Hyderabad: Pet coke, a highly polluting cheap fuel used by industries, has been given a clean chit by the TS government. “Pet coke is made from residue of petroleum refineries and contains sulphur, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide that are harmful to the air,” said B.V. Subba Rao, retired senior scientist from CSIR.
The TSPCB issued an order on October 18, stating that pet coke has been categorised as an approved fuel. Along with this order the TSPCB have issued guidelines on how stack height of the pipes and the SO2 emissions must be followed.
The Supreme Court has banned pet coke in Delhi, UP and Rajasthan. Air quality experts said that the ban must be extended to all over the country.
“Banning it in a few states is a step forward. However, proper standards must be set for companies to follow,” said Ms Anumita Roy Chowdhary, executive director, Research and Advocacy and head of the air pollution and clean transportation programme, Centre for Science and Environment.
Pet coke is usually used as fuel by cement, dye and captive power plants to generate power at a cheap rate. However, experts urged the industries to switch over to natural gas or wind energy. At present, there is no standard set for sulphur and nitrogen dioxide emissions. So, an effecting monitoring is not taking place.
The Supreme Court had pulled up the ministry of environment and had asked why the emission standards were not set for pet coke in other states. The ministry has now put up a draft order, going by which the standard may be set for 600mg/nm3 for sulphur and 300mg/nm3 for nitrogen dioxide.
