The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : 7 more gasifier crematoria to come up

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Tuesday, Jun 17, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

7 more gasifier crematoria to come up

Kannal Achuthan

Chennai Corporation has floated tenders to set up the facility at seven places

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation proposes to install gasifier crematoria in seven of the cremation grounds in the city.

The civic body floated tenders to set up the facility in the following cremation grounds: Kodungaiyur, Melpatti Ponnappa Street in Vyasarpadi, Villivakkam, Arumbakkam, Kottur, Arulayampet and Velachery. The cost of setting up a gasifier crematorium unit is about Rs. 50 lakh. At present, gasifier crematoria are available in Moolakothalam, Velangadu, Krishnampet, Mylapore and Besant Nagar cremation grounds. Work is already under way to install similar facilities in Kasimedu, MKB Nagar, Thangal, Otteri and Saidapet cremation grounds.

Resource efficient

Reports from research organisation TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) show that gasifier crematoria are more “resource-efficient”. According to a study by the TERI, electric crematoria chambers require to be heated to a temperature of 700 degree Celsius, which has to be maintained till it is put to use. This takes nearly 10 hours. For cremation, the required temperature is 800 degree Celsius, which has to be maintained over an hour.

On the other hand, gasifier crematoria use low-cost firewood as fuel. Wood chips are fed into the gasifier and the gas produced is used to light the furnace in the chamber. As a gasifier burns gas produced from wood instead of burning wood directly, it is not smoky.

Gasifier crematoria in Chennai take about an hour and a half to cremate the first body as the chamber has to heat up. Subsequent cremations take only an hour as the chamber’s bricks have enormous capacity to retain heat.

Gasifier crematoria require regular maintenance. Furnace doors need to be checked and replaced if they do not shut tight. Exhaust smoke from the cremation is treated using a ‘wet scrubber’. The smoke is passed through water to remove the soot.

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