1. MOULDING SUCCESS IN GREEN FOUNDRIES
THROUGH MITIGATION OF GREEN HOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
ABSTRACT
D.DINESH
Final Year DME(Foundry)
Department of Foundry Technology
PSG Polytechnic College
Coimbatore - 641004
ddineshpsg@gmail.com
D.DHANYA PRASAD
Final Year DME(Foundry)
Department of Foundry Technology
PSG Polytechnic College
Coimbatore - 641004
prasaddp.durairaj@gmail.com
Mr.S.SIVASUBRAMANIAM
Lecturer
Department of Foundry Technology
PSG Polytechnic College
Coimbatore – 641 004
s.sivasubramaniam@gmail.com
The Indian metal casting industries is a well established sector globally and also has upgraded its position in
the rank of tonnage of production of castings in the world. According to the recent world census of castings
India ranks as 2nd largest casting producer producing around 7.44 Million MT of various grades of castings as
per International standards. It is also known that the Indian foundry industry is growing at the rate of 8-9% per
year as the growth of India’s industrial infrastructure is rapid. Currently there are about 4500 foundry units in
which about 80% can be bought under the category of small scale industries and 10% each as medium and
large scale units. Approx there are about 500 units that are having International Quality Accreditation. The
large foundries are competitive globally and are working at nearly full capacity. In India the foundry sector is
one of the largest sector that employs around 1, 00,000 people directly and around 1, 50,000 people
indirectly.
One of the worst features of this foundry sector development is the heavy pall of the green house gases that
is emitting from industries that overlay in the surrounding area. The emission contains suspended particulate
matter, CO2, Oxides of sulphur etc…which are tremendous adverse impacts on the human health, vegetation
and property. Globally the steps developed to eradicate these green house gas emission is only by stop
using of fossil fuels instead using of green terminated resources like solar and wind. But the foundry without
the usage of fossil fuels and heat is unimaginable. The possible ways in controlling the green house gas
emission form foundries is implementation of advanced manufacturing process with low pollution technology.
There are many advanced process even though introduced but does not suit the small scale industries which
contribute around 80% of the Indian foundry sector. Different studies were carried out in the small scale
industries in and around Coimbatore based on the range of specific fuel consumption and the benchmarking
CO2 emissions where compared to the emission from those industries and control process have been made
by using following instruments like enhanced operation and maintenance, adoption of environmental friendly
systems and by fuel switching in those foundries and its various results have been briefly discussed in this
paper that helps the foundry industries for controlling the emissions and also contribute the cyclic growth.
(Keywords: Indian Foundry, Green house gas, Emission and CO2)

2. Introduction:
The foundry sector is globally termed as the Mother of all other industrial sector which is practised
worldwide. A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by
melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting
after the metal has solidified as it cools. This sector in global is considered as one of the most
developing sector as the need for the castings is developing day by day.
In world there are about 1million small, medium and large scale foundries producing about
80,343,064 metric tons of casting produced every year. The following are the top ten countries in
casting production.
Rank Country Name Production Rate
1 China 35.3million tons
2 India 7.4 million tons
3 USA 7.3 million tons
4 Japan 4.4 million tons
5 Russia 4.2 million tons
6 Germany 3.9 million tons
7 Brazil 2.3 million tons
8 Korea 2.1 million tons
9 France 1.74 million tons
10 Italy 1.67 million tons
Bureau of Energy Efficiency have listed the top ten major industries that lies behind the
emission of GHG in that foundry industry capture one of the major spot in green house gas
emissions. One of the main problems that prevail in the foundry sector development is the
heavy pall of the green house gases that is emitting from industries that overlay in the
surrounding area. The emission contains suspended particulate matter, CO2, Oxides of sulphur
etc…which are tremendous adverse impacts on the human health, vegetation and property.
Globally the steps developed to eradicate these green house gas emission is only by stop
using of fossil fuels instead using of green terminated resources like solar, wind etc...

