OREANDA-NEWS. March 22, 2011. National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), the Navratna PSU, under Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India, has become the first PSU in India by implementing a pilot-cum-demonstration project on Carbon Sequestration in its Captive Power Plant at Angul. Shri Sidhanta Das, Member Secretary, State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), Odisha, laid the foundation stone of the proposed Carbon Sequestration Pilot Project today at the Captive Power Plant of Nalco, Angul, in the presence of Shri A.K. Sharma, Director (Production), Shri K.S. Sreedhara, ED(Production), Shri P.R. Choudhury, ED(S&P), Shri D.C. Sahu, GM(Finance), Shri P.K. Pattnaik, GM(CPP), Shri A.K. Sahu, GM(H&A), Shri A.K. Joshi, GM(O&M) and other senior officials of Nalco.

Nalco has earmarked an area of 0.18 acre for the project to adopt an advanced and innovative technology by engaging the firm M/s Indo-Can Technology Solutions (ICTS), a pioneer in the area of bio-technology solutions, for providing technical consultancy and rendering necessary services to guide Nalco for successful completion of the project within 18 months.

Carbon sequestration is a method for managing and storing of carbon dioxide (CO2) or other forms of Carbon that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere by burning carbon-based fuels. It is a relatively new idea brought about by the worldwide concern that high concentrations of atmospheric CO2 contribute to global warming.

Since Orissa is having huge coal reserves, a large number of Thermal Power Plants and Industries having large power requirements are coming up in the State and this trend will continue to grow in future. These power plants emit huge quantity of CO2 to the atmosphere. In the recent Copenhagen summit India has volunteered to cut down the rate of emission of Green House Gases (GHG) by 20% by 2020.

A battery of system would be introduced into the flue gas stream to clean the flue gas to suit cultivation of algae.

Algae, a kind of microorganism, is the most efficient photosynthetic and CO2 sequestering organism on earth and its productivity potential can be increased by supplementing with high concentrations of CO2, a characteristic not matched by plants, thus making algae more productive than any other crop. Micro-algae could achieve growth rate that is ten times more than that of other land plants. Faster growth implies more photosynthesis and hence higher CO2 consumption. India being in the temperate climate zone is best suited for algae cultivation.

The algae so produced can be used for production of bio-fuel, Poultry & Cattle feed, Aquaculture Feed, pharmaceutical products and a kind of organic fuel having high calorific value. By successfully implementing this project NALCO can pursue to avail the benefit of Carbon Credits under Clean Development Mechanism in two ways (i) through the process of Carbon capturing from flue gas and (ii) also through Bio-Energy and bio product generation.