# How coal-heavy are East and West Godavari refractory units, and is there a loan route?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/godavari-refractory-cluster-coal-kiln-carbon

Coal is 9,882 of the cluster's 9,940 toe, burned in downdraft kilns: roughly 40,000 t CO2 a year, about 0.64 t per tonne of refractory. Both districts are on BEE's ADEETIE list, so a loan for a kiln upgrade that saves at least 10% energy can earn interest subvention.

## 26 units, one kind of kiln

- 19 units in East Godavari and 7 in West Godavari make about 62,530 t a year, worth about Rs 36 crore.
- Almost all fire in downdraft kilns of 40 to 250 t a batch. Green ware dries in the open, so most kilns stop in the monsoon.
- Coal of 4,000 to 4,800 kcal per kg comes largely through a state quota from Singareni. Units say quota coal is poor and they burn more of it; open market coal is better but dearer.
- Energy is 40 to 45% of the cost of a tonne.

## What a unit uses

The average unit burns 380 toe of coal and 26,145 kWh a year; the range runs from 164 to 977 toe. Firing takes 6.66 GJ per tonne of product.

## The loan route, step by step

1. Check you qualify: Udyam registration and manufacturing inside the named cluster.
2. Pick the upgrade: the cluster profile points to dampers, coal sizing and feeding, kiln temperature indicators, flue gas preheating, and in time a tunnel kiln. BEE's technology list is open, so these can be proposed.
3. Build a baseline from 12 months of coal bills, electricity bills and tonnes fired, so the empanelled auditor can size a saving of 10% or more.
4. Borrow Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 crore; micro and small units get 5 points off the interest rate, medium units 3, with the net rate floored at 2%.

## Keep the saving visible

Subvention is paid each year the saving holds, so log coal per tonne fired every month. A wet season with fewer firings should not look like a lost saving.

## One unit's baseline (estimate)

- Coal: 380 toe x 10 million kcal / 4,400 kcal per kg = about 864 t
- CO2: 864 t x 1.76 = 1,520 t; 26,145 kWh x 0.675 = 18 t; total 1,538 t
- Output: 62,530 t / 26 units = about 2,405 t, so 0.64 t CO2 per tonne
- A 10% coal saving: 86 t of coal, about 152 t CO2 a year

Energy and output from the 2019-20 cluster profile; coal tonnes assume the middle of the reported heat value range. Use your own coal bills.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads twelve months of coal invoices and electricity bills into a dated baseline with CO2, the starting point an auditor needs before sizing the 10% saving.

- [MSME green loan schemes](https://senseible.earth/msme-green-loan-schemes)
- [ADEETIE interest rates](https://senseible.earth/answers/adeetie-interest-subvention-rate-msme)
- [Refractory brick CO2 per tonne](https://senseible.earth/answers/refractory-brick-carbon-footprint-per-tonne)

Sources: [TERI for BEE, Cluster profile report: East and West Godavari refractory cluster](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/East%20&%20West%20Godavari%20Cluster%20Profile.pdf), [SAMEEEKSHA, East and West Godavari refractory cluster summary](https://sameeeksha.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146&Itemid=502), [BEE, ADEETIE scheme booklet (eligible clusters and technologies)](https://beeindia.gov.in/WriteReadData/RTF1984/1772790517.pdf), [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.