3. Indian Energy Sector:
Energy is the prime mover of economic growth and is vital to the sustenance of a modern
economy. Future economic growth crucially depends on the long-term availability of energy from
sources that are affordable, accessible and environmentally friendly.
India ranks sixth in the world in total energy consumption and needs to accelerate the
development of the sector to meet its growth aspirations. The country, though rich in coal and
abundantly endowed with renewable energy in the form of solar, wind, hydro and bio-energy
has very small hydrocarbon reserves (0.4% of the world’s reserve). India, like many other
developing countries, is a net importer of energy, more than 25 percent of primary energy needs
being met through imports mainly in the form of crude oil and natural gas. The rising oil import
bill has been the focus of serious concerns due to the pressure it has placed on scarce foreign
exchange resources and is also largely responsible for energy supply shortages. The sub-
optimal consumption of commercial energy adversely affects the productive sectors, which in
turn hampers economic growth.
If we look at the pattern of energy production, coal and oil account for 54 percent and 34
percent respectively with natural gas, hydro and nuclear contributing to the balance. In the
power generation front, nearly 62 percent of power generation is from coal fired thermal power
plants and 70 percent of the coal produced every year in India has been used for thermal
generation.
Fig: 1
40
34
12
14
Energy Consumption (%)
Coal
Oil
Nuclear
Hydro & Natural Source

4. Metal Casting Scenario in INDIA:
The Indian metal casting industries is a well established sector globally and also has upgraded
its position in the rank of tonnage of production of castings in the world. According to the recent
world census of castings India ranks as 2nd
largest casting producer producing around 7.44
Million MT of various grades of castings as per International standards. It is also known that the
Indian foundry industry is growing at the rate of 8-9% per year as the growth of India’s industrial
infrastructure is rapid. Currently there are about 4500 foundry units in which about 80% can be
bought under the category of small scale industries and 10% each as medium and large scale
units. Approx there are about 500 units that are having International Quality Accreditation. The
large foundries are competitive globally and are working at nearly full capacity. In India the
foundry sector is one of the largest sector that employs around 1, 00,000 people directly and
around 1, 50,000 people indirectly. The Indian foundry industry mainly manufactures contributes
in the grey iron components and production of steel components in the second then followed by
the Ductile iron, Non-Ferrous and other metals. The following pie-chart shows as the
percentage share of different metal castings,
(Source: IFF, Barcelona)
Fig: 2
9
70
9
12
Production (%)
Ductile Iron
Grey Iron
Non-Ferrous
Steel

5. Foundry Industry is Major Feeder to following sectors:
 Automobiles & Auto Components
 Railways
 Power Sector
 Tractor Industry
 Earth Moving Machinery
 Pumps, Compressors, Pipes Valves & Pipe Fittings
 Electrical/Textile/Cement/Agro Machinery
 Machine Tools & Engineering Industries
 Sanitary Castings
 Engineering Exports
The following are the sector wise consumption of castings in percentage as on April 2011
(Source: IFF, Barcelona)
Fig: 3
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35 32.36
8.11
2.05
5
10.92
3.16
8.57
2.75
8.58
5.22
0.55
4.1
8.81
Sector wise Castings Consumption (%)
Sector wise Castings Consumption (%)

6. Distribution of Energy Consumption in Various sections:
S.No Sections Energy Consumption
1 Melting 70%
2 Moulding & Core making 10%
3 Sand preparation 6%
4 Lighting 5%
5 Machining 5%
6 Other 4%
Energy Consumption in Steel foundries:
Energy consumption and process details were collected through a questionnaire from two
foundries for a period of one year. This study has been limited to fuel usage in the melting
department and electrical energy consumption in various departments. A data table has been
prepared using the data that is collected and is listed below.
S.No Description Foundry-A Foundry-B
1 Yearly Production( tonnes) 1224 450
2 Yearly kWh 14,15,332 7,92,924
3 Production (tonnes)/ month 102 37.5
4 Power Consumption kWh/ month 117944.4 66077
Green House Gas Emission from Foundries:
The steel foundries in India produce 880,000 metric tonnes of components every year which
contributes about 12% of the India’s total production. The steel foundries in India also contribute
about 20% of the total green house gases that is emitted. A case study has been carried out in

