How Waste Plastic is Converted into Fuel
Summary
TLDRThe video discusses the alarming rise of plastic waste, with over 400 million tons produced annually, half of which is single-use. Only 6% of all plastic has been recycled in the last 70 years. The video highlights a breakthrough in chemical recycling from a Japanese company, using a method called Hiop to convert plastic into high-quality crude oil. This technology is safer and more efficient than existing processes and has the potential to revolutionize plastic waste management, especially in Japan, where plastic consumption is high. The video urges everyone to be conscious of plastic use and recycling efforts.
Takeaways
- 🌍 A million disposable plastic drink bottles are used every minute worldwide.
- 🗑️ Most plastic bottles end up in landfills or oceans, not being recycled.
- 🔄 Only about 6% of all plastic has been recycled in the last 70 years.
- 👟 Recycled plastic bottles are used to make shoes, building materials, and other products.
- 🔬 Pyrolysis is a method to break down plastic waste into oil and gas using intense heat.
- 🇯🇵 Japan has been a leader in developing plastic to oil conversion plants.
- 🏭 Environment Energy is working on a commercial plant using a catalytic cracking method called HiOP.
- 🛢️ HiOP aims to convert 20,000 tons of plastic waste into crude oil annually.
- 🔬 The HiOP process uses catalysts to convert plastic into hydrocarbon gases at lower temperatures compared to pyrolysis.
- ♻️ The goal is to create a circular economy where waste becomes the source of new materials.
- 🚀 HiOP is expected to lead to a shift from conventional thermal recycling to chemical recycling.
Q & A
What is the environmental impact of plastic drink bottles?
-Plastic drink bottles contribute to significant plastic waste, with millions of bottles being discarded every minute worldwide. A large portion of these bottles end up in landfills or the oceans, negatively impacting the environment.
How much plastic waste is recycled annually according to the script?
-Only about 25% of plastic waste is recycled, while 20% is incinerated and 55% is discarded, according to the script.
What challenges are associated with recycling plastic waste?
-One challenge is that only around 6% of all plastic has been recycled in the last 70 years. Additionally, much of the recycling involves downcycling or upcycling rather than turning plastic back into high-quality reusable materials.
What is pyrolysis, and how does it relate to plastic recycling?
-Pyrolysis is a process that breaks down plastic waste into oil and gas by applying intense heat of up to 900°C in an oxygen-deprived environment. It aims to convert plastic back to its constituent parts, which can then be reused or burned more efficiently.
What are some challenges faced by plastic-to-oil conversion plants?
-In the early 2000s, Japanese firms that attempted to build plastic-to-oil conversion plants faced challenges like fires, industrial accidents, and economic problems, leading to the closure of many plants.
What is the new plastic recycling technology introduced by Environment Energy?
-Environment Energy has developed a technology called HIOL, which converts plastic waste into crude oil using a catalytic cracking method. It is expected to be safer, more efficient, and capable of producing higher quality oil compared to pyrolysis.
What are the benefits of the HIOL catalytic cracking method over pyrolysis?
-The HIOL method is safer due to a milder reaction process and produces higher-quality oil that is rich in gasoline and diesel. It also has the added benefit of dechlorination, reducing contamination when PVC is present in the plastic waste.
What role do catalysts play in the HIOL plastic recycling process?
-Catalysts used in the HIOL process help break plastic waste into smaller molecules, eventually converting them into hydrocarbon gases that are then concentrated into crude oil. These catalysts are similar to those used in petroleum refining.
What is the significance of Japan in the development of plastic recycling technologies?
-Japan is pioneering new developments in plastic recycling due to its high consumption of plastics, especially in packaging. With limited natural resources and a strong reliance on imported oil, Japan is leading efforts to develop efficient plastic-to-oil conversion technologies like HIOL.
Why is plastic-to-oil conversion considered important for recycling efforts?
-Plastic-to-oil conversion fills a gap in the recycling landscape by allowing heavily contaminated plastics that are hard to recycle mechanically to be converted into usable oil, thereby increasing the amount of plastic waste that can be effectively recycled.
