Cement companies planning units to be asked to use 25 per cent fly ash

The cement companies, which have signed MoUs with the Orissa government, for setting up of cement units in the state, will be asked to utilise 25 percent of the fly ash generated by them in various forms.

This will be a mandatory condition for them and the Orissa government is likely to take a decision in this regard in next couple of months, said the sources.

Though the state government had set up a mission for effective utilisation of fly ash and blast furnace slag (BFS) in 2006, the achievement in this regard has not been very encouraging in this regard.

As a measure to promote the use of fly ash or BFS, the state government is working on an action plan to encourage the use of fly ash in brick factory, civil construction and cement plants. The action plan seeks to identify the potential fly ash generating industries, create awareness about the utilisation of fly ash and provide technological support to the units.

The state government is also planning to put in place a monitoring mechanism to oversee the promotion of fly ash use in the state in next 2 to 3 months. It intends to promote its use both at the state and the district level. The Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR), 2007 also provides for according priority sector status to the industries utilising 25 percent of the fly ash and BFS generated by it.

The issue has drawn the attention of the state government as additional 5 million tonne of flyash are likely to be generated by the thermal power plants which have signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Orissa government for setting up power plants. Accordingly, the state government has set in motion a process to assess the fly ash generation by different industries in future.

Sources said, once the Captive Power Plants (CPPs) and all the MoU signing power companies commission their projects in the state, the total fly ash generation may increase to 17 million tonne per annum from 12 million tonne at present.

While 7 industries like National Aluminium Company Ltd. (Nalco), IB Thermal power plant, Indian Charge Chrome Ltd (ICCL) and Natioanl Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Kaniha generated fly ash of 12.175 million tonne per annum, only 25.3 percent (3081825 tonne) of this was used for various purposes.

Similarly, once the 21 major steel projects start production in Orissa, the generation of blast furnace slag (BFS) is also likely to increase to 1.86 million tonne from about 1.4 million tonne at present,

In this context, the state government has decided to start training programme at the district level to promote the use of the fly ash. Similarly, the testing centre of the directorate of export promotion and marketing (EPM) will be utilised fot testing of fly ash. Besides, the Orissa State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) will come out with guidelines about the use of fly ash in the state, sources added.