing in conjunction with it has created a generation (or maybe two generations by now) of people who have no sense whatsoever when it comes to resource use.
These are the people that would, on reading the main subject of this post, move immediately to mandate recycling all such bags and even, as someone already mentioned, require the use of their end product in our energy stream. And they would do so without regard to the multitude of costs incurred, costs which reflect to a large degree, energy usage. (If this sounds silly, consider ethanol where we have done it already.)
Put another way, they would mandate saving a bag not worth even a penny even if it generated a nickel’s worth of cost for society.
We don’t need to teach “waste not, want not.” We need to teach a respect for market pricing, and for not messing with market pricing with extraneous regulations like recycling mandates. If we do that, recycling will occur on its own. I once told a school administrator that I only recycled aluminum because that’s the only waste that anyone paid consumers for. He said, with incredulity in his voice, “So you’ll only recycle what someone pays you to recycle?” to which I said “Yes.”
The fact that he had no clue why I was saying that, and meant it, speaks volumes about the state of education in a supposedly capitalist country. Price everything, get out of the way, and let matters sort themselves out.
By the way, I am not against regulation per se. Obviously there are external costs that can only be addressed by law (regulations). But landfill usage can be priced after the external costs have been levied for the odor abatement, traffic accommodation, and eventual restoration of the property. They don’t need to be legislated out of existence because “we’re running out of room.” The price will tell you if we are, indeed, running out of room. And it will tell you we most certainly are not.
One more thing: “Waste not, want not” is an investment concept. Consumer recycling as it is treated today in schools and society is the antithesis of investment, in that it teaches a mindset that typically wastes more resources than it saves (with the possible exception of aluminum cans.)
Another item I recycle that I just thought of, not for money, but for usage: 5 gallon buckets that joint compound comes in. No one will pay me for them, but if I need one and don’t have an empty one that needs cleaning up, a new empty one will cost me a couple of bucks at the store, which indicates that I’m hardly the only one that finds them useful to recycle.
Rod Everson:
In your post at February 13, 2014 at 8:36 am you say
A simplistic way to explain the matter to such people is as follows.
By definition
energy is the ability to do work
and
money is payment for work done
so
if it saves money then it saves energy and people will pay for it
but
if it doesn’t save money then it is a waste and nobody will pay for it.
Richard
Those plastic bags have always been recyclable and reusable. Any major retailer has a bin to collect old bags, for those who really care.
“Those much maligned plastic grocery bags can run your diesel truck or car”.
But you may require a long stick to push them into your fuel tank. : )
But to be serious, nothing wrong with recycling when you can, plastic bags aren’t the nicest things to be floating around everywhere. Our local council (North London) used to recycle soft plastic wrappings and bags with other recycling but has now stopped recycling the soft plastic because it was uneconomical. The only reason the other (heavier) waste is ‘economic’ to recycle is the penalty (tax) they have to pay per tonne under EEC regulations for any waste that goes to landfill. Because plastic bags aren’t heavy it is cheaper to send to landfill. Funny thing is they promote themselves as ‘being green’ by increasing the amount of waste they recycle but then go back to dumping soft plastic in landfill due to cost.
Peter Yates says:
February 13, 2014 at 4:43 am
By the way … talking about diesel fuel. It seems that the ‘winter’ grade diesel fuel being sold in the United States is only good down to -20 Celsius (-4F). In colder temps the diesel ‘gels’ and clogs the fuel filters. Maybe the bio-fuel mixed in to it has something to do with it. .. In places like Montana there aren’t any signs at the truck stops to warn the truckers, even if the temps *are lower than -20C. … If you are interested a trucker is complaining about it here :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PswiYmEIgg
One of my interests in visiting my (now deceased) friend Richard in downtown Montreal was that he had a little piece of paper stuck to a cupboard showing the pour point of fuel oil sold in metro Montreal and the considerably lower one for the boonies. It was interesting because he never used fuel oil….. But it was educational to me that there was a difference even though people were just buying “fuel oil”. (Fuel oil is often very similar to diesel fuel; my father had a diesel car and used to get a drum in the garage filled when we got a fuel-oil delivery.)
