CHENNAI: A portion of the plastic waste generated in the city will soon be converted into furnace oil and carbon. A pyrolysis plant with a per day capacity of 20 metric tonnes will start functioning from Saturday at Chinna Sekkadu in Manali. The facility has been established by the Chennai Corporation and Entice Renewable Energy Pvt Ltd under a public-private partnership at the cost of `10 crore. Though the tender for the project was awarded in the latter half of 2019, it was delayed due to several reasons, including
the pandemic.
The plant will run round the clock to achieve its full capacity. Explaining the working of the plant, Lakshmanasamy, a technical officer of the private firm, said shredded plastic, rubber and even wood will be fed into the reactor tube, which will be heated from the outside. “Heated in an inert atmosphere, the plastic will convert into gas and carbon. The gas will then be condensed to produce oil,” he said.
Both furnace oil and carbon can be used in various industries. The permanent gas, which would not condense, will be used to heat the reactor tube, making the plant self-sufficient and reduce the use of diesel to run the plant. The gas can be used as CNG for vehicles as well. As continuous fast pyrolysis is used, the pollution created by the plant is lesser than the levels permitted by the TN Pollution Control Board. The board gave its nod last week.
“Once this plant runs for a few days, the work to set up another plant in Sholinganallur will start. There is a plan to propose setting up of 10 such plants across the city to process the plastic waste,” said the officials in the solid waste management department of the city Corporation.
The amount of waste sent to the Kodungaiyur dump yard from the northern zone of the corporation has reduced to 1,050 tonnes from 1,700 tonnes over the last five years due to setting up such processing facilities, they added.