Now Fly Ash - the waste of coal fired Power Stations – is converted at Mandideep near Bhopal into an environmentally friendly cement replacement also in Madhya Pradesh. Dirk India Private Ltd and the Maharashtra Fly Ash Information Center informed the state agencies involved with construction activities and the construction fraternity of Bhopal and Indore regions how they can reduce concrete cost and at the same time turn a problematic waste into a valuable commodity.
The Seminar was chaired
by the Hon. Shri Jayant Malaya (Minister of Irrigation and Environment, Government of Madhya Pradesh)
as well as
by Dr. Navrotam Mishra, Hon. Minister for Housing, Law and Judiciary, Government of Madhya Pradesh
and more than 200 Delegates from Madhya Pradesh and even from places like Singapore and other countries was addressed by the first Fellow of the Maharashtra Fly Ash Information Center, Mr. Mukund Joshi who introduced prominent speakers like
Mr. Georg Dirk, Chairman of DIRK GROUP, Dortmund, Germany
Prof. Ravindra K. Dhir O.B.E, Professor Emeritus of Dundee University, United Kingdom
Javed Shaikh, General Manager Technical Sales, Dirk India Private Ltd, Nashik, Maharashtra
The newly formed DIRK POZZOCRETE (MP) Ltd is erecting at the moment a fly ash unit at Mandideep. The plant will become operative in December 2010 and will recycle fly ash generated at Sarni Thermal Power Station.
Mr. Dirk outlined in his presentation that Sarni Thermal Power Station generates approx. 6000 mt of ash per day which up to now has been deposited in a large lagoon. This disposal route requires vast amounts of water and a large area which could be beneficially used otherwise. Mr. Dirk also stated that today around 150 million mt of this ash per year is generated all over India. As a large number of new coal fired power stations is planned to generate the energy required for India’s further admirable growth this amount of ash generated per year will increase to 200 million tons by 2020. Consequently the disposal area required in India would raise to 1000 square kilometer of arable land (1 square meter for every Indian). Georg Dirk explained that a considerable amount of this costly waste can be turned into a valuable partial cement replacement which at the same time increases the durability of the concrete. He demonstrated at the example he has set with his Nashik POZZOCRETE plant that this is a sustainable solution bringing benefits to the state, the population living in the vicinity of the lagoons and the construction industry at large. He showed that by using POZZOCRETE the price of concrete will be reduced by 20%.
Dirk’s general statements were underpinned by the internationally renowned Prof. Ravindra K. Dhir, who looks back on a lifelong research in the field of concrete technology. It took quite some time to mention only some of his credentials. Prof. Dhir received the Order of the British Empire for his excellent work in this field. His two presentations directed to civil engineers, architects, consultants and specifiers demonstrated and proved all the benefits fly ash can bring to concrete. Prof. Dhir also pointed out that these benefits require proper quality control of the used fly ash by means of quality assurance systems and he applauded Georg Dirk that he brought this to India by providing POZZOCRETE.
Mr. Javed Shaikh explained the general working of Fly Ash and the quality assurance systems applied by DIRK India and also by DIRK POZZOCRETE MP which resulted in being able to apply to their POZZOCRETE the ISI standard mark of the Bureau of Indian Standards.
Mr. Mukund Joshi who has a long practical experience in working with fly ash concrete explained the benefits of using Fly Ash concrete in road construction. India has to catch up with its road infrastructure to match international road standards. POZZOCRETE has been used world wide and in India on important road projects which resulted in vastly reduced road maintenance cost.
Outside the conference hall DIRK POZZOCRETE (MP) Ltd had parked a fleet of specially designed bulkers, rail/road bulktainers and lorries which have been put into service for this project to serve the industry without creating any dust pollution.
The conference was a very helpful to demonstrate a proven technology for this region especially as the product is now available. Mr. Satish Chauhan (Director of DIRK POZZOCRETE (MP) Ltd. gave a vote of thanks to all dignities attending and to all the speakers.
Follows the text of the Press Release issued prior to the conference:
When Georg Dirk looked for the first time at the Indian Fly Ash problem in 1998, he was amazed that nearly no fly ash was reused although the partial replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement with Fly Ash was a proven technology all over the industrialized nations. He invited the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and presented what could be done with this otherwise harmful waste of the coal fired power stations in India. The result was a 30 years contract for DIRK India Private Ltd to recycle the Fly Ash of Nashik Thermal Power station.
Since the start in 2001 a lot has happened. DIRK started to quality assure and later to process fly ash and turn it into POZZOCRETE, a branded fly ash product replacing between 35 and 70% of cement when producing structural concrete. At the same time the fly ash production in India rose from 80 million tons to 150 million tons today and is further rising to 900 million tons as a result of a large number of new coal fired power stations being built in future.
Based on the success of fly ash being turned into a reliable cement replacement by DIRK and the cement industry replacing 25% of the cement clinker by fly ash whilst producing Pozzolan Portland Cement (PPC), nearly everywhere all over India the concrete producers have accepted fly ash for their production. Today 25 million tons of Fly Ash are already used in this way as POZZOCRETE reduces the cost of concrete production by approx. 20%, increases the durability of the resulting concrete by nearly 300% and saves millions of tons of CO2 emissions caused by the cement industry when producing cement.
Unfortunately not all fly ash produced in power generation can be used in concrete. The Bureau of Indian Standards in cooperation with construction industry has published a standard describing exactly the physical and chemical properties of fly ash which can be used. Companies providing such fly ash which meets the standard are permitted to display the ISI Standard mark on their product. This is what DIRK does. This is also why many of the prominent structures erected in the Middle East and India have been utilizing POZZOCRETE in their concrete (just two examples: Burj el Khalifa, Dubai and just recently the highest building in India, India Tower, Mumbai) . Unfortunately, also many traders have approached the power generators for ash collection and sell the collected material without quality assurance. This is the very reason why until the arrival of DIRK in India, the Indian construction industry was shying away from using fly ash, as there was no certainty that such ash would be suitable to make a durable and safe concrete.
Recently the international DIRK Group has established DIRK POZZOCRETE (MP) Ltd and is just completing the first plant in Madhya Pradesh in Mandideep . This plant will recycle partly the ashes of Sarni Thermal Power Station which has been so far disposing its fly ash (approx. 6000 ts per day) into a massive fly ash lagoon. The plant is being built in stages and is expected to increase its capacity in line with the development of the fly ash market in the region.
To promote the use of fly ash DIRK Group of Companies and the Maharashtra Fly Ash Information Center are conducting a Fly Ash Seminar in Bhopal on 17th November at Noor-Us-Sabah Palace Hotel , Bhopal. Three ministers of the Government of Madhya Pradesh will be participating. The key presentation will be delivered by Prof. Ravindra Dhir O.B.E. of Dundee University UK, who is one of the world leading capacities in concrete technology. As it is in the interest of the construction industry and the Government to reduce concrete cost and increase concrete durability at the same time whilst helping the environment, DIRK Group is expecting a large number of attendees.