Significant Air Emissions

We made continous improvements in this area and ensured that emission levels not only comply with statutory norms but also achieve international benchmarks. This was achieved through adoption of cleaner technology/fuel and state-of-the-art pollution control equipment such as bagfilters/scrubber.

All our units monitor significant air emission parameters such as Particulate Matter (PM), Nitrogen Oxides (NO_x) and Sulphur Dioxide (SO₂) on a regular basis.

The increase in total emissions in 2008-09 is mainly due to significant growth in all ITC businesses together with installation of the new pulp mill, at Bhadrachalam, commissioning of a new paper machine (thereby significantly enlarging the proportion of paper in the product mix - paper requiring almost 3 times the pulp needed to manufacture the same amount of paperboards) and a large number of project activities.

However, all units made significant efforts to reduce specific emission levels. The Cigarette business has achieved significant reduction in specific PM, NO_x and SO₂ emissions in the last three years.

The leaf threshing business reduced the specific Particulates emissions from 0.62 kg to 0.50 kg per tonne of leaf processed (a reduction of 19.3%). The specific NO_x and SO₂ emissions have also been brought down by 37.7% and 56.6% respectively from the previous year.

Our Bhadrachalam unit, the largest integrated Paper/Paperboard unit in India, accounts for a significant portion of these emissions.

In 2008-09, the specific NO_x emission levels from the unit was better than the standards stipulated even in European countries.

Particulate Matter emissions from Bhadrachalam were 1.75 kg/BDMT (Bone-Dry Metric Tonne) in 2008-09, whereas large-scale Indian mills typically emit 3.8 kg/BDMT - ‘All About Paper - The life cycle of Indian Pulp and Paper Industry’, Green Rating project by The Centre for Science & Environment, 2004.

In addition to the above parameters, Bhadrachalam Unit also monitors Hydrogen Sulphide. The average measured value for the year 2008-09 was 3.41 mg/ Nm³, almost a third of the regulatory norm of 10 mg/Nm³.