Inauguration of the mixing site of Decanter Sludge to Blended Coal through Conveyor Y-21 at Coke Ovens of SAIL- Bokaro Steel Plant was done by ED (Works) B K Tiwari on 22nd July. Other officials present were CGM (Services) Anil Kumar, CGM (Mech) V.K. Singh, CGM (COBPP) Rakesh Kumar, GM (ECD) N.P Srivastava and other officials of Coke Ovens & By Product Plant. ED (Works) Tiwari lauded the efforts of COBPP & Environment Control Departments for converting Waste into Wealth & urged other departments for taking similar Waste utilization initiatives.

Tar decanter sludge (TDS) is a sticky hazardous waste generated as a by-product of Tar separation from Coke Oven Gas produced during carbonization in Coke Oven Batteries. For many years, TDS was buried in authorized land-fills near the By Product Plant. However, because of the ballooning costs associated with an environmentally acceptable burial under current standards, attention was shifted on utilizing TDS as a resource material instead.

The team led by CGM (COBPP) Rakesh Kumar & AGM (BPP) RN Pradhan, initiated the project of use of Tar Decanter Sludge (TDS) as an additive to the coal charged to the Coke Oven Batteries as a feedstock for making higher-value products with lower cost. The mixing of sludge with blended coal is being done for making a bed of blended coal & dropping of sludge onto it prior to mixing with the help of JCB/Payloader. This dry mixture is then transferred to the feeding circuit of the coal handling plant through an in-house developed conveyor belt. It is noteworthy that the use of TDS as an additive to the coal has resulted in monetary savings to the tune of around Rs 5.67 Crores/Annum.  Over and above the monetary benefits, the system is ensuring complete recycling of the sludge and thereby removing an important environmental pollution problem under the waste to wealth scheme.