Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences
Title : | Effective Conversion of Medical and Municipal Plastic Wastes into Value Added Products through Integrated Thermochemical Reactors and its Kinetic Study and Life Cycle Assessment |
Area of research : | Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences |
Principal Investigator : | Dr. SantoshkumarA, Kongu Engineering College, Tamil Nadu |
Timeline Start Year : | 2022 |
Timeline End Year : | 2025 |
Contact info : | asankumar88@gmail.com |
Details
Executive Summary : | India's plastic waste generation has doubled in the last five years, and due to the Covid-19 pandemic, biomedical waste generation has increased by 20 tons/day. Thermochemical conversion is a viable technology for recycling mixed plastics with minimal greenhouse emissions and negligible hazardous components. This study focuses on converting mixed plastics through an integrated thermochemical conversion like pyrolysis and gasification. The integrated hybrid system will use surplus heat from the gasifier as input energy for pyrolysis to enhance energy recovery. Thermochemical conversion is a viable technology for recycling mixed plastics with minimal greenhouse emissions and negligible hazardous components. The proposed integrated hybrid system uses surplus heat from the gasifier as an input energy source for pyrolysis, enhancing energy recovery. Mixed plastics are used in various products, such as IV bags, blood pads, packing materials, gloves and labware, and PPE kits and face masks. The reaction mechanisms of these mixed components can be identified using different kinetic models, such as iso-conversional and model-fitting approaches. A kinetic study will be conducted at different environments, such as N2 for pyrolysis and O2, CO2, and various O2 to CO2 ratios for gasification. ANN-based prediction is preferred to avoid drawbacks in experiments and predict process yields concerning different operating parameters. Multicriteria optimization techniques are also used to find suitable process parameters. A life cycle assessment will be performed to identify the environmental impact during the entire process. Finally, the fuel extracted from the pyrolysis process will be upgraded using the mutual solvent ultrasonic method. |
Total Budget (INR): | 18,30,000 |
Organizations involved