Page 25 - Plastics News November 2017

the Sriperumbudur belt, a major automobile hub near activity of the corporate sector, he says.
Chennai, generates about 70-80 tonnes of plastic waste Vidya points out that with industries stuck with huge
daily. Paper manufacturers using recycled paper as raw volumes of plastic, Paterson Energy’s solution is a viable
material generate huge plastic waste from multi-layered option. The technology has been fine tuned in-house. The
and coated paper. A 300 tonne-per-day de-inking plant company has the support of experts from IITs, Central
that converts used paper to paper pulp will generate about Institute of Plastics Engineering & Technology.
15-20 tonnes of waste plastic.
It has standardised production of plants of 3–20 tpd
The first of Paterson Energy’s 3-tpd plant was put up at its capacity based on thermochemical depolymerisation.
own cost at Valarpuram in Sriperumbudur. It has now been It is recognised as a start-up by the Department of
expanded to about 7.5 tonnes. Some of these industries Industrial Policy & Promotion of the Commerce Ministry.
are keen to use this option to deal with plastic wastes. The company is keen to infuse funds for the next level of
This method of plastic disposal can also come under CSR
expansion and is looking to tap various sources including
private equity, Vidya says.

Better Cooling - Higher Productivity

Cooling typically consumes 11% to 16% of the energy used in a plastics processing plant and simple
actions can significantly reduce this energy use Mayur Shah

ising energy prices and increasing complexities in consumed, efficiency and day to day maintenance cost.
Rbusiness are forcing manufacturers to find ways Combination of the cooling methods can be adopted to
to bring down cost without compromising quality and
achieve better efficiency. The best way is to introduce
efficiency. To improve productivity is most important and follow cooling-water management plan.
than ever before. Though there are many reasons to
improve energy efficiency but the bottom line is cost
effectiveness. Increased input cost like power, Labour, Raw
material, Infrastructure etc. has compelled the plastic
processing industry to increase efficiency. Ample scope
of improvement in efficiency is present in the neglected
area or one can say the grey area in plastic moulding
industry and that is water distribution for cooling of
moulds, machines and other auxiliaries. The pumping
room is often quite far from the actual operational area
and it is not looked after unless there is some problem or
breakdown. It can also be called forgotten area. Regular
analysis of performance helps to find out any loss of
efficiency and corrective measures to be taken before From the above mentioned water cooling methods only
complete loss of service. This is particularly important chiller cooling method is a close loop system, rest two
because cooling typically consumes 11% to 16% of the are open loop system. The open loop cooling tower water
energy used in a plastics processing plant and simple cooling system is widely used but the chances of water
actions can significantly reduce this energy use. contamination due to airborne dust debris are bright.
Following figure shows the four basic cooling methods If proper care is not taken then chances of
adopted. One needs to be conscious about the energy • Scaling,

25 N ovember 2017 Plastics News