PRODUCTION OF PLASTER OF PARIS USING SOLAR ENERGY

Abstract

Plaster of Paris (POP) is an important building material. Most of the units producing POP are in small scale sector. These units use wood, coal to calcine gypsum. The average consumption of wood to produce one ton of POP is 300kg. The electrical energy constitutes only 5% while rest is thermal energy. Most of POP units are situated in western Rajasthan. This region has about 300-320 days of clear sun shine. Since thermal energy has major contribution in energy mix, it makes sense to supplement the same with concentrated solar technology. Experiments were conducted to establish feasibility. A commercial parabolic concentrator of 4 sqm was used to calcine small samples (5kg) and the result show great promise. An industrial method of producing POP using commercially available solar concentrator technologies (CST) has been proposed. The payback period is observed to be of the order of 4 years.