Industries Using Unapproved Fuels To Be Shut Down From Jan 1

The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR & Adjoining Areas (CAQM) reminded all sectors including industrial units to desist from using unapproved fuels including coal (except coal with low Sulphur in Thermal Power Plants) from New Year onwards and those found flouting the directions will face immediate shut down along with heavy environmental compensation.

The statutory directions of the Commission require the complete elimination of the use of coal and other unapproved fuels for various operations and applications across all sectors (including industrial, commercial and miscellaneous applications), from January 1, 2023, in the entire

NCR.

Statutory directions have already been issued by the Commission regarding permissible fuels for industrial, domestic, and miscellaneous applications in June 2022.

The approved fuels include Petrol (BS VI with 10 ppm Sulphur) and diesel for vehicles, hydrogen or methane for vehicular and industrial purposes and natural gas (CNG, PNG, LNG) for vehicular, Industrial and domestic purposes.

The list also includes Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), Propane, Butane and electricity for vehicular, industrial and domestic purposes. For aviation purposes, the list suggests turbine fuel and biofuels — bio-alcohols, bio-diesel, bio-gas, CBG, bio-CNG — for Industrial, Vehicular and Domestic purposes.

Firewood and Biomass briquettes are allowed only for religious purposes along with wood, bamboo and charcoal for tandoors and grills in hotels, restaurants or banquet halls and open eateries or dhabas and wood charcoal for cloth ironing.

The Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) can be used for power plants, cement plants, and Waste Energy plants. Electricity/CNG/firewood and biomass briquettes for

crematoria.

As per directions issued earlier by the Commission, fuels permissible for selective industrial applications in NCR, only beyond the jurisdiction of NCTD, include biomass or agriculture refuse and pellets or briquettes for industrial boilers, power plants, biofuel projects, cement industry, and waste-to-energy

plants.

Biomass pellets and briquettes for tandoors and grills of hotels, restaurants, and banquet halls along with mandatory emission channelisation and control systems and it is allowed also for open Eateries and dhabas. Metallurgical coke is allowed only for industrial purposes in standalone Cupola based Foundries.

Low Sulphur Fuels — LSHS, Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil and Ultra-Low Sulphur Fuel Oil — can be used for industrial purposes in metal smelting/melting/ refining/ heating furnaces and

kilns.