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Process DescriptionThe plastics-to-diesel conversion unit accepts most waste plastics found in MSW (Municipal Solid Waste), including plastic packaging scrap from material recovery facilities; oil and detergent bottles, off-cuts/trimmings from diaper production, mulch film and silage wrap, shopping bags, over-wrap fill, mixed post-consumer plastics, PP automotive bumper bars and battery cases, caps/labels, rejected bottles and commercial stretch and shrink-wrap. The specific plastic types acceptable to the process are as follows:
A ton of acceptable plastics produces approximately 225 gallons of renewable, low sulfur, synthetic diesel fuel. Operating at approximately 335 days per year, one conversion unit will convert approximately 7,300 tons per year of feedstock into approximately 1.65 million gallons of diesel fuel. If the plastic is sorted from MSW, there is no need to identify plastics by type for use in the process, other than removing PVC and PET. Low level contamination such as organic matter, dirt, aluminum laminates, printing inks, oil residues, or paper dried on the plastic can be tolerated, so long as the total inert material in the fuel does not exceed 10% by weight. In short, plastics recovered from curb-side collection of recyclables are an ideal feedstock for the process. Lastly, Ag-plastic contaminated with pesticides is an acceptable feedstock, affecting neither unit air emissions nor diesel fuel quality. ThermoFuel ReactorThe plastic is first shredded to 1/2" nominal flakes that are then pushed through an air-lock and proprietary extruder, or ram. InInside the conversion reactor, the plastic is heated and converted to a gas by thermal degradation in the absence of oxygen. The temperature range in the conversion reactor is 650 - 800 degrees F. The hot gases are then condensed to yield a hydrocarbon distillate comprised of straight and branched aliphatics, cyclic aliphatics and aromatic hydrocarbons - which is essentially equivalent to regular diesel fuel. The off-take is further refined through a proprietary catalyst and cooled, before being piped to on-site storage tanks. Char production from this process is created only from the inert material in the plastic and is automatically purged from the machine. Depending on plant location, the char, which is simply top-soil, will be either sold as top-soil, used as daily cover for landfills or land filled. The plant design will include char removal and storage functions as part of the design. The machine requires cleaning for only one day, twice yearly.Unlike bio-diesel, which requires diesel engine modifications to convert the engine from conventional diesel usage, the synthetic diesel fuel Infinity will produce requires no engine modifications and is guaranteed by the technology developer for highway use in the US. As is shown in the fuel analysis, the factory test on the unit in Ireland demonstrated a cetane value of 57 (the minimum acceptable retail pump cetane value in the US is 40). As an ultra-low sulfur fuel, containing only the sulfur existing in the plastic feedstock, the product is acceptable for use in mining operations. The heat source for the conversion unit is fed by a combination of natural gas and the methane gas recovered during the conversion process. Accordingly, the emissions from a 22 ton per day (22 t/d) facility will be well below the threshold for required air permits in most parts of the US, when only one unit is deployed (see emissions chart below). Emissions Chart: 
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