Ecology Essay Sample: Recycling Plastics to Fuel

Paper Type:  Essay
Pages:  3
Wordcount:  558 Words
Date:  2021-06-25
Categories: 

Most wastes currently causing all sorts of environmental problems in the world are composed mixed plastic waste (MPW) and about 50% of these wastes can be recycled. The recycling process is done differently for different wastes and the ones that do not require chemical recycling are sent to landfills or incinerated. However, due to the fact that most landfills in the world are vastly filling up, chemical recycling procedures are being resorted to in the bid of saving up the environmental hazards associated with plastic pollution. Apart from plastic recycling helping in cleaning up the environment, it also yields to very important components that can be reused over and over again. Some plastics such polyethylene result to fuel gas and oil that can be used as source of energy. The biggest problem of plastic recycling process is the release of carbon (IV) oxide which is known for causing acid rain and global warming when released in large quantities.

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The polymer products that widely cause environmental pollution are hydrocarbons such as polyethylene terephthalate, high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polystyrene, and polyolefins, polypropylene, among others. These chemical compounds are broken down in different mechanisms and most of them are done under different recycling procedures that include primary recycling often called re-extrusion, secondary mechanical recycling, and thermal recycling.

Polyethylene, both low and high density, is the most frequent polymer in making of all packaging material around the world and is known to be the biggest threat to environment when carelessly disposed. Pyrolysis is known for its ability to generate different useful substances from polyethylene such as oil and gas which can be used in various energy setups such as boilers, burners, and generators in industrial energy processes. Pyrolysis is done at very high temperatures ranging between 400 and 8000C. The hydrocarbon is heated at an inert atmosphere in the presence of nitrogen gas to create hydrocarbon oil which is condensable and a high calorific gas which is non-condensable. The high calorific gas is reused in the above mentioned industrial processes to satisfy different energy needs. The Pyrolysis of low-density propylene, for instance, process yields to different products such as ethylene, propylene, and 1-hexene at different temperatures. The table below illustrates the Pyrolysis products at an optimum temperature of 4800C process:

Most of the liquids produced from the Pyrolysis process have low octane number despite the fact that most of them have long cetane number associated with their low aromatics content. Pyrolysis is very advantageous while trying to separate and find the best of a mixed plastic waste and gives an approximate of 70% liquid fuel by weight of the raw material.

Combustion of polyethylene takes place under high temperature and is known to produce high amounts of carbon dioxide which is harmful and a major cause of global warming. The equation below illustrates the combustion process.

C13.8H23.56+19.07O2+19.07(3.76N2) 13.18CO2+11.78H2O+71.7N2

Enhanced green house effect is an ordeal caused by carbon dioxide and other green house gases which affect the ozone layer leading to the planet retaining of high amounts of heat. It is mostly attributed to industrial revolution and increased emission of such gases through increased human activities. Enhanced green house effect is known to cause different human problems such as stratification of coastlines, increased amount of rainfall in some regions, desertification in some other places, among others.

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Ecology Essay Sample: Recycling Plastics to Fuel. (2021, Jun 25). Retrieved from https://midtermguru.com/essays/ecology-essay-sample-recycling-plastics-to-fuel

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