Revive Energy
Revolutionizing Recycling
What is Pyrolysis?
Did you know that plastic is almost entirely comprised of oil? The process of pyrolysis simply converts the plastic back into its original state af oil and gas without burning. Revive Energy has its own proprietary pyrolysis technology developed by our engineer and co-founder Ron Drake. Using this technology Revive Energy is able to divert any plastic that comes to us away from landfills, oceans, rivers, lakes, and streams and safely convert it into fuels. Pyrolysis superheats mixed plastic waste in a zero-oxygen chamber gasifying back to its original state. Revive Energy uses state of the art scrubbing and purification processes to eliminate any pollution from the process.
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Revive Energy then takes that fuels and partners with an Electric Company to produce safe, reliable electricity to power cities. Because nothing that comes to Revive Energy's site leaves the site customers can rest easy knowing that their plastic waste will never find its way into the environment. Having a partner in the power sector right next door allows us to observe that the fuel is being used in a carbon friendly manner and not being sold off to the highest bidder.
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What are the products of pyryolsis?
Pyrolysis produces 3 primary products:
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Synthetic Gas
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Liquid Fuel
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Carbon Black
Carbon Black
Carbon Black is the smallest ,by volume, byproduct that comes out of the pyrolysis process. Carbon Black is made up of materials left on plastic that cannot gassify in the process. These products include food, metals, and plain old dirt.
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Carbon Black is a highly sought after substance in the manufacturing world often used as a stabilizing agent in rubber. In fact, nearly 36% of a car tire is made of carbon black.
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The Kenya Seedball Project takes small balls of carbon and mixes them with soil and a few small seeds. These "seedballs" have assisted in reforestation and planting crops. The carbon stabilizes the soil and protects the seed from animals allowing rapid regrowth of many areas in Kenya. Revive Energy is seeking the same use for our Carbon Black.
Synthetic Gas
In a standard Revive Energy Plant, about 30% of the feed mass reports out of the reactor as non-condensable syngas exhibiting the following approximate composition expressed as volume percent:
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38% Methane
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25% Hydrogen
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18% Mixed Ethane, Propane, and Butane/Isobutane
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9% Carbon Monoxide
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5% Carbon Dioxide
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5% Nitrogen
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In nearly all other pyrolysis plants, the synthetic gas is syphoned off the top of the process and burned in open flame to continue to heat the plastic for the remainder of the process. Due to the toxic nature of the elements within the gas, this often creates safety and health hazards.
Revive Energy co-founder and chemical engineer, Ron Drake, has developed proprietary scrubbing systems to clean the gas before sending it to a power company to produce electricity.
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Liquid Fuels
When Revive Energy first began, we were working on a business model that would have allowed us to put the oil generated from the process back in the ground. Upon speaking to folks in the environmental world we reached the conclusion that this currently a bad choice for the planet while new fuel is being extracted.
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1) The world is still incredibly dependent on fossil fuels. These fossil fuels all need to be extracted from the earth and transported thousands of miles to their destination.
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2) It is estimated that as much as 40% of the carbon footprint for a barrel of oil comes from the extraction and refining process of that oil.
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3) Much of the environmental damage that comes from fossil fuels comes from their transportation and extractions i.e. pipeline leaks, tanker spills, offshore drilling, etc.
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4) The environmental damage to obtain the oil to create plastic has already been done. The next most damaging part of plastic comes from it finding its way to our water, air, and food.
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5) Using the fuel from pyrolysis to supplement the current market means less offshore drilling, less pipelines, and less oil spills. In the near future we would like to get to a place where we can put the oil back into the ground. However, due our current dependence on fossil fuels currently it would be less environmentally friendly to do so.
