Malco develops additive to cement industries

Malco's R&D department has converted redmud, a by-product from its alumina refinery, into a revenue-yielding additive to cement industries.

Branded as Ferral, the company has already started selling redmud to cement manufacturing units including Madras cement, Chettinad Cement and Pennar Cement.

The output of Ferral during the 2006-07 year was to the tune of 1.5 lakh tonne, Rathi said.

Addressing the representatives of cement industries and pollution control authorities at a meeting held by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here recently, he said Malco, in association with the The Energy Research Institute, Delhi (TERI) and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, had explored the possibility of using Ferral as a catalyst to reduce pollutant contents in the general atmosphere.

Ferral, with its rich contents of ferrous oxide, aluminium oxide and silicon, has found yet another application as a pigment in paint manufacturing and as an ingredient in water treatment processing, he said.