Can we remake plastic waste into rocket fuel?

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bearnard00
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Can we remake plastic waste into rocket fuel?

#1

Post by bearnard00 »


Have you ever heard about green rocket fuel that is made from plastic waste? Scientists from one space company figured out how to remake plastic waste into rocket fuel that has already been successfully tested
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Re: Can we remake plastic waste into rocket fuel?

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Re: Can we remake plastic waste into rocket fuel?

#3

Post by MistrBadgr »


I believe the people who won the X Prize used a fuel made from old car tires, though when burned, it was more like a black fuel rather than green. I would not be surprised if someone was able to make rocket fuel from waste plastic.
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Re: Can we remake plastic waste into rocket fuel?

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Post by bearnard00 »


MistrBadgr wrote: Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:03 pm I believe the people who won the X Prize used a fuel made from old car tires, though when burned, it was more like a black fuel rather than green. I would not be surprised if someone was able to make rocket fuel from waste plastic.
Unfortunately, not all kinds of plastic can be used. The following types of plastic waste can be converted into rocket fuel: Polypropylene (PP). Polyester (PE). Polystyrene (PS) and their mixtures and analogs
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Re: Can we remake plastic waste into rocket fuel?

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Post by bearnard00 »


The new type of the rocket fuel is called ecosene fuel and it was tested successfully. This test has shown that the new type of rocket fuel ( remade of plastic )is 1% - 3% better than kerosene by its energy characteristics. I wonder if it`s possible to use such kind of fuel in long space journeys?
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Re: Can we remake plastic waste into rocket fuel?

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Post by GCoyote »


bearnard00 wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 8:25 am The new type of the rocket fuel is called ecosene fuel and it was tested successfully. This test has shown that the new type of rocket fuel ( remade of plastic )is 1% - 3% better than kerosene by its energy characteristics. I wonder if it`s possible to use such kind of fuel in long space journeys?
The short answer is 'no'.

The bigger issue is scale. The amount of rocket fuel needed in a year is inconsequential compared to the volume of plastic waste to be recycled. The difference is many orders of magnitude. So while this was interesting from a technical point of view, it has no impact on real space operations.

Most long duration craft use a single fuel such as hydrazine to avoid having a complex system of tanks and pumps that might fail when going unused for several years at a time. The more likely path forward for deep space missions is electric propulsion. Systems like ion drives can achieve efficiencies much greater than chemical systems with additional savings in weight and complexity.

This might be of interest to you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrica ... propulsion
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Re: Can we remake plastic waste into rocket fuel?

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Post by bearnard00 »


GCoyote wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 2:58 pm
bearnard00 wrote: Tue Apr 06, 2021 8:25 am The new type of the rocket fuel is called ecosene fuel and it was tested successfully. This test has shown that the new type of rocket fuel ( remade of plastic )is 1% - 3% better than kerosene by its energy characteristics. I wonder if it`s possible to use such kind of fuel in long space journeys?
The short answer is 'no'.

The bigger issue is scale. The amount of rocket fuel needed in a year is inconsequential compared to the volume of plastic waste to be recycled. The difference is many orders of magnitude. So while this was interesting from a technical point of view, it has no impact on real space operations.

Most long duration craft use a single fuel such as hydrazine to avoid having a complex system of tanks and pumps that might fail when going unused for several years at a time. The more likely path forward for deep space missions is electric propulsion. Systems like ion drives can achieve efficiencies much greater than chemical systems with additional savings in weight and complexity.

This might be of interest to you - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrica ... propulsion
I found out that this kind of fuel ( remade from plastic ) is not good for long space journeys. But it can be used only for small launches. I guess that there is a bigger issue in manufacturing ordinary type of rocket fuel and the resources we need to have to make it. Remaking plastic waste is a good way how to avoid this this problem
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