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(VEN) - The application of 9cu.m gas fired pottery kiln technology in Bat Trang ceramic village has obtained encouraging successes in production efficiency, energy conservation and the environmental protection.
Bat Trang village is famous for ceramic and pottery products. At present, there are 60 businesses and cooperatives and about 1,000 household-sized businesses which produce ceramic and pottery products. The craft earns VND296 billion per year.
In traditional technology, coal dust was used to bake ceramic products, with wood utilized to fire kilns and dry products, with electric power for daily activities and oil for product transport. The village consumes a large amount of energy. With 1,000 kilns fired per day, 800 tonnes of coal are used and 2,000 tonnes of toxic gas including CO2 (carbon dioxide), SO2 (sulfur dioxide), H2S (hydrogen sulphide) and 600 tonnes of solid wastes, tar and silica dust are eliminated into the environment. Pollution levels in the village are six times higher than the permitted level, doing serious harms to the surrounding environment, and especially the health of laborers who fire the kilns. Consuming large amounts of energy raises product prices and reduces business competitiveness and revenue.
Dao Xuan Hung, the chairman of the Bat Trang Commune People's Committee said that the village has huge potential for energy conservation if traditional technologies are replaced by modern methods. To realize this, many businesses focused on finding solutions to save energy. In the early of 2000, some businesses used gas fired ceramic kilns instead of traditional methods. Although using gas instead of coal maintains product quality and reduces the adverse impact on the environment, this technology uses a huge volume of energy, and prices therefore were raised. Businesses had many difficulties to attract buyers.
To avoid the shortcomings of gas fired kilns, at the beginning of 2001 the Bat Trang Ceramic Design and Production Joint Stock Company applied an improved gas ceramic kiln, which still used gas to fuel production but helped businesses save energy. This technology has been common internationally for a long while, however it has not been popularly used because of low efficiency and high import price. Therefore, after a time studying to improve this technology, the company successfully produced 9cu.m gas fired ceramic kilns which both makes good use of imported kilns and suits local conditions. This eco-friendly kiln produces high quality ceramic products and uses less energy. The kiln helps reduce 30 percent of energy consumption, with baking time shortened by 20-24 percent compared to traditional technology. Product quality is maintained with 98-99 percent of products successfully fired. In addition, investment capital in this technology is just 50 percent that of imported kilns. In particular, operational technology is rather simple.
Aware of the success created by the technology, since 2007 the Promoting Energy Conservation in Small and Medium Enterprises (PECSME) project has supported 119 businesses in Bat Trang village access 9cu.m gas fired ceramic kilns technology. When utilizing this technology, businesses save 23,797 tonnes of oil equivalent (TOE) and reduce CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions by 93,161 tonnes annually.
Hung affirmed that 9cu.m gas fired ceramic kilns have made significant contributions to production stability, energy conservation and the environmental protection. At present, most traditional ceramic kilns that pollute the environment have been basically removed. It is estimated that by 2012, 9cu.m gas fired ceramic kilns will completely replace traditional forms./.
By Lan Phuong
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