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Transforming Waste Plastic Into $10/Barrel Fuel
Mike writes "Today Washington DC-based company Envion opened a $5 million dollar facility that they claim will be able to efficiently transform plastic waste into a source of oil-like fuel. The technology uses infra-red energy to remove hydrocarbons from plastic without the use of a catalyst, transforming 82% of the original plastic material into fuel. According to Envion, the resulting fuel can then be blended with other components, providing a source for gasoline or diesel at as low as $10 per barrel."
If the fuel costs $10/barrel to make, we can probably expect the price we pay for it to be about...$7.50/gallon?
(Up here in Canada, at least, the price of gas goes up whenever the price of oil goes down.)
Funny may not give karma, but +5 Informative never made anyone snort coffee out their nose.
In other news, most likely pushed by Big Oil activists, a new law was passed that bans the recycling and reuse of any plastic product.
Great, but don't hold your breath.. South America has been making fuel out of old tires for years. Canada has been able to make fuel out of garbage for 10 years now by exposing garbage to high heat and pressure with no oxygen. (This stuff is either suppressed or killed.)
no no no, we are converting food into fuel for SUVs. This "new" process will be fuel for "feel good".
I suspect that if it could work, it would have already been done when oil was >$80 barrel.
Now, everyone, deposit your plastic credit cards into the hopper!