Plastic waste is converted into small pieces of energy

Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have found that plastic waste can be converted into small pieces of plastic used as fuel. Under normal circumstances, all kinds of plastic waste, including dirt, must be buried. However, in the method developed by the University of Pennsylvania, this small piece can be mixed with coal as a co-fuel for stoves and boilers, or Burning in a cement furnace.

The shredded plastic is fed at an appropriate temperature into an electrically heated mold that heats and melts the outer layer of the material, while the rest of the material does not melt, and the resulting compressed plastic is then cut into small pieces. It has been calculated that these plastic pieces provide 20 times more energy than they need to produce them. Even if these plastics can be re-melted and reshaped, the traditional recycling process also requires a relatively high energy input. Currently, the University of Pennsylvania is conducting combustion experiments on these small blocks to calculate the amount of heat they emit. Researchers claim that they do not plan to use polyvinyl chloride because of their presence of contaminated emissions.