Limitations
The process only breaks long molecular chains into shorter ones, so small molecules such as carbon dioxide or methane cannot be converted to oil through this process. However, the methane in the feedstock is recovered and burned to heat the water that is an essential part of the process. In addition, the gas can be burned in a combined heat and power plant, consisting of a gas turbine which drives a generator to create electricity, and a heat exchanger to heat the process input water from the exhaust gas. The electricity can be sold to the power grid, for example under a Feed-in Tariff scheme. This also increases the overall efficiency of the process (already said to be over 85% of feedstock energy content).
Another option is to sell the methane product as biogas. For example, biogas can be compressed, much like natural gas, and used to power motor vehicles.
Many agricultural and animal wastes could be processed, but many of these are already used as fertilizer, animal feed, and, in some cases, as feedstocks for paper mills or as boiler fuel. Energy crops constitute another potentially large feedstock for thermal depolymerization.
Read more about this topic: Thermal Depolymerization
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