The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Halon phase-out, a success story in India

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 05, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Halon phase-out, a success story in India

Special Correspondent

Bureau of Indian Standards has formulated 13 standards for alternative technologies The Ozone Cell under the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has formulated a national programme to implement all measures for regulating, controlling and ultimately phasing out ODS.

CHENNAI: India is scripting a success story in phasing out ozone-depleting halons, speakers at a conference on "Halon Phase Out," organised by the Bureau of Indian Standards, said here on Tuesday.

Ever since India became a signatory to the 1992 Montreal Protocol, which mandates the phasing out of ozone-depleting substances (ODS), the BIS has formulated 13 standards for halon-alternative technologies. The technical committees have updated 26 more standards, J.C. Arora, director and head of Civil Engineering Department, BIS, New Delhi, said. As per the protocol, India has to achieve total phase-out by 2010.

Halons, a derivative of chloro-fluorocarbons, are found in aerosol products, pressurised dispensers, domestic refrigerators, air conditioners and fire extinguishers. Once released into the atmospheric, they have a long "shelf-life," causing ozone layer depletion and eventually global warming, he said.

Limited use

India stopped production of halons in 1998. Only limited use is permitted for critical applications, said H.S. Kaprwan, National Project Director, United Nations Development Programme, the international implementing agency. All national standards were prepared well in time, a "first in developed countries."

In fire extinguishing systems, new halon alternatives such as carbon dioxide, heptafluropropane, argonite, inergen, HFC 23, triodide, water mist, pyrotechnic aerosols and fluro ketones have been identified.

Several developed countries have already phased out ODS and the developing countries are not far behind, said V. Kalyanasunderam, Deputy Director-General, Southern Region, BIS. The Defence Institute of Fire Research, the executing agency of the project, has constituted a Halon Alternative Option Committee for phasing out halons in fire safety and the BIS is actively involved. The formulation of new standards has been done within two years. Standardisation is a dynamic activity and efforts will continue to maintain contemporariness in fire protection strategies.

Delegates from the Fire Services department, public and private sector undertakings, banks and hospitals attended.

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