Tiruchirapalli (TN), June 27: India will become
free of Carbon Tetra Chloride (CTC), an ozone depleting
substance, by the year end, a NGO involved in implementing the
National CTC phase-out plan has said.
Efforts had been taken to stop complete usage of CTC,
used as a solvent and cleaning agent in various industries,
and it would be totally phased out before December 31 this
year, Susanta Deb, Field Consultant representing German NGO,
GTZ-Proklima, that is implementing the phase-out plan in the
country in coordination with the government,said.
India is a signatory to the Montreal Protocol on
Substances, an international treaty involving 193 countries
for phasing out production of ozone-depleting substances.
The Ozone Cell in the Union Ministry of Environment
and Forests is the agency coordinating the phase-out of CTC.
The Cell had put in place a regulatory frame work and national
phase-out plan to ensure domestic CTC production and imports
progressively decrease in compliance with national targets.
CTC was widely used in many industry segments for its
high solvency power, low cost and not inflammable, making it
popular in many cleaning applications for the last six or
seven decades, Deb said.
The chemical was an occupational health hazard because of
its toxic nature and absorbed by the skin, casuing cancer,
gastrointestinal and respiratory systems and supressed human
immune system, Deb said.
CTC also reduced crop yields and affects aquatic life, he
said adding its global warming potential was about 1,400 times
higher than that of carbondioxide, the primary greenhouse gas.
Within the frame work of the the Montreal Protocol,
governments of Germany and France have mandated GTZ-Proklima
to provide technical assistance to CTC consuming industries in
Indian textiles and metal cleaning sectors.
The production and consumption of CTC in the country for
non-feedstock use in 2009 was 43,636 tonnes, Deb said.
The production and consumption of CTC had been reduced
across the country step-by-step thanks to the numerous
awareness programmes taken up by the GTZ and the government.
Alternatives to CTC for use in various sectors like metal
degreasing, precision cleaning, jewellery casting, cleaning
process in oxygen systems, electrical systems, offset printing
and textile industry for stain removal, had been discovered
and details about them and application methods were being
imparted to the Indian industries, he said.
However, replacement of CTC as gas alternative to the
refrigerant segment is yet to be achieved the deadline had been
universally accepted as the end of 2013 by the global
community.
Deb was in the city recently to organise a workshop on
withdrawal of CTC in cooperation with various industrial
forums here.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, June 27, 2009, 10:40