Sludge Watch ==> Sri Lanka - award winning sludge bricks - energy from wastewater too

[Maureen Reilly]

Fri, 14 December 2007 18:54:20
  LBO >> Industries
  Winning Bricks
13 December 2007 07:23:22
Sri Lanka sludge bricks win global eco award


Dec 13, 2007 (LBO) – Brandix, a top apparel group in Sri Lanka, has won an 
international award for its waste treatment process, where industrial sludge 
is made into bricks for construction, the company said.


Brandix Finishing Ltd (BFL) won a gold award at the International Green 
Apple Environmental Awards held in Britain, held by the The Green 
Organization which recognized best environmental practices of firms around 
the world.

Brandix Finishing uses the sludge from garment washing, dyeing and finishing 
which includes pumice fragments to make bricks. The bricks are being used to 
build a vocational training centre for the disabled.

"Brandix Finishing has also successfully integrated its sludge disposal 
process with the anaerobic digester of the company’s effluent treatment 
plant to produce bio gas from decomposed biological sludge and canteen food 
waste," the company said in a statement.

"This bio gas is now being used for cooking of food at the canteen and is to 
be used in firing the curing oven used in the garment finishing process in 
the near future."

The company is now working with the Agricultural Research Institute and the 
Industrial Development Board to launch a community project to make 
fertilizer from biological sludge.

"It is quite amazing to see how much value can be generated from simple 
sludge, if an effort is made,” says Brandix Group Director A. J. Johnpillai.

"The processes developed by Brandix’s environmental engineers can be a model 
for many industries that have to dispose of solid waste."

Hilary Nath, Head of Environment Management and Research at Brandix, says 
further research is underway to produce paper and roofing sheets as an 
alternative to asbestos from sludge.

Already, the conversion of sludge and canteen waste into bricks, bio gas and 
organic fertiliser has saved 7.4 million rupees a year for Brandix Finishing 
qualifying the firm for ISO 14001:2004 environmental management system 
certification.

These processes have in their initial stage accounted for 65 per cent of the 
32 tons of sludge produced each month, and will in their final stage result 
in zero disposal of sludge, the company said.


Brandix is Sri Lanka's a top apparel group with a consolidated annual 
turnover of over 320 million US dollars.


http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?newsID=67817474&no_view=1&SEARCH_TERM=17