A team of researchers has found that making one simple change to how an integral industry conducts business can make a mountain of difference when it comes to dangerous air pollution in Bangladesh.
As it rapidly urbanizes, Bangladesh produces about 30 million bricks per year. However, the coal-fueled kilns that fire these bricks are also a huge contributor to air pollution in a nation that consistently ranks among the most polluted, NPR reported.
A new study, summarized by NPR, discovered that making a simple change to the way bricks are arranged in kilns could increase burning efficiency by about 23% and reduce pollution by about 20%.
Normally, bricks are stacked in a firing chamber and covered with ash. Then, workers shovel in coal to firm up the bricks during firing. According to study co-author Sameer Maithel, many kiln operators pack bricks too tightly, reducing oxygen flow and making burning less efficient. He said that stacking the bricks in a zig-zag pattern — a method they tested in 276 kilns — helps increase airflow and ensures that kilns operate more efficiently.
Plus, researchers found that brick quality improved and individual kilns saved about $40,000 a year, thanks to reduced fuel use. The researchers are now working with the Bangladeshi government to expand training and get more kilns in operation with this efficient burning technique.
The new research is just one of many solutions to a growing pollution problem for communities across the globe. For instance, one team at Stanford is turning heat-trapping air pollution into stone. And a Pretoria Nestlé plant is turning its dirty fumes into baking soda.
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“It’s a hopeful story of a place where solutions are quite feasible,” study lead Nina Brooks, a global health researcher at Boston University, told NPR.
“We showed that simple, low-cost interventions can really reduce pollution,” added co-author Mahbubur Rahman.
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