STUDIES ON FOUNDRIES IN HOWRAH

The cast iron foundries concentrated in Howrah area of West Bengal, are the major polluting industries. Earlier investigations revealed that the emission levels for most of the foundries were much higher than the permissible limits. Most of the foundries, as reported, have appreciably reduced the pollution levels, through judicious use of appropriate raw materials, process optimization, improvement of cupola design to make them energy efficient, installation of gas cleaning units. Considering the above fact, a study was undertaken to assess the achievement made by the foundries. The pollutants were measured at inlet and outlet of pollution control devices (Venturi type wet scrubber & dry cyclone).

The results indicated that cupola being operated with divided blast principle with pollution control devices has significantly reduced the level of pollution. But still there is scope for further improvement.