The Union minister of Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan along with chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated a one tonne capacity plastic waste to diesel pilot plant at the CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP) here on Tuesday. The technology of the plant has been developed by the scientists of IIP and is sponsored and technically supported by  GAIL.

The plant will convert one tonne of plastic waste to 800 litres of diesel daily. The diesel will be of automotive grade, meeting the diesel specifications for use in vehicles and could be straightaway filled in cars, trucks or generators. Speaking on the occasion, Vardhan said that two of India’s key concerns today are reducing dependence on crude oil imports and managing the impact of human-generated pollution on human health and the environment. Plastics represent a key element of these two problems. “We import either crude oil or petrochemicals to make plastics, which are dumped after use into the environment. Their accumulation and lack of biodegradability causes harm to animals, plants and humans. When it is deliberately burned or catches fire in landfills, it adds to the air pollution load and to respiratory diseases. The Government is committed to phase out single-use plastics and to facilitate sensible management of plastics that need to be used for multiple-use or long-term applications.”

More than 70 per cent of the accumulated and continuously accumulating waste plastic is of one kind - Polyolefins (polyethylene and polypropylene) and these are the least biodegradable. Everything from plastic wrapping film to polybags, buckets to shampoo packaging, is made of polyolefins. A city like Dehradun generates an estimated 20 tonnes of waste polyolefins daily. The Waste Plastics to Diesel Plant inaugurated here will convert five per cent of Dehradun’s waste polyolefin plastics per day into high quality transport grade diesel. This will be made available to government, police and army vehicles for regular use, he said.

The union minister further said that after about six months of regular operation and data generation, CSIR-IIP in association with GAIL will roll out this technology nationwide. He urged CSIR-IIP and GAIL to further scale up the technology to develop a 10 TPD plant which he offered to implement in Delhi to solve the menace of waste plastics.  Vardhan said that the technological advancement of PNG burner pioneered by CSIR-IIP has resulted in preventing 20-25 per cent of the wastage of natural gas. He further said that it was a moment of pride when at the Republic Day parade this year the Indian Air Force AN-32 aircraft flew using the bio-fuel produced by CSIR-IIP, Dehradun. He further said that the government plans to develop a research-cum-retail renewable resources park in this campus to make renewable fuel versions of diesel, petrol and natural gas available to the residents of the area, including motorists along the highway. This park will also host a service station for retrofitting old diesel and petrol cars into e-vehicles, supported by a solar, wind and biofuels hybrid charging station. Vardhan and Rawat also visited the bio-jet fuel plant and PNG burner facility in the institute. Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat also expressed his views on the occasion. The institute director Anjay Ray and other scientists and officials were also present.