Abstract
Plastic trash has been building up for over a century in our landfills and oceans. Not only does it affect our wildlife, but the trash affects our lives by changing our oceans, our weather currents, and our food supply. To truly deplete the plastics that fill our landfills and oceans, a cost-effective and profitable method of plastic disposal, should be created.
The heat transfer system will be used to heat plastics in such a way to break apart the polymer chains via pyrolysis, creating a vapor. The vapor will then be cooled where it will create petroleum oil, wax, and gaseous byproduct. This project research will continue by redesigning the furnace used in previous research, to get an accurate more stable heat that will reach the necessary boiling point of the plastics to create the vapor. Vapor will be collected through pipes and routed to a cooling unit, where it will be condensed, creating petroleum oil, a solid wax, and gaseous byproducts.
Further research for oil optimization using variables such as types of plastics, temperature magnitudes and temperature rates from pyrolysis of synthetic polymers will aid in the creation of commercial/industrial sized pyrolysis systems that will be ecofriendly and economical.
Experimental test of gas heat transfer system for hydroxide heat storage
