Thursday, July 28, 2011

Bio-Plastics In the Auto Industry’s Future

We often forget that oil is used by more than fuel for transportation alone. For example, is used to make plastics. The amount of oil used in the production of plastics is more than it seems - from six to eight percent of total oil production in the world - with packaging being the largest use. Although small, it still represents millions of barrels a year that could be for other applications.

What is the solution? Many commodities beyond oil can be used for the manufacture of plastics, including waste materials such as agricultural waste, waste of bone and other materials. Plastics recycling is particularly attractive because it reduces the amount of plastic waste reaching landfills. Unlike petroleum-based plastics, plastics produced from the majority of alternative raw materials are biodegradable.
The idea of ​​producing plastics from renewable resources is a century-old idea. Around 1910, Henry Ford proposed the manufacture of components from agricultural residues, and in 1941 he even built a "car of soybeans.

Still, automakers are beginning to use non-petroleum-based plastic in significant quantities. Toyota is considered a leader with its bio-based PET 'green plastic', the collective name for the plastics developed by Toyota that the use of materials derived from plants. Bio-PET is made by replacing mono ethylene glycol used in the manufacture of plastics with a crude biological material derived from sugar cane.
Besides being from renewable resources, bio-PET is more heat, shock, and reduce resistance compared to conventional bio-plastics, which makes it ideal for internal components. Starting with the lining of the luggage compartment-in CT200h new Lexus, Toyota plans to increase both the number of vehicle models with the new material as well as the amount of area covered interior. It claims to cover up to 80 percent of the interiors in some 2011 models with green plastic.

Nano-cellulose fibers from pineapple, banana, coconut shells and other crops could be used as glass fibers, carbon and other materials already used in reinforced plastics. Scientists in Brazil are studying these fibers of nanometer-sized fruit of thermoplastic composite parts car matrix, including dashboards, bumpers and side panels. These fibers are almost completely renewable as tough as Kevlar and other conventional plastics derived from petroleum or natural gas, plus it is 30 percent lighter and stronger 3 to 4 times. They can even replace steel and aluminum automotive parts. Nano cellulose reinforced plastics are also more resistant to damage caused by heat, spillage of gasoline, water and oxygen.
Bayer has developed and is testing a process to produce plastic raw materials from carbon dioxide, which addresses two major problems - reduced use of fossil fuels and greenhouse gases. Bayer has a pilot plant, Chempark Leverkusen, to test the new process. The use of CO2 is only possible due to the discovery of a suitable catalyst that experts had been looking for four decades.

The pilot plant produces a chemical precursor that the CO2 is incorporated and then processed for plastic polyurethanes. Carbon dioxide is supplied by the lignite power plant in Niederaussem RWE Power, Germany. A debugger separates carbon dioxide from flue gases. Bayer MaterialScience is testing materials that could be used mainly to produce soft and rigid foams. If the test is successful, industrial production should begin in 2015.

How about recycling waste plastics into synthetic crude? Anaerobic Thermal Corporation Agilyx Recovery (ATR) process becomes difficult to recycle plastics from the waste stream in the ultra-sweet, synthetic crude oil Agilyx The system can process virtually any type of plastic resin, plastic can be interchangeable for classification is not necessary, and no need to clean the plastic contaminants. The system, which consists of four primary vessel and associated equipment for secondary processing, you can convert 10 tons of plastic in about 60 barrels of oil a day. It can be scaled in increments of 10 tons per day through a combination of base systems. Agilyx has teamed up with waste management and the total energy of international companies, a subsidiary of the oil and gas company Total SA, to commercialize the technology. 

>>Sale-Source-Directory<<

No comments:

Post a Comment