Outlines
🌍 Plastic Waste Crisis and Recycling Efforts
The paragraph discusses the global issue of plastic waste, highlighting that a million people pick up a disposable plastic drink bottle every minute. It points out that despite efforts to recycle, much of the plastic waste ends up in landfills or oceans. The text provides statistics on plastic production and waste management, revealing that only about 25% of plastic waste is recycled, and a mere 6% of all plastic has been recycled in the past 70 years. It also mentions the transformation of recycled plastics into various products, such as shoes and building materials, and explores the concept of converting plastic back into crude oil through pyrolysis. The paragraph concludes with the introduction of a Japanese company's innovative approach to converting waste into 'vir oil' using a catalytic cracking method called HIOP, which is set to be commercialized in 2025.
🔬 HIOP: A Breakthrough in Plastic to Oil Conversion
This paragraph delves into the details of the HIOP process, a chemical recycling method that converts plastic waste into high-quality oil. It contrasts this method with pyrolysis, emphasizing the safety and efficiency of HIOP due to its catalytic cracking process. The text outlines the advantages of HIOP, including its safety, high oil yield, simplicity in manufacturing, and low contamination. It describes the operational details of the pilot plant, which processes 120 tons of waste per month and requires catalyst changes every three days. The resultant oil is a mixture containing 50% gasoline and 50% diesel, suitable for various uses including transportation fuel and raw material for plastic production. The paragraph also discusses the potential of HIOP to revolutionize recycling in Japan and globally, given the country's high plastic consumption and limited natural resources.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Plastic waste
💡Recycling
💡Pyrolysis
💡Catalytic cracking
💡Chemical recycling
💡Circular economy
💡Single-use plastics
💡Mechanical recycling
💡HIRO process
💡Plastic-to-oil conversion
Highlights
Globally, one million disposable plastic bottles are picked up every minute, contributing to significant waste.
Around 400 million tons of plastic are produced annually, with half designed for single use.
Only 6% of plastic has been recycled in the last 70 years, showing the inefficiency of current recycling methods.
Mechanical recycling processes downcycle plastic into lower-quality products like garden furniture and AstroTurf.
The aim is to shift from mechanical to chemical recycling, converting plastic waste back into crude oil.
Pyrolysis, a process that breaks down plastic into oil and gas using intense heat, is being explored but faces safety and economic challenges.
A new Japanese technology, Hiop, uses catalytic cracking to convert plastic waste into higher-quality crude oil.
Hiop's process is safer than pyrolysis, operating at lower temperatures with a high oil recovery rate of about 80%.
Hiop produces oil with a 50-50 mix of gasoline and diesel, which can be further refined for various uses.
Japan has pioneered plastic-to-oil conversion due to its high reliance on imported oil and massive plastic consumption.
Hiop plants are expected to process 20,000 tons of plastic waste annually, with the first commercial plant coming online in 2025.
The process can also handle contaminated plastics, such as those mixed with PVC, and produces low contamination.
Chemical recycling like Hiop could help fill a gap in Japan's recycling landscape, where mechanical recycling dominates.
Japan generates almost 40 kg of single-use plastic waste per person annually, one of the highest rates globally.
The Hiop process aligns with Japan's efforts to reduce plastic waste and establish a circular economy.
Transcripts
it's something most of us never give a
second thought to however worldwide a
million of us pick up a disposable
plastic drink bottle every minute and
what do we do with the empty once we've
quenched our
thirst if we're conscientious we'll put
it in the trash expecting it to be
recycled or dealt with sustainably but
as we've all seen they can be
thoughtlessly cast aside and end up
littering the streets or our oceans
almost 400 million tons of plastic are
manufactured annually and the volume is
growing about half is designed to be
used only once according to the journal
science advances a little over half
about 55% of plastic waste is
discarded about 20% is incinerated and
the rest 25% is recycled
so the vast majority of our plastic
waste including disposable plastic
bottles ends up in landfills or possibly
the oceans you think we should be proud
of the 25% recycled but there's a catch
the science advances study shows that
only about 6% of all plastic has been
recycled in the last 70 years
unfortunately we've a long way to go
before getting on top of plastic
recycling
since the turn of the century many firms
have experimented and brought to Market
a variety of products made from recycled
Plastics disposable plastic bottles are
now turned into shoes building materials
and the list goes on however all of
these recycled Products reconstitute
plastic using mechanical process by
either downcycling turning water bottles
into garden furniture or AstroTurf where
mechanical Integrity or Optical Clarity
isn't an issue or by upscaling plastic
bottles become bird feeders Christmas
