Julian Brown: The young inventor who turns plastic into fuel

“Plastic production has sharply increased over the last 70 years. In 1950, the world produced just two million tonnes,” according to the website Our World in Data. That figure grew to over 450 million tonnes by 2020. Much of that plastic ends up in landfills, oceans, and other environments. 

To help ensure that such materials never become waste, a young innovator based in Georgia is converting plastic to fuel.

Julian Brown, who is the founder of Naturejab, told WTVM that he uses a process called microwave pyrolysis, powered by solar panels, to convert plastic into fuel. The vaporized petroleum is condensed back into liquid crude oil, which can subsequently be refined into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel alternatives, he explained. He calls his fuel made from plastic waste “Plastoline”.

Brown started doing research about the idea while in high school. “What motivated me was seeing the large plastic issue at hand throughout the world and not seeing any obvious solutions that were effective enough to make a difference,” he told Forbes.

He said that while in high school, he watched a video of a turtle that had a straw in its nose. “It made me so upset that even though we are told that we are recycling, plastic is clearly ending up in the oceans and landfills where it is affecting so many lives, including our own.”

At 17, he built his first plastic-to-fuel reactor. “I was learning welding between junior and senior year, and was also doing research on ways I could recycle plastic at home. After finding out that plastic is made of crude oil, and can be turned back into fuel with a reactor, I decided to build a reactor, putting my welding experience to use,” he told Canvas Rebel.

“I self taught myself everything about this technology and the process, utilizing the age of the internet and information to my advantage. Turning plastic to fuel with reactors has been done before, however I have been working to innovate utilizing microwaves to turn plastic into fuel.”

Five years after building the reactor, Brown is now on his fifth prototype. He said that he has run vehicles on his plastic fuel, adding that some scientists and researchers who have tested his fuel say his diesel released cleaner emissions than traditional diesel.

“I thought it was surprisingly well distilled,” one scientist said. “It blew my mind that plastic can be redistilled into diesel.”

Brown recently received a $100,000 grant from Alexis Ohanian, cofounder of Reddit and husband of Serena Williams. However, he looks to acquire larger funding from other sources, including a government agency, to upgrade his work. 

“What I do is very expensive,” he said to WTVM. “A single part can cost tens of thousands of dollars, so grants have helped me get what I need to do it safely and optimally.”

Brown’s work has been questioned by people who have doubts about his process, and despite his recent claim of being “under an attack”, with helicopters often seen hovering close to his property, the young innovator has no plans of giving up.

“I see it now as, let’s get it in the world and implemented,” Brown said. “That’s the whole point of why I started this.”

His next plan is to test his fuel at a Nissan dealership in Duluth, hoping to gas up a Dodge Scat Pack, he said.