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Engineering Sketches

Plant diagrams, block flows & reactor cutaways

Hand-drawn sketches that show how recycling and renewable-energy plants actually fit together — plot plans, process flows, equipment cutaways, mass balance diagrams, and safety schematics.

53

Published sketches

2

Sectors covered

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General Recycling & Renewable Energy

General sketches

0

Compressed Biogas (CBG)

CBG sketches

0

Plastic Mechanical Recycling

Plastic (Mech) sketches

0

E-Waste Recycling

E-waste sketches

6

Plastic Chemical Recycling

Plastic (Chem) sketches

0

Rubber & Tyre Recycling

Tyre Recycling sketches

0

Tyre Pyrolysis

Tyre Pyrolysis sketches

0

Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling

Li-ion Battery sketches

0

Plastic Pyrolysis

Plastic Pyrolysis sketches

47

A 2 sketches

Two-column diagram with green check column on the left showing allowed plastics: PE polyethylene bag with 65-75 percent oil yield label, PP polypropylene cup with 60-70 percent oil yield label, PS polystyrene foam with 55-65 percent oil yield label; red cross column on the right showing restricted plastics: PVC polyvinyl chloride pipe with HCl hydrogen chloride warning, PET polyethylene terephthalate bottle with corrosive acid and low yield warning

Allowed vs Restricted Feedstock Plastics

Plastic Pyrolysis
Horizontal process flow diagram of an air pollution control system showing furnace flue gas at 350 degrees Celsius entering a cyclone separator, then a wet scrubber, then a bag filter, then an induced draft fan, then exiting through a 15-30 metre chimney stack with a sampling port, with temperature dropping labels showing 350 degrees at inlet and below 120 degrees at stack, and CPCB compliant annotation

APCS — Multi-Stage Flue Gas Cleaning

Plastic Pyrolysis

B 1 sketch

Side-by-side diagram of two identical trucks showing left truck loaded with loose uncompressed plastic waste visible above the truck sides in a large irregular pile, and right truck loaded with dense compressed rectangular plastic bales stacked neatly within the truck body, with capacity labels showing 2-3 tonnes for loose versus 7-10 tonnes for baled on the same chassis

Bale vs Loose Plastic Transport

Plastic Pyrolysis

C 5 sketches

Five-node circular flow diagram with waste plastic at the top connecting clockwise to a pyrolysis plant icon in the centre, then to fuel oil product, then to reduced emissions annotation, then to less virgin oil needed, and back to waste plastic at the top, with the pyrolysis plant shown as the central conversion hub and proportional arrows showing the relative flow at each stage

Circular Economy — Plastic Waste Back into Use

Plastic Pyrolysis
Side-view cross-section diagram of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger used as a pyrolysis condenser, showing hot mixed vapors entering from the left through the shell side, cooling water entering and exiting the tube side in counter-flow, liquid pyrolysis oil condensate draining from the bottom of the shell, and non-condensable gas exiting from the right top, with internal tube bundle shown in cross-section

Condenser — Vapor In, Oil Out

Plastic Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis reactor cross-section with four contaminant icons on the left side (sand, metal, PVC pipe, water droplet) each connected by arrows to specific damage zones inside the reactor: sand causing wall abrasion marks on inner wall surface, metal causing auger screw scoring damage, PVC causing HCl hydrogen chloride pitting corrosion marks on reactor lining, and moisture causing steam pressure spike annotation inside the reactor freeboard

Contaminants and What They Do to the Reactor

Plastic Pyrolysis
Split two-panel diagram showing left panel the control room interior with PLC cabinet, SCADA HMI monitor, alarm panel with indicator lights, and red ESD emergency stop button, and right panel the plant process equipment with instrument tags including TT01 temperature transmitter, PT02 and PT03 pressure transmitters, LT04 level transmitter, FT05 flow transmitter, and an ESD automatic shutdown valve on the vapor line

Control Room + Plant Instrumentation

Plastic Pyrolysis
Diagram of a distillation column with crude pyrolysis oil entering from the bottom left, heat applied at the base reboiler, three draw-off points at different heights labelled: light naphtha at the top draw, diesel-like middle distillate at the middle side draw, and heavy oil residue at the bottom, with condenser at the top refluxing the lightest fractions back into the column

Crude Oil to Fractions — Distillation Upgrading

Plastic Pyrolysis

E 3 sketches

Left-to-right process flow diagram of a three-stage emission control system showing furnace flue gas entering a cyclone separator on the left that removes coarse particles, then a wet scrubber in the centre removing acid gases and fine particles through water spray contact, then a bag filter on the right capturing fine PM2.5 and PM10 particles, then an induced draft fan, then a chimney stack at far right, with pollutant type labels at each stage removal point

