The Hindu Business Line : Supply of ash from Kolaghat plant — Bengal power Corpn in talks with Guj Ambuja

WEST Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd (WBPDCL) has begun talks with Gujarat Ambuja Cement Ltd (GACL) for supplying them ash from the Kolaghat Thermal Power Station for making portland pozollona cement (ppc).

Sources said that this was part of the State-owned WBPDCL's long-term strategy to utilise the fly ash generated by the 210x6 MW KTPS located in Midnapore district. The initiative involving GACL is in line with the suggestions made by a Japanese consultancy organisation which conducted a study on fly ash utilisation for KTPS. As such, detailed project reports have been prepared for making burnt fly-ash clay bricks, fly ash lime bricks and PPC.

While a burnt fly ash brick plant has already been set up to utilise 40,000 tonnes of fly ash, as a short-term strategy, WBPDCL has also taken up some other projects to contain the fly ash problem. It may be mentioned here that under the present environment protection norms (for controlling air pollution) dispersion of respiratory particle matter has to be kept within 150 mg. This has not been the case with some of the older units of the KTPS implementation of which started in 1985 and was completed in 1993. Not all the units under KTPS conform to the stipulations (efforts are now underway to tackle this problem with installation of latest technology besides the conventional electrostatic precipitators).

These technologies, while reducing the spread of particles (like fly ash) into the air necessitate greater attention to utilisation of fly ash according to sources.

WBPDCL has already begun utilisation of its fly ash ponds for vegetation purpose with the help of the Bidhan Chandra Agricultural University. This is in addition to the efforts launched by WBPDCL jointly with the Central Fuel Research Institute at its Bakreswar Thermal Power Plant for using ash for soil improvement.

Ash is also used for railway and road embankments and for making concrete roads, sources said adding that cumulative utilisation of fly ash by KTPS has been 1.81 crore cubic metres till March 2003. The figure stands at 2.09 crore cubic metres for WBPDCL as a whole.

Pointing out that WBPDCL already exports fly ash to Bangladesh, sources said that utilising it for making PPC would open up another avenue for fly ash utilisation - one of the pressing environmental concerns before a power plant. The RPG-controlled CESC already has an agreement with GACL on PPC.

It may be mentioned here that recently WBPDCL faced some flak from the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who said that he was missing out on his Kolaghat `hilsa' fish due to the fly ash problem at KTPS which was choking the Rupnarayan river flowing closeby. He made these observations even as he gave away the joint first prize for environmental excellence in 2002 to BKTPP of WBPDCL.

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