This is how the TARA EcoKiln team provides technical and capacity building support. The team comprises marketing professionals as well as field implementations experts who take care of design and construction including firing experts, ceramic experts for soil testing and troubleshooting, moulders, masons and fire masters for on-site supervision and hands-on training.

TARA Ecokiln has tailor-made designs for the brick kilns depending on soil suitability, working habits and socio-economic conditions. There are different options available based on investment costs and features. The construction of any option takes around 45 days (in India) with an adequate number of foremen and labourers. Before the start of construction an entire bill of materials for the construction work is provided, along with a detailed day-wise work breakdown structure and scheduling of activities, so as to ensure speedy operation.

The entrepreneur is responsible for the construction work, its erection and the selection of the construction team which would work under the supervision of the TARA EcoKiln team. A master mason from TARA EcoKiln is posted at the site for the entire construction period. Frequent visits at critical intervals are made by a construction expert to monitor and review the quality.

After 15 days of the start of construction, a second ‘EcoKiln entrepreneur service package’ is handed over, which gives a detailed account of the requirements of specialised construction materials and their sources of availability. A material list for the kiln firing and operation is also included with a guide on the best practices of green brick making and quality control.

During the construction phase, support is also provided to an entrepreneur for green brick-making with internal fuel. Around 100,000 bricks are made under the supervision of competent experts to ensure benchmark operations under stable conditions. The kiln operation is started after a dry-out phase of two weeks. Bricks are loaded and unloaded continuously. A batch of 350-400 bricks should be taken out of a shaft every two hours. The second shaft is ignited only after the operation of the first shaft for two days. The initial stabilisation phase spans for a period of 15 days during which a kiln expert stays at the site for 24 hours a day. During this period only the firing is initiated and operation is stabilised.■

Pratyush Malaviya
pmalaviya@devalt.org