MOULDING SUCCESS IN GREEN FOUNDRIES THROUGH MITIGATION OF GREEN HOUSE GAS EMISSIONS ABSTRACT

D.DINESH Final Year DME(Foundry) Department of Foundry Technology PSG Polytechnic College

D.DHANYA PRASAD Final Year DME(Foundry) Department of Foundry Technology PSG Polytechnic College

Coimbatore - 641004 ddineshpsg@gmail.com

Coimbatore - 641004 prasaddp.durairaj@gmail.com

Mr.S.SIVASUBRAMANIAM Lecturer Department of Foundry Technology PSG Polytechnic College Coimbatore 641 004

s.sivasubramaniam@gmail.com

The Indian metal casting industries is a well established sector globally and also has upgraded its position in the rank of tonnage of production of castings in the world. According to the recent world census of castings India ranks as 2nd largest casting producer producing around 7.44 Million MT of various grades of castings as per International standards. It is also known that the Indian foundry industry is growing at the rate of 8-9% per year as the growth of Indias industrial infrastructure is rapid. Currently there are about 4500 foundry units in which about 80% can be bought under the category of small scale industries and 10% each as medium and large scale units. Approx there are about 500 units that are having International Quality Accreditation. The large foundries are competitive globally and are working at nearly full capacity. In India the foundry sector is one of the largest sector that employs around 1, 00,000 people directly and around 1, 50,000 people indirectly. One of the worst features of this foundry sector development is the heavy pall of the green house gases that is emitting from industries that overlay in the surrounding area. The emission contains suspended particulate matter, CO2, Oxides of sulphur etcwhich are tremendous adverse impacts on the human health, vegetation and property. Globally the steps developed to eradicate these green house gas emission is only by stop using of fossil fuels instead using of green terminated resources like solar and wind. But the foundry without the usage of fossil fuels and heat is unimaginable. The possible ways in controlling the green house gas emission form foundries is implementation of advanced manufacturing process with low pollution technology. There are many advanced process even though introduced but does not suit the small scale industries which contribute around 80% of the Indian foundry sector. Different studies were carried out in the small scale industries in and around Coimbatore based on the range of specific fuel consumption and the benchmarking CO2 emissions where compared to the emission from those industries and control process have been made by using following instruments like enhanced operation and maintenance, adoption of environmental friendly systems and by fuel switching in those foundries and its various results have been briefly discussed in this paper that helps the foundry industries for controlling the emissions and also contribute the cyclic growth.

(Keywords: Indian Foundry, Green house gas, Emission and CO2)

Introduction:
The foundry sector is globally termed as the Mother of all other industrial sector which is practised worldwide. A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. This sector in global is considered as one of the most developing sector as the need for the castings is developing day by day. In world there are about 1million small, medium and large scale foundries producing about 80,343,064 metric tons of casting produced every year. The following are the top ten countries in casting production.
Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Country Name China India USA Japan Russia Germany Brazil Korea France Italy Production Rate 35.3million tons 7.4 million tons 7.3 million tons 4.4 million tons 4.2 million tons 3.9 million tons 2.3 million tons 2.1 million tons 1.74 million tons 1.67 million tons

Bureau of Energy Efficiency have listed the top ten major industries that lies behind the emission of GHG in that foundry industry capture one of the major spot in green house gas emissions. One of the main problems that prevail in the foundry sector development is the heavy pall of the green house gases that is emitting from industries that overlay in the surrounding area. The emission contains suspended particulate matter, CO2, Oxides of sulphur etcwhich are tremendous adverse impacts on the human health, vegetation and property. Globally the steps developed to eradicate these green house gas emission is only by stop using of fossil fuels instead using of green terminated resources like solar, wind etc...

