it all started with a hand injury…
After having my tendon severed from a knife accident in the 12th grade, I found myself lost after surgery. Stuck in splints and braces, my right hand was dysfunctional for months, and for the first time in my life, I couldn’t use my hands to build. I channeled my pain into the few things I was passionate about and could still barely do:GardeningMaking JewelryInnovationAnd my Love for Earth
I knew that earth was calling me to find a solution to the pandemic problem of plastic pollution, but it took me losing my comfortability to open my eyes to a new perspective, pyrolysis. I began intense research, roaming every corner of the internet for everything I could find on pyrolysis. My Sherlock Holmes skills served me well. I found an insturctables guide on how to make a pyrolysis reactor at home: “DIY Plastic to Oil”. Seeing that showed me that I myself can not only speak of an innovative change, but BE and DO the innovative change. So I got to working, and constructed my first ever Pyrolysis Reactor.
It was only after the construction of my first crude Pyrolysis Reactor when I began to innovate. I noticed the vast inefficiencies of traditional pyrolysis, heating through an indirect flame. I brainstormed electric ways of heating and eventually came to the conclusion that microwaves would be the best.
Microwave Pyrolysis Reactor Mark I
My first born baby! Simple and elegant in it’s design, the primary focus of this reactor was for me to prove to myself that Microwave Pyrolysis was indeed possible. At the moment, I could hardly find any research papers or videos on Microwave Pyrolysis outside of a small lab setting. So this design, was based on what I felt would work best, but there was no knowing without doing!
Microwave Pyrolysis Reactor Mark II
Mark II… what a beauty. To this day, I still love the futuristic and round look of Mark II the most. At this point, I knew Microwave Pyrolysis was possible the way I was doing it, and it was a matter of improving the leaking issues I had with Mark I. I went for a round design because I knew that at a larger scale, cylindrical shapes are used for most applications.
Microwave Pyrolysis Reactor Mark iii
Mark III was the shortest lived reactor of mine. Due to catastrophic design failures, the reactor failed early in it’s operation. However, the design and the ideas behind the Mark III reactor live on to this day.
This reactor was the first to incorporate a horizontal design, a shaftless auger, & multiple magnetrons.
These were critical design points that paved the way for all future reactors.
Microwave Pyrolysis Reactor Mark IV
The Mark IV reactor represented the pinnacle of home-built Microwave Pyrolysis reactors. Taking all the best parts from all previous designs, this reactor was the most functional, efficient, and effective reactor I built. The goal of this reactor was to prove the process of Microwave Pyrolysis is both efficient, and scalable.
