Pakistan embraces zig-zag technology-led brick kilns to fight air pollution.

Haji Parvez has been in the business of brick kilns for the past 16 years. He owns a brick kiln in Raiwind on the bypass of Sue-e-Asal road. For 14 years, Parvez had a traditional brick kiln that was a Fixed Chimney Bull's Trench Kiln (FCBTN) type and it was only in 2018 that he decided to convert it to the cleaner zig-zag technology.

He had his reasons for doing so. Previously, on the traditional brick kiln, Parvez couldn't enhance brick production. "The brick kiln had a maximum capacity of producing 30,000 bricks. On the other hand, through the smart zig-zag technology, I can easily enhance the production from 30,000-50,000 bricks daily."

Parvez says, "When one of my friends, Haji Islam installed the first brick kiln on zig-zag technology, I could see the benefits that he was reaping at low cost, and that motivated me to convert my kiln from traditional to zig-zag technology in 2018."

The conversion had cost Parvez over two million rupees but now the cost to convert has substantially reduced to one million. "The cost reduced as brick kiln owners engineered and introduced a fan/blower made of fiber glass that can withstand high temperatures," informs Parvez.

Difference between traditional and zig-zag technology-driven brick kiln

The real difference between the traditional Fixed Chimney Bulls Trench Kiln (FCBTK) and the zig-zag technology driven brick kiln is that in the former the placement of bricks is done in a straight pattern, whereas in the latter the bricks are placed in a zig-zag pattern. The zig-zag pattern allows to efficiently manoeuvre the air for heating purposes.

Labourers stacking bricks in a zig-zag pattern.

Furthermore, the black soot that comes out of the traditional brick kiln is due to inefficient burning of fuel, whereas, the zig-zag setting of bricks and continuous feeding of small quantities of coal improves fuel efficiency. As a result, the emitted smoke from the kilns employing zig-zag technology is white coloured and with significantly low air pollution levels. The Induced-Draught zig-zag kiln type also has a fan, which allows to control the air, thereby making the coal burning process even more efficient.

There is also a strong business case for converting to zig-zag technology. It reduces coal consumption by 20 per cent, carbon emissions by 40-60pc, produces more A-grade bricks, and brick production can be enhanced as well, says a research by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)...

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