Mangaluru: Plastic waste buried in the Pachanady landfill is now being converted into fuel, with a waste-to-fuel facility producing nearly 10,000 litres of pyrolysis oil.Bengaluru-based ARV Conservation Care Limited, in association with Kudla Green Wave, has set up the facility. “We are utilising segregated refuse derived fuel (RDF) material available at the landfill as feedstock for the pyrolysis process. A depolymerisation plant has been installed to extract oil from legacy waste, and the trials have been successful, particularly with plastic waste,” said Kiran P Kulkarni, bioremediation expert, Swachh Bharat Mission.He said the process begins with segregation of combustible waste fractions from the landfill. The plant, capable of processing 15 metric tonnes of RDF daily, feeds it into a reactor, where it undergoes pyrolysis — a process that breaks down plastic in the absence of oxygen.Once charged, the reactor runs continuously for eight to 10 hours, producing pyrolysis oil, syngas and black carbon. While the oil can serve as industrial fuel, the by-products are also reused. Syngas is stored and used to power subsequent operations, while black carbon can be used as fuel in cement industries and boilers where carbon powder is used.The oil has been tested at Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited. Depending on the quality of plastic waste, the yield ranges between 15% and 20%. The fuel’s gross calorific value — a measure of total energy released during combustion — has been recorded at over 43.1, said Kulkarni.Demand and market prices for pyrolysis oil have increased as industries look for alternative fuels amid the ongoing West Asia crisis, he said.According to Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) estimates in 2019, more than nine lakh tonnes of legacy waste remain across nearly 2km of the landfill.MCC commissioner Ravichandra Naik recently visited the facility to review operations and assess progress. The project has also been brought to the attention of the Swachh Bharat Mission director. Similar facilities can be created in other corporations, Kulkarni said.
