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

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/khurja-pottery-cluster-fuels-and-green-loan-route

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](https://senseible.earth/msme-green-loan-schemes)
- [ADEETIE eligible clusters](https://senseible.earth/answers/adeetie-eligible-clusters-list)
- [ADEETIE interest rates](https://senseible.earth/answers/adeetie-interest-subvention-rate-msme)
- [Khurja kiln: coal to gas saving](https://senseible.earth/answers/khurja-pottery-coal-to-gas-saving)

Sources: [TERI, Cluster profile: Khurja potteries (SAMEEEKSHA, 2015)](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/Khurja_Potteries_Uttar_Pradesh.pdf), [BEE, ADEETIE scheme booklet (clusters, technologies, process, FAQs)](https://beeindia.gov.in/WriteReadData/RTF1984/1772790517.pdf), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy, Tables 1.2 and 1.4](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html)

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