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Investigating the Impact of Shifting the Brick Kiln Industry from Conventional to Zigzag Technology for a Sustainable Environment

Author

Listed:
  • Zain Bashir

    (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan)

  • Muhammad Amjad

    (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan)

  • Syed Farhan Raza

    (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan)

  • Shafiq Ahmad

    (Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia)

  • Mali Abdollahian

    (School of Science, College of Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, RMIT University, P.O. Box 2476, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia)

  • Muhammad Farooq

    (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan)

Abstract

The brick kiln industry is one of the largest and most highly unregulated industrial sectors in developing countries. Most of the kilns use low-quality coal as primary fuel along with small quantities of bagasse, rice husk, and wooden chips. As a result of inefficient methods of combustion in conventional brick kilns, such as fixed chimney Bull’s trench kilns (FCBTKs), harmful pollutants are emitted in high quantities, which ultimately deteriorate the environment and are widely in operation in Pakistan. The most prominent harmful pollutants include carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), black carbon (BC), and particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM 2.5 ). Over the years, new technologies have been adopted by developed countries for the reduction of environmental burdens. One of these technologies is induced draught zigzag kilns (IDZKs), or zigzag kilns (ZZKs), technology, which effectively improves the combustion across the path of bricks stacked in a zigzag pattern. For the mass adoption of this technology, environmental assessment and comparison of both technologies is a crucial step. Both types of kiln sites are investigated for the analysis of their emissions and their environmental impact in this work. Carbon mass balance equations are used for the calculation of emission factors. Collected inventory data is then used for the life cycle assessment of both types of kilns using open LCA (version 1.10.3) and the Eco-invent database. According to the study, ZZK technology outperforms FCBTK in all aspects. The analysis of the specific energy consumption (SEC) of fired bricks for each kiln type reveals that ZZKs require 30% less energy than the conventional FCBTK. This implies that ZZKs demand lesser fuel than FCBTKs. The zigzag technology adoption scenario, in particular, can lead to approximately 30% lower CO 2 emissions, which can be further reduced by up to 80% when taking into account black carbon (BC) emissions. Additionally, the adoption of zigzag technology can result in a 35% decrease in PM 2.5 emissions. The study shows that adopting ZZK technology significantly reduces impact categories, such as particulate matter formation (PMF), photochemical oxidant formation (POF), and terrestrial acidification (TA) by 63%, 93%, and 95%, respectively.

Suggested Citation

  • Zain Bashir & Muhammad Amjad & Syed Farhan Raza & Shafiq Ahmad & Mali Abdollahian & Muhammad Farooq, 2023. "Investigating the Impact of Shifting the Brick Kiln Industry from Conventional to Zigzag Technology for a Sustainable Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:10:p:8291-:d:1150906
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lin, Boqiang & Raza, Muhammad Yousaf, 2020. "Coal and economic development in Pakistan: A necessity of energy source," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
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    1. Tahir Javed Butt & Muhammad Amjad & Syed Farhan Raza & Fahid Riaz & Shafiq Ahmad & Mali Abdollahian, 2023. "Gas Leakage Identification and Prevention by Pressure Profiling for Sustainable Supply of Natural Gas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-15, September.

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