plastic to fuel report-draft[1][1]

7/29/2019 Plastic to Fuel Report-draft[1][1]

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NOTES ON VISIT MADE BY THE TEAM HEADED BY THE CHIEF

ENGINEER, COMMISSIONERATE OF MUNICIPAL

ADMINISTRATION TO STUDY THE RECYCLING OF PLASTIC

WASTE BY MK AUROMATICS, ALATHUR INDUSTRIAL ESTATE,

KANCHEEPURAM DISTRICT.

Date: 06.08.11

Team Members:

1.Thiru.R.Ragunathan, Chief Engineer, O/o the CMA

2.Thiru.K.Ravi, Regional Executive Engineer, Chengalpattu

3.Thiru.N.Manohar, Municipal Commissioner, Alandur

4.Thiru.ThiruchenthilVasan, Manure Officer, O/o the CMA

5.Thiru.Srinivasan,PA to CE,O/o the CMA

6,Thiru.V,Murugesan,Municipal Engineer, Tambaram

7.Thiru.N.Mahesan, Municipal Engineer, Alandur

8.Thiru.Srinivasan, Municipal Engineer, Pallavapuram

9.Thiru.A.Gurusami, Municipal Engineer, Avadi

10.Thiru.N.M.Krishnamurthi, Municipal Engineer, Madhavaram

11.Thiru.K.Seenuvasan, Municipal Engineer, Tiruvallur

12.Tmt.Jegatha,Assistant Engineer, O/o the CMA

13. Thiru.Babu, Assistant Engineer, Tambaram Municipality

The team visited MK Aromatics pvt Ltd, a plastic waste recycling

unit which is engaged in downstream refining of Petroleum

Hydrocarbon from Crude Oil feed stock derived out of Waste Plastics.

They manufacture various aromatic hydrocarbon solvents, aliphatic

hydrocarbon solvents, carbon and its by-products for various industrial

applications like agrochemicals, coating, specialty chemical etc.

Shri.Makesh K Merchant, the Managing Director, MK Aromatics Ltd

explained about the processing of plastic waste into fuel viz., diesel,

furnace oil, aromatic hydrocarbon solvents, carbon and its by products

carried out by the company.


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Recycling of Plastic Waste:-

Today the availability of the waste plastics is enormous, as the

plastic materials have become part and parcel of daily life. They get

mixed with Municipal Solid Waste and thrown over land area. Thinner

polythene/polypropylene carry bags are the most abundantly disposed

of wastes, which do not attract the attention of rag pickers for

collection for onward recycling for lesser value.

The dumping yards of the Urban Local Bodies are now piled up

with plastics. Though plastics have become inevitable in our day to day

life, this poses lots of problems. The ever increasing demand for

plastics, leads to generation of plastic waste. In India alone, about

6000 Tons of plastic waste is generated per day.

Presently, plastic wastes are disposed off by recycling, land filling

and incineration. The drawbacks of these methodologies are

incomplete degradation, high energy consumption, air pollutants

emissions and very high cost.

Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste

plastics and reprocessing the material into useful products, sometimes

completely different in form from their original state

Disposal of plastic waste through co processing in Cement kiln

is a known and accepted process of Municipal Solid Waste

Management in many developed countries. This process of plastic

waste disposal was not practiced in India for want of statutory

clearances from appropriate authority. Co-processing is the use of

plastic waste as raw material, as a source of energy, or both to replace

natural mineral resources and fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and

gas (energy recovery) in industrial processes, mainly in industries such

as cement, steel, glass.

With the limited availability of such industries in the

administrative limits of Urban Local Bodies in TamilNadu, the


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municipalities are not able to dispose the plastic waste through these

industries.

Plastic to Fuel:- Polymer Energy Technology

The manufacturing of aromatic solvents, aliphatic solvents,

waxes carbon etc., from the waste plastic being carried out by the

plant and machineries designed by M/s Harita NTI Ltd. The

manufacturing facility is based on Polymer Energy technology. Harita-

NTI is a joint venture between Harita (A TVS Group Associate) and

Northern Technologies International Corporation (NTIC, USA).

