Surabaya – Students from the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) Surabaya developed a tool for recycling plastic into fuel. In the hands of the Fuchelia Team, a solution to the problem of plastic waste can be found. Namely by using pyrolysis techniques to recycle waste into fuel.
The Fuchelia team is currently developing an innovative tool called the Smart Reducer Gas Pyrolysis. A member of the Fuchelia Team, Immanuel Nathanael Lumban Gaol explained, along with the development of the agricultural industry, currently fossil fuels are still the main choice for a number of farmers. Meanwhile, its availability is dwindling so that it has an impact on expensive prices.
“With that, it is necessary to have environmentally friendly fuels, such as fuel produced by pyrolysis of plastic waste,” said the young man who is familiarly called Nuel, Wednesday (3/5/2023).
The team, which involved seven ITS Chemistry Department students, designed an appropriate technology using waste pyrolysis techniques. The tool designed is a technology for converting plastic waste into fuel oil which is composed of several parts, namely an 18 liter reactor, connecting pipe, condenser, and product container.
Nuel explained, the pyrolysis concept he applied was a process of heating solid materials in a state of limited oxygen or even without oxygen.
“The tool we have developed uses Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plastic as a raw material with an outer product in the form of oil,” he added.
Meanwhile, from a technical point of view, the way the Smart Reducer Gas Pyrolysis works starts with sorting and separating the plastic waste to be chopped until the smallest size is obtained. Followed by a pyrolysis process by inserting 5-10 kilograms of plastic into the reactor, and heating using Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
“So, the plastic will melt and undergo a process of cracking into shorter chain hydrocarbons,” he explained.
With the heat added continuously in the reactor, making the melted plastic evaporate. Steam resulting from heating will flow to the condenser to be cooled, so that a liquid in the form of oil is obtained.
“This pyrolysis oil is used to fuel diesel engines to power agricultural equipment,” said Nuel.
To reduce carbon emissions, Nuel and the team also added an additive in the form of eucalyptus oil to pyrolysis oil with a target of producing a clearer oil. What’s more, active carbon will also be added to the exhaust of diesel engines using pyrolysis oil.
“Thus, when using diesel it will not cause a pungent odor,” he said.
From the idea of appropriate technology from the Smart Reducer Gas Pyrolysis, Nuel and the team’s design was successfully applied directly to a community service event in Serang, Banten with the title Technology for Indonesia (TFI).
From this process, participants are expected to be able to innovate in various aspects of the agricultural industry in Indonesia, such as energy, pre-harvest and post-harvest agriculture to solve problems that exist in society.
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(hil/fat)
2023-05-03 16:45:05
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