Design Blueprint: A Plasma Pyrolysis Recycler for Orbital Recovery of Hydrocarbons from Polymer Waste: Plasma Enthalpy, Yield and Energy Budgets

Design blueprint derived from the source paper (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.24185137): This paper presents a computed design study, SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED, for hydrogen-rich gas, carbon black and a condensable hydrocarbon fraction in orbit, using mixed polyethylene and packaging waste from station operations. The operating principle is distinct from neighbouring production methods: a direct-current plasma torch raises shredded polymer waste to about 3000 kelvin in an oxygen-free reactor, breaking long chains into a hydrogen-rich gas and solid carbon rather than burning them. Nothing is incinerated, so the carbon is recovered as a solid that can feed other processes. The decisive numbers are the plasma enthalpy per kilogram of feed, the product yields and whether the recovered gas can repay a useful fraction of the electrical input. Sizing follows from budgets computed in the accompanying script rather than from analogy with terrestrial equipment. The headline figures are a specific energy of 14.3 megajoules per kilogram of product, an installed electrical power of 12 kilowatts, a production rate of 3.03 kilograms per hour, and an annual throughput of 2.4e+04 kilograms over 330 operating days. Rejecting 6.6 kilowatts of waste heat at 370 kelvin requires 7.06 square metres of radiator, a photovoltaic supply requires 29.4 square metres of array, and the installed mass is 1.07e+03 kilograms. Moving feedstock from a 400 kilometre to an 800 kilometre orbit costs 217 metres per second of velocity change. The study is a computed study with no targeting or weapon application; it concerns civilian production equipment only, and none of its figures is a measurement. Status: DESIGN BLUEPRINT — SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED — NOT BUILT. All numbers are simulated values from the source paper's computation, deposited with this blueprint as compute.py and results.json. AI-use disclosure: Dave, an AI research system, assisted with the computation and drafting under the author's direction; author of record William Alexander Aldred.