Diesel & Gasoline
In IIP Dehradun, one of the constituent research institute under the umbrella of, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), conducts research on hydrocarbons, use of alternative fuels in engines and related technologies.
The journey from plastic to petrol (gasoline) started in 2006 when a small group of scientists at the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun, started to work on a project to make something useful from hazardous waste. By the end of the year 2014, a unique process of converting plastic wastes like polyethylene and polypropylene (both together accounting for 60% of plastic waste) into either gasoline or diesel has been developed. The technology is capable of converting 1 kg of plastic to 750 ml of automotive-grade gasoline. Due to the nearly zero presence of Sulphur in the produced fuel, IIP’s plastic converted to fuel is pure and meets the Euro-III standards.
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| Fig - Plastic to Gasoline or Diesel fuel |
Methane, Propane & Oil
Far from Dehradun, in Maharashtra’s Pune, Medha
Tadpatrikar has also achieved significant success in converting plastic waste
to fuel, that too without the aid of a fancy laboratory or a scientific
background. Medha’s tryst with plastic began in 2009 when she and her friend
Shirish Phadtare was appalled at the amount of plastic garbage casually thrown
around and often wondered if anything could be done to put plastic waste to
use. This resulted in extensive research by the two women who deducted that
usable fuel could be obtained from plastics, using the mechanism of
thermos-catalytic depolymerization. Subsequently, Rudra Environmental Solutions
was founded and in 2010, the first plastic to fuel conversion machine was set
up in Pune.
The collected plastic waste is shredded and
dumped into a reactor. Post that, a catalyst is added and the plastic is heated
at a temperature of 150 degrees. The gases emitted such as methane and propane
as stored in a separate gas tank to be used as a heating source for the machine
to function. The oil obtained is filtered, stored, and readied for dispatch.
With such a small setup, Rudra has revolutionized how plastic can be
successfully converted to fuel. A tonne of plastic can approximately produce
600 to 650 liters of fuel, 20 to 25 % synthetic gases, and 5 to 10 % of residual char, which can be used for road filler with bitumen. The
organization today collects plastic waste from nearly 15,000 households from
Pune, as well as encourages people from all over India to send plastic waste
via courier for conversion to fuel.
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| Fig - Plastic to Methane & Propane gas |
Among states, Goa has been instrumental in
converting plastic waste into fuel. Two plants in Goa’s Bicholim and Sonsoddo
have been set up under the public-private partnership (PPP) model with
Bangalore-based M K Aromatics Ltd. Goa which generates nearly 66 metric tonnes
of plastic waste every day, has ample plastic waste to be converted to fuel.
The two plants, functional since 2016, have been instrumental in converting
plastic waste to fuel. In Hyderabad, the waste to energy company Ventana
announced the setting up of multiple wastes to fuel plants, in collaboration
with Ramky Environment, a waste management service. The announcement was made
in January 2017.
Though slow, progress is being made on the waste to fuel conversion front in India. Unfortunately, despite the big strides in waste management, extensive setting up of waste to fuel plants across the country is still awaited. The technologies employed to convert plastic waste to fuel are not complicated to replicate, and if done so on a large scale, will only help in addressing the growing issue of India’s plastic waste.
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