7. two steel foundries and the total gas emission is detailed below. In our case study we have
considered mainly on the CO2 emission as they play a major role in global warming and ozone
depletion.
Specific Energy Consumption & CO2 Emission:
Total amount of power consumed
Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) = ---------------------------------------------------
Total amount of casting produced
Description Foundry A Foundry B
Specific Energy Consumption
(kWh / tonne)
1156.317 1762.053
Specific Emission Factor = 0.890 kg CO2 per kWhr
Description Foundry A Foundry B
Annual CO2 emission 1259.645 705.702
Specific CO2 emission per ton
of casting
1.03
1.56
Average Specific CO2
emission per ton of casting
1.295
India’s annual production 0.88 Million Tonnes (Only Steel)
India’s total CO2 emission in
the sector.
1.1 Million Tonnes
The CO2 emission in the India’s foundry sector is inside the benchmark standard but not to the
minimum required level.
Benchmark: 0.46-1.90 kg CO2 / kg

8. Emission Reduction Scenarios:
The following are some of the GHG mitigation instruments, based on these instruments a brief
study has been done by implementing these instruments in those foundries.
1. Enhanced operations and maintenance
2. Adoption of environmental friendly systems
3. Fuel switching
Emission Reduction through Enhanced Operation & Maintenance:
In Indian foundry sector the small scale and medium scale industry lack in good
operation and maintenance or housekeeping practise. In general to say in many of the Indian
foundries there is not even a department in the name of housekeeping due to a number of
barriers. The introduction of the enhanced operation and maintenance is one of the important
measures that could bring down the energy use and also the green house gas emission from
the small and medium scale industries. For example by maintaining the foundry refractory lining,
lubricating the foundry machines and electric motors, loading furnace to full loading capacity,
utilisation of waste heat, avoiding leaks and providing information and necessary guidelines to
the workers in self maintenance of their working area could help in reducing the usage of energy
and GHG emission from the small and medium scale foundries.
From the energy and various environmental audits in various industries around the globe has
proven that the implementation of a good housekeeping activity or practices can bring 5-25%
reduction in total energy consumption and emission depending on the current energy
consumption in the foundries. Proving necessary awareness and proper guidelines to the
workers and the technicians can result in 5-10% reduction in fuel consumption.
Implementation of these Enhanced operations and maintenance options would help in reduction
of the energy used, electricity consumption and thereby reducing the CO2 emissions. This
reduction could be in a significant way as there is only a little or some initial investment cost
required.

9. Emission Reduction through Adoption of Environmental friendly systems:
In the Indian foundry the technological improvement is the energy efficiency in the heat
producing systems and in electric motors. It is proven that about 70% of the emitted CO2 can be
bought down with increasing the energy efficiency in these processes. The cost of implementing
this eco-friendly systems need a high initial investments and high maintenance cost.
The following are some of the recommendations that would bring up an eco-friendly foundry:
Installation of waste recovery and dust extraction systems.
Usage of medium frequency furnaces.
Replacement of conventional cupola with cokeless cupola (general).
Usage of high efficiency induction motors.
Replacement of electrical machining centres with pneumatic machines.
Usage of shredded scraps in the furnaces.
Usage of eco-friendly lighting systems.
Emission Reduction through Fuel switching:
Fuel switching in one of the most important instrument and an option for reducing CO2
emissions. In the above study in the above foundries high GHG emissions are also due to the
high usage of the carbon intensive fuels. In foundries, switching to high carbon fuels such as
furnace oil and natural gas can mitigate GHG emission in a cost effective manner. Installation of
solar powered lighting and hydro powered systems can eliminate the GHG emissions in lighting
areas.
However the option of investing in renewable energy needs detailed investigation and depends
largely on the location, resource availability and demand.

10. Conclusions:
The GHG mitigation study clearly shows that 60-70% of the GHG emissions are from the
electrical usage and other 30-40% from the fuel and improper O&M. It s also came to know that
20-25% of CO2 is emitted from the steel foundries. By following the above instruments and its
recommendations the above said adverse effect can be seen in the foundries and also can
reduce the GHG emission and can make foundry and its surroundings a better place to work
and live in.
References:
1. AIT (2005), Green house mitigation in small and medium scale Industries of Asia-
Foundry Sector, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. ISBN 97 8208 59 1.
2. Metal world (Feb 2011), Indian Foundry Sector.
3. Modern Casting (Dec 2010), 44th
Census of world Casting production.
4. Dr.M.Arasu and L. Roggers Jeffrey, Energy consumption in Foundries, 58th
Indian
Foundry Congress (2010).