Energy efficient eco-friendly brass melting furnace for brassware artisans
Brassware artisans across the country are still using home based traditional coke fired furnace for melting brass and aluminum alloys which are fuel inefficient. The open top of the furnace results in direct exposure of toxic flue gases along with heavy suspended particulate matter which is a serious health hazard for the artisans as well as contributes to atmospheric pollution. Substantial zinc vapour comes out of the furnace at the end of the melting cycle, which the artisans directly inhale.
Objectives
- Development of energy efficient, less polluting brass melting furnace to increase brassware production economically.
- Development of coke based brass melting furnace of capacity 2 – 50 kg.
- Development of gas based brass melting furnace of capacity 10 – 150 kg.
- Demonstration and training programme to the artisans.
Technical Details
The furnace was constructed in such a way that the traditional working procedure remains in tack. The main features of the developed furnace are a vertical cylindrical furnace chamber made of burnt clay bricks with locally available clay mortar; a unique flue duct made of clay and bricks with a slope towards pre-heater; collection chamber for SPM and zinc from zinc vapour/volatile matters; specially designed steel fabricated pre-heater; clay lined steel top cover which is reasonably air tight having a charging/viewing port; air blower with duct/pipe, ash collecting pit with openable cover ; SPM/zinc collecting chamber with detachable top cover : melting crucible and coal/coke bed.
Achievement (Output/outcome)
The present technology has many advantages and leads to the following salient features:
- Reduced energy consumption (by 20-40%).
- Reduced melting cycle per batch (~ 20%)
- Increased productivity by ~ 25%
- Substantial reduction in atmospheric pollution (~ 70%) resulting in improvement in working environment as the operator/ artisan works at close proximity of the furnace.
The impact is through a substantial reduction in:
- Toxic gasses in exhaust
- Suspended particulate matter
- Zinc vapour resulting substantial reduction of inhalation of Zn vapour
- Cooler working ambience as the flue temp is considerably less. In traditional furnace the exit gas temperature is ~ 800oC whereas in the present developed furnace the exit gas temperature is maximum 250oC.
Impact
The CSIR-NML technology addresses all the issues of manufacturing process and the drawback of the existing traditional brass melting furnaces, which are used mainly by the brass and bell metal artisans, has been substantially minimized.
Substantial (40%) increase of average daily income of artisans. Substantial decrease of atmospheric pollution. Congenial working atmosphere.
Energy efficient brass melting furnace
