This invention relates to a method and apparatus for recycling plastics, electronics, munitions or propellants. In particular, the method comprises reacting a feed stock with a molten aluminum or aluminum alloy bath. The apparatus includes a reaction vessel for carrying out the reaction, as well as other equipment necessary for capturing and removing the reaction products. Further, the process can be used to cogenerate electricity using the excess heat generated by the process.

We disclose a process for purification of hydrocarbons, suitable for a wide range of contexts such as refining bunker fuels to yield low-sulphur fuels, cleaning of waste engine oil (etc) to yield a usable hydrocarbon product, recovery of hydrocarbons from used tyres, recovery of hydrocarbons from thermoplastics etc, as well as the treatment of crude oils, shale oils, and the tailings remaining after fractionation and like processes. The method comprises the steps of heating the hydrocarbon thereby to release a gas phase, contacting the gas with an aqueous persulphate electrolyte within a reaction chamber, and condensing the gas to a liquid or a liquid/gas mixture and removing its aqueous component. It also comprises subjecting the reaction product to an electrical field generated by at least two opposing electrode plates between which the reaction product flows; this electrolytic step regenerates the persulphate electrolyte which can be recirculated within the process. The process is ideally applied in an environment at lower than atmospheric pressure, such as less than 1500 Pa. A wide range of hydrocarbons can be treated in this way. Used hydrocarbons such as engine oils and sulphur-contaminated fuels are prime examples, but there are a wide range of others such as hydrocarbons derived from the pyrolysis of a material having a hydrocarbon content. One such example is a mix of used rubber (such as end-of-life tyres) and used oils (such as engine oils, waste marine oils), which can be pyrolysed together to yield a hydrocarbon liquid which can be treated as above, and a residue that provides a useful solid fuel.

A methodology for the removal of the harmful components of ash from urban/industrial wastes and sludges from the sewage treatment plants is invented. The harmful components are alkaline metals, chlorine, sulphur, zinc, lead, and chromium. They are removed before the thermochemical conversion and therefore the corrosion problems, scaling/deposition, ash agglomeration, dioxin and furan emissions, alkaline metal, chlorine, sulphur emissions are minimized if not diminished. The emissions of heavy metals such as zinc, lead, copper, and chromium are reduced. The removal is achieved with prepyrolysis/pregasification at 250-320° C. for 5 min to 2 h of urban/industrial wastes and sludges from the sewage treatment plants. Then the prepyrolyzed/pregasified sample is washed with a 0.5%-5% weight basis aqueous calcium acetate and/or magnesium acetate and/or aluminum acetate solution. These acetate salts can be mixed in a proportion of 0% to 100% to form an active salt which is used for the preparation of the aqueous solution.

Catalytic system which can be used in processes for the hydroconversion of heavy oils by means of hydrotreatment in slurry phase, characterized in that it comprises: a catalyst, having the function of hydrogenating agent, containing MoS.sub.2 or WS.sub.2 or mixtures thereof in lamellar form or an oil-soluble precursor thereof; a co-catalyst, having nanometric or micronic particle-sizes, selected from cracking and/or denitrogenation catalysts. The co-catalyst preferably consists of zeolites having small-sized crystals and with a low aggregation degree between the primary particles, and/or oxides or sulfides or precursors of sulfides of Ni and/or Co in a mixture with Mo and/or W.

There is a process for the hydroconversion of mixtures of polymers or plastics which comprises the pre-treatment of the mixtures through methods selected from mechanical methods, chemical methods, thermal methods, or combinations thereof forming a pre-treated charge. The pre-treated charge is mixed with a hydrocarbon vacuum residue, optionally pre-heated, to form a reactant mixture. The reactant mixture is fed to a hydroconversion section in slurry phase, together with a catalyst precursor containing Molybdenum, and a stream containing hydrogen, forming a reaction effluent. The effluent is separated into at least one high-pressure and high-temperature separator in a vapour phase and a slurry phase. The separate vapour phase is sent to a gas treatment section with the function of separating a liquid fraction from the gas containing hydrogen and hydrocarbon gases having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms; said liquid fraction comprising naphtha, atmospheric gas oil (AGO), vacuum gas oil (VGO). The slurry phase is then sent to a separation section that has the function of separating the fractions of the Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO), Heavy Vacuum Gas Oil (HVGO), Light Vacuum Gas Oil (LVGO), Atmospheric Gas Oil (AGO), from a stream of heavy organic products which contains asphaltenes, unconverted charge, catalyst and solid formed during the hydroconversion reaction. This stream of heavy organic products is partly recirculated to the hydroconversion section and partly forms a purge stream.

