Fueling up with waste: Kenyan company makes petrol from plastic

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What if plastic waste could power your car? In Kenya, one entrepreneur is turning plastic waste into fuel to power cars and all kinds of engines. The complex chemical structures that make plastic so tough and durable also make plastics difficult to break down–that's why they can take hundreds of years to decompose, if at all. Progreen Innovations Limited in Kenya is one of a growing number of companies that are converting plastic into liquid fuel. "We take it through a pyrolysis process and we end up with usable fuel, which is an alternative fuel for petrol and diesel engines," says James Muritu, the founder of the company. Pyrolysis involves heating the plastic at very high temperatures in the absence of oxygen, so combustion doesn't occur. The process results in combustible gases and biochar. Some of the gases are condensed into a liquid called bio or pyrolysis oil. Other by-products are captured and turned into biochar, which is used to fuel the furnace, according to Muritu. The United Nations Environment Programme estimated that only 12% of global plastic waste is incinerated and 9% is recycled. To solve part of this issue, at least locally, Muritu sources waste plastic from dumpsites or buys it from resellers. Muritu uses the liquid fuel to run the plastic shredder, power chainsaws, and even his own car. "The most carbon-effective way of dealing with plastic waste is not to produce plastic at all. So, we need to innovate to find alternatives to plastics. But while we have the plastics; the ones that we have already produced, we need to explore all options. And I think pyrolysis and low-tech locally produced processes like the one the innovator has come up with, should be encouraged," said Nickson Otieno, a local climate change expert and sustainability consultant. The majority of the toxic gases produced in the reaction are not released into the atmosphere but redirected back into the process, Otieno explains. Muritu isn't selling his fuel yet, as he has yet to secure approval from the Kenya Bureau of Standards. This article was provided by The Associated Press.