Merced resident says his invention can generate electricity by using plastic as fuel
With soaring gas prices, imagine driving a car that uses plastic as fuel. Or powering your home with a similar generator.
Merced inventor Daniel Caris says that could one day become possible with the creation of his Carismatic Generator. Caris, 76, and his company Caris Incorporated recently showed off the Phase One Prototype of the Carismatic Generator in Merced for a special audience.
“The Carismatic Generator right now will take waste plastic — with no other fuel — and generate electricity,” Caris explained. “That is the core of this business and what we’re trying to do is get rid of waste plastic.”
“The biggest reason this invention was developed was to get rid of the literally billions of tons of waste plastic that’s throughout the world,” he added.
Caris’ invention has already been issued a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He says creating a generator that uses plastic as fuel has been attempted for many years, but it has typically ended with adding another fuel to burn the plastic — which Caris says has made those attempts nonviable because of the cost.
Caris says his invention is the first energy-producing unit to successfully use plastic as fuel without added fossil fuels. Plus the Carismatic Generator can use most plastic products as fuel, with near zero emissions, he says.
“We have so much waste plastic in our landfills, everywhere,” Caris said. “You see it driving down the road and it’s getting to the point where it’s ending up in the ocean.”
Caris says his generator can take that waste plastic and turn it into electricity. “There are so many things we can’t do anything about,” said Debbis Caris, Daniel’s wife, who has supported him and assisted him along the way.
“The more we watch the TV and listen to our world the more concerned we get about the things we can’t do anything about. This is something we can do something about.”
How does it work?
Simply put, the Carismatic Generator extracts heat via a small reactor by using molecular waste plastic for fuel.
Waste plastic is ground up into a fine powder that can be fed into the generator. That plastic is heated up over 2,000 degrees, creating a thermal energy reaction. The extracted heat then mechanically activates a steam turbine which powers the generator producing electricity.
Caris says he started coming up for the concept of the Carismatic Generator about 10 years ago. It has been a passion project for the past five years.
Caris has spent 40 years working as a manufacturing engineer and has decades of experience in production management, product development and mechanical training. “Now that we have our patent we don’t anticipate any issue getting funding,” said Debbie Caris.
What’s next?
As Caris Incorporated secures funding, the plan is adjust the size of the Carismatic Generator to fit different needs. Caris says the generator can eventually be used to power electric cars — or on a bigger scale power homes or communities.
“We’re going to downsize this thing to be able to be utilized as a generator for a house, to be able to supply electricity for anybody’s home or small business,” Daniel Caris said. “We’ll up-size it to become a regional power plant to displace other power plants, which will use up more of the plastic. We can downsize it so we can put it into an electric car.”
Caris feels his invention will provide lower cost and environmentally-friendly electricity in homes, commercial buildings, and most anywhere electric energy is needed.
“Almost everything that is made now is in one shape or form made out of plastic,” Caris said. “It’s an amazing product, but nobody thought ‘what are we going to do with something that will last 1,000 years.? What are we going to do when we don’t want to use it any more?’”
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
