Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2021 - 52

Propulsion
Technology Converts Waste Plastics to Jet Fuel
The reaction converts 90% of plastic to jet fuel and other valuable hydrocarbon products
within an hour at moderate temperatures.
Washington State University, Pullman
esearchers have developed an innovative
way to convert plastics to ingredients
for jet fuel and other valuable products,
making it easier and more cost effective
to reuse plastics. The researchers converted
90% of plastic to jet fuel and other
valuable hydrocarbon products within an
hour at moderate temperatures and easily
fine-tuned the process to create the products
that they want.
Plastics recycling has been problematic.
The most common mechanical recycling
methods melt the plastic and remold
it but that lowers its economic
value and quality for use in other products.
Chemical recycling can produce
higher-quality products but it has re -
quired high reaction temperatures and a
long processing time, making it too
expensive and cumbersome for industries
to adopt. Because of its limitations,
only about 9% of plastic in the U.S. is
recycled every year.
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The researchers developed a catalytic
process to efficiently convert polyethylene
to jet fuel and high-value lubricants.
Polyethylene, also known as #1 plastic, is
commonly used in a huge variety of products
from plastics bags, plastic milk jugs,
and shampoo bottles to corrosion-resistant
piping, wood-plastic composite lumber,
and plastic furniture.
The waste plastic can be converted to jet fuel and other valuable hydrocarbon products.
For the process, the team used a ruthen -
ium on carbon catalyst and a commonly
used solvent. They were able to convert
about 90% of the plastic to jet fuel components
or other hydrocarbon products within
an hour at a temperature of 220 °C (428
°F), which is more efficient and lower than
temperatures that typically would be used.
Adjusting processing conditions - such as
the temperature, time, or amount of catalyst
used - provided the critically important
step of being able to fine-tune the
process to create desirable products.
The process could work effectively with
other types of plastics.
For more information, contact Associate
Professor Hongfei Lin at hongfei.lin@
wsu.edu; 509-335-1341.
Origami Solves Challenge of Storing and Moving Rocket Fuel
A folded plastic bladder could store and pump the fuel.
Washington State University, Pullman
esearchers have used the ancient Jap -
anese art of paper folding to possibly
solve a key challenge for outer space travel:
how to store and move fuel to rocket
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engines. They developed an origamiinspired,
folded plastic fuel bladder that
doesn't crack at super-cold temperatures
and could someday be used to store and
pump fuel.
The challenge of fuels management
has been an important limiting factor in
52
Cov
space travel, largely restricting space travel
to either shorter trips for large amounts of
cargo or to small satellites for long-duration
missions. In the 1960s and 1970s,
U.S. researchers tried to develop round
balloons to store and pump liquid hydrogen
fuel; however, the bladders would
shatter or leak as they tried to squeeze it at
the required very cold temperatures for
the liquid fuels. The heartiest designs only
lasted five cycles. Current systems use
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ToC
metal plates and the principle of surface
tension to manage liquid fuels but the systems
are slow and can only dribble out
fuels in small quantities, so the size of fuel
tanks and missions are limited.
In an origami-based bellows, the folds
spread out stresses on the material, making
it less likely to tear. Using a thin, Mylar
plastic sheet, the team used the design to
develop a fuel bladder. Once folded, the
bladder was tested in liquid nitrogen at
Tech Briefs, September 2021
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Tech Briefs Magazine - September 2021

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