What is the energy use and CO2 of the Asansol refractory cluster?
TERI's 2016 profile puts Asansol's 206 refractory units at 25,063 toe a year, 98% of it kiln fuel: 35,640 t of coal and 1,800 t of petcoke, for 120,600 t of refractories at 42% of capacity. That is roughly 72,000 to 101,000 t CO2 a year, depending on the coal (estimate).
A downdraft kiln cluster
- About 200 units fire coal in round downdraft kilns, 16 to 26 ft across, on cycles of about 20 days from stacking to unloading.
- 5 units run petcoke tunnel kilns of about 20 t a day, and 1 runs a coal chamber kiln of about 25 t a day.
- Products go mostly to steel plants within 200 km: blocks, bricks, insulating bricks, ladle and roof bricks, mortars and ramming mass.
- Energy and raw materials are each about 35% of production cost.
Per unit, by kiln
- Downdraft unit: 252 t coal, 240 L diesel and 25.2 MWh a year for about 720 t; 166 toe; 9.7 GJ per tonne.
- Chamber kiln unit: 360 t coal, 600 L diesel and 60 MWh for about 1,800 t; 214 toe; 5.6 GJ per tonne.
- Tunnel kiln unit: 360 t petcoke, 1,200 L diesel and 180 MWh for about 3,600 t; 312 toe; 3.6 GJ per tonne.
- Cluster average: 8.7 GJ per tonne. The cluster totals match about 140 downdraft units firing, not all 200.
Why the coal grade moves the answer
Senseible's Indian coal factor is 1.76 kg CO2 per kg. TERI's table credits each tonne of Asansol coal with about 6,500 kcal, well above typical Indian non-coking coal, and weighed by that heat the coal CO2 is about 46% higher. Ask your coal supplier for the GCV on the test certificate; it decides which end of the range you sit at.
What TERI says cuts coal
- Size coal to 3/4 to 1 inch and feed it to the kiln's need, not in big lumps; black smoke is unburnt fuel.
- Temperature probes at three points on the crown instead of the fireman's eye.
- Insulating refractory and ceramic fibre in walls and crown, and proper dampers.
- Route a firing kiln's flue gas through the next kiln to preheat its green stack.
- Switching from downdraft to chamber kilns: about 56% less fuel; to tunnel kilns about 62%.
Asansol cluster, CO2 a year (estimate)
- Coal at Senseible's 1.76 kg per kg: 35,640 t = 62,726 t; weighed by TERI's heat (23,166 toe x 41.868 GJ x 94.6 kg) = 91,754 t
- Petcoke at the IPCC default: 1,476 toe x 41.868 GJ x 97.5 kg = 6,025 t
- Electricity: 4.49 million kWh x 0.675 = 3,031 t; diesel 40.2 kL x 2.645 = 106 t
- Total: about 71,900 to 100,900 t; per tonne fired 0.60 to 0.84 t
Unit counts, output and energy from TERI's cluster profile of Asansol refractory industries (2016). Coal by heat and petcoke at IPCC 2006 defaults for other bituminous coal and petroleum coke; Senseible holds no petcoke factor. Grid factor CEA FY 2025-26. Refractories are not CBAM goods.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads coal purchase invoices at the Indian coal factor, plus grid bills and diesel, into monthly CO2. It has no petcoke factor, so a tunnel kiln's fuel needs an outside factor such as the IPCC default shown.
Sources: TERI, Cluster profile: Asansol refractory industries (SAMEEEKSHA), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy, CEA, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector, version 22.0
Last reviewed 2026-11-01.