After grappling with heaps of solid waste for years, the Guntur Municipal Corporation has come up with an indigenous Plastic Waste to Synthetic Fuel Plant. Plastic and industrial waste is converted into synthetic petrol, diesel and kerosene at the plant located in KVP Colony.
The GMC is probably the first urban local body in the country to set up such a plant in full conformity with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The plant has been in operation for four months now. Needa Green Energy is handling the annual maintenance contract of the plant.
Apart from being non-pollutant, the synthetic fuel plant is fuelling the civic body’s fleet of dumper placers and other vehicles, saving lakhs of rupees to the exchequer.
“The energy-efficient and zero-pollution indigenous fuel plant was established with financial assistance by the Swaccha Andhra Corporation under the Swaccha Bharat Scheme in the spirit of Atma Nirbhar Bharath slogan given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On an average, 250 litres of diesel and 45 litres of petrol is being produced for captive use of our fleet of vehicles,’’ said Municipal Commissioner C. Anuradha.
Plastic waste— be it pet bottles of cans — is ground into powder, which is then funnelled into a 0.5 cubic metres capacity kiln. The powder is then converted into vapour after heating up to 500 degrees Celsius, later condensed and distilled involving plastic depolymerisation in a singular process. The facility is now handling 0.5 tonnes of plastic waste per day, converting it into 45% to 95 % liquid automotive fuel and 5% to 55% activated carbon.
The “non-pyrolytic, non-catalytic depolymerisation technology” uses patent-pending algorithms in being able to handle different kinds of plastic at one go.
The plant has also won plaudits for being environmental friendly, as the process involves no chimney, and the little amounts of methane (around 2%) produced during the process is used up by the generator, which produces electricity used in heating the plastic.
The pet coke byproduct that is left out after plastic processing, can be used as manure or in power generation.
The GMC has also proposed to handle all plastic COVID-19 resultant waste through the facility turning almost the entire input quantity of plastic waste into fuel.
