Microwaving waste to release hydrocarbons

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/flat/bown/2007/innovator_2.html

The machine is a microwave emitter that extracts the petroleum and gas hidden inside everyday objects—or at least anything made with hydrocarbons, which, it turns out, is most of what’s around you. Every hour, the first commercial version will turn 10 tons of auto waste—tires, plastic, vinyl—into enough natural gas to produce 17 million BTUs of energy (it will use 956,000 of those BTUs to keep itself running).

so about 6% of the energy is used in the process. This is less than that used in a lot of primary extraction of oil wells and such.

Be interesting to see how it copes with Alberta tar sands.

could also be used in conjunction with algae / waste chicken and other steams of hydrocarbon rich natural stuff.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1703274/posts

"It has to do with the frequency, and it has to do with the vacuum," Pringle said. "That's where our patents are."
...
Pringle placed the substances in a beaker and set them in his vacuum chamber microwave, which looks somewhat like a home microwave but is far different. There are millions of microwave frequencies, and the key is to find the right ones for the right materials, he said.

if they choose ones where water doesn't adsorb storngly could they break down water soluble molucles into non water soluble ones - I think not becsue the energy is used for heating , but maybe ??


http://www.rexresearch.com/pringle/pringle.htm

Frank Pringle

and Hawk Hogan

feed the Hawk recycler, which extracts oil and gas from waste like tires.

In the microwave, under vacuum, the ground up tire is gasified, removing all the hydrocarbons, leaving carbon black behind, which is a salable product, used for making dyes and tires. The input tire loses ~ 60% of its weight, turning into gases and oil (mostly in the dieself fuel range). The products are sulfur free.
...
past seven years, Mr. Pringle has identified over 1200 specific RF microwave frequencies intrinsic to hydrocarbon elements/materials.

towel401

great idea. can they convert it to petrol?