Reply #26: Have you looked at Thermal Depolymerization? [View All]

Thermal Depolymerization

It seems like every few days somebody discovers the peak oil problem, panics, and posts their panic here. I think the peak oils theorists want to see the collapse of Western civilization and a return to the stone age. None of the theorists ever mention Thermal Depolymerization. And the first commercial sized plant has already gone online in Carthage, MO.

Fellow science people – Please forgive the oversimplifications here, but space is limited.

A polymer is a chain of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Think of hydrocarbon or of carbohydrates. Same thing, just depends on which you want to say first. Under heat and pressure the chain can be broken into the desired lengths. The result is oil. The chemical process has been known for decades, but until recently it has taken more energy to work the process than it was worth. Now the process can be done at 85% efficiency. For those that don’t understand that, it means that it uses only 1/6 of the energy produced to run the process itself.

In practical terms that means the all carbon based trash and garbage and waste can be converted into pure water, oil, carbon black, fertilizer, and assorted minerals. This process will handle sewage, agricultural waste, old tires, medical waste, toxic wastes, (Except radioactives.) and most household garbage.

In Discover Magazine, May 2003 issue there is a lengthy article about it. Please remember that Discover is a reputable scientific magazine. It is available online only through subscription. The article states that the agricultural waste in the USA is enough that if it were processed in this manner, it would eliminate the need for any oil imports.

Detractor from this technology have attempted to shoot it down without success. One “scientist” calculated the available energy in the carbon/oxygen reactions and said that it would not be enough and that therefore TDP would not develop enough energy. He left out the energy from the hydrogen/oxygen reactions and the fact that there are about twice as many hydrogen atoms in the polymers as there are carbon.

Since the main source of input for TDP would be agricultural waste, the real source of energy is solar. The crops in the field gather solar energy, and by photosynthesis, store it in the plant itself. We harvest a tiny part of that energy as food, and waste the rest. TDP process that waste into oil.

So we have the technology to efficiently gather, process, and distribute solar energy and to do it using today’s distribution methods. It will arrive to you in a familiar form – OIL.

BTW – TDP is COMPLETELY POLLUTION FREE. In fact, it cleans up pollution since it’s input is TRASH & WASTE. It would almost completely eliminate the need for landfills, sewage treatment plants, and toxic waste sites as all of those would become valuable sources of oil.

Further, TDP helps fight global warming as, unlike fossil fuels, it does not introduce NEW carbons into the atmosphere.
And the oil produced by this process is cleaner burning too, as it is cleaner oil.

More information is available at http://www.changingworldtech.com Of course, it isn’t “Chicken Little” alarmist material, but is instead hopeful material so many will reject it. However, since the plant is designed to operate at a natural profit, then there should be lots of commercial investors. After all, how much natural profit does a landfill or a sewage plant make?

So the “Peak Oil” problem has been solved. As fossil oil does indeed become more scarce, then the profit from a TDP plant, (They can produce oil for about $16 per barrel, as well as sell the other products too.) will increases, creating more interest in the immense profits that will flow from such plants. No gov’t help really needed here.

Nor or the plants expensive to build or operate. The material for a TDP plant is old fashioned refinery type plumbing. Pipes, valves, boilers and that type stuff. The workers, except for a few chemists and other specialists, will only need the same level of education as a modern refinery worker.

So Chicken Little can calm his ruffled feathers on this one. There are other serious world problems for him to worry about, like diseases, and a coming one world gov’t, but that is a different matter.