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Pastimes : Plastics to Oil - Pyrolysis and Secret Catalysts and Alterna -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scion who wrote (20581)	3/21/2012 9:15:47 AM
From: old 'n cranky	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 53574

The confusion persists. Apart from the PETE issue. "Thousands of pounds of shredded milk jugs, water bottles and grocery bags tumble into a large tank where it's melted together and vaporized." (To be clear, while that is not a company statement, it was obviously made in the presence of the CEO and apparently not refuted.) Those are clearly household recyclables. Again, from the Air Facility Permit: "JBI will carefully review potential sources of recycle grade plastic for use as a raw material feedstock. This material will be acquired from the industrial market place." From the 10-K: "We collect mixed, non-recyclable plastics from commercial and industrial enterprises that generate large amounts of plastic waste." These are not subtle discrepancies. They appear to be presenting themselves in broad daylight and with the full knowledge and participation of the company. I must be misunderstanding something. Can someone tell me what it is? I'm asking this with a straight face: Is it possible that the company is touting, or allowing others to promote with its knowledge, its ability to process materials that the equipment is capable of handling, and neglecting to point out that they are not permitted to process those materials? Or do I just plain have this wrong? ps. I'm still stuck on why the concept of the capacity of the equipment to accept bales and bulk items is celebrated when it SEEMS that every portrayal of loading material into the pre-melt involves shredded plastic (plus a plastic dish or two) and a conveyor belt. But that's a different source of confusion. sec.gov

To: scion who wrote (20581)	3/21/2012 11:19:24 PM
From: MorningLightMountain	Respond to of 53574

transcript: npr.org < Startup Converts Plastic To Oil, And Finds A Niche Copyright ©2012 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required. text size A A A Heard on Morning Edition March 19, 2012DAVID GREENE, HOST: A new and possibly more environmentally friendly way to produce oil: it involves plastic - yes, like those soda bottles you discard. Only 7 percent of plastic waste in the U.S. is recycled each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Well, now a startup company in Niagara Falls says it can increase that amount while also reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil. From member station WBFO, Daniel Robison has more. (SOUNDBITE OF MACHINERY) DANIEL ROBISON, BYLINE: This machine's known as the plastic-eating monster. Thousands of pounds of shredded milk jugs, water bottles and grocery bags tumble into a large tank where it's melted together and vaporized. This waste comes from landfills and dumps from all over the United States. JOHN BORDYNUIK: Basically, they've been mining their piles for us and sending them here. ROBISON: John Bordynuik runs his namesake company, JBI, Inc. He's invented a process that converts plastic into oil by rearranging its hydrocarbon chains. According to tests by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, JBI's patented technology is efficient, with close to 90 percent of plastics coming out as fuel. Bordynuik says that makes the case for this kind of recycling to go mainstream. BORDYNUIK: When there have been attempts in the past to make fuel from plastic, it's been a low quality, low flashpoint, kind of sludgy. In this case here, we're making a very highly refined, consistent product that's within specifications of any standardized fuel. ROBISON: JBI executive Bob Molodynia points to a spout at the other end of the plastic-eating machine dripping a thin, brown liquid. BOB MOLODYNIA: You could tap this right now, and this is ready to go. That's a number six fuel. That's what a lot of like U.S. Steel uses, a lot of major companies. That's what they pay the big bucks for, right there. ROBISON: Each barrel of oil costs about $10 to produce, which JBI can sell for around $100 through a national distributor. The young company is already producing a few thousand gallons of oil a day. They've signed lucrative deals to set up operations next to companies with large volumes of plastic waste. But in its rush to grow, JBI has been accused by the SEC of overvaluing some of its assets in order to raise more funds. And John Bordynuik says it's been hard to find acceptance from potential oil buyers because JBI's product has been dubbed a green fuel. BORDYNUIK: We don't make a synthetic other product that has problems. We make an in-spec fuel just like everyone else. In fact, if anything, the word "alternative" has a stigma attached to it, more so because of prior attempts. ROBISON: If JBI has its way, plastics will become a significant source of domestic fuel that reduces the country's dependence on foreign oil. But just how green is JBI's recycling when it produces a fossil fuel that pollutes just like any other? CARSON MAXTED: To enter themselves into this industry, I think that they've all bought into the idea of producing a fuel. ROBISON: Carson Maxted is with Resource Recycling, the plastic recycling industry's trade journal. He's not sure whether converting plastic to oil can be considered recycling or even environmentally-friendly. But he says JBI's methods can co-exist and even complement current recycling practices. MAXTED: So they're getting value from something that would otherwise go into the landfill, because the plastics, most of them are looking for, the plastics that are either not easily recycled. They're of low quality or of mixed plastic types, or that they're dirty, things that wouldn't be accepted into a recycler. ROBISON: And since there's no lack of plastic supply or demand for oil, Maxted says this technology has the potential to transform both industries. For NPR News, I'm Daniel Robison in Buffalo, New York. Copyright © 2012 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.