Cement factories to make the best of 'waste' (garbage) to produce fuel in Chennai

The civic bodies in Chennai have found a unique way managing all the garbage getting collected. They have joined hands with cement factories to deal with this issue, as these factories have proposed to have a system in place to derive fuel from non-recyclable plastic and also other waste like rubber.

Head of alternate fuel at UltraTech, PK Modi said that process was very simple. Further explaining the project he said, “We have furnaces installed in all our factories and only need to set up laboratories to study the calorific value of waste and amount of ash produced.”  He further added, “We will store waste in sheds and treat it with chemicals and microbes to ensure the removal of moisture. Later at a pre-processing unit, the non-recyclable waste will be shredded into tiny particles. (Pulverised) coal particles have an average fineness of 50-90 microns.” Further explaining the process, he said that first the chlorine content of the plastic will be removed and then it will be shredded to 30-40 mm.

However, completion of this project will require 25 acres for project setup and the cost of machines that will be required is from Rs. 20 crore and 100 crore which will vary according to the amount of waste.

At present, there are 124 municipalities and 11 corporations producing around 8,000 tonnes of waste on a daily basis as reported in The Times of India. 24 municipalities have already signed contracts with a few companies located 30 km-50 km away from dumping grounds. G Prakash, Commissioner of Municipal Administration said, “We plan to increase this number to 50 and by December we want to move towards zero waste.” Several countries are willing to participate in the initiative, provided they are given proper raw material, enough space and support by the government.