Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru
Mangaluru, Jun 12: In a major breakthrough in waste management, a plastic-to-fuel plant at Pachanady has produced nearly 10,000 litres of pyrolysis oil within a month of commencing operations, offering a new solution to the long-standing challenge of plastic waste disposal at the landfill site.
The facility, the first of its kind within the jurisdiction of a municipal corporation in Karnataka, has been established by Bengaluru-based ARV Environment Care Limited in collaboration with Kudla Green Wave, with support from the Mangaluru City Corporation. The plant uses plastic-rich Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) recovered from the Pachanady landfill as raw material for the pyrolysis process.
The initiative comes amid ongoing biomining operations in the Mandara area of Pachanady, where nearly nine lac tonnes of legacy waste have accumulated over the years. While biomining helps process much of the old waste, plastic fractions remain difficult to handle. Until recently, a portion of the plastic waste was being sent to cement factories for co-processing, but declining demand prompted the search for an alternative solution.
To address the issue, a machine capable of processing around 15 tonnes of plastic waste per day has been installed at the landfill. The proposal for the project was first conceived in 2021 during the tenure of then Mangaluru City Corporation commissioner Akshay Sridhar.
How the process works
Following the screening of excavated waste and separation of soil, plastic materials are segregated and shredded into pieces measuring approximately 20 to 30 millimetres before being fed into a reactor furnace.
The plastic is heated in a vacuum environment at temperatures ranging between 250°C and 300°C, causing it to break down into vapours. These vapours pass through a series of chambers where they condense into liquid form. The resulting liquid is then separated into oil and water.
The process also generates around 15% syngas. The final outputs include pyrolysis oil, carbon powder, thick tar and syngas. The syngas and thick tar produced during processing are reused within the facility itself, helping improve operational efficiency.
More capacity planned
Project officials said approximately 200 tonnes of plastic waste have already been processed, yielding 10,000 litres of pyrolysis oil. However, an estimated 12,000 tonnes of plastic waste still remain at the site, underlining the scale of the challenge.
A single unit can process between 15 and 20 tonnes of plastic waste per day, and plans are being considered to install additional units if greater support is received from the civic body.
Industrial demand for pyrolysis oil
The fuel produced through the process can be used in burners for road asphalting works, hotel boilers and cashew roasting units.
“Pyrolysis oil derived from plastic waste can be used for burners during road asphalting, hotel boilers and cashew roasting operations. A few years ago, the fuel was priced at around Rs 40 to Rs 45 per litre. Today, it commands nearly Rs 70 per litre in several parts of the country. Demand in Mangaluru, however, is yet to grow substantially,” said Kiran P Kulkarni, bio-remediation expert with the Centre for Urban Development.
With thousands of tonnes of plastic waste still awaiting processing, the Pachanady project is emerging as a promising model for converting landfill waste into a commercially useful fuel while reducing the environmental burden of plastic accumulation.