by Ashis Sinha
Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) will soon start recycling PET bottles into yarns to make fabric. The fabric would be used in making uniforms for the employees of IOCL petrol pumps.
“A DE bottling plant has been set up at our R & D Centre at Faridabad where plastic bottles would be converted into fabric, and we plan to provide the uniforms made by such fabric to all the employees of IOCL petrol pumps,” said Vibhas Kumar, Executive Director & State Head (Bihar-Jharkhand), IOCL.
Kumar was addressing to the inaugural session of 59th Annual Convention of Chemists & International Conference on Recent Trends in Chemical Sciences – 2022, organized by the Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology of IIT (ISM). The convention was organized under the aegis of the Indian Chemical Society, Kolkata.
Notably, IOCL has launched a project to recycle over 20 million waste plastic bottles per year, approximately 405 tonne, into yarn to produce polycotton fabric. This will be done by turning the bottles into yarn.
The fabric will be used to produce uniforms bearing the motto “Go Green” for the company’s 10 lakh petrol pump attendants and LPG delivery people to raise awareness about the importance of minimising waste.
An aggregator is going to collect the bottles to derive yarn, which is going to be transformed into the cotton-mixed fabric to be used for uniforms.
Speaking on the occasion, Kumar highlighted the significance of Chemical Sciences and said, “Every aspect of International Relation is affected by Chemical Science” and further went on to comment that “Those countries which are developed in chemical sciences are also now prosperous, but the biggest challenge before the industry is maintaining sustainability in production, and IOCL aims to achieve Carbon Emission neutralization by 2046,” he added.
Regarding the green initiatives of IOCL he said, “We have started a mission to produce Compressed Bio Gas through Bio Waste by establishing a plant will produce the same in several plants”
“IOCL also developed aluminum foil for batteries,” he said.
Renowned experts in Chemical Sciences from across the country gathered at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad’s Penman Auditorium to discuss a wide range of topics, including anti-cancer drug design and development, societal applications for nanomaterials, the importance of analytical chemistry in environmental analysis, and others.
They also discussed the usage of Green Hydrogen, increased use of computers & artificial intelligence in designing of chemical products and also mulled over Carbon Capturing and sequestration.
Professor G.D. Yadav, President, Indian Chemical Society, who was also present during the occasion as guest of honour emphasized on the need for the popularization of Chemistry among students in General and Chemical Engineering among Engineering students.
He also spoke at length about the history of the Indian Chemical Society, which would be entering its 100th year next year and appealed the Chemists and Chemical Engineers to donate generously for the strengthening of the society, including its infrastructure development like the pending development of it’s building since 1967.
“We must encourage research and innovation in Chemical Sciences and this can be done by translating curiosity into research,” opined Yadav and also emphasized upon the need for modernization in this regard.
Professor Rajiv Shekhar, Director, IIT (ISM), who presided over the function, emphasized the need for research and technology development for the Capture of CO2 and ways of its utilization.
He raised the issue of difficulties in the Bulk Transportation of Hydrogen, which he suggested can be solved to some extent through Ammonia but bulk Production of Ammonia is itself Problematic.
Professor Sagar Pal, Dean R&D, during its address gave details of the research at other facilities at IIT (ISM).
