back to basics
NewScientist reports on a giant microwave project in which plastics are ‘zapped’ back into oil and gas. Not only does it help to repurpose materials into fuel, by breaking down the hydrocarbon links it also aids in separating composited materials (e.g. plastic wire-covering, car-parts, tires, etc.) into basic component materials (e.g. hydrogen, petroleum as fuel and gas, steel).
“Anything that has a hydrocarbon base will be affected by our process,” says Jerry Meddick, director of business development at GRC, based in New Jersey. “We release those hydrocarbon molecules from the material and it then becomes gas and oil.”
Whatever does not have a hydrocarbon base is left behind, minus any water it contained as this gets evaporated in the microwave.
Global Resource Corporation developed the Hawk-10 apparatus, of which a first will be delivered to a scrap-metal processor. A video of the process can be viewed here.
In a way the installation potentially could help to close the loop in material lifecycles by breaking down hydrocarbon-links, returning the material to more basic building-bricks. Cradle-to-cradle philosophies encourage returning materials to their original components (as found as resources in nature), quantitatively as well as qualitatively. The latter is often the challenge (cf. recycling vs. downcycling). In this sense, the question is – aside from side-products and side-effects – whether the resulting fuel is merely a new product which can be used to be burnt, or whether it is truly ‘back to basics’.
Via NewScientist
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