techieask.com profiles JBI's P2O technology

Plastic2oil to Convert Hazardous Plastic into Fuel
News — 28 July 2011

You may be one of those few people who care for the environment and do you bit to keep it clean and green. You may be avoiding the use of plastic and in case you have to use it, you would send it for recycling. But did you know that most of the plastic that is produced today is non-recyclable, which means that once it is used, and then all it does is pollute the surroundings. But there’s something that would put you at ease. A Canadian company called JBI has come up with a method to convert this toxic substance into a fuel.

The process is called Plastic2Oil and begins with feeding a variety of plastic to a shredder, followed by a granulator, a machine that can be fed with up to 816.5 kg of plastic. Then produce of the granulator is heated in a process chamber, after which it is transferred to the main reactor. A certain catalyst is added to this which breaks down the hydrocarbons of the plastic and converts them in to smaller chains of hydrocarbons that exist in the gaseous phase.


These gases are compressed and stored. The gases that consist of inflammable fuels are separated and the leftover fuel is stored. Methane, ethane, butane and propane are separated and stored separately. The whole process is extremely eco-friendly too. It is believed that the emissions of the process are much lesser than that of a natural gas furnace. The whole process takes approximately an hour to complete and the conversion rate is close to 90%. The rest is dumped as landfill, or even burnt for fuel.

Plastic2Oil is gaining popularity gradually as the US and the UK are planning to install these plants in their respective countries in the near future.