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The case for wasTeBy mR. n. Ravi kumaR

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Using waste as an alternate fuel is not new – the practice is prevalent in Europe, Japan

and North America, where there is a regulatory framework in place to encourage such initiatives. in india, when UltraTech first broached the

subject of using waste, there was open disbelief that waste could be of any value, leave alone calorific value. Fearing additional air pollution, the Pollution Control Boards would not hear of it, when in fact, the use of waste as fuel has several advantages.

The common reaction to waste is to wrinkle one’s nose and wish it away. Yet UltraTech Cement has spent six years deriving value from waste by using it to fuel its growth in a sustainable manner. Today,

it is the first cement company in the world to earn carbon credits for using waste as an alternate fuel. Here’s the wealth from waste story

of Reddipalyam Cement Works the UltraTech unit in Tamil Nadu that’s walking away with well-earned carbon credits!

Reddipalyam cement team: (Standing from left) Mr. D. Anandharaj, Mr. Piramanandam, Mr. R. Sivakumar, Mr. K. Palanisamy, Mr. N. Ravikumar, Mr. V. Saravanan, Mr. Ashish Panpalia, Mr. VelMurugan, Mr. Virudhachalam, Mr. B. R. Shrivastav, Mr. R. Meenakshisundaram, Mr. Prashant Marathe, Mr. T. V. Vinodan, Mr. M. Palanisamy, Mr. S. Kalyanaraman, Mr. N. M. Agrawal and Mr. Chandan Kumar

By mR. n. Ravi kumaR

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Waste such as plastic, agro waste, tyres, etc have a high calorific value and can partially replace traditional fossil fuels and natural raw materials. This has the added advantage of reducing the associated environmental impact of finding, producing, transporting and burning these fuels. Mr. N. Ravi Kumar, Assistant Vice President, Reddipalayam Cement Works said, “it also decreases the load on landfills and incinerators and their environmental impact, such as potential groundwater pollution, methane generation and hazardous ash residues. Using waste as fuel in fact makes eminent sense from both the business and environment perspectives.”

seeing value in waste UltraTech surveyed companies around the globe and collected information in support of their case. Armed with knowledge and references, the company again started knocking on doors of the Central and State Pollution Control Board and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. it took two years of coaxing before, these government bodies agreed to witness the trials organised by UltraTech. A third-party measurement agency was appointed to measure the pollution in the entire manufacturing stream.

The first trial took place in Rajashree Cement in January-February 2005

mr. n. ravi kumar, assistant vice president, reddipalayam cement works

Using waste as fuel in fact makes eminent sense from both the business and environment perspectives.

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and continued for three weeks. The process was quite complex. it involved first measuring emissions by using only fossil fuels, then using a percentage of fossil fuels and again measuring the emissions. Gradually the percentage of alternative fuels was increased and impact on environment measured in the presence of Pollution Control Board officials.

After trials at Rajashree and Reddipalyam, conditional permission

was granted, ie, only certain wastes could be used, and that too in restricted quantities. There was still no government policy on the subject.

By then, other cement companies had joined the struggle. Finally after five years of trials, the Central Pollution Control Board issued a policy that allows burning of alternate fuels in cement kilns. The technical capability of Reddipalyam on safe disposal of the waste is so superior that the Board has mandated that the cement industry should get first priority when it comes to waste that can be burnt. This is because burning waste in incinerators leads to pollution and wastage of heat energy that can easily be tapped in place of fossil fuel in the cement plant. Moreover, the cement manufacturing process uses the residual ashes as raw material.

Process pangsThe second major hurdle was the process modification. The entire production process has been stabilised for tried-and-tested fuels.

Earning carbon credits: Men at work in Reddipalyam Cement Works

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introducing a different fuel leads to disturbance in the process with a negative impact on quality, production and even energy consumption. Experimenting with a combination of fuels is even trickier, since different alternate fuels have varying chemical composition and characteristics such as ash percentage, alkali content and harmful metals and chemicals.

Therefore the company had to keep experimenting and adjusting the chemistry of other inputs to maintain consistent quality in the output. it was a challenge for the Quality Control and Process team, but the in-house experts ensured there was no impact on the quality. The change has not happened overnight; it has taken six years of effort. But today UltraTech can use up to 15-16 types of fuels. in Tamil Nadu, a large rice

producing state, rice husk (or de-oiled rice bran) was a natural choice, given its wide availability and high calorific value. The plant also experimented with rubber tyre chips and paint sludge as alternative fuels as they have a high calorific value. These wastes are hazardous and difficult to dispose of safely.

Reddipalyam is the first Indian company to earn a “negative fuel cost” for using hazardous waste on a sustained basis. Today the unit earns

Robot-opeRated testing lab

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up to `1 crore per year as negative fuel cost.

a fresh look at wasteAfter having successfully worked with government bodies to define a policy for burning alternate fuels, the next step is to try to develop a policy on dumping of waste. in many countries, there are heavy “polluter pays” taxes and high duties for dumping wastes, so companies prefer to pay a lesser amount to industries such as cement for disposing the

waste safely as part of their process, rather than pay a heavy tax.

In the absence of such a policy in India, there is no incentive for companies to handover waste to the cement industry on a sustained basis. Such a policy will go a long way in increasing the share of alternate fuel, reducing the use of fossil fuels, lowering the waste load on the environment and reducing the country’s overall carbon impact. it’s time for yet another policy change on waste! n

Mrs. Rajashree Birla receiving The FICCI Outstanding Achievement in Environmental Sustainability of Businesses Award 2006-07 from Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 15 February, 2008 during the FICCI 80th AGM at New Delhi

(With inputs from Mr. Bimal Kumar Modi)

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Reddipalyam cement woRks

Big challenges:n Finalising the technology,

exploring the availability of different types of alternate fuels and setting up trial runs and plant scale trials, along with process and raw material changes.

nObtaining authorisation from State and Central Pollution Control Boards and other regulatory agencies for transportation and regular usage of the waste fuels.

n The variations in fuel size required reduction to acceptable levels to ensure complete combustion in the calciner itself. Modification of dump hoppers was necessary to ensure continuous and free flow of fuel to calciner.

n Preparation of special storage yard with concrete flooring, concrete walls on all three sides and roof to prevent pollution of air, water and land.

credit-worthy achievements:n Safe disposal of rubber

tire chips, agro wastes and hazardous high calorific materials such as paint sludge from automobile industry.

n Reduced 8-14 per cent of fossil fuel consumption each year over the last six years.

n First cement company in india to earn carbon credits.

n First company in india to earn negative fuel cost on sustained basis.

Getting the recipe right