Emission Control System

Plastic Pyrolysis
Horizontal chain of five nodes left to right with QR scan symbol above each node: waste collector node, plastic aggregator node, pyrolysis plant node, digital EPR certificate node, and PRO plastic recycling organisation node, with a dashed reverse arrow from PRO back to brand owner producer at the far right labelled EPR credit transferred

EPR Traceability Chain

Plastic Pyrolysis
Equilateral triangle diagram with E Environmental at the green top vertex, S Social at the amber bottom-left vertex, and G Governance at the blue bottom-right vertex, with a pyrolysis plant ellipse at the centre of the triangle, and radial arrows pointing outward from the centre to six benefit boxes: less landfill waste, reduced fossil oil use, informal sector jobs created, community health improvement from reduced open burning, EPR compliance for brand owners, and regulatory permit pathway

ESG Relevance of Plastic Pyrolysis

Plastic Pyrolysis

F 3 sketches

Four card comparison diagram showing four plastic polymer type cards labelled PE polyethylene, PP polypropylene, PS polystyrene, and PVC polyvinyl chloride, each with a stacked horizontal bar chart showing oil fraction in blue, gas fraction in orange, and char fraction in grey as percentages by weight from pyrolysis, with PVC card highlighted with a red warning symbol and HCl hydrogen chloride annotation indicating it generates corrosive acid gas during pyrolysis

Feedstock Fingerprint → Product Fingerprint

Plastic Pyrolysis
Four-panel comparison diagram of pyrolysis char discharge systems showing panel A manual door with worker icon and ash pile, panel B screw conveyor with enclosed rotating screw and discharge chute, panel C hydraulic push mechanism with piston pushing char out of the reactor bottom, panel D water-sealed system with submerged drop tube descending into a water trough for dust-free and oxygen-blocking discharge

Four Char Discharge Methods

Plastic Pyrolysis
Cross-section diagram of a refractory-lined pyrolysis furnace shell surrounding the reactor, with a burner nozzle on the left side showing three labelled fuel inlet lines in different colours: diesel startup line, LPG/PNG backup line, and syngas from the condensation process looping back, plus a chimney with damper on top, and temperature label showing 400-800 degrees Celsius in the furnace annular space

Furnace + Burner with Three Fuel Options

Plastic Pyrolysis

G 2 sketches

Concentric ring map diagram centred on a pyrolysis plant location showing an inner ring labelled 50 km radius for daily collection runs with higher density sourcing points, and an outer ring labelled 150 km radius for twice-weekly bulk truck collection, with sourcing point icons at various distances and a cost-per-tonne arrow showing cost increasing with distance

Geographic Sourcing Radius

Plastic Pyrolysis
Cross-section diagram of a plastic granulator showing the top-entry hopper, high-speed rotor with rotor knives, fixed bed knives on the chamber walls, a mesh screen at the bottom controlling output size, the motor unit, with labels for 10-30 mm granule output and 400-800 RPM rotor speed

Granulator — Rotor + Screen

Plastic Pyrolysis

H 5 sketches

The hazardous fractions of e-waste - CRT leaded glass, lithium/cadmium batteries, mercury lamps, and PCB/BFR-bearing capacitors - each with what it contains and how it must be safely removed before shredding.

Hazardous Fractions in E-Waste

E-waste
Two-panel comparison diagram showing left panel external heating design with a reactor vessel enclosed inside a larger refractory furnace shell, burner firing into the annular space between furnace and reactor, with no contact between flame and reactor contents; right panel shows internal heating design with an electrical heating element or combustion tube inside the reactor vessel, flame or element in direct contact with the plastic inside, with a red warning symbol indicating oxygen risk

Heating Mechanism — External vs Internal

Plastic Pyrolysis
Side-view diagram of a heavy-duty jaw crusher for thick rigid plastics showing reinforced hopper at top, fixed jaw on left, moving jaw on right with flywheel drive, 90-200 kW motor, with example feedstock items including HDPE drum, crate, and pipe section labelled at the feed point

Heavy-Duty Crusher

Plastic Pyrolysis
Diagram showing a conical storage hopper at top holding granulated pre-processed plastic, a rotary valve airlock below the hopper outlet that controls flow rate and prevents air ingress, a feed auger conveyor transporting granules horizontally into the reactor feed inlet on the left side of the reactor vessel, with labels for rotary valve sealing mechanism, controlled feed rate, and no-oxygen airlock function

Hopper → Rotary Valve → Reactor Feed

Plastic Pyrolysis
Comparison of pyrometallurgical (smelting at ~1000-1250C) versus hydrometallurgical (leaching and solvent extraction) routes for recovering copper, gold, silver and palladium from e-waste, with trade-offs in temperature, selectivity and emissions.