trees or children's toys the goal now is
to return plastic to its constituent
parts so it can either be burned more
efficiently or reused as a constituent
for new Plastic Products the concept of
converting plastic back into crude oil
isn't new there are continuing efforts
to develop commercial processes
involving the breaking down of plastic
bottles and other waste into their
essential components using a method
called pyrolysis in pyrolysis intense
heat of up to 900° centigrade is applied
to plastic waste in an oxygen deprived
environment with various reactors
breaking down the plastic molecules the
results from the process are oil and gas
in the early 2000
a series of Japanese firms began
building plastic to oil conversion
plants to apply the technology in the
real world however these plants were
forced to close due to fires industrial
accidents and economic problems other
countries have been working on building
pyrolysis plants that are large enough
to be commercially
viable in contrast one Japanese company
is using groundbreaking technology to
convert waste into what they call vir
oil to be reused as fuel or for new
Plastics
production environment energy aspires to
commercialize a method called hiop with
its first commercial plant due to come
onstream in
2025 it is the first commercially
available waste plastic oil converter
that uses a catalytic cracking method
and the company has partnered with a
Japanese petroleum company to refine the
crude oil produced using using hiop the
aim is to convert 20,000 tons of plastic
waste into crude oil annually the CEO of
environment energy suji NoDa says a core
purpose of this technology is to create
a circular economy in which waste
becomes the source of new
materials the method was developed and
patented by Professor cowo Fujimoto of
the University of Tokyo and Professor
xia Hong Lee from the University of
kakusu it uses catalysts already
employed in petroleum refining to
distill heavy crude oil molecules into
lighter molecules such as gasoline at
temperatures up to about
450° Centigrade the catalysts attach to
the plastic surface they then break the
material into smaller pieces eventually
converting them into hydrocarbon gases
these are then concentrated into crude
oil the hiop process yields crude oil
abundant in gasoline and Diesel and it's
higher quality oil than can be achieved
with pyrolysis technology the new
technique is expected to lead to a shift
from conventional thermal recycling to
chemical recycling the hiop method has
several advantages over conventional
recycling first off is safety because
catalytic cracking makes the reaction
milder than in pyrolysis and is
therefore safer the process yields about
80% by weight of oil recovered depending
on the quality of plastic waste used as
you can see the machine is relatively
simple to manufacture and is therefore
not expensive it has the added benefit
of dechlorination should PVC be mixed in
with the waste resulting in extremely
low
contamination the pilot plant processes
about 120 tons of waste per month
operating
24/7 with this operation the Catalyst
needs to be changed every 3 days which
takes about half a day to perform making
the plant highly efficient the resultant
mixture is high quality oil containing
50% gasoline and 50% diesel the liquid
can undergo fractional distillation to
create petroleum products for other uses
the base product from the system can be
used as fuel in transportation
generators and Home Heating as well as
as raw material in plastic production
the company hopes plastic to oil
conversion will fill a gap in the
recycling landscape both in Japan and
overseas unsurprisingly this new
recycling process comes from Japan where
mechanical recycling is the dominant
method a little over a fifth of Japan's
plastic waste processing involves
sorting washing and then grinding this
requires the plastic waste to be clean
and despite that it yields lower quality
products with a strong odor and an
unattractive color on the other hand
chemical recycling currently only
accounts for 4% of Japan's plastic waste
processing environment energy says this
is an opportunity to increase the amount
of plastic recycled in Japan and
suggests hiop has the potential to take
on the bulk of the growth CEO shuji NoDa
explains the benefits of recycling
consumer Plastics such as food packaging
are evident which is typically heavily
contaminated and thus harder to
recycle Research into plastic to oil
conversion is happening worldwide but
there appears to be a big push in Japan
with few natural resources Japan has
always been a huge importer of oil and
oil-based products and is a massive
consumer of plastics especially in
packaging consumer tastes for safe and
clean product use have resulted in
overpackaging
Japan now generates almost 40 kg of
single-use plastic waste per person
annually one of the highest rates in the
world so it's no wonder Japan is
pioneering new developments in recycling
plastic waste oh before we go in the
time it's taken you to watch this video
another 10 million disposable plastic
bottles have been bought globally to
give you an idea of the scale putting
them end to end the line of bottles
would stretch from London all the way
across Europe to
Istanbul so it's not just the Japanese
who have to be concerned we all have our
part to
play remember to hit the Subscribe
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