The environment control department at Bokaro Steel is converting factory effluents to eco-friendly bricks that have also made a niche in the local market.

The department has used slag and solid waste produced in the steel factory to make steel flyash bricks, which have a better durability than the clay and shale bricks.

"The steel slag flyash bricks, which is first of its kind by any Indian steel plant, have very good compressive strength, low water absorption, high density and low shrinkage compared to red clay bricks. This has also opened up an additional route for utilization of steel slag in steel plants," said Manikant Dhan, public relation officer at BSL.

The steel flyash bricks will help in substantial utilization of steel slag and flyash from steel and power plants, which will help these industries achieve the Corporate Responsibility on Environment Protection (CREP) targets in India, added Dhan.

Ritesh Sinha, a flyash brick manufacturer, said the use of steel slag, "which we get free of cost from BSL", bring better profitability. "It is used as a replacement for cement during flyash brick production. Besides, it is very environment friendly," he said.

BSL has submitted an application for patenting the product.

'The credit for the innovation goes to CEO Anutosh Maitra and his environtment control team headed by AGM Navin Srivastava.

"BSL initiated a trial run with the help of some local flyash manufacturers. The strength of produced steel slag flyash bricks is 120 to 134 Kg/cm2 as compared to 50 to 75 Kg/cm2 for conventional red clay bricks," Dhan said.

Fuente: The Times of India