IIP exploring options to commercialise plastic waste-to-fuel technology

Dehradun-based Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), one of the constituent laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), is reportedly looking at opportunities to commercialise a technology for converting plastics waste into petroleum products. This was informed by Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences (Independent Charge), in a written reply in Lok Sabha on August 13, 2014.
 
IIP has developed a technology to convert waste plastic into petroleum products after nearly a decade long experimental research. GAIL has sponsored the entire project for developing a combination of catalyst which can convert plastics either into gasoline or diesel or aromatics along with LPG as a common by-product. “The unique feature of the technology is that liquid fuel, gasoline and diesel, meets Euro-III fuel specifications and different products can be obtained from the same raw material by simply changing the catalysts and operating parameters,” said the minister.
 
He added that IIP is exploring the economic viability of the technology in order to refine the technology, so that it may be available to public for future use.
 
A number of countries including USA, Germany, Japan, Australia and UK etc are working on development of lab scale technologies for conversion of plastic waste in to liquid hydrocarbon oil. “A company based in New York, USA has pioneered the development of a process that drives ultra-clean, ultra-low sulphur fuel which does not require further refining, directly from unwashed, unsorted waste plastics. Approximately 85 to 90 percent of the hydrocarbon composition in the feedstock is converted into a ‘near diesel’ fuel, while about 8 percent is converted to a usable off gas much like natural gas. In addition, only one percent of the plastic becomes residue, and that residue does not contain any highly toxic elements and is safe for landfill disposal,” said Singh in the written reply.
 
Germany has developed a technology on laboratory scale to convert plastic waste in to liquid hydrocarbon oil. The thermo catalytic low temperature converter (Loop Reactor) has been demonstrated in the 1980’s by the University of Applied Sciences in Tubingen and in 2006 by the University of Applies Sciences in Giessen-Friedberg.
 
In addition to the above, a Japanese company has developed a technique to convert plastic waste in to oil and electricity using the recyclable plastic. The company has installed small demonstration unit in Hiratsuka city, Japan, said Singh.