Hydrometallurgy vs Pyrometallurgy

E-waste

I 1 sketch

Cross-section of pyrolysis reactor showing N₂ nitrogen cylinder connected by dashed line to reactor freeboard, crossed-out fire triangle inside labelled no O₂ no combustion, rotary valve airlock at plastic feed inlet, flame arrestor on vapor outlet vent line, and O₂ oxygen sensor at reactor outlet

Inerting the Reactor — N₂ Purge System

Plastic Pyrolysis

M 6 sketches

Conveyor belt diagram showing mixed plastic with metal contaminants entering from the left, an overhead permanent magnet in the middle of the conveyor pulling iron and steel pieces upward onto a cross-belt conveyor for ferrous metal collection, then further along the belt an eddy-current separator with rotating magnets beneath the belt tail creating an electromagnetic field that repels aluminium cans and foil sideways into a non-ferrous chute, and clean plastic exiting to the right

Magnetic + Eddy-Current Metal Removal

Plastic Pyrolysis
E-waste metal separation: shredded feed passes an overband magnet that removes ferrous metals, then an eddy-current separator that ejects non-ferrous aluminium and copper, leaving residual plastics and boards.

Magnetic + Eddy-Current Metal Separation

E-waste
Two-panel side-by-side comparison diagram showing left panel manual sorting line with a conveyor belt and three workers standing alongside picking plastic items into coloured reject bins, labelled 1-2 TPH throughput; right panel automated sorting line with same conveyor width, a NIR near-infrared spectrometer scanner mounted overhead above the belt, air-jet actuators that kick detected rejects sideways into reject chutes, labelled 5-10 TPH throughput

Manual vs Automated Sorting Line

Plastic Pyrolysis
Manual versus automated e-waste sorting - a hand-picking belt compared with a sensor-based (NIR/XRF) line using air-jet ejectors, contrasting capex, throughput, accuracy and labour.

Manual vs Automated Sorting Line

E-waste
Sankey flow diagram starting from 100 kg incoming mixed plastic at the left, splitting into three pre-processing loss streams (5 kg sorting rejects, 3 kg washing sludge loss, 2 kg shredding dust) flowing downward, and 90 kg continuing right into the reactor block, which then splits into four output streams: 63 kg pyrolysis oil flowing right, 18 kg syngas flowing upper right, 7 kg carbon char flowing lower right, and 2 kg residue flowing down, with stream widths proportional to mass flows

Mass Balance — 100 kg In, What Comes Out

Plastic Pyrolysis
Process flow diagram of a three-stage condensation train for plastic pyrolysis showing vapor entering the primary condenser at approximately 500 degrees Celsius, cooling progressively through secondary and tertiary water-spray condensers, with cooling water loops labelled for each stage, heavy oil drain at the primary stage, middle distillate at the secondary, and light fractions at the tertiary, with non-condensable gas exiting to the furnace at approximately 30 degrees Celsius

Multi-Stage Condensation Train

Plastic Pyrolysis

N 1 sketch

Process flow diagram of a non-condensable gas handling system showing gas exiting the last condenser, entering a scrubber and filter, then a buffer gas holder with pressure relief valve and flame arrestors, splitting to a furnace burner as the primary fuel path and a flare stack as the secondary path for excess gas, with calorific value label of 15-30 MJ per cubic metre

NCG Handling Loop with Flare and Burner

Plastic Pyrolysis

O 3 sketches

Top-down bird's-eye view diagram of an oil storage tank yard for a plastic pyrolysis plant showing multiple cylindrical tanks inside a common bund wall, vent pipes with flame arrestor symbols on each tank top, level gauges on tank sides, a transfer pump in the bund, a pipe leading to a tanker loading bay outside the bund, and the bund labelled as sized to hold 110 percent of the largest tank

Oil Storage Tank Yard

Plastic Pyrolysis
Top-down plan view diagram of an oil storage yard fire safety layout showing three storage tanks inside a bund wall, a hydrant ring pipe running around the inside perimeter of the bund, fire extinguisher stations at all four corners, flame arrestor symbols on each tank vent, a no-smoking zone sign at the yard entrance, sand bucket stands at corner stations, and a tanker loading bay outside the bund connected by a pipe with isolation valve