Ian M
plastics. hemp plastics.
The aforementioned “overpackaging”, such as scissors being in a package you can’t open without scissors, is a result of shop lifting. When packages are small and easy to open, or products are loose in bins shoplifting is much easier and quickly becomes a significant loss to the retailer.
Paper bags? No thank you. They were weak, and you just had to have one split to want the plastic variety forever after.
One store of a grocery chain tried to charge 5 cents for each plastic bag. So many customers went to a competitor that they went back to plastic bags.
My wife carries a number of the $1 reusable woven plastic bags with her to get groceries, etc., but we still need some of the disposable plastic bags for the “lumps” from the cat’s litter box. (The pooh gets flushed down the toilet like ours.)
As noted above by several posts, recycling has a lot of hidden costs in collection, sorting man hours and fuel to transport to the designated facilities. I’ve seen several articles that assert that the life cycle costs of recycling (energy costs and dollar costs) exceed the value of the recovered materials in both categories. I have absolutely no reason to doubt those statements based on my personal experience. When they first started recycling they would pay you for recycled materials as a raw resource. Any of you old enough to remember paper drives? Boy scouts and other groups would ask folks to save their news papers and then periodically pick them up bundled and presorted by the user. They would then take them to a company that would pay them a few cents a pound for the paper which was recycled into paper products that used low quality paper pulp. Then they started recycling card board and aluminum cans. In the 1970’s we got about 1.5 cents a can for aluminum cans (inflation adjusted that was about 7 cents a can in today’s dollars). At that time I would fill up several trash bags with crushed aluminum cans and drive them down to the recycling center, and the bounty for the recycled cans would only slightly exceed the cost of fuel to get them down there. I would net about $5.00 for my efforts. Outright costs of transportation used up about 1/3 of the payment for the recycled metal, and the rest worked out to about 10 cents an hour for my time to collect, crush and deliver them to the recycler.
They did the paid recycling until they realized that if they paid folks for the stuff they would get so much of it that they could not use it all and the prices for recycled card board etc. dropped to near zero. They then switched to guilt trip and regulations so that they could get the stuff for free or in the case of computers and electronics equipment they could force people to to literally pay them to take the stuff off their hands.
I have been recycling stuff all my life. In the 1950’s and 1960’s my brother and I would walk into town and pickup discarded soda bottles on the way into town and cash them in for the deposit to buy another bottle of soda pop or candy. Today some 50 years later, I still minimize my discards. I jokingly call it my “cost control program” . When making small errand purchases, If I cannot carry my purchases to the counter or the car in my arms I don’t need them. When I buy at the grocery store using a cart, I refuse bags for things like the milk and bottles of juice and soda, and the bread comes in a perfectly good plastic bag, no need to put it inside a second bag to carry it a few feet to the car or into the house.
We have recycling here at my apartment complex but even here, it is a royal pain in the butt to transport all the plastic bottles etc. across the complex to the recycling bin, I refuse to walk down there every other day to toss a couple bottles or plastic bags in the mixed recycling bin, so I collect them until I have enough to fill 4 or 5 large trash bags. Then as part of another trip, load them in the car and in a single trip take about 30 cubic feet of crushed plastic refuse to the bins.
Further to the mention of shoplifting…
Imagine you have left the SUV at home and venture out to do some shopping, on foot and re-using some carrier bags you’ve saved from previous retail excursions.
In the NE of England now, you will discover that when you venture into the 2nd or subsequent shops on your trip out, bearing a bag of stuff you bought somewhere else, you will be shouted at by the shopkeeper, immediately made to leave the premises under threat of law, get your picture taken by several CCTV cameras and find yourself summarily banned from ever going into that shop ever again.
Thank you eco-warriors, you are making this a truly horrible world to live in.
Steven Mosher says: @ur momisugly February 13, 2014 at 9:39 am
plastics. hemp plastics.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I will second that. Useful plant, hemp.