New Research Shows Styrofoam is Fuel

Polystyrene is marvelously useful stuff. Lightweight packing materials have certainly saved billions of gallons of fuel since they were first introduced, so I'm not 100% against them. Of course, they are never re-used or recycled, so they end up being buried, and will never degrade, which kinda sucks.

But a new study from Iowa State University shows that polystyrene can simply be dissolved in bio-diesel "like a snowflake in water." Mixes of between 2% and 20% polystyrene by weight show that the optimal concentration of polystyrene is 5%. Anything above that, and the polystyrene doesn't increase power output as much and the fuel becomes more and more viscous.

Not surprisingly, polystyrene does increase non-CO2 emissions like soot and NOx gasses. Plus, gathering polystyrene and shipping it to biodiesel refineries would be a costly process as polystyrene is, by design, very bulky. And if we're collecting it, we might as well find other ways to re-use it, instead of burning it.

Via New Scientist

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Atmospheric carcinogens!
written by Matt, May 05, 2009

If I'm not mistaken, polystyrene is carcinogenic (and I believe bioaccumulative as well). Burning it and releasing it into the air I breathe is not something I'd ever support, no matter the cost of petroleum or ethanol.

When safely isolated, polystyrene makes great building insulation, though.

An solution for a dying market...
written by Kesley Dempsey, May 05, 2009

While I don´t see any problem with extending the lifespan of Biofuel, the additive of a petroleum-produced product bothers me, especially when essentially what we would be doing is running cars on Napalm (mix plastic + gasoline) and then burning it for our means of transport. I think there has to be a better way of using the accumulating stockpiles of reserve oil that are now building worldwide.

...
written by KenZ, May 05, 2009

I'm with Matt. Styrene, being based on an aromatic ring structure, has completely different sets of particulates, off-gases, and properties when burned than aliphatic / linear carbon chains. One needs to do some good chem analysis on EVERYTHING given off from this. I'm a polymer chemist, and without testing this rigorously, my gut would say stay the heck away from this until further studies are done.

careful
written by Ismael, May 06, 2009

Polystyrene is non toxic. But when you dissolve a lot of it in gasoline, you create napalm, like Kesley said in his comment. Not only that, styrene molecules could detach from the polymers, and those fumes are not friendly (styrene is toxic).

New Research Shows
written by Glenn, May 06, 2009

I agree strongly with the other commenters. Pitty the pioneers who start dissolving polystyrene in their fuel tanks for vehicles and heating systems. It will certainly enhance business in engine and burner maintenance!

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written by Solar Energy, June 02, 2009

Quite -- if we're going to re-use it, why not actually re-use it, not burn it. It would be fairly easy to have polystyrene collected and chopped up into pellets (cheap and easy) for re-use.

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written by Fred, July 22, 2009

styrfoam is a pain when it comes to being green, interesting to see a new way to put it to use

styrofoam as fuel?
written by usedcardboardboxes.com, June 28, 2010

This article struck my interest because there is a school of thought that believes that burning of styrofoam is hazardous. Would be interested to know more about this along with more references on studies.

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