Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP)—the flagship company of the public sector Steel Authority of India ltd (SAIl) will be setting up a state-of-the-art 'Polychlorinated Biphenyls(PCB) Management Facility’ in collaboration with United Nations Development Organisation (UNIDO) and Union Ministry of Environment & Forests & Climate Change, a SAIl Press release informed.
The company has over the years implemented several measures for the conservation of environment and natural resources. One such unique initiative of SAIl-BSP to be implemented to protect environment from the toxic effects of wastes and also set a benchmark as a leader in adhering to the best practices of the world for environment protection, PCBs are a class of synthetic organic chemicals used in many industries.
These chemicals are categorized as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) under an international agreement called Stockholm Convention on managing Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
The PCB class of synthetic organic chemicals is found in transformer oils, in heat transfer and hydraulic systems, as ink solvent in carbonless copy paper, as plasticizers in paints, in adhesive, in sealants, as flame retardants and in plastics.
India is a signatory to the Stockholm Convention on POPs and is committed to destroy PCBs.
Understanding the country’s need for developing a state of the art facility for Management and disposal of PCB’s accumulated in the country, SAIl-BSP in partnership with MoEF & CC and UNIDO have initiated a project for setting-up of the above facility.
The project is being partly funded through a grant from Global Environment Facility (GEF) through UNIDO. SAIl has committed to co-finance the project by extending infrastructure facilities.
The disposal of such toxic waste would be done through Plasma Technology. This is going to be the first time that UNIDO would be sharing the technology with India. In fact, the facility would be the first of its kind in the entire South Asia region.
The facility would have two process units for the safe destruction & decontamination of PCB waste, including PCB Decontamination System and PlASCON Destruction System where the pure PCBs and other POPs shall be destroyed in the Plasma Arc system under controlled temperature conditions. PlASCON is one of the most environment friendly, safe and economical technologies able to deal with hard to destroy, hazardous and environmentally damaging substances.
The project that is going to be only one of its kind in the country will systematically dispose the PCB wastes accumulated over the years in SAIl’s units as also in other industrial establishments of the country, thereby helping the nation in fulfilling its international commitments.