Plastic Pyrolysis: The Alternative Fuel

Professor Satish Kumar a 45-year-old mechanical engineer from Hyderabad has found the way to recycle plastic that too into fuel. He has founded a company registered with the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises. He explains the three-step process of converting plastic into fuel is known as plastic pyrolysis. Though the process is time consuming, but not tedious. Plastic is a polymer and polymer need to be de-polymerised for the process to work. the dead plastic is then put in a vacuum chamber, along with other ingredients and heated to 300-400 degrees Celsius by  induction or infrared heating. This causes gasification, and inline distillation system that is set up separates petrol, diesel and high-speed diesel. The process helps recycle plastic into diesel, aviation fuel and petrol. An amount of 500 kg of Non-recyclable plastic can produce 400 litres of fuel.

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Since 2016, the professor has converted 50 tonnes of ‘end life’ plastic into fuel. However, the usability of this fuel is yet to be tested. At present, his company is producing 200 litres of fuel on a daily basis out of 200kg plastic and selling them at the local industries for 40/50 per litre. Professor Satish Kumar said, “our main aim behind starting this plant is to help the environment. We are not expecting commercial benefit. We are only trying to do our bit to ensure a cleaner future. We are ready to share our technology with any interested entrepreneur”.

 

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