Oil Storage Yard — Fire Safety Overlays

Plastic Pyrolysis
Left-to-right five-stage block flow diagram of a plastic pyrolysis plant showing stage 1 feedstock receiving and pre-processing block, stage 2 pyrolysis reactor and furnace block, stage 3 vapor condensation train block, stage 4 product handling for oil char and syngas block, and stage 5 emission control APCS and stack block, with arrows connecting all stages and product output lines pointing downward at stages 3 and 4

Overall Process Flow — 5 Stages

Plastic Pyrolysis

P 7 sketches

Block flow diagram of a plastic pyrolysis plant showing process blocks connected by arrows: feedstock, shredder, dryer, reactor, vapor line, condenser train, oil tank, furnace, non-condensable gas syngas loop, char bin, air pollution control system, and control panel

Plastic Pyrolysis Plant — Block Flow

Plastic Pyrolysis
Bird's-eye plot plan diagram of a plastic pyrolysis plant showing eight numbered zones including feedstock yard, pre-processing, reactor block, condensation section, oil storage tanks, gas handling and flare, char storage bays, and control room, with one-way truck loop and compass rose

Plastic Pyrolysis Plant — Plot Plan

Plastic Pyrolysis
Funnel diagram with four sourcing channels labelled at the wide top entering from left sides: municipal waste collectors, industrial plastic scrap dealers, EPR aggregator network, and direct long-term contracts, all converging through a central aggregation yard funnel into a single flow arrow pointing right into the plastic pyrolysis plant, with caption advising to mix sources for stable supply

Plastic Waste Sources to Plant

Plastic Pyrolysis
Seven-step linear process flow diagram of a plastic pre-processing line showing stage 1 incoming mixed plastic heap, stage 2 manual sorting conveyor with workers removing contaminants into reject bins, stage 3 magnetic separator overhead on conveyor, stage 4 twin-shaft shredder reducing to 50-150mm chunks, stage 5 washing tank, stage 6 rotary drum dryer, stage 7 granulator producing 10-30mm output, with a quality checkpoint at the end before the reactor feed

Pre-Processing Line

Plastic Pyrolysis
Donut chart diagram showing weight distribution of pyrolysis batch outputs with the largest segment labelled pyrolysis oil at approximately 60 percent, followed by char at approximately 20 percent, syngas at approximately 15 percent, and losses at approximately 5 percent, with caption noting most value leaves as liquid oil

Product Yield Distribution

Plastic Pyrolysis
Two horizontal Sankey bars shown side by side for comparison: left bar labelled clean PE/PP feedstock showing 100 kg input splitting into 70 kg oil in blue, 15 kg syngas in orange, 10 kg char in grey, and 5 kg losses in light grey, all proportional widths; right bar labelled PVC-contaminated feedstock showing 100 kg input splitting into 55 kg oil in smaller blue, 20 kg syngas in orange, 22 kg char in larger grey, and 3 kg HCl losses in red with warning triangle

Product Yield Distribution — Good Feed vs Bad Feed

Plastic Pyrolysis
Hero cross-section diagram of a cylindrical pyrolysis reactor vessel inside a refractory-lined furnace shell, showing the burner firing heat into the annular space between furnace and reactor, the feed auger on the left side of the reactor, vapor outlet pipe on top, sealed char discharge conveyor at the bottom, pressure instrument tag PI, and temperature labels showing 350-550 degrees Celsius operating range with no-oxygen condition inside

Pyrolysis Reactor with External Furnace

Plastic Pyrolysis

R 4 sketches

Cross-section diagram of the lower section of a pyrolysis reactor showing black char accumulation at the reactor bottom, a sealed horizontal screw conveyor attached to the reactor base outlet, the screw conveyor discharging into a char collection bin, with a temperature label showing below 150 degrees Celsius as the safe discharge threshold and a dust hood above the discharge point

Reactor Char Discharge

Plastic Pyrolysis
Energy balance diagram with reactor and furnace at centre, red dashed diesel startup line entering from left labelled 1-2 hours, green dashed syngas loop returning from condenser to furnace for steady state, and output arrows pointing right to oil vapors, char, and reactor wall heat losses

Reactor Energy Balance — From Diesel to Self-Sustaining

Plastic Pyrolysis
Cross-section of pyrolysis reactor with safety devices annotated: PRV pressure relief valve with bow-tie symbol top-left venting to flare, ESD emergency stop button top-centre, rupture disk top-right as final protection, feed isolation valve at left inlet closed on ESD, discharge isolation valve at right outlet, and three-layer summary bar at bottom labelled Layer 1 alarm, Layer 2 PRV, Layer 3 rupture disk

