The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Cuddalore News : Fly ash disposal a burning issue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 27, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Cuddalore

Fly ash disposal a burning issue

By Our Special Correspondent

CUDDALORE, SEPT. 26. Thermal stations in the country are saddled with the problem of fly ash disposal, and unless suitable avenues are found for its use, this would pose a big problem to the power sector. On an average, these power stations churn out 10 crore tonnes of fly ash every year.

The country has set a lofty goal of stepping up power generation by two lakh megawatts within a short period, and in such an eventuality, the fly ash accumulation might touch 20 crore tonnes.

Therefore, the challenge before the power sector is how to utilise fly ash before major environmental problems crop up. To find out the uses for fly ash, the Neyveli Lignite Corporation organised a workshop at Neyveli near here recently.

The Member-Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, K. Sanjeevi, said that 2,000 years ago the Romanians used the ash spewed out of the volcanoes as construction material, along with mortar. And such structures remained strong and sturdy and withstood the vagaries of weather.

Mr. Sanjeevi said that for protecting natural resources three strategies could be adopted: conservation, re-use and recycling.

The NLC Director (Project and Planning), A.R. Ansari, said compared with other countries, the utilisation of fly ash in India was far less.

Quoting the World Bank, he said that for dumping the fly ash, not less than 1,000 square kilometres of land was needed, and it was difficult to find such a large area.

He said fly ash could be used in laying roads and in agricultural operations.

Panel set up

The Chief Vigilance Officer, V. Narayanan, said the problem could be solved if the construction industry was determined to use fly ash blocks in the place of bricks. It was announced that the NLC had set up a committee headed by the Chief General Manager, S. Natarjan, (Rajasthan project), to coordinate the efforts on the usage of fly ash.

Guidelines

At the valedictory function, the Chairman-cum-Managing Director, S. Jayaraman, said the research and development section of the NLC had evolved certain guidelines on the utility of fly ash, and if the users come forward, the NLC would provide the necessary consultancy service to them.

The NLC Director (Mines), K.S. Anandan, said the cement companies in southern India were the pioneers in finding uses for fly ash.

Later, the participants were taken to the construction material production wing of the NLC and shown how the door and window frame blocks were being produced with fly ash.

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Fly ash disposal a burning issue