# Balakati's brass and bell metal units burn coal and charcoal: how is that counted?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/balakati-brass-bell-metal-cluster-coal-charcoal

As two numbers. A Balakati unit with a 25 kg crucible emits about 25 t of fossil CO2 a year from coal and power, roughly 3.4 kg per kg of brass. Its charcoal adds about 40 t of biogenic CO2, reported beside that total, not in it.

## How the cluster works

- Close to 100 artisan units, but only about 15 work through the year; each melts on roughly 50 days.
- About 141 t of plates, cups, temple bells and handicrafts a year, turned over at about Rs 9.8 crore.
- Middlemen supply brass scrap and pay a conversion rate per kg, so energy is about 11% of a unit's cost and metal 76%.
- Scrap melts in coal fired pit furnaces in 25, 34 or 50 kg crucibles, at 1,100 to 1,200 C though brass melts near 900 to 940 C. Castings are then heated on charcoal at 350 to 400 C for shaping.

## Which line each fuel goes on

- Coal: fossil, in Scope 1. About 60 to 65% of a unit's energy.
- Charcoal: its CO2 is biogenic and reported separately, outside the scope totals. The methane and nitrous oxide from the fire stay in Scope 1.
- Electricity for the blower and polishing: Scope 2, about 5% of energy.
- Some cluster studies add charcoal CO2 into one total. If a buyer compares your figure with one of those, say which way yours is counted.

## Charcoal has a hidden upstream cost

Making charcoal in kilns releases methane, which is not biogenic CO2. It sits upstream of your unit, in the charcoal you buy, and belongs in a full product footprint.

## Where the energy goes down

Melting takes about 60 MJ per kg of product. A redesigned melting furnace could save 20 to 30%, and a simple temperature indicator stops the melt being held 200 C hotter than needed. A chimney and exhaust fan also clear the furnace room.

## One 25 kg crucible unit, one year (estimate)

- Output: 60 t from 8 units, so about 7.5 t each
- Coal: 12 t x 1.76 = 21.1 t CO2; electricity: 6,300 kWh x 0.675 = 4.3 t
- Fossil total 25.4 t / 7,500 kg = 3.4 kg CO2 per kg of brass
- Charcoal: 12 t x 3.30 = 39.6 t biogenic CO2, reported separately
- Whole cluster: 239 t coal and 117,000 kWh give about 500 t fossil CO2; 215 t charcoal gives about 710 t biogenic

Fuel and output from TERI's 2016 cluster profile. Coal at India's BUR-2 factor; charcoal at the IPCC default. Brass scrap and its own footprint are not included.

## What Senseible does here

The calculators turn your coal and electricity into fossil CO2; keep the charcoal tonnes beside it as the biogenic line.

- [Carbon calculators](https://senseible.earth/calculators)
- [Charcoal and kiln methane](https://senseible.earth/answers/charcoal-kiln-methane-pig-iron-footprint)
- [Brass artware CO2 per kg](https://senseible.earth/answers/brass-artware-carbon-footprint-per-kg)

Sources: [TERI, Cluster profile report: Balakati brass industries (2016)](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/balakati-brass-Odisha.pdf), [GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (biogenic CO2 reported separately)](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-standard), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy (fuel emission factors)](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html), [CEA, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector (grid factor 0.675 kg CO2 per kWh, FY 2025-26)](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-view?mappingId=234&lang=en)

Last reviewed 2026-10-31.