Ahmedabad: It took six years and several trials to convince the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) of the environmental advantages of plasma pyrolysis – breaking down of biomedical and municipal solid waste by using plasma. The pyrolysis process breaks down any form of waste to water, carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane. These gases can be harnessed to produce energy.
The MoEF has now included plasma pyrolysis as an accepted process of incineration and a few weeks ago brought out a gazette accepting the new process. There are in the country 11 such plasma pyrolysis facilities installed by the Facilitation Centre for Industrial Plasma Technologies (FCIPT), a division of the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) in Gandhinagar.
The waste is heated, melted and finally vaporized at temperatures as high as 5,000 degrees celsius using a special nitrogen plasma torch, which uses electricity. At these superheated conditions, waste breaks down complex molecules into individual atoms. The resulting elemental components after pyrolysis are in a gaseous state – especially water, carbon monoxide and methane. These gases can be harnessed for energy. “Traditional incinerators use diesel to burn waste which causes emissions of non-environmentally friendly gases. Plasma breaks down complex molecules of waste – like plastic or other such waste into individual constitutents,” says head of FCIPT division S Mukherjee.
The 11 plasma pyrolysis units that have been installed also include one at Gujarat Cancer Research Institute in Ahmedabad.
Article source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Centre-gives-nod-to-plasma-tech-for-waste-incineration/articleshow/52118939.cms.