Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jul 22, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio |
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Industry & Economy
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Environment States - Kerala
The State Government has directed PWD to lay experimental stretches of roads with plastic modified bitumen. Our Bureau Kochi, July 21 As the civic body in Kochi grapples with the problem of disposing of waste plastics, the BPCL-Kochi Refinery has come out with a solution without causing any disturbance to the eco-system. The BPCL-KR had earlier submitted a report to the State Government for using waste plastics in bitumen used in the road paving after exploring its possibilities. The R&D division of Kochi Refinery had also conducted an experimental study on the use of waste plastic as a bitumen modifier. The primary aim is to resolve the issue of making use of waste plastics, which causes a large environmental concern, a study conducted by KRL officials said. The study revealed that up to 3 per cent of waste plastics could be added to the bitumen and beyond this level, the waste plastics tend to separate. Experiments at KR also revealed that separation of plastics takes place on re-heating the waste plastic bitumen blends prior to laying, hence KR had suggested ‘onsite’ mixing of waste plastics along with the aggregates prior to laying of bitumen. Based on the findings of the KRL study report, the State Government had directed the PWD to lay experimental stretches of roads with plastic modified bitumen prepared at a hot mix plant. It is possible to incorporate clean shredded waste plastic in the bitumen while road paving. The Karnataka PWD has laid about 40 km of waste plastic modified bitumen in and around Bangalore. A few experimental stretches are also laid at the different parts of Tamil Nadu as well as an experimental stretch of road laid at the campus of M A College in Kothamangalam. The study concluded that reuse of waste plastics in road paving is possible by adopting ‘onsite’ mixing strategy. The offsite blending of waste plastic and bitumen is not recommended as separation of the waste plastics takes place from the blend on storage. No specialised equipment is needed and only clean, dirt-free shredded plastic (of size 3-4mm) has to be supplied at site. BPCL Kochi Refinery can provide technical assistance during paving of a few stretches if necessary, the officials added. More Stories on : Environment | Plastics | Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd | Kerala
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