New research at the Northeastern University has shown that waste plastic could be used as an alternative source of energy whose effects on the environment would be minimal.
In a quite fantastic discovery, Yiannis Levendis, Professor of Mechanical and Industrial engineering, and his team of students have revealed a combustor that breaks down plastics to produce energy.
So how does it all work? The waste plastic is fed into the upper tank of the combustor that converts the solid plastic to gas. The gas flows to a lower tank that where it is combusted with oxidants to produce heat and steam. The steam can then be tapped away for use to make electrical power.
This revolutionary project, according to a student working on the project, could save 462 millions of petroleum in just the USA! Admittedly the prototype revealed last year was on a smaller scale but the team is confident that the project could be scaled up to power industries world-wide.
The recycling of waste plastic has been the subject of a number of projects over the last decade with massive sports brand Nike’s ventures into making football shirts purely from used bottles and organic cotton. This venture too, involves the melting down of plastic to thread to make the shirts. Yet, Levendis’ project is on a whole new scale.
The inspiration for the project arose from twenty years of Levendis’ experince with the combustion of plastics and his determination for a global use of clean energy to decrease the levels of carbon emissions. He says, “The inspiration behind my research is the quest to develop clean, cost-efficient power sources in the face of dwindling fossil fuel reserves.”
We wish Professor Levendis and his team good luck with their future ventures into the project!
http://inhabitat.com/waste-combustor-turns-plastic-into-clean-energy/
http://www.physorg.com/news192736676.html
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2010/06/transforming-waste-plastic-into-an-alternative-fuel
0 comments