Foundation of pot furnace being laid at site

Intervention in pot furnace
There are nearly 80 pot furnace units operating in the cluster. Taking up the challenge of fuel switch-over, the project developed and demonstrated an energy efficient NG (natural gas) fired pot furnace in a working unit at Firozabad. The demonstration plant was commissioned in February 2000. It was an instant success in terms of achieving significant reduction in energy consumption. However, the furnace had to be fine-tuned and modifications made in the various sub-systems to optimize its performance. The demo system showed significant fuel savings (56% reduction in energy consumption as compared to coal fired furnaces and around 30% as compared to conventional NG fired pot furnaces). The special features of the demonstration pot furnace are
use of waste heat recovery system (a metallic recuperator with 5-pass, made of stainless steel/mild steel) to trap heat in flue gases for preheating combustion air,
proper fuel-air mixing for optimal combustion conditions, and
prolonged life of various furnace sub-systems.

Intervention in muffle furnaces (pakai bhatti)

Demonstration Gas Fired Muffle Furnace

There are more than 700 pakai bhatties operating at various locations in Firozabad. These bhatties are highly polluting and a majority of them are located in congested residential localities in the heart of the city. Pakai bhatties are presently the largest consumers of coal—estimated to be around 100 000 tonnes per year—in Firozabad. These are very small units and are not registered under the SSI (small scale industry), hence, no clear database of this industry segment was available.

To get ideas on possible design options for energy efficient muffle furnaces, the project initially conducted a design competition by seeking concepts from various sources. Based upon the responses received, three ideas were short listed and further investigations undertaken to design optimized systems. Considering the nature of the industry and the financial capacity of the owners, it was decided that the new design should not be a major deviation from the existing design—mainly in terms of the operating practices. Hence, TERI worked closely with the muffle furnace operators/entrepreneurs and developed a NG fired pakai bhatti, which was demonstrated to the cluster in August 2001. The energy consumption was nearly 40 % less than the coal fired furnaces and there was a drastic reduction in the local air pollution, mainly due to the use of the cleaner fuel, viz., natural gas.