New research will test whether Plaxx, a fuel made from mixed plastic waste, can be used as an alternative to crude-derived hydrocarbons in industrial and marine engines.

Testing, which will be led by Farid Dailami, associate professor at BristolRobotics Laboratory, in partnership with Plaxx developer Recycling Technologies, will determine if the material can be used efficiently in diesel engines that currently operate on heavy fuel oil (HFO) without increasing engine wear. The work is also of potential interest to entities such as waste treatment companies and packaging manufacturers that would benefit from the creation of a usable resource from waste that currently cannot be mechanically recycled in an efficient manner.

Plaxx resembles a soft wax at room temperature. Image credit: Recycling TechnologiesPlaxx resembles a soft wax at room temperature. Image credit: Recycling TechnologiesIn the European Union alone, more than 25 million tons of post-consumer waste plastic is produced each year, of which 26% is recycled, 36% is incinerated and the remainder is landfilled. The technology that will be tested uses pyrolysis in a fluidized bed reactor to convert unsorted residual plastic waste that would otherwise not be recycled into a hydrocarbon low in sulfur and other organic/inorganic contaminants.

Plaxx, which is the product of the depolymerization of plastic and comprises a mixture of monomers similar to crude oil, resembles a soft wax at room temperature and a low-viscosity liquid at 70 degrees Celsius. As with crude oil, it can be further refined and used as an input to plastics manufacturing.

Testing will evaluate the performance, exhaust and wear of Plaxx on different engines over a range of conditions. The research will also develop software tools to capture these measurements to help characterize the use of Plaxx for diesel engine operators.

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