The Indian government has clarified that there is no proposal to completely ban the use of petroleum coke throughout the country for industrial sectors, Minister of state for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Mahesh Sharma said Friday.
The Supreme Court of India imposed a ban on the use of petcoke and furnace oil on October 24 in three neighboring states of the national capital region, the minister said in a reply to a question in parliament.
Various categories of industries, such as cement, thermal power plants, fertilizers, nitric acid, lime kiln, ceramic, glass, foundry, reheating furnaces, calcium carbide, aluminium, boiler-based industries and others were using pet coke and furnace oil for various purposes including as fuel, Sharma said.
Since the ban has been imposed only recently, its impact has yet to be assessed, he said.
The monitoring and compliance after the ban is being ensured through state pollution control boards in the respective states, he added.
In addition, the Supreme Court has permitted cement units to use petcoke in the three north Indian states of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from setting the environmental standards for industries using petcoke as fuel, the ministry has issued a draft notification, inviting public suggestions, to lay down emission standards for industrial boilers that use petcoke and petcoke blend, Sharma said.
