I recently heard that some scientists have found a way to turn plastics and other petrochemical products back into oil. If this is the case, does it mean that in the future Oil may be seen as a renewable source of energy ? What are your thoughts ?

Any links to news articles or other sources?


That would probably help you get the ball rolling on this subject.




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biodiesel is fine for me .. i just had a deal with the indian restaurant next door, he'll put some buckets aside for me (if of course i continue buyin some of his delicious pakoras ) Didn't know about grape seeds oil though , thanks for the link

People seem to be missing the point that the problem with excessive oil consumption is not that the oil will eventually run out. The environmental impact of burning so much oil should be our primary concern. Given that the exhaustion of our fossil fuel resources is imminent, we should be concentrating on finding clean, renewable sources of energy rather than ways of synthesising the oil which is destroying the ozone layer.

As for my opinion on this particular method, not nearly enough people recycle enough plastic to sustain oil production by such means for very long. If governments should choose to take up this ill advised scheme for producing oil, recycling will have to be made compulsory. And that seems highly unlikely.

I know there were plans in place, to start mixing old oil with some other products (unsure what exactly? chicken dung???) to create a usable oil for market.
The plant was built back in the 90's but never really got off the ground and running due to money issues and shadey deals. I do not know however, IF this process they planned was ever viable. The plant was built and operated for a while nontheless.
Green River Utah..... the very same place rumored to be houseing some of the area 51 'goodies'........hmmmmmm subversion maybe? ~MAYBE~ a genuine source of renewable oil? If so...WHY was it abandoned????

[edit on 9-4-2005 by theRiverGoddess]

Originally posted by siddharthsma
I recently heard that some scientists have found a way to turn plastics and other petrochemical products back into oil. If this is the case, does it mean that in the future Oil may be seen as a renewable source of energy ? What are your thoughts ?

Yes in due time this will eventually become our source of fuel mostly diesel i believe, but the quality is going to match Europes which supposely burns cleaner than natural gas... this also might prevent wars because countries will be able to produce reuse their own waste product.

I wish I still had the link, but back in 2003 Shell payed a large sum of money to a man who found a way to make oil out of garbage/the natural process by which oil is made, but at an amazingly fast rate.

It made him millions, but the whole process, etc, has vanished offline. I'll keep looking for anything on it, but I can no longer find it. It might be what you've heard about.