According to a research study conducted by Dr Saba Gul Khattak, a visiting fellow at SDPI, there are more than 10,000 brick kilns in Pakistan engaging approximately one million direct workers living and working in atrocious conditions. Social evils such as child and bonded labour, supply of unhygienic water, poor sanitation and adverse health conditions are rampant at brick kilns.
These issues need to be addressed urgently. Speaking on the occasion, Syed Mahmood Nasir, a visiting research associate at SDPI, stressed the need of exploring innovative scientific technologies to counter adverse environmental impact of kiln operations.
Brick production sector in Pakistan is still being operated on centuries old Bull Trench Kiln (BTK) technology which is fuel wasting, contributes to environmental pollution and causes considerable emission of greenhouse gases. There is, therefore, a need to start the process of exploring innovative scientific technologies to counter all this negative fallout of brick kiln operations.
Due to their unusual working conditions and exposure to polluted air and contaminated water, brick kiln workers are prone to fall prey to diseases such as hepatitis A & E, polio, dengue fever, tuberculosis, backache and hernia, which constitute a national loss, because a healthy and contented kiln workforce, aided by modern technology, can play a pivotal role in the execution of mega infrastructure projects that the government plans to undertake.
There are two important aspects of the brick kiln industry: the socio-economic and health-related issues of kiln workers who are often kept in virtual serfdom along with their families, and fuel efficiency and cost of the brick manufacturing process. Islamabad brick kiln owners had last year launched a new technology called Vertical-Shaft Brick Kiln Technology (Hi-VSBK) to enable kilns to use less energy with a lower level of air pollution.
After successful generation of Vertical-Shaft Brick Kiln Technology (Hi-VSBK) in Nepal and its successful start in Afghanistan, the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC) had commissioned Skat to transfer the 3-G-VSBK at Lohi Bher and 3-G-VSBK new Chinese brick manufacturing technology, combining with energy efficient firing of the Vertical Kiln with traditional slow cooling.
Kilns are thermally insulated chambers, or ovens, in which controlled temperature regimes are produced. They are used to burn or dry materials. The bricks to be fired are loaded into the kiln. The kiln is sealed and the internal temperature increased according to a schedule. After the firing process has been completed, both the kiln and ware are cooled.
Kiln technology is very old, and the development of kiln from a simple earthen trench filled with pots and fuel to modern methods has taken place in stages. One improvement was the construction of a firing chamber around pots with baffles and a stoking hole. This allowed heat to be conserved and used more efficiently. The use of a chimneystack improves the airflow or the "draw" of the kiln, thus burning the fuel more efficiently.
Since the advent of industrial age, kilns have been designed to utilise electricity and more refined fuels, including natural gas and propane. A majority of large industrial pottery kilns now use natural gas, as it is generally clean, efficient and easy to control.
Pakistan needs to introduce a non-polluting technology with lower energy consumption. It is also necessary to improve the working conditions of kiln workers who are subjected not only to unprecedented levels of pollution, but also to serious health hazards. Even a modest reduction in specific consumption of fuel would have a significantly positive impact on national energy scenario.
The VSBK technology can be best applied to the medium-sized brick kilns. There are several site-specific factors, ie quality of raw materials (soil and fuel) used for brick making, skills, labour cost, the quality and price of bricks and so forth.
The economic analysis of the VSBK technology, as compared to the BTK, shows that the former requires an investment about a quarter higher than that needed for the latter.
Since no infrastructure project can be executed without an efficient and cost-effective brick manufacturing industry, the government should pay greater heed to modernising brick kilns. It should also ensure that service conditions of kiln workers are brought at par with industrial workers of all sectors of the economy. The government should implement the recommendations made at the SDPI seminar in letter and in spirit.