Intriguing new technology

[mjkst27]

Here's a link StrawDaddy posted on Yobob's "Let's Cut the Crap" thread. It is very interesting with many potential economic implications, if it is all it is cracked up to be. I wanted to be sure everyone got a chance to see it. My initial reactions from the thread are posted below it.

 

Thermal Depolymerization Processing

 

Now this is something to get bullish about! (if it's all legit, of course). I am a bit skeptical - for instance I have my doubts that this process can be anywhere near 85% energy efficient. (I have my doubts it can be net-energy generating at all). I also have my doubts that metals (like the razor blades mentioned in the article) can be processed in this way (the highest temps I saw in the article were 900 degrees F, only high enough to soften steel) Also, if all this is true and is based on several basically off-the-shelf technologies, this would not be the first time we have heard of this process - concurrent with it's going into production. It would have been theorized 100 years ago, since it is so basic, and would have been the "holy grail" of chemistry and chemical engineering all along. But whatta I know, I'm just a lowly mechanical engineer, so I'm willing to suspend my doubts and stay tuned. Thanks for the link SD.

 

Edit: after checking out CWT's website and giving this a little more thought, I realize the net steady-state result of this technology, and the biggest challenge therein, would be a HUGE loss of jobs, since the world will have just gotten much less complex. I'd venture we're talking 25 years from now, after the build-out of this technology - and it's associated bull market - is complete. Think about it - how many waste-handling and -processing, transportation, shipping, exploration, mining, military (we won't be fighting wars over resources anymore), etc. jobs would be eliminated once all carbon-based waste becomes recyclable into near-perfect input feedstocks for the original manufacturing industries? I doubt they would be offset by the operational requirements of these recycling plants - they will be made to run lean and mean. Just think, there will be that many more folks available to work in our growing service economy, serving each other coffee and bagels, backrubs, walking dogs, etc.

 

Edit 2: IMO, This technology would for practical purposes complete humanity's total mastery of it's physical environment. The most serious of our problems eliminated in one fell swoop. Life becomes academic, nothing but blue skies and green grass. Hmmmmm...

[StrawDaddy]

It sounded like snakeoil to me but I like to think long term/positive and I give a lot of credence to discover magazine so I went to their web site too.

 

Thanks for reposting mjkst27 and here's a link to a simple description of the process: http://www.changingworldtech.com/techfr.htm From my understanding, the technology has been right in front of our noses from the time when we first refined oil. While we've recycled our garbage for a thousand years, one common thing was to dry what ever it was we're picking out of the garbage while doing so. CWT's tech simply uses the liquid as part of the formula for extraction. If you've ever seen what a dredge brings out of the bottom of a polluted river, or the sand dug up from around a leaking fuel tank, and know that those mined materials can be put into one end of the hopper and it comes out as purified components out the other end, you'll know that there is tons of work to be done. These plants can be replicated fast, and will be if it is as profitable as they say. The needs of waste disposal and environmental cleanup are just to great to be ignored.