Indian Energy Sector:

Energy is the prime mover of economic growth and is vital to the sustenance of a modern economy. Future economic growth crucially depends on the long-term availability of energy from sources that are affordable, accessible and environmentally friendly. India ranks sixth in the world in total energy consumption and needs to accelerate the development of the sector to meet its growth aspirations. The country, though rich in coal and abundantly endowed with renewable energy in the form of solar, wind, hydro and bio-energy has very small hydrocarbon reserves (0.4% of the worlds reserve). India, like many other developing countries, is a net importer of energy, more than 25 percent of primary energy needs being met through imports mainly in the form of crude oil and natural gas. The rising oil import bill has been the focus of serious concerns due to the pressure it has placed on scarce foreign exchange resources and is also largely responsible for energy supply shortages. The suboptimal consumption of commercial energy adversely affects the productive sectors, which in turn hampers economic growth. If we look at the pattern of energy production, coal and oil account for 54 percent and 34 percent respectively with natural gas, hydro and nuclear contributing to the balance. In the power generation front, nearly 62 percent of power generation is from coal fired thermal power plants and 70 percent of the coal produced every year in India has been used for thermal generation.

Energy Consumption (%)

Coal 14 12 34 Hydro & Natural Source 40 Oil Nuclear

Fig: 1

Metal Casting Scenario in INDIA:

The Indian metal casting industries is a well established sector globally and also has upgraded its position in the rank of tonnage of production of castings in the world. According to the recent world census of castings India ranks as 2nd largest casting producer producing around 7.44 Million MT of various grades of castings as per International standards. It is also known that the Indian foundry industry is growing at the rate of 8-9% per year as the growth of Indias industrial infrastructure is rapid. Currently there are about 4500 foundry units in which about 80% can be bought under the category of small scale industries and 10% each as medium and large scale units. Approx there are about 500 units that are having International Quality Accreditation. The large foundries are competitive globally and are working at nearly full capacity. In India the foundry sector is one of the largest sector that employs around 1, 00,000 people directly and around 1, 50,000 people indirectly. The Indian foundry industry mainly manufactures contributes in the grey iron components and production of steel components in the second then followed by the Ductile iron, Non-Ferrous and other metals. The following pie-chart shows as the percentage share of different metal castings,

Production (%)
12 9

9 Ductile Iron Grey Iron Non-Ferrous Steel

70

(Source: IFF, Barcelona)

Fig: 2

Foundry Industry is Major Feeder to following sectors:

Automobiles & Auto Components Railways Power Sector Tractor Industry Earth Moving Machinery Pumps, Compressors, Pipes Valves & Pipe Fittings Electrical/Textile/Cement/Agro Machinery Machine Tools & Engineering Industries Sanitary Castings Engineering Exports

The following are the sector wise consumption of castings in percentage as on April 2011

Sector wise Castings Consumption (%)

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 8.11 2.05 10.92 5 3.16 8.57 2.75 8.58 5.22 0.55 4.1 8.81 32.36

Sector wise Castings Consumption (%)

(Source: IFF, Barcelona)

Fig: 3

Distribution of Energy Consumption in Various sections:

S.No
1 2 3 4 5 6

Sections
Melting Moulding & Core making Sand preparation Lighting Machining Other

Energy Consumption
70% 10% 6% 5% 5% 4%

Energy Consumption in Steel foundries:

Energy consumption and process details were collected through a questionnaire from two foundries for a period of one year. This study has been limited to fuel usage in the melting department and electrical energy consumption in various departments. A data table has been prepared using the data that is collected and is listed below.

S.No
1 2 3 4

Description
Yearly Production( tonnes) Yearly kWh Production (tonnes)/ month Power Consumption kWh/ month

Foundry-A
1224 14,15,332 102 117944.4

Foundry-B
450 7,92,924 37.5 66077

Green House Gas Emission from Foundries:

The steel foundries in India produce 880,000 metric tonnes of components every year which contributes about 12% of the Indias total production. The steel foundries in India also contribute about 20% of the total green house gases that is emitted. A case study has been carried out in

two steel foundries and the total gas emission is detailed below. In our case study we have considered mainly on the CO2 emission as they play a major role in global warming and ozone depletion.

