Eco Carbon, Japan firm join hands

To promote Fal-G brick industry

Visakhapatnam-based Eco Carbon Private Ltd (ECPL) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan Carbon Finance Ltd (JCF) to promote Fal-G brick/block industry in the country.

As per the MoU, JCF will buy carbon credit worth $ 6 million over the next 7-9-year period. "We are convinced with the Fal-G technology and that's why have joined hands with ECPL to purchase carbon credits," Hanuhisa Kawashita, senior executive director of JCF, told mediapersons here on Tuesday.

The tie-up with Japanese firm would help ECPL develop 20 mechanised Fal-G brick/block manufacturing units with a production capacity of one lakh units a day, across the country over the next 7-9 years, N Kalidas, executive director, ECPL, said.

Fal-G is the green technology developed by the Institute for Solid Waste Research & Ecological Balance (Inswareb) for manufacture of bricks and blocks with fly ash without using thermal energy. Thus, the technology generates carbon credits to the tune of 361 tonnes per million bricks/blocks or equivalent to 1540 cum.

ECPL is promoted by N Kalidas, founder director of Inswareb, to promote the carbon credits generated through the FaL-G technology . The company also helps various industrial houses in understanding clean development mechanism and promoting qualified technologies for carbon credits.

The Japanese firm chose to buy carbon credits from FaL-G activity both from mechanised plants and micro industrial plants, Kalidas said.

To begin with, it is proposed to bundle over 20 large-scale mechanised plants, each with a capacity of 50,000 to 100,000 bricks a day, under the project. This comes to over 23,100-46,200 cu m of product a year.

According to existing estimates, about Rs 3.5 crore would be required for setting up of each plant with a capacity to produce one lakh units a day. Kalidas said JCF agreed to advance 30 per cent of the expected carbon credit revenue at the time of project construction as upfront money to promote the industry.

ECPL would submit the project design documents and complete the registration of over 20 plants by 2008.