India’s Carbon Market (CCTS) and the Boiler
Under the Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, named plants have an emission-intensity target. The fossil fuel burnt in a boiler is counted; biomass is not. For most of those plants the boiler is the largest counted source, which makes fuel and efficiency compliance decisions.
You'll learn
- Know who the scheme covers
- Know what is counted and what is excluded
- Estimate a boiler’s counted CO₂ from its fuel
- Identify the boiler-side levers on intensity
Before this: GCV vs NCV, Heat balance and boiler efficiency
A target per plant
The Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, 2023 sets each covered plant a target for its greenhouse gas emission intensity — tonnes of CO₂-equivalent per tonne of product — against its own 2023–24 baseline. A plant that beats its target earns carbon credit certificates it can sell; a plant that misses it must buy certificates, or pay environmental compensation at twice their average traded price.
Coverage is by name. Plants are listed in Schedules to the target rules — 490 obligated entities across aluminum, cement, chlor-alkali, pulp and paper, refineries, petrochemicals, textiles and secondary aluminum. A plant not named has no target in this cycle.
What counts
- Counted: fossil fuel burnt in stationary equipment such as boilers — coal, lignite, petcoke, oil, gas — and grid electricity bought in.
- Not counted: biomass and biogenic fuel (reported separately), renewable energy, energy exported from the plant, and fuel sourced from waste.
- Fuel is converted from quantity and net calorific value, using BEE’s default factors or plant-specific ones from fuel analysis.
| Symbol | Meaning | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Counted emissions | t CO₂ | |
| Fuel burnt | t | |
| Net calorific value | TJ/t | |
| Emission factor | t CO₂/TJ |
- 5,000 kg/h at 10.54 kg/cm²(g), feedwater 80 °C, 7,200 h/year. Coal 4,000 kcal/kg GCV, 82% efficiency, NCV taken as 3,700 kcal/kg (illustrative). Default factor 96.1 t CO₂/TJ for other bituminous coal.
- Coal: 891 kg/h, or 6,412 t/year.
- Energy per tonne: 3,700 × 4.1868 ÷ 10⁶ = 0.0155 TJ/t.
- CO₂ per tonne of coal: 0.0155 × 96.1 = 1.49 t.
- Per year: 6,412 × 1.49 = 9,546 t CO₂.
The boiler levers
- Fuel switching: co-firing biomass on a grate or fluidized bed often needs fuel handling and feeding changes rather than a new boiler; supply, moisture and ash behavior are the real limits.
- Efficiency: taking a boiler from 80% to 84% cuts fuel by nearly 5% (1 − 80/84) before any fuel change.
- Steam demand: condensate return, working traps and insulation reduce the steam the boiler must raise for the same production.
- Measurement: plant-specific NCV from representative sampling, weighed fuel and metered steam give a defensible intensity figure.
Key takeaways
- CCTS sets named plants an emission-intensity target; missing it costs twice the certificate price.
- Fossil fuel in the boiler is counted; biomass is reported separately and not counted.
- , with BEE default or plant-specific factors.
- Levers: biomass co-firing, efficiency, lower steam demand, and good fuel measurement.