Reactor Safety Devices — Three Layers

Plastic Pyrolysis
Side-view diagram of a long inclined rotary drum dryer with wet plastic entering the elevated feed end, internal tumbling lifters visible through the transparent drum wall, a hot air burner at the feed end, a steam vent at the top of the drum, and dry plastic exiting the lower discharge end, with labels for 0.5-3 RPM rotation speed, 80-180 degree Celsius operating temperature, and less than 1 percent moisture output

Rotary Drum Dryer

Plastic Pyrolysis

S 2 sketches

Three reactor comparison panels: slow pyrolysis with wide reactor and gentle flame at 10-20°C/min over 30-60 minutes for high oil yield; fast pyrolysis with narrow reactor and intense flame at 200-1000°C/min for 1-5 seconds for high gas yield; catalytic pyrolysis with reactor plus catalyst bed inside for cleaner oil at lower temperature

Slow vs Fast vs Catalytic Pyrolysis

Plastic Pyrolysis
Diagram of a plastic pyrolysis plant syngas fuel loop showing the reactor on the left with a furnace below it, condenser train on the right, non-condensable gas line looping back from the condenser exit underneath to the furnace burner, a diesel startup tank shown with a small connection to the burner labelled diesel only for startup, and the main loop labelled syngas takes over with a clock icon showing 1-2 hours startup time

Syngas Internal Fuel Loop

Plastic Pyrolysis

T 6 sketches

Three-panel comparison diagram of pyrolysis oil storage tank types inside a common bund wall showing left panel fixed-roof mild steel tank with vent and flame arrestor, centre panel floating-roof tank with adjustable roof seal, right panel double-walled tank with interstitial space for leak detection, all inside a shared bund wall labelled at 110% containment capacity, with labels for level gauge, manhole, and drain valve on each tank

Three Oil Tank Types in a Bund

Plastic Pyrolysis
Three-panel comparison diagram with left panel showing mechanical recycling process of melting plastic in a pelletiser and moulding into new pellets, centre panel showing pyrolysis in a sealed closed pot with no oxygen and heat input producing oil vapors and char, and right panel showing incineration with open flame combustion producing flue gas and ash, with process condition labels for each: melt-and-mould, closed pot no air, and open flame

Three Paths for Plastic Waste

Plastic Pyrolysis
Diagram of a sealed pyrolysis reactor vessel with three labelled output streams: top arrow showing vapors leading to pyrolysis oil liquid product, side arrow showing non-condensable syngas gas output, and bottom arrow showing carbon char solid output, with the reactor showing no oxygen condition and heat input, illustrating that most value leaves as liquid oil

Three Pyrolysis Output Streams

Plastic Pyrolysis
Three-panel side-by-side comparison diagram showing three pyrolysis reactor designs: left panel showing a batch reactor with loading door, centre panel showing a continuous rotary kiln reactor with rotation arrows and tilted drum, right panel showing a fluidized bed reactor with sand bed, distributor plate, and hot gas inlet

Three Reactor Types Side by Side

Plastic Pyrolysis
Side-view cross-section diagram of a twin-shaft shredder showing the hopper at top, counter-rotating shafts with interlocking blades, fixed bed knives, motor and gearbox unit, discharge chute at bottom, with labels for 50-150 mm chunk output size and 1-5 TPH throughput

Twin-Shaft Shredder

Plastic Pyrolysis
Comparison diagram showing collected e-waste splitting into two e-waste recycling routes, dismantling-only that sells segregated fractions to refiners versus integrated dismantling plus refining that recovers gold and palladium in-house, with a trade-off strip showing capex, margin and payback all rising for the integrated route.

Two Processing Routes: Dismantling vs Integrated Refining

E-waste

V 1 sketch

Process flow diagram showing pyrolysis vapor path from reactor outlet through insulated transfer pipe to primary condenser at 200°C, secondary at 100°C, and tertiary at 30°C, with oil draining at each stage and non-condensable gas exiting at the end, warning callout showing tar clog risk if vapor cools early in the transfer line

Vapor Path: Reactor → Condenser → Oil Tank

Plastic Pyrolysis

W 1 sketch

Diagram of a printed circuit board showing where each recoverable metal sits - gold on edge connectors, copper in traces, palladium and silver in capacitors, tin/lead in solder - with an indicative gold grade far higher than natural ore.

What's Inside a Circuit Board

E-waste

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