The Polymer Energy Technology i.e., Transverse Flow of Catalytic

Reactor for conversion of waste plastic, converting plastic wastes into

fractions of hydrocarbons (PE-oil) was invented by M/s. T.Technology in

Poland to provide a needy solution for plastic waste disposal.

Polymer Energy is a technology for converting waste plastics into

fractions of hydrocarbon / crude oil range, using Transverse Flow

Catalytic Conversion methodology. The raw materials used in this

process includes many Polyolefins such as Polyethylene (PE),

Polypropylene (PP) etc; which can be used in any mixed proportions,

thus help reducing of municipal wastes and finally form an eco-friendly

environment.

The technology is free of emission, effluents thus meeting air

quality; Fractions of hydrocarbons are formed as the result of thermo-

catalytic transformation process, which takes place in the presence of

catalyst.

Raw Material for processing:Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS),

Laminates depending upon the nature of plastics etc from plastic

waste in the Municipal Solid Waste stream are used as raw material for

processing. The main source of raw material is from the

agents/dealers, vendors for old and used material.

Process:


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Waste plastic is fed into the reactor through a loading press with

sliding door. Waste plastics are depolymerised inside the reactor in the

presence of the catalyst, and converted into hydrocarbon vapors. The

vapor is then carried through the cooling system to the pipeline (the

hydrocarbon cooling subsystem works at atmospheric pressure). Upon

cooling, the vapor gets condensed, as a slightly heated blend of

hydrocarbon with viscous fluid flows into the intermediate tank. The

product is further chilled in the intermediate tank and the resulting

liquid hydrocarbons are pumped into the storage tank. If any

uncondensed vapor enters the intermediate tank, they have the

possibility of becoming condensed in the additional cooler mounted

behind the intermediate tank and connected to the hydraulic back-

pressure valve. The water cooling subsystem of the unit works in a

closed cycle.

Waste in the raw form along with the catalyst is fed in to the unit

through two stage hydraulic driven press. The waste is carried from the

press to the processing reactor through the reducer. The burner fed

with furnace oil, biomass & gas maintains the reaction temperature.

The high temperature splits the raw material into hydrocarbons.

Hydrocarbon vapours move towards the cooling system (water is the

cooling medium) and then to the intermediate tank to the storage

tank.

All plastics are polymers mostly containing carbon and hydrogen.

Polymers are made up of small molecules called monomers.

Degradation of polymers occurs when this long chain of monomers

breaks at certain points. If the division of bonds occurs randomly, it is

known as Random De-Polymerisation.

Plastic waste is converted into liquid hydrocarbons by random de-

polymerisation. The process is carried out in a specially designed
http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/Plastic_fuel.asp#%23http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/Plastic_fuel.asp#%23


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reactor in the absence of oxygen and with zeolite based catalytic

additive.

Maximum reaction temperature is 350C and there is total conversion

of waste plastic into value-added fuel products.

Plastic Waste collected from ULBs supplied to site

Segregation for better quality of product

Shredding of plastic waste

Feed into Trommel and then through Hydraulic press

The baled waste plastic fed into Reactor with High Temperature

the degradation of the of the polymers Depolymerisation

Final products viz., furnace oil, grease, carbon etc.,

Polymer Energy Unit at Alathur, Kancheepuram
http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/Plastic_fuel.asp#%23http://www.indiacar.com/infobank/Plastic_fuel.asp#%23


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The environmental clearance has been issued by the State

Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA),TamilNadu vide lr

No. SEIAA/TN/EC/S(f)/002/F-106/2008 dated.4.11.2008 for manufacture

of fuel from waste plastic.

Plastic recycling unit at Porur:

The team also visited M/s Rama Plastics, a plastic recycling unit

in Porur and studied the process of waste plastic into raw material for

recycled plastic. They collected plastic waste mainly carry bags, trash

Products made out of plastic

Visit by team of officials from Municipal Administration


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bags and shredded the same suitable for processing. The shredded

plastic waste, called flakes is then feed into the reactor which has a

high temperature of about 500C for melting. The molten material

from the reactor extruded into a thin wire like material. The granules

made out of this wire will be used as a raw material for recycled plastic

goods viz. toys, baskets, car parts,. The plastic waste material which

would be free from impurities can only be used for this process and

whereas the soiled plasticcarry bags in the Municipal Solid Waste

stream contain lot of impurities.

