OK, so it's not Mr. Fusion. But this guy has supposedly invented a tabletop device that can turn plastics back into oil. A kilogram of random plastics (bags, bottle tops, etc) turn into a liter of oil. Further refinement of it can turn into gas and kerosene etc. Lots of unanswered stuff like what about the chemicals used to turn this stuff into plastic in the first place. What happens with that? But either way... very cool. <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qGGabrorRS8?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qGGabrorRS8?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
Ideally, the energy (oil) produced could be used directly with no additional energy source, to melt more and more plastic. In reality, seems like this process would use a very large amount of energy; much more so than produced, making this cost ineffective. Plus, those fumes are crazy toxic... other than liquifying it what happens to those chemicals?
I agree, lots of questions left. But I think the main point of the machine is to save on landfill space. You could just burn the trash but that would create more CO2 than this process, if you believe what they say.
hmmm, I just got a great new idea for another table top product: turn glass bottles back into sand. High quality sandy beaches are in high demand, I hear.
Yeah absolutely. The product (looking at it superficially) satisfies the aim of reducing landfill space, which is great. I guess it comes down to the trade-off between the cost of creating this 'oil' vs the cost of recycling the same quantity of plastic, as well as the relative values of the products. I don't know enough about recycling costs to be able to compare them. I also believe them that burning it is not a decent option. It's just that the fumes from this thing are really toxic too, and I can't see how passing it through water fixes that part. Are they just melting the plastic? I don't think they are
