That's why plastic bags are so cheap -- ethanol is a byproduct, but you earn mor... | Hacker News

Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit

		deepsun 22 days ago \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: How an oil refinery works That's why plastic bags are so cheap -- ethanol is a byproduct, but you earn more if you discard it and sell only oil. But the burned up ethanol would be perfectly suitable for products. Nowadays there are some regulations to prevent that, so they may sell up ethanol at negative prices sometimes. UPDATE: Ethene, not ethanol.

nayuki 22 days ago [–]

You wrote ethanol (C₂H₆O), but do you mean ethylene/ethene (C₂H₄)? Polyethylene (PE) is a very common plastic, such as HDPE, LDPE, PET.

deepsun 22 days ago | [–]

You're right, sorry, I thought of ethene.

Like here is a good review https://youtu.be/325HdQe4WM4

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact