Page 132 - CW E-Magazine (29-7-2025)

Top Stories

customers across the United States. This our long-term commitment to the plastics, personal care products, animal
strategic expansion not only streng- region,” the company informed. nutrition, inks, coatings and other sectors.
thens supply security but also elevates the
level of service for our US customers,” Fine Organics is a leading manufac- The company operates manufac-
said Fine Organic’s Chairman Mukesh turer of bio-based specialty ingredients turing facilities in India, Malaysia and
Shah. “The site will also help us capture and additives, derived from vegetable Thailand, as well as sales offi ces in the
new growth opportunities and reinforce oils and oleochemicals, used in foods, US and Europe.

TECHNICAL TEXTILE PRODUCT
BPCL and CSIR-CRRI team up to develop technology

to use mixed waste plastic in road construction

Bharat Petroleum Corporation
Ltd. (BPCL), in collaboration with the
CSIR-Central Road Research Institute
(CRRI), New Delhi, has developed an
innovative technical textile product
called Geocell, designed to repurpose
end-of-life and mixed waste plastics for
use in road infrastructure.

The Geocell technology, which
addresses the complexities of unsegre-
gated municipal waste, especially
multi-layered plastics (MLP), has been
successfully tested in plant trials con-
ducted in partnership with Tata Projects.
These trials demonstrated the technical
and economic viability of using such or unstable terrains. The modular nature “Upon successful validation,
plastics in infrastructure applications, allows for easy deployment across this approach may lead to increased
particularly in road construction. varied topographies, making it especially application of waste plastic in the
suited to the country’s climate-sensitive future,” said Chandrasekhar N., Head
The technology was taken from the and fl ood-prone zones. of R&D, BPCL. By integrating plastic
lab to the fi eld with the inauguration of into roads, the technology offers a dual
a fi eld trial on a stretch of the DND – The test site used approximately 25 benefi t: enhancing road performance
Faridabad – KMP Expressway in New tonnes of recycled plastic, marking one and diverting tonnes of plastic from
Delhi on July 11, 2025. of the largest-scale demonstrations of landfi lls.
plastic reuse in Indian road construc-
The initiative also marked India’s tion. Scientists from CRRI stated that A joint patent application has been
fi rst application of technical textiles the fi eld trials showed no cracking or fi led for the innovation, and a live trial
made entirely from post-consumer deformation during load testing, with with the Military Engineering Services
plastic waste for public road infrastruc- the Geocell structure maintaining its (MES) is scheduled for August.
ture. integrity even under pressure.
The trial will be used to demonstrate
The Geocell modules, when fi lled “The cells are manufactured the effi cacy of the technology in high-
with granular sub-base material like through mechanical recycling methods stress and remote terrain locations,
soil or construction waste, can serve as and formed into modules with thick- with the goal of making it a mainstream
road foundations with enhanced load- nesses between 4mm and 8mm,” ex- solution for rural and border road
bearing capacity, particularly in hilly plained a senior CRRI offi cial. infrastructure.

132 Chemical Weekly July 29, 2025

Contents Index to Advertisers Index to Products Advertised