Can I just do that and stop paying for gas for my car and boiler and generators for like electricity and stuff ?
In: Chemistry
Gasoline is a hydrocarbon derived from petroleum- a long chain of carbons and hydrogens linked by energetic chemical bonds. Breaking those bonds, such as by burning them, releases energy that we can use to do work like drive a car.
Plastic, for the most part is also a hydrocarbon derived from petroleum. It has different chemical properties, and lacks those high energy bonds that make it a good fuel. Instead, plastics are structured from repeating subunits called polymers, which form stable, inert bonds that are ideal for plastics.
So chemically, it’s pretty simple to turn plastic back into a crude mass of hydrocarbons that could be in turn refined into gasoline or another kind of fuel.
The problem is energy. Remember, energy can’t be created or destroyed. So in order to make an energetic substance like hydrocarbon fuel, you need to put a whole lot of energy into the starting material- in this case by heating the plastics to their melting point under high pressure. It’s not yet economical to do that on a wide scale yet. But possibly it’s not too far off.
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