Nagpur duo finds petrol in plastic waste

Even as international concern grows with crude oil prices, a couple from Nagpur is well on course to keep their promise of a cheap, eco-frie...

Even as international concern grows with crude oil prices, a couple from Nagpur is well on course to keep their promise of a cheap, eco-friendly alternative. Alka and Umesh Zadgaonkar hope to deliver it by December.

Refused support by the Oil Industries Development Board (OIDB), the government funding agency in the petroleum sector, the Zadgaonkars approached the State Bank of India (SBI) for a loan to set up a Rs 8-crore project to produce petroleum from waste plastic. The country produces 7,000 tonnes of waste plastic daily. With the SBI Technical Cell okaying the proposal after a thorough study, their Unique Waste Plastic Management and Research Company Pvt Ltd’s plant in the Buti Bori Industrial Estate, 30 km from here, is set to start production by December.

Alka, Head of the Department of Applied Chemistry at the local Raisoni College of Engineering, had hit headlines early last year with her petrol-from-waste plastic invention, with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) experts confirming her claims in July, 2003 following 11 tests. The process involves the use of waste plastic of all kinds to produce liquid petroleum that contains up to 80 per cent of fuel range liquids, 15 pc gases and 5 per cent coke.

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IOC had then referred the invention to the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) on Hydrocarbons led by R.A. Mashelkar, which recommended to the OIDB that the project may not be financially viable at this stage. Top SBI officials, however, studied the project prospects before finally sanctioning the loan.

The Zadgaonkars have already booked orders for the 5,000 litres of liquid hydrocarbons they will be producing daily in their 5 MT/day capacity plant. The buyers include bakery owners, plastic tank manufacturers and industries using high-temperature processes.

At Rs 15 per litre, the fuel would be much cheaper for the customers than kerosene which costs Rs 24 per litre.

The Zadgaonkars are restricting themselves to liquid hydrocarbons and will not be separating the petrol fraction as they feel ‘‘the law isn’t clear on if they could do it’’.

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Says IOC director in-charge (R&D) N.R. Raje: ‘‘This is a very complex process, a reason why the Mashelkar panel didn’t find it worth funding at this stage. Of course, if the Zadgaonkars have ready buyers, that’s fine. But the invention undoubtedly offers great environmental returns even at the HC production level.’’