January 23, 2002
'17'ENERGY CONSERVING TECHNOLOGY FROM JAPAN
VISIT OF INDIAN DELEGATION LED BY DR. RAMAN SINGH TO JAPAN
Dr. Raman Singh, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry accompanied by Shri S. Jagadeesan, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce & Industry; Shri S.J. Raina, Director General (Acting) of National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCBM), an apex R&D institution in India; and Shri A. V. Srinivasan, Secretary General of Cement Manufacturers Association of India visited Japan from 12th to 19th January, 2002 to study the emerging areas of technology in the cement and paper industry. The delegation visited the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) and M/s Kawasaki Heavy Industries Limited and MITI. During the course of the visit, the delegation finalised the details regarding transfer of the technology and gave a final seal for the transfer of the technology relating to waste heat recovery to be implemented by the Kawasaki Heavy Industries with the assistance of NEDO, in the Indian cement industry. With the implementation of the above technology, the energy consumption level in the Indian cement industry per tonne is likely to come down by 10-15% which would be a substantial reduction in view of the very high energy consumption in nearly 40 large cement industries within India. This transfer is by way of grant and the recipient industry is supposed to pay the custom duty on the value of the equipments supplied free of costs. The details regarding dissemination of this technology in the other industries were also discussed.
Shri S.J. Raina, DG, NCBM, had assured that dissemination of this technology in the other cement industries will be taken up by the NCBM with the support of the Cement Manufacturers Association whose representative Mr. Srinivasan was also present as part of the delegation. Dr. Raman Singh also assured all necessary assistance from the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion.
The delegation also met the leading Scientist and Inventor of Technology Dr. Jiro Fujimasu who has invented the chemical compound when it is mixed with cement is capable of binding all organic wastes, clays and solidifies all those materials. Fuji Beton as a product offers solution to particularly to solve the problem relating to disposal of solid wastes, chemical wastes, including municipal solid waste in the urban areas. By using the above chemical compound i.e. Fuji Beton as effective binding element, solid wastes can be converted into various value added products. It has been proposed to take up a pilot project with the assistance of M/s Thomson Company, the owners of Fuji Beton and the technical know-how, for construction of pilot project road, 500 meters in Faridabad/New Delhi.
The delegation also visited Ichihara Ecocement Corporation, Ichihara-City, Chiba, near Tokyo which manufactures Eco-cement by using incinerated ash and limestone. The ash is from the incineration plants set up based on the solid wastes of the City of Tokyo. This is a unique plant wherein the solid waste are being burnt and converted into ash and the same ash is being used in the manufacture of cement. This technology will be relevant in the Indian context particularly in cities where the cement plants are located in the vicinity of Metro-cities wherein the disposal of solid waste is a major problem in major cities like Delhi and Mumbai.
The delegation also visited the Paper industry to study the latest technology in Japan relating to recycling of the waste paper and use of non-wood fibres. They also visited the Asian Disaster Reduction Centre (ADRC), Kobe, Osaka, which can offer technologies, construction practice which will be relevant to the high-risk areas.