Five students of the Mar Baselios College of Engineering and Technology have bagged the first position in the All IEEE Young Engineers Humanitarian Challenge 2015 for their project on plastic waste disposal.
The team led by Salman Nizarudin and comprising Anwin Mathai, Rohit Choodan, Gokul J., and Aaron Haris, all final-year students, came up with the project ‘Effective disposal of plastic waste’ as a solution to the problem of plastic waste disposal that is looming large over the State.
150 projects
As many as 150 projects from seven countries were entered for the competition, which aims at inspiring young scientists and engineers to become socially responsible through developing cost effective solutions for community problems.
Based on the projects’ impact on humanity, its innovativeness, and sustainability, a panel of judges shortlisted 20 projects from which the one by the Baselios team secured the top spot.
The project is eco-friendly and cost-effective, a press release here says.
The 1,09,500 tonnes of plastic waste generated by the State, as per 2011 figures, stagnates by the roadside or in empty plots owing to no viable disposal method. Open burning of plastic facilitates formation of dioxins and furans that are carcinogenic. Land-filling and incinerators bring with them their own hazards.
The Baselios team adopts thermo-catalytic degradation to solve the problem.
Byproducts
The byproducts are 60 per fuel gas, 30 per cent crude oil mixture, and 10 per cent solid residue made up only of carbon.
A stainless steel chamber is connected to an electric heater.
The solid plastic waste in the container upon being treated with heat transforms into vapour, which is treated to derive the by products specified.
The gas and the liquid/waxy products are separately collected.
The gas consists of methane, butane, pentane, and propane. The liquid/waxy by product maybe used as fuel or lubricants, and the solid residue collected and supplied to the printer industry or mixed with soil with no ill-effects, the release says.
The project has been mentored by Deepak B. of the Mechanical Engineering Department of the college. The prize comprises $500 and a certificate.
