Could cars soon run on PLASTIC BAGS? Scientists convert carriers into diesel and natural gas

  • Process of converting bags into fuel produces significantly more energy than it requires and leads to fuels that can be mixed with diesel
  • Other products, such as natural gas, solvents and lubricating oils including engine oil and hydraulic oil also can be obtained from shopping bags
By Daily Mail Reporter
Published: 07:24 EST, 14 February 2014 | Updated: 08:48 EST, 14 February 2014
Don't throw those old shopping bags out - they could one day be used to power your car.
Scientists have developed a way to convert plastic shopping bags into diesel, natural gas and other useful petrol-based products.
The process of converting the bags into fuel produces significantly more energy than it requires and leads to transport fuels, including diesel, that can be mixed with diesel.
Plastic fantastic? Carrier bags could provide a new source of fuel after scientists manage to convert the material into petrol, natural gas, oil and wax
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Plastic fantastic? Carrier bags could provide a new source of fuel after scientists manage to convert the material into petrol, natural gas, oil and wax

Other products, such as natural gas, solvents, gasoline, waxes and lubricating oils such as engine oil and hydraulic oil also can be obtained from shopping bags.
Study author Dr Brajendra Sharma, of the University of Illinois, said: 'You can get only 50 to 55 percent fuel from the distillation of petroleum crude oil.
'But since this plastic is made from petroleum in the first place, we can recover almost 80 percent fuel from it through distillation.'
Hundreds of billions of plastic shopping bags are thrown away every year round the world, with some estimates showing that just one in eight are recycled.
The rest end up in landfill sites, or as litter or in the sea.
Researchers were able to blend up to 30% of their plastic-derived diesel into regular diesel
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Researchers were able to blend up to 30% of their plastic-derived diesel into regular diesel

Plastic bags make up a large portion of the floating rubbish in oceans that kill wildlife and litter beaches.

The carriers have been detected as far north and south as the poles, said the researchers.
Previous studies have found a way to convert plastic bags into crude oil, but this is the first to prove they can be made into diesel.
Dr Sharma's team took the research further by turning crude oil into different petroleum products that can be used for a multitude of purposes.
The researchers were able to blend up to 30 per cent of their plastic-derived diesel into regular diesel, 'and found no compatibility problems with biodiesel,' Sharma said.
'It's perfect,' he said. 'We can just use it as a drop-in fuel in the ultra-low-sulphur diesel without the need for any changes.'
The findings are published in the journal Fuel Processing Technology.
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