Finally, Tech That Can Convert E-Waste Into Crude Oil

Keeping our thumbs on the pulse of this booming industry, we for one can tell you that its progress has just been boisterous. With every new technology seeping in, some other technology grows obsolete. What then?! It becomes a part of the bigger environment problem. What’s popularly termed as ‘e-waste’ is an environmental problem that’s directly proportional to our growing hunger to better our technology.

A rough estimate shows that in India just the personal computers, which have increasingly begun to grow obsolete, and certain electrical equipments make for about 1,46,000 tons per year. These figures further varied when the products were broken down into categories.

& the churning begins

A breakthrough technology innovation by an Oregon-based company, Agilyx would turn the tables around, if successful. The innovation would not only reduce plastic pollution but, will also work a way around the production of synthetic crude oil from the e-waste. The technology that it would incorporate consists of a set of four primary vessels. The company claims to convert 10 tons of plastic into about 2,400 gallons of crude per day. The process, as explained involves accumulating all the plastic waste, then placed in a cartridge inside one of the vessels. Melting with the intense heat coming from the hot air blown around the cartridge, the plastic eventually turns to gas. Lastly, using entral condensing system, the gas is cooled down to its synthetic crude oil formation stage. The oil then goes through a filtering process, during which, any uncondensed gases are made environment friendly.

Woah! We get crude oil..

However, the limitation here is that for the plastic to be able to turn to crude, it has to be made up of hydrocarbons. Thankfully, majority of the e-waste plastic are made of hydrocarbons, barring plastics like PVC which do not contain hydrocarbons, and therefore can’t be converted to crude.

Knowing how bad e-waste management in our country has been, we could surely do well with it.