Redefining waste

ACC has embarked wholeheartedly on a new path of promoting the use of Alternate Fuel and Raw Materials (AFR). The aim is to pursue conservation of the earth’s mineral resources through waste management solutions.

Environment engineers posted at our plants implement this programme. These engineers are trained specifically for this task. Their work is steered by a special AFR team at the corporate office. The cell, (set up in August 2005), is headed by a member of top management and works under the direct stewardship of the Managing Director.

ACC’s AFR team now offers total solutions for waste management including testing, suggestions for reuse/recycle and co-processing.

The concept of co-processing is an important plank of ACC’s AFR approach.

Co-processing is the act of adapting an existing industrial process whereby certain so-called ‘waste’ materials may be put to use to serve as alternatives resources either as fuel or as alternative raw material in cement kilns, dryers and captive power plants. All this is attempted while assuring the quality of the end product and occupational health and safety of employees.

The following are some highlights of the initiatives taken by ACC’s AFR business, some of which are in association with Holcim and GTZ of Germany:

• A formal policy framework to promote the use of alternative fuels and raw materials
• Each of our cement plants has been mapped for its AFR profile.
• Installation of machinery and equipment for AFR feeding wherever required.
• AFR awareness programs are conducted in all our plants.
• Establishment of Regional Sustainable Development Federations (RSDF) in North, East and Southwest India.
• Identification of wastes generated by other industries across the country to examine the feasibility for co-processing these wastes in our kilns, dryers and captive power plants.
• Testing of hazardous waste samples to assess the scope of their usage as AFR.
• A massive Jatropha and Castor Tree Plantation scheme to plant 5 million trees in phases. The fruit and seeds of these trees serve as replacement fuel. The plantations can supply biomass equivalent to about 50,000 tons of coal over a period of four years.
• Effective lobbying and dissemination of information through articles, seminars and lectures to encourage greater acceptance of co processing as a preferred form of waste disposal as compared to incineration.
• ACC’s AFR team is working closely with Government, Central and State Pollution Control Boards to help popularize co processing of waste in cement kilns.
• ACC’s AFR team is represented on the Technical team of India’s 11th Five Year Plan which will consider AFR as a national initiative.

ACC’s new approach helps us understand that most ‘Wastes’ represent an incomplete exploitation of a resource. It is not merely seen as the substitution of fuels, recycling and elimination of waste, but more broadly as a scientific approach that enables the most efficient utilization of available resources.

Other Ongoing Initiatives in utilizing wastes

ACC pioneered the utilization of blast furnace slag, a toxic waste from steel plants, and deployed it into the cement manufacturing process to convert it to make Portland Slag Cement (PSC). Today ACC’s pioneering efforts have enabled a situation where slag is no longer treated as a waste but sold as a by-product.

ACC also utilizes another hazardous waste namely; fly ash from thermal power plants to manufacture Portland Pozzolana Cement (PPC). In December 2005, ACC was recognized and felicitated by three ministries of the Government of India (Power, Environment & Forests and Science & Technology) for registering the country’s highest utilization of fly-ash. We are proud of this achievement.

Both these varieties of cement are acknowledged as high quality blended cements that have special properties offering durability and resistance to aggressive environments, which make them superior to ordinary cements. In addition to conserving valuable mineral resources and reducing waste, the production of these blended cements helps reduce in the emission of CO2.

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