Status of Brick Kilns Stack Emission in Kathmandu Valley of Nepal

Abstract

The study on Brick Kiln Stack Emission Monitoring in Kathmandu valley provides an overview of the current emission level from brick industries and the technologies used. Brick manufacturing is one of the main industrial activities in the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. The sector is the only coal-consuming sector in Kathmandu Valley and is also the second largest single source of air pollution after transport. A total of 110 bricks kilns exist inside the Kathmandu valley of which78 brick kilns were selected for the study. Only one brick kiln had VSBK technology while 77 brick kilns had induced draft BTK (Induced Draft) technology and this technology used Zigzag setting pattern for green brick stacking and single man Z pattern fuel feeding. Most of the induced draft BTK technologieshave been converted from natural BTK technology. Induced BTK is energy efficient and less polluting technology compared to the Natural draft kilns. A majority of kilns were using coal and agriculture residue as a fuel. Most of the brick kilns did not have any recorded information and a majority of the workers were unskilled. Stack emission and fugitive dust emission were the major issues of air pollutions. None of the kilns had any pollution control device and wind breaking wall. The average Suspended Particulate Matters (SPM) concentration was found to be 270.08 mg/Nm3 in BTK and 146.1 mg/Nm3 in VSBK which are within the limit of emission standards of Nepal. Although the kilns visited meet the national standards and black smoke was seen in the chimney during coal firing. The presence of black smoke indicates that the national standard set by Government is lenient and needs to be more stringent to compel the industries to be more environment friendly. How to cite this article: Sah DP, Chaudhary S, Shakya R et al. Status of Brick Kilns Stack Emission in Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. J Adv Res Civil Envi Engr 2019; 6(3&4): 1-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2393.8307.201906