Online social media users are speculating that Brown, the inventor of a machine that turns plastic into fuel, has gone missing.
What if we could turn plastic into fuel? It sounds like a pipe dream, yet a young innovator, Julian Brown, has developed a way to do just that. His microwave pyrolysis technology, which breaks down plastic and converts it into diesel fuel, has earned the founder almost two million followers on social media, and a six figure investment from Alexis Ohanian’s 776 foundation.
This week, Brown, 21, is going viral again—but not for a new invention or funding round. Rather, social media users, and various online outlets have spent the last few days speculating that Brown has gone missing.
The young climate activist has garnered over 1.8 million followers on Instagram. He posts updates to his reactors and other inventions, including his all-natural sunscreen and bug repellent. In one video, he demonstrates how the reactor works and uses the resulting fuel in a jar to start a truck.
But then on June 14, he asked his audience to pray for him after noticing a helicopter circling him several times while he was in Alabama, and on June 26 he captioned another video, “I KNOW I’M NOT GOING TO LIVE LONG.” He hasn’t posted anything since a video on July 9 stating he was “under attack,” leading his followers to express concern. On July 31, he came back online, and went live on instagram, but continued to talk about potentially disappearing again.
Brown’s pyrolysis research journey began when a hand injury in his senior year of high school kept him from his normal activities. He told a Forbes contributor that he was motivated to solve the plastic waste issue because of the lack of existing solutions.
“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,” Brown says.
Pyrolysis has traditionally involved burning plastics with a flame, but Brown, who is the founder of Atlanta-based Naturejab, hypothesized that microwaves could heat the plastic more efficiently, and began building reactors to test that theory, producing the Microwave Pyrolysis Reactor Mark I.
In June 2024 Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian granted Brown $100,000 through his 776 Foundation, which supports 18-24 year olds working on climate change solutions. Brown is one of 20 Climate Fellows who were accepted to the 2-year long program last year.