Plastics in Renewable Energy
Plastics and the plastics industry are making some large and valuable contributions to the renewable energy drive, and not just as a building material for energy products.
Alongside its use in forming the blades of wind turbines or creating solar panels for energy converters, the high energy content of the plastic material itself can be converted into electricity, fuels and other sources of power.
This blog will explore the different roles that plastics can have in generating renewable energy.
The Different Ways Plastic is Used in Renewable Energy
There are a large variety of renewable energy sources used every day to power our homes, businesses and vehicles and many of these are made from plastic.
Wind turbines are powered by using wind to turn their giant blades which are in fact, made of a light-weight plastic. This material is beneficial due to its durable and aerodynamic qualities that allow the blades to spin faster and consequently generate more electricity.
Another converter of renewable power is the common and growing use of solar panels. Converting light energy into electricity, these panels have a protective plastic layer as well as using plastic components to connect some of their parts.
Using organic polymers to produce these products provides a lightweight and cheap solution, encouraging more purchases from consumers, at an affordable price. Solar panels are made primarily from silicone and other small plastic parts. This allows the model to last for a long period whilst being cost-effective to run and manufacture.
Energy recovery is a new and emerging method to generate renewable energy. Most popular in Europe, this method uses plastic waste that can no longer be recycled to produce electricity. It is simply done by burning the material to evaporate any water into steam and drive the turbine of a generator.
Not only is this beneficial in sourcing renewable power but using plastic waste for this purpose can reduce the volume of a landfill site by up to 90%. Furthermore, for every tonne of plastic burned within the energy recovery process, one tonne of carbon dioxide is reduced from the atmosphere, contributing to climate change improvements.
How Can Plastics Be Converted into Renewable Energy?
A process called ‘cold plasma pyrolysis’ makes it possible to turn plastic waste into clean, useful energy. To be precise, this process converts plastic waste into gases like hydrogen and methane which can be used as fuels.
Both gases release very minimal amounts of harmful substances into the atmosphere, so this is a relatively environmentally friendly method.
Cold plasma pyrolysis heats plastic to extreme temperatures of between 500 and 600°C and combines this with cold plasma. Combining these two elements together means that the process requires much less energy to complete. The cold plasma breaks chemical bonds in the plastics by generating hot electrons.
We hope this guide provided many alternatives to discarding plastic waste and instead contribute to the production of renewable energy.
For information on the environmentally-conscious unique plastic solutions that Rayda can offer, please do contact us.