Students in Temperley transform plastic waste into fuel

Students and teachers at the Escuela de Educación Secundaria Técnica N° 5 in Temperley, Argentina, have developed a project called ‘PP Argento’ to transform plastic waste into usable fuel through thermal pyrolysis.

Using a laboratory-scale reactor constructed in the school's workshops, the team processes polyolefins—including HDPE, LDPE, and PP—at temperatures between 450 and 500 °C in the absence of oxygen. The project utilizes industrial waste, including donations from IVESS, to create liquid and gaseous products.

During testing, the team successfully used a liquid derivative from the process to power a 150cc motorcycle, which ran stably. The initiative follows a previous successful project focused on electronic waste and aims to combine scientific training in chemistry and electromechanics with practical solutions for environmental challenges.