'Plastic oil' could improve fuel economy in cars

[Ivan Seeking]

Recycled plastic bottles could one day be used to lubricate your car's engine, according to researchers at Chevron and the University of Kentucky, who in laboratory experiments converted waste plastic into lubricating oil. These polyethylene-derived oils, they say, could help improve fuel economy and reduce the frequency of oil changes.

The pilot study appears in the July 20 issue of the American Chemical Society's peer-reviewed journal Energy & Fuels. ACS is the world's largest scientific society.

"This technology potentially could have a significant environmental impact. It could make a difference in communities that want to do something positive about their waste plastic problem, especially if there is a refinery nearby that could do all of the processing steps," says the study's lead author Stephen J. Miller, Ph.D., a senior consulting scientist and Chevron Fellow at Chevron Energy Technology Company in Richmond, Calif.

Americans use about 25 million tons of plastic each year. However, only about 1 million tons of it is recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The remainder ends up in landfills. [continued]

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-06/acs-oc061305.php

 

[NERV]

I believe it because plastic,especially PE molecules can just be regarded as long-chained carbon atoms,while petrol molecules are some shorter ones.So with cracking technology we can get petrol from plastic easily.The profits are high,because the world's oil price keeps increasing and the plastic products are so cheap.