Specific Energy Consumption & CO2 Emission:

Total amount of power consumed Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) = --------------------------------------------------Total amount of casting produced

Description
Specific Energy Consumption (kWh / tonne)

Foundry A
1156.317

Foundry B
1762.053

Specific Emission Factor = 0.890 kg CO2 per kWhr

Description
Annual CO2 emission Specific CO2 emission per ton of casting Average Specific CO2 emission per ton of casting Indias annual production Indias total CO2 emission in the sector.

Foundry A
1259.645 1.03 1.295

Foundry B
705.702 1.56

0.88 Million Tonnes (Only Steel) 1.1 Million Tonnes

The CO2 emission in the Indias foundry sector is inside the benchmark standard but not to the minimum required level. Benchmark: 0.46-1.90 kg CO2 / kg

Emission Reduction Scenarios:

The following are some of the GHG mitigation instruments, based on these instruments a brief study has been done by implementing these instruments in those foundries.

1. Enhanced operations and maintenance 2. Adoption of environmental friendly systems 3. Fuel switching

Emission Reduction through Enhanced Operation & Maintenance:

In Indian foundry sector the small scale and medium scale industry lack in good operation and maintenance or housekeeping practise. In general to say in many of the Indian foundries there is not even a department in the name of housekeeping due to a number of barriers. The introduction of the enhanced operation and maintenance is one of the important measures that could bring down the energy use and also the green house gas emission from the small and medium scale industries. For example by maintaining the foundry refractory lining, lubricating the foundry machines and electric motors, loading furnace to full loading capacity, utilisation of waste heat, avoiding leaks and providing information and necessary guidelines to the workers in self maintenance of their working area could help in reducing the usage of energy and GHG emission from the small and medium scale foundries. From the energy and various environmental audits in various industries around the globe has proven that the implementation of a good housekeeping activity or practices can bring 5-25% reduction in total energy consumption and emission depending on the current energy consumption in the foundries. Proving necessary awareness and proper guidelines to the workers and the technicians can result in 5-10% reduction in fuel consumption. Implementation of these Enhanced operations and maintenance options would help in reduction of the energy used, electricity consumption and thereby reducing the CO2 emissions. This reduction could be in a significant way as there is only a little or some initial investment cost required.

Emission Reduction through Adoption of Environmental friendly systems:

In the Indian foundry the technological improvement is the energy efficiency in the heat producing systems and in electric motors. It is proven that about 70% of the emitted CO2 can be bought down with increasing the energy efficiency in these processes. The cost of implementing this eco-friendly systems need a high initial investments and high maintenance cost.

The following are some of the recommendations that would bring up an eco-friendly foundry: Installation of waste recovery and dust extraction systems. Usage of medium frequency furnaces. Replacement of conventional cupola with cokeless cupola (general). Usage of high efficiency induction motors. Replacement of electrical machining centres with pneumatic machines. Usage of shredded scraps in the furnaces. Usage of eco-friendly lighting systems.

Emission Reduction through Fuel switching:

Fuel switching in one of the most important instrument and an option for reducing CO2 emissions. In the above study in the above foundries high GHG emissions are also due to the high usage of the carbon intensive fuels. In foundries, switching to high carbon fuels such as furnace oil and natural gas can mitigate GHG emission in a cost effective manner. Installation of solar powered lighting and hydro powered systems can eliminate the GHG emissions in lighting areas. However the option of investing in renewable energy needs detailed investigation and depends largely on the location, resource availability and demand.

Conclusions:
The GHG mitigation study clearly shows that 60-70% of the GHG emissions are from the electrical usage and other 30-40% from the fuel and improper O&M. It s also came to know that 20-25% of CO2 is emitted from the steel foundries. By following the above instruments and its recommendations the above said adverse effect can be seen in the foundries and also can reduce the GHG emission and can make foundry and its surroundings a better place to work and live in.

References:
1. AIT (2005), Green house mitigation in small and medium scale Industries of AsiaFoundry Sector, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. ISBN 97 8208 59 1. 2. Metal world (Feb 2011), Indian Foundry Sector. 3. Modern Casting (Dec 2010), 44th Census of world Casting production. 4. Dr.M.Arasu and L. Roggers Jeffrey, Energy consumption in Foundries, 58th Indian Foundry Congress (2010).