Indian Railways has put in place the country’s first Waste to Energy plant in Mancheswar Carriage Repair Workshop which falls under East Coast Railway. It uses a patented technology called POLYCRACK, is first-of-its-kind in Indian Railways and fourth in India.

Polycrack Technology

• It is world’s first patented heterogeneous catalytic process which converts multiple feed stocks into hydrocarbon liquid fuels, gas, carbon and water.
• The process is a closed-loop system and does not emit any hazardous pollutants into the atmosphere.

Feeders

• Polycrack Plant can be fed with all types of plastic, petroleum sludge, un-segregated MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) with moisture up to 50%, e–waste, automobile fluff, organic waste including bamboo, garden waste etc., and Jatropha fruit and palm bunch.

How it works?

• The process is a closed-loop system and does not emit any hazardous pollutants into the atmosphere.
• The combustible, non-condensed gases are re-used for providing energy to the entire system and thus, the only emission comes from the combustion of gaseous fuels.
• The emissions from the combustion are found to be much less than prescribed environmental norms.
• This process will produce energy in the form of Light Diesel Oil which is used to light furnaces.

Advantages of Polycrack

Polycrack has the following advantages over the conventional approach of treating solid waste:

• Pre-segregation of waste is not required to reform the waste. Waste as collected can be directly fed into Polycrack.
• It has high tolerance to moisture hence drying of waste is not required.
• Waste is processed and reformed within 24 hours.
• It is an enclosed unit hence the working environment is dust free.
• Excellent air quality surrounding the plant.
• Biological decomposition is not allowed as the Waste is treated as it is received.
• The foot print of the plant is small hence the area required for installing the plant is less when compared with conventional method of processing.
• All constituents are converted into valuable energy thereby making it Zero Discharge Process.
• Gas generated in the process is re-used to provide energy to the system thereby making it self-reliant and also bring down the operating cost.
• There is no atmospheric emission during the process unlike other conventional methods except for combustion gases which have pollutants less than the prescribed norms the world over.
• Operates around 450 degrees, making it a low temperature process when compared with other options.
• Safe and efficient system with built-in safety features enables even an unskilled user to operate the machine with ease.
• Low capital cost and low operating cost.
• Fully automated system requires minimum man power.

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