Last year Penn State recycled 89 tons of cans and prevented them from going to the landll.
(a) Diesel fuel has an average chemical formula of C12H23 and a density of 6.45 lb/gal. Calculate how many lbs of CO2 are produced per gallon of diesel burned (assume complete combustion). (molecular weights: C = 12 g/mole, H = 1 g/mole, O = 16 g/mole).
(b) The landll is 70 miles away while the recycling center is 7 miles away. Assume that a 10 ton diesel garbage truck gets 2.8 mpg when full and 4 mpg when empty. How many lbs of CO2 are saved in transportation alone by recycling the cans? Assume the recycling truck and the garbage truck get the same mpg and that both trucks return empty. (Answer = 6945 lbs CO2).
(c) The production of aluminum (for cans) requires 13 kWh/kg of aluminum while producing aluminum from recycled cans requires 0.65 kWhr/kg. How many lbs of CO2 are saved per year in manufacturing from PSU recycling? Assume that 80% of the energy comes from coal (2.1 lb CO2/kWhr) and 20% from natural gas (1.3 lb CO2/kWhr). (1 metric ton = 1000 kg)