The present disclosure relates to a plastic pyrolysis/emulsification system for pyrolyzing waste plastic in a high-temperature/high-vacuum environment, the plastic pyrolysis/emulsification system being characterized by comprising: an introduction portion having a hopper for introducing plastic; a heating furnace having a burner mounted thereon so as to establish a high-temperature environment therein and having a combustion gas outlet; a melting furnace penetrating the heating furnace such that one end of the melting furnace is connected to the introduction portion, and both ends thereof are exposed to the outside, a transferring/compressing means being mounted in the melting furnace along the longitudinal direction so as to transfer and compress the plastic in one direction, thereby transferring, compressing, and melting the plastic, and the melting furnace having a vapor outlet for discharging water vapor resulting from compression and melting of the plastic; a first transfer portion connected to the other end of the melting furnace so as to transfer the melt of the plastic; a vacuum pyrolysis furnace penetrating the heating furnace such that one end of the vacuum pyrolysis furnace is connected to the first transfer portion, and both ends thereof are exposed to the outside, a transfer means being mounted in the vacuum pyrolysis furnace along the longitudinal direction so as to transfer the melt in one direction, thereby transferring and pyrolyzing the melt, and the vacuum pyrolysis furnace having an oil vapor outlet for discharging oil vapor resulting from transfer and pyrolysis of the melt; a second transfer portion connected to the other end of the vacuum pyrolysis furnace so as to transfer the pyrolysis remnant of the melt; a discharge portion connected to the second transfer portion so as to discharge the pyrolysis remnant; a first condenser connected to the vapor outlet so as to condense the water vapor; a second condenser connected to the other end of the vacuum pyrolysis furnace so as to transfer the pyrolysis remnant of the melt; a discharge portion connected to the second transfer portion so as to discharge the pyrolysis remnant; a first condenser connected to the vapor outlet so as to condense is the water vapor; a second condenser connected to the oil vapor outlet so as to condense the oil vapor; multiple third condensers connected to the second condenser via first, second, and third valves, respectively; a vacuum pump connected to the multiple third condensers via fourth, fifth, and sixth valves, respectively; and a fourth condenser connected to the vacuum pump.

A hydrocarbon cracker stream is combined with recycle content pyrolysis oil to form a combined cracker stream and the combined cracker stream is cracked in a cracker furnace to provide an olefin-containing effluent. The r-pyoil can be fed to the cracker feed. Alternatively, the r-pyoil with a predominantly C.sub.4-C.sub.7 fraction can be fed to the cracker feed. The furnace can be a gas fed furnace, or split cracker furnace.

The present disclosure relates to methods for processing plastic waste pyrolysis gas, such as methods wherein clogging of the systems used in the method is avoided or at least alleviated.

Large scale exploitation of Solar energy is proposed by using floating devices which use solar energy to produce compressed hydrogen by electrolysis of deep sea water. Natural ocean currents are used to allow the devices to gather solar energy in the form of compressed hydrogen from over a large area with minimum energy transportation cost. The proposal uses a combination of well understood technologies, and a preliminary cost analysis shows that the hydrogen produced in this manner would satisfy the ultimate cost targets for hydrogen production and pave the way for carbon free energy economy.

Process and systems for converting waste plastics include feeding a waste plastic to a melt tank, and in the melt tank, heating the waste plastic to form a molten plastic. The molten plastic is withdrawn from the melt tank and fed to a pyrolysis reactor. In the pyrolysis reactor, the molten plastic is heated to a pyrolysis temperature, producing a pyrolysis oil product and a liquid pitch product. The pyrolysis oil is then separated into a pyrolysis gas fraction, a light pyrolysis oil fraction, a medium pyrolysis oil fraction, and a heavy pyrolysis oil fraction.