Chapter 6: Manufacturing Industries (Geography)

(a) Aluminium smelting

(b) Electronic

Production of goods in large quantities after processing raw materials into more valuable products is called manufacturing. For example, paper is made from wood, sugar from sugarcane, iron and steel from iron ore, and aluminium from bauxite. It is a secondary activity.

The production of goods in large quantities by processing raw materials into more valuable products.

Basic or key industries are those which supply their products or raw materials to manufacture other goods. Example: the iron and steel industry, whose products are used by industries making machines, tools, vehicles and many other goods. (Copper smelting and aluminium smelting are other examples.)

Industries whose products are used as raw materials by other industries, e.g. iron and steel.

Industries are responsible for four types of pollution: air, water, land and noise. Thermal power plants are also polluters.

• Air pollution: caused by a high proportion of undesirable gases such as sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide, and by particulate matter (dust, sprays, mist and smoke). Smoke is emitted by chemical and paper factories, brick kilns, refineries, smelting plants and the burning of fossil fuels. Toxic gas leaks can be very hazardous, as in the Bhopal gas tragedy. Air pollution harms human health, animals, plants, buildings and the atmosphere.
• Water pollution: caused by organic and inorganic industrial wastes and effluents discharged into rivers. Paper, pulp, chemical, textile and dyeing industries, petroleum refineries, tanneries and electroplating industries let out dyes, detergents, acids, salts and heavy metals like lead and mercury into water bodies.
• Thermal pollution: hot water from factories and thermal plants is drained into rivers and ponds before cooling, harming aquatic life.
• Land pollution: solid wastes such as fly ash, phospho-gypsum and iron and steel slags, and wastes from nuclear plants, pollute the land; soil and water pollution are closely related.
• Noise pollution: industrial and construction machinery, generators, saws and drills create noise that causes irritation, stress, hearing impairment, and increased heart rate and blood pressure.

Industries pollute air (harmful gases and smoke), water (chemical effluents, heavy metals, hot water), land (fly ash, slag and other solid wastes) and create noise.

Water:

• Minimise the use of water for processing by reusing and recycling it in two or more successive stages.
• Harvest rainwater to meet water requirements.
• Treat hot water and effluents before releasing them into rivers and ponds. Treatment can be done in three phases: (a) primary treatment by mechanical means (screening, grinding, flocculation and sedimentation); (b) secondary treatment by biological processes; (c) tertiary treatment by biological, chemical and physical processes, which involves recycling of wastewater.
• Regulate by law the overdrawing of groundwater by industry.

Air:

• Reduce particulate matter by fitting smoke stacks with electrostatic precipitators, fabric filters, scrubbers and inertial separators.
• Reduce smoke by using oil or gas instead of coal in factories.

Noise:

• Fit generators with silencers, and redesign machinery to increase energy efficiency and reduce noise; use noise-absorbing material and earplugs.

Land: dispose of solid wastes safely and use them productively (e.g. fly ash in cement and bricks). (Example: NTPC has followed a proactive approach to preserving the natural environment through optimum use of equipment, minimising waste, and providing green belts.)

Recycle and treat water before release, harvest rainwater, fit smoke stacks with precipitators and filters, use oil or gas instead of coal, fit silencers, and dispose of and reuse solid wastes safely.

(i) Power (ii) Worker (iii) Market (iv) Retailer (v) Product (vi) Manufacture (vii) Pollution

Here is an example of how to present the project.

Visit or find out about real factories in your area, and fill in the table from what you observe and what the managers tell you.

Record each industry's raw materials, transport-related inputs and whether it follows pollution control norms, as in the example table.

1. Agro-based 2. Sugarcane 3. Jute 4. Iron and steel 5. Bhilai