Khurja potteries fire on LDO, RPO and piped gas: what does the cluster use, and which loan pays for a better kiln?

About 400 units fire 156 kilns mostly on LDO and rubber process oil, burning about 19,000 kL a year, with about 10 units on piped gas. Khurja is on BEE's ADEETIE ceramic cluster list, which cuts interest on an energy loan if the project saves at least 10%. A shuttle kiln upgrade clears that easily.

The cluster in TERI's 2015 profile

• About 400 units: 150 stoneware crockery, 80 electrical kit-kat fuse parts, 60 art ware, 15 insulators, 15 bone china, and smaller groups plus about 50 dependent potters.
• 156 kilns: 91 tunnel kilns of 2 to 9 tonnes a day, 60 shuttle kilns and 5 old downdraft kilns. Coal has gone with the downdraft kilns.
• A year's energy: 19,032 kL of LDO and RPO, 1.5 million scm of gas and 27.7 million kWh. Heat is 80 to 85% of a unit's energy, and energy 25 to 40% of its cost.
• RPO is cheaper than LDO, but burns with more unburnt fuel in existing burners and needs more burner maintenance.

Tunnel against shuttle: the number that matters

• A tunnel kiln uses about 4.3 MJ of fuel per kg of ware.
• A shuttle kiln uses about 15.7 MJ per kg, about 3.6 times as much, because it heats and cools the whole load and kiln each batch with no heat recovery.
• On oil, at IPCC's 74.1 kg CO2 per GJ for gas oil, that is about 0.32 kg CO2 per kg of ware in a tunnel kiln and 1.16 kg in a shuttle kiln.

Which measures clear ADEETIE's 10% bar

• Heat recovery on a shuttle kiln: about 7% saving. Short of 10% on its own.
• Lighter kiln cars in a tunnel kiln: about 3% of heat input. Kiln automation: about 3%. Each falls short alone.
• Replacing shuttle firing with a tunnel kiln, clears 10% by a wide margin. Combining heat recovery, lighter kiln furniture and controls in one project may clear it; the energy auditor's figure decides.
• ADEETIE needs Udyam registration, a loan from a bank or financial institution, and an investment grade energy audit by an empanelled auditor.

Worked example: a typical shuttle kiln unit moving its firing to a tunnel kiln

• Shuttle kiln fuel: 64 toe a year x 41.868 GJ = 2,680 GJ
• Ware fired: 2,680 GJ / 15.7 MJ per kg = about 171 t a year
• Same ware in a tunnel kiln: 171 t x 4.3 MJ per kg = 734 GJ
• Saving: 1,946 GJ, about 73% of kiln fuel, or about 54,500 L of oil
• CO2 saved: 1,946 GJ x 74.1 kg = about 144 t a year

The 64 toe is TERI's typical shuttle kiln unit. Litres use diesel's IPCC calorific value at 0.83 kg per litre; LDO is a little denser, and RPO has no IPCC default of its own, so treat both as estimates.

What Senseible does here

Before the energy audit, Senseible can turn a year of LDO, RPO, gas and power bills into the monthly baseline, each figure tied to its bill, that the auditor and the bank start from; your firing log supplies the tonnes.

• MSME green loan schemes
• ADEETIE eligible clusters
• ADEETIE interest rates
• Khurja kiln: coal to gas saving

Sources: TERI, Cluster profile: Khurja potteries (SAMEEEKSHA, 2015), BEE, ADEETIE scheme booklet (clusters, technologies, process, FAQs), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy, Tables 1.2 and 1.4

Last reviewed 2026-10-30. TERI data is from 2015. Recheck ADEETIE's cluster list and terms; a second phase is planned.