Provision of bitumenous surface using bitumen with plastics is

also one of the options for disposal of plastics. In this process theresource fuel can not be derived and the consumption of natural

resources also increased for production of these materials

In order to ensure the compliance with the Municipal Solid

Waste (Management &Handling) Rules 2000, under the provisions of

Environmental Protection Act 1986 and making the ISWM mandatory

for all the municipalities, the Plastic Waste Management is very much

essential as it poses various problems while producing organic manure

from waste.

The land requirement for a 5 to 7 tons per day plant will be about

5 acres in which 2 acres would be used for landscaping as PCB norms.

The cost involved will be around Rs. 9 crore. At present the plastic

waste is purchased at Rs. 5 per kg at the plant.

Alternately, the company can take plastic waste at the collection

centers of the Municipal garbage yards free of cost within 25 kms.

Conclusion:

Under article 6(d) of the Plastic waste (Management & Handling)

Rules,2011, the municipal authority may ask the manufactures,

either collectively or individually in line with the principle of


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Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) to provide the required

finance to set up plastic waste collection centres. TamilNadu

Plastic Manufacturers Association (TAPMA) who arranged the visit

may be asked to set up plastic waste collection centres to

receive the plastic waste from the municipalities.

Normally under the Extended Producers Responsibility

manufacturers must take responsibility to take back their

products from end users at the end of the products useful life.

Hence the manufacturers ie TAPMA may be requested to set up

Plastic waste collection centres in selected municipalities by

clustering nearby Urban Local Bodies. They shall arrange for the

transportation of the waste from the respective municipalities to

the collection centre for onward transmission to their processing

facility.

The recycling units viz., Plastic Waste to Fuel through

Polymer technology may be set up in selected municipalities all

over Tamil Nadu under BOOT basis with proper concession

agreement and the plastic waste be supplied by the municipality

for their process.

The processing facility shall also be set up through Public Private

Partnership (PPP) mode with a portion of amount may be

provided as financial assistance for setting up of the facilty

The TAPMA may also be requested to carry out awareness

programme on separation of plastic waste and motivate the

public on segregation. Mass cleaning and collection of

segregated plastic waste shall be arranged in selected areas ofthe municipality with the coordination of Residential Welfare

Associations.

With Corporate Social Responsibility made as mandate to all

Industries, CII may be called for a discussion to take part in


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creating awareness among various stake holders regarding

source segregation in SWM, throwing prohibited materials like

plastic and other solid items into the toilets and drains causing

choking in drains and sewers, beautifying city water ways and

maintaining them, creating and maintaining them for

sustainability.

This effort would pave industry and public cooperation as well as

solving certain environmental issues.

K.Ravi,

Regional Executive Engineer,

Chengalpattu

N.Manohar,

Municipal Commissioner, Alandur

ThiruchenthilVasan,

Manure Officer, O/o the CMA

Srinivasan,

PA to CE,O/o the CMA

V,Murugesan,

Municipal Engineer, Tambaram

Thiru.N.Mahesan,

Municipal Engineer, Alandur

Thiru.Srinivasan,

Municipal Engineer, Pallavapuram

Thiru.A.Gurusami,

Municipal Engineer, Avadi


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Thiru.N.M.Krishnamurthi, Municipal

Engineer, Madhavaram

Thiru.K.Seenuvasan,

Municipal Engineer, Tiruvallur

Tmt.Jegatha,Assistant Engineer, O/o

the CMA

Thiru.Babu, Assistant Engineer,

Tambaram Municipality

R.Ragunathan,

Chief Engineer, O/o the CMARama Plastics, Plastic Recycling unit at


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Rama Plastics, Plastic Recycling unit at


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plastic to fuel report-draft[1][1]

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