Topic Tag: pyrolysis

Why pyrolysis and ‘plastic to fuels’ is not a solution to the plastics problem https://www.lowimpact.org/pyrolysis-not-solution-plastics-problem/ Interesting post and thread on "lowimpact.org" website.

Wonder technology fixes such as pyrolysis for ‘plastic to fuels’ (1) and green energy from waste (EfW) are therefore offered up as the future solution. For, if such machines were capable of simply and sustainably converting plastic into fuel or energy, then citizens may feel encouraged to buy more and waste more, liberated from guilt with the knowledge that anything they saw and wanted could be purchased. But this premise is inherently flawed. Pyrolysis of plastic can never be sustainable. In a recent academic journal, I detail why the concept is thermodynamically unproven, practically implausible, and environmentally unsound (2).