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posted by janrinok on Wednesday November 20 2019, @05:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the save-the-plant-collect-the-whole-set dept.

Have you ever wondered what happens when you put plastic in the recycling bin for collection? It probably goes straight into the garbage tip with the rest of the trash. Up to a short time ago, countries like China offered a decent price for usable plastic, but those deals have dried up, leaving many countries with millions of tonnes of plastic and few solutions to deal with it.

Now, Australian company Licella says it has created a system that can recycle all types of plastic, even to the extent of creating oil that can be turned into bitumen, petrol or back into different kinds of plastics.

His Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR) does just that through a form of chemical recycling that changes the plastics at a molecular level using hot water at a high pressure to turn them back into oil.

[...] Dr Humphreys said the Cat-HTR technology he and his co-founder patented was different from existing plastic-to-oil technologies like pyrolysis, which is a process that involves heating materials at a very high temperature.

Unlike traditional physical recycling, it does not require plastics to be separated according to type and colour, and can recycle anything from milk cartons to wetsuits and even wood by-products.

It also means plastic products can be recycled again and again.

But he said the bigger problem to address is our over-consumption of plastic.

The process of turning rubbish into fuel may sound familiar to sci-fi fans. In the film Back to the Future the time machine car uses garbage as fuel.

The industry has been widely described as in crisis, with a[n Australian] Senate report last year stating that "enormous quantities of recycled material, particularly materials collected through kerbside recycling, are now being stockpiled at great risk to the health and safety of local communities. Moreover, quantities of otherwise recyclable material are being sent to landfill".


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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday November 20 2019, @06:35PM (7 children)

    by PinkyGigglebrain (4458) on Wednesday November 20 2019, @06:35PM (#922500)

    The article is very light on the exact details of the process they but it is probably very similar to hydrous pyrolysis [wikipedia.org] in which case the water actually gets broken down to provide the base Hydrogen and oxygen to fill in the breaks of the polymers in the plastic as they get broken down.

    And if they do anything stupid with the water you can bet the environmentalists will be screaming about it in short order.

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:09PM (5 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:09PM (#922539) Journal

    I wonder if they could use a lower quality non-potable water for this process?

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    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:27PM (4 children)

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Wednesday November 20 2019, @07:27PM (#922553) Journal

      Precisely. I don't want to drain the aquifers for this. Let them figure out how to use water from the ocean.

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      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday November 20 2019, @10:53PM (2 children)

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 20 2019, @10:53PM (#922683) Journal

        Or sewage processed to a level that it is clean for watering lawns, with sprinklers, flushing toilets, washing cars, etc.

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
        • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @11:07PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 20 2019, @11:07PM (#922696)

          You want us to wash our cars with pisswater? Looks like we found the vegan.

          • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday November 21 2019, @08:38PM

            by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday November 21 2019, @08:38PM (#923135) Journal

            I am not a vegan.

            I don't hate vegans.

            They are very tasty when cooked and seasoned properly.

            --
            People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday November 20 2019, @10:54PM

        by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday November 20 2019, @10:54PM (#922684) Journal

        Save the aquifers. Drain the Oceans instead!!!

        --
        People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
  • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday November 20 2019, @11:26PM

    by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday November 20 2019, @11:26PM (#922701)

    And if they do anything stupid with the water you can bet the environmentalists will be screaming about it in short order.

    Good. If they're doing stupid things with a community resource everyone ought to be screaming.