What is the energy use of the Ramgarh refractory cluster in Jharkhand?
5,218 toe a year for 34,920 t of refractories across 20 MSMEs firing downdraft kilns, by TERI's 2020-21 study for BEE. Kiln heat is 5,186 toe, over 99%; electricity for raw material processing is just 32 toe. That is about 6.3 GJ for every tonne fired.
The cluster
- 20 MSMEs, all firing downdraft kilns.
- Refractory bricks, well blocks, ladle nozzles, castables, mortar and cement.
- 34,920 t of product a year.
- Heat 5,186 toe, electricity 32 toe, about 372,000 kWh.
Which fuel: check your own invoices
The summary's text says these kilns mainly burn coal, while its table lists LDO, furnace oil, HSD and electricity; we follow the table and show both. The difference matters: the same heat from coal carries about a fifth more CO2 than from furnace oil. Your purchase invoices settle it for your kiln.
What this means for your numbers
With heat at over 99% of the energy, your power bill tells a buyer almost nothing. Kiln fuel per tonne fired is the figure that decides your footprint, and the one any saving will show up in.
The firing log a buyer can trust
- Fuel per firing: tonnes of coal by weighbridge slip, or litres of oil by dip and invoice.
- Tonnes set in the kiln and tonnes passed after firing, by product.
- Firing hours and peak temperature for each cycle.
- The month's electricity bill for crushers and mixers.
Cluster CO2 at FY 2025-26 factors (estimate)
- Heat as coal: 5,186 toe x 41.868 GJ = 217,130 GJ x 94.6 kg = about 20,540 t CO2
- Heat as furnace oil: 217,130 GJ x 77.4 kg = about 16,810 t CO2
- Electricity: 372,160 kWh x 0.675 kg = about 250 t CO2
- Total 17,060 to 20,790 t on 34,920 t = 0.49 to 0.60 t CO2 per tonne fired
Unit count, products, output and energy from SAMEEEKSHA's summary of TERI's 2020-21 study for BEE. Coal at the IPCC 2006 default for bituminous coal and oil at the default for residual fuel oil; CEA FY 2025-26 grid factor.
What Senseible does here
Senseible reads coal and furnace oil invoices and electricity bills into Scope 1 and 2 lines with CO2, at 1.76 kg per kg of Indian coal and 2.97 kg per litre of furnace oil; divide by tonnes fired for your per tonne figure.
Sources: SAMEEEKSHA, Ramgarh refractory cluster summary (TERI for BEE, 2020-21 data), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy, CEA, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector, version 22.0
Last reviewed 2026-10-31.