NEW DELHI: Delhi's pollution burden from industries located in various areas of NCR may reduce soon. The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Central Pollution Control Board to prepare emission standards for sulphur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) by June 30, 2017. The deadline for industries to adhere to these standards is December 2017. This is going to put an end to pollution from pet coke and furnace oil—bottom-of-the-barrel fuels widely used by industries in NCR -- experts hope.
This is the first time standards for gaseous emissions from industries will be set and are likely to be enforced nationwide.
Pet coke and FO fuels are used by industries in NCR, instead of natural gas or diesel, because they are far cheaper. In fact, FO is only marginally better than bitumen in quality. But the sulphur content in these fuels is massive—between 15,000 and 23,000 ppm for FO and 69,000 and 74,000 ppm for pet coke. Petrolor diesel currently used in BS-IV vehicles have only 50ppm sulphur, in contrast.
The SC-mandated Environment Pollution Control Authority had raised the issue of large-scale illegal use of these fuels even within Delhi. A 1996 notification of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee had mandated the use of only certain fuels in the capital — neither FO nor pet coke were on that list.
EPCA had also highlighted that India's imports of pet coke were soaring to meet industry needs. Currently, India produces some 12-13 million metric tonnes of pet coke. But till December 2017, about 11 MT of pet coke had been imported, which is more than the total imports of 2016. This, when US and China had reduced pet coke consumption drastically, EPCA pointed.
The ministry of environment, forests and climate change had, however, opposed a ban on these fuels. It had recommended that the use of these fuels be permitted in industries that have emission control mechanisms. Those that don't have such systems should be given seven months to move to natural gas, it said.
EPCA had wondered that if there were no standards for SOx and NOx, how could any industry — even those with emission control systems -- meet the norms? MoEFCC had earlier in an affidavit to SC claimed that formation of secondary particles from these fuels was not evident.
But IIT-Kanpur's source apportionment study released in 2015 pointed that gaseous pollution from various sources often transformed to sulfates and nitrates, adding to the PM2.5 pollution in Delhi. It also found that industries contributed to 52% of oxides of NOx emissions in the city.
For petroleum oil refinery, the SOx standard is 850 ppm; for NOx, it's 350 ppm. "Its a very important development, the industry is going to get standards for gaseous pollutants for the first time. Industries are a significant polluter in NCR and we hope this will minimise the use of dirty fuels," said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, head of Centre for Science and Environment's clean-air campaign.
