BHUBANESWAR: Fly ash utilization in the state has left a lot to be desired as only half of the total fly ash generated was utilized in 2010-11.
According to information provided by state energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak in the state assembly, 27 coal-based power plants generated 21.18 million tonnes of fly ash and bottom ash in the last fiscal.
Only 10.68 million tonnes of this fly ash could be utilized, meaning a utilization of 50.42 per cent.
While fly ash utilization for some of the industrial units was as high as 99 per cent, for others, it has been disappointingly low.
For Vedanta Aluminium Ltd’s captive power plant (CPP) located within the company’s alumina refinery complex at Lanjigarh, the fly ash utilization is abysmally low at 15.2 per cent.
The 75 MW CPP generated 220,593 tonnes of fly ash and 28,841 tonnes of bottom ash in 2010-11 of which only 38,000 tonnes of ash could be utilized.
In case of 420 MW coal-fired power plant of Orissa Power Generation Corporation Ltd (OPGC) situated at Banharpali near Jharsuguda, the extent of fly ash utilization was only 27.66 per cent.
Other coal-based power plants with unsatisfactory level of fly ash utilization are Nalco’s 1200 MW CPP at Angul (34.67 per cent), Vedanta Aluminium’s 1,215 MW CPP at Jharsuguda (47 per cent), Aarti Steel’s 90 MW CPP (30 per cent), Bhusan Power & Steel’s 376 MW CPP at Lapanga (35 per cent) and the 1,200 MW independent power plant of Sterlite Energy (34.48 per cent).
The CPPs of Hindalco Industries Ltd-Sambalpur (367.5 MW) and Nava Bharat Ventures Ltd-Dhenkanal (94 MW) stood at 53.77 per cent and 59.39 per cent respectively.
The 460 MW Talcher Thermal Power Station (TTPS) of National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has achieved 99.99 per cent fly ash utilization. The CPPs of other industrial units like J K Paper Mills (99.99 per cent), Shyam Metallics and Energy Ltd (99.99 per cent), Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (99.97 per cent) ACC Ltd (97.2 per cent) and JSL Ltd (98.03 per cent) and Emami Paper Mills (99 per cent) have also achieved commendable success in fly ash utilization.
