Sidhanta Das, member secretary of the SPCB, lays foundation stone of the Nalco project at the company’s Angul plant on Monday. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, March 21: The National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco), has become the first public sector undertaking in the country to implement a pilot-cum-demonstration project on carbon sequestration at its captive power plant at Angul.

Nalco’s decision to implement the project was first reported in The Telegraph on February 10.

Sidhanta Das, member secretary of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), today laid foundation stone of the carbon sequestration pilot project at the Angul plant.

Carbon sequestration is a method for managing and storing of carbon dioxide (CO2) or other forms of carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere by burning of the carbon-based fuels. The idea stems from a worldwide concern over high concentrations of atmospheric CO2 contributing to global warming. Nalco has earmarked an area of 0.18 acre for the project.

The power plants in Orissa emit huge quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere. A system would be introduced into the flue gas stream to clean the flue gas to suit the cultivation of algae. Algae, a kind of micro organism, is the most efficient photosynthetic and CO2 sequestering organism on earth and its productivity potential can be increased by supplementing with high concentrations of CO2, a characteristic not matched by plants, thus making algae more productive than any other crop. Micro-algae could achieve growth rate that is 10 times more than that of other land plants. Faster growth implies more photosynthesis and hence higher CO2 consumption. India, being in the temperate climate zone, is best suited for algae cultivation.

The algae, so produced, can be used for production of bio-fuel, poultry and cattle feed, aquaculture feed, pharmaceutical products and a kind of organic fuel having high calorific value. By successfully implementing this project Nalco can avail the benefit of carbon credits under clean development mechanism in two ways — first, through the process of carbon capturing from flue gas and second, through bio-energy and bio product genera.

Bhubaneswar, March 21: The blue chip National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), has become the first public sector undertaking in the country to implement a pilot-cum-demonstration project on Carbon Sequestration at its Captive Power Plant at Angul.

Nalco’s decision to implement the project was first reported in The Telegraph on February 10.

Sidhanta Das, Member Secretary, State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), today laid the foundation stone of the Carbon Sequestration Pilot Project at the NALCO’s CPP at Angul.

Carbon sequestration is a method for managing and storing of carbon dioxide (CO2) or other forms of Carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere by the burning of carbon-based fuels. The idea stems from a worldwide concern over high concentrations of atmospheric CO2 contributing to global warming.

Nalco has earmarked an area of 0.18 acre for the project which adopts an advanced and innovative technology provided by M/s Indo-Can Technology Solutions (ICTS), a pioneer in the area of bio-technology solutions, for providing technical consultancy and rendering necessary services to guide Nalco for successful completion of the project within 18 months.

Since Orissa has huge coal reserves, a large number of Thermal Power Plants and Industries having large power requirements are coming up in the State and this trend will continue in future. These power plants emit huge quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere. A system would be introduced into the flue gas stream to clean the flue gas to suit the cultivation of algae.

Algae, a kind of microorganism, is the most efficient photosynthetic and CO2 sequestering organism on earth and its productivity potential can be increased by supplementing with high concentrations of CO2, a characteristic not matched by plants, thus making algae more productive than any other crop. Micro-algae could achieve growth rate that is ten times more than that of other land plants. Faster growth implies more photosynthesis and hence higher CO2 consumption. India being in the temperate climate zone is best suited for algae cultivation.

The algae so produced can be used for production of bio-fuel, Poultry & Cattle feed, Aquaculture Feed, pharmaceutical products and a kind of organic fuel having high calorific value. By successfully implementing this project NALCO can avail the benefit of Carbon Credits under Clean Development Mechanism in two ways—first through the process of Carbon capturing from flue gas and secondly through Bio-Energy and bio product genera.