CHATTOGRAM: Industrial black smokes - carbon and zinc-mixed air once known as environment pollutants as chimneys of steel and other metal-making factories had been emitting those regularly into the air only a decade ago, has now become forex earner.
Sources said Bangladesh has been earning $10-11 million annually for the last 8-10 years through shipments of by-products of industrial black smokes or IBS to different Asian countries annually.
The majority of the forex is earned by re-rolling steel mills in and around the port city through exporting zinc and other IBS by-products annually to China, Vietnam, Thailand and many other big and emerging economies in the continent.
Of the IBS producers, Kabir Steel Re-rolling Mill (KSRM), BSRM and Abul Khair steel mills are the main suppliers of the by-products to local exporters for shipments to those countries.
Talking with the FE recently, KSRM's Assistant General Manager Engineer Mostafa Anwar said the steel mill installed an Air Pollution Control System (APCS) in the re-rolling mill over a decade ago following a directive by the Department of Environment (DoE).
First, the APCS was set up at a cost of Tk 300 million (Tk 30 crore) in 2010 with the aim of saving the environment mainly from carbon and zinc but later it turned out to be an export item and forex earner, the official said.
CEO Meherul Karim said, "KSRM installed the most modern APCS which can arrest 100 per cent black some to save the environment. We are supplying the by-products of the Industrial Black Smoke to the exporters for shipment."
Tapon Sen Gupta, Deputy Managing Director of BSRM said, "It may be hard to believe that the black smoke emitted from the industries is being exported to different countries in the world which are fetching the country a considerable amount of foreign currency." He said the BSRM installed its APCS at a cost of Tk 30 crore in 2010.
Echoing him, Lead Trading of BSRM Kazi Kamrul Islam said, "Initially we installed the APCS to save the environment from pollution. But the system started to deliver a huge amount of ashes which became another headache for the company. We tested the ashes and found the trace of more than 50 per cent of zinc which is a valuable metal."
Officials of the two leading steel manufacturers said, they have long been exporting black smoke emitted from their melting shops and supplying those to the exporters who ship the by-products to different countries, earning foreign currency every year. The by-products of the IBS are exported to Vietnam, China, Thailand and some other countries, they said.
When stating the process of producing the by-products, a KSRM official said, the company installed APCS as per directives of the Department of Environment (DoE). "Through the APCS we arrest the contaminated smoke produced while melting scrap steels in the induction furnaces and blow it through the ducts where the magmatic dust is separated and purified air is let go to the environment," he said.
"BSRM, Abul Khair and other steel re-rolling mills also set up the APCS which are producing by-products of the Industrial Black Smoke regularly," he added.
When contacted, Chattogram Division DoE Director Mofidul Alam said, "If all industries in the city install such APCS the air pollution would be reduced to a great deal."
Exports of the by-products will open a new door to earning foreign currency which will bolster the country's economy, he added.
