UltraTech Cement, an Aditya Birla Group company, has leveraged the inland and coastal waterways to transport phosphogypsum consignment from Odisha to its plant in Gujarat.
The consignment of 57,000 tonnes of phosphogypsum was transported in a bulk cargo carrier from Paradeep Port in Odisha to the jetty of UltraTech Cement’s Gujarat Cement Works in Kovaya of Amreli district.
UltraTech has sourced the phosphogypsum from Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative and Paradeep Phosphates. Phosphogypsum is a by-product of phosphatic fertiliser plants.
Pivotal role
KC Jhanwar, Managing Director, UltraTech Cement said the cement industry plays a pivotal role in driving the circular economy through use of industrial and municipal waste in cement manufacturing.
The company’s move to use inland and coastal waterways for transport of phosphogypsum will help to further strengthen the role of the cement sector in driving the circular economy in India, he added.
UltraTech’s coastal waterway transport will address environmental challenges of phosphogypsum stockpile.
Legacy stock of phosphogypsum in India is estimated to be about 70 tonnes. Given that the total cement production in India in FY23 at 400 tonne, the cement industry has the potential to use about 16 tonne of phosphogypsum annually.
UltraTech’s move to transport phosphogypsum through inland and coastal waterways has demonstrated the use of ‘Multimodal Supply Chain’ as a cost viable and safe transport option.
The use of fertiliser industry by-product phosphogypsum in place of mineral gypsum as alternative material in cement manufacturing will help reduce dependence on mining of mineral gypsum in the country.
This will also save precious forex for India as mineral gypsum is primarily imported. UltraTech will continue to leverage inland and coastal waterways for transport of phosphogypsum from Paradeep basis the production requirements at its Gujarat Cement Works factory.
The utilisation of phosphogypsum, which is otherwise disposed of as industrial waste, has been identified as a key part of the circular economy vision enunciated by the government.