Wienerberger India has gone a step further in its endeavour to achieve sustainability in production by switching to Natural Gas from conventional solid fuel for the Brick Kiln firing process at its factory operations in Kunigal, (70 kms North of Bangalore, Karnataka).
This announcement follows the commitment made by the company in December 2019 on the occasion of its 10th anniversary in India. One of the key investment plans outlined was the conversion to natural gas as a fuel to enable manufacturing of Porotherm Perforated Clay Blocks. Porotherm Smart Bricks are 60% lighter than conventional walling material, thus allowing substantial savings on structural cost due to reduction in dead load. This also allows for faster construction and ease of handling.
Wienerberger AG is consistently pursuing projects that involve converting to low-emission energy sources wherever possible. In 2020, the target has been for the production process at India to be converted from coal to natural gas in line with Wienerberger’s corporate philosophy of providing sustainable solutions to all stakeholders.
The company has already rolled out its new Sustainability Strategy 2020+, which will provide the basis for the sustainability program from 2021 onwards. Decarbonization will be one of the three central action areas.
Benefits of the conversion initiative:
*Higher fuel efficiency, reducing Carbon Monoxide emission by > 75%
*Reduction in Carbon dioxide emissions by > 40%
*Zero Particulate matter emission during firing process
*Consistent and higher quality of the fired bricks
The Kunigal factory affirms the usage of Robotics and state-of-the-art technology and has an extremely energy-efficient manufacturing processes. The factory is also highly equipped with a full-fledged in-house laboratory and product development facilities.
Elaborating on this conversion, Monnanda Appaiah, Managing Director, Wienerberger India, said, “We are extremely delighted to announce the commissioning of natural gas fuel at our Kunigal factory, which was achieved in a short period of time, despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic. This change in technology will almost eliminate the particulate matters emitted from the kiln during the firing process. We are certain that our Kunigal factory emission norms will match world class norms in emission and would be substantially better than the emission norms laid out as per the Indian environmental standards.”
The latest technology for the new installation (Gas firing) is provided by Beralmar Technologic S.A., a European company (Spain), specialized in manufacturing of firing and drying equipment for clay roof tiles and bricks.