Intelligent Mixing of Manpower and Automation

Tiding over ‘Rule 9’ Inhibitions

Waste produced in one industry can be a resource to another industry. Dr Mritunjay Chaubey,Global Vice President & Head – Sustainability, UPL Limited shares his experiences of working with hazardous waste generated during and after production. “Solid waste generated through ETP (Efficient Treatment Plant) is considered harmful and hazardous. It needs to be disposed of as per the norms of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) regulations. Even if there is a consideration for reusing and recycling hazardous waste of one industry into another, regulations need to be obeyed in specific and the waste too has to be disposed of at the landfill, if it is so specified.”

Is recycling pH neutral waste to bricks a better solution than leaving it to add to the landfill?

Making bricks and using them is feasible for any manufacturing plant, following environmental clearance and the CTO (Consent to Operate) from the State Pollution Control Board, if the waste generated is hazardous. The SPCB checks if the brick from recyclable waste has an adverse impact on the user or causes harm to the environment, before considering approval.

What kind of waste is used in a chemical production facility?

Chemical companies use a lot of raw materials which are waste to other similar manufacturing units. In fact, chemical companies can use hazardous solid waste. This procedure was being used about six years ago but now it has become restricted. Under rule 9, if you want to use any waste from another industry or if you want to dispatch your waste elsewhere, an SOP needs to be prepared and demonstrated jointly to the CPCB and SPCB. Currently, about 60-70% of the total waste generated is utilized in the cement industry.

What is your take on a sustainable production facility, net-zero-carbon emissions and waste reduction?

Reducing water usage, carbon emissions, and waste are required in order to make an industrial manufacturing plant sustainable. All three require different strategies.

Net zero is centred on carbon emission and industries are currently struggling to achieve this. The main issue is cost economics as all fossil fuels have to be replaced with renewable or alternative energy sources. Industry is committing to power purchase agreements with the hope that innovation and technology will help draw energy from hydrogen or any alternate source to achieve the target.

Statutory permissions are required by a third party for waste reuse or recycling. If another industry wants to use our waste as its raw material and both companies are in agreement, SPCB requires that Rule 9, backed by SOPs, must be adhered to. However, very few SOPs have been approved because demonstrating SOPs physically in the presence of multiple entities like CPCB of ECI and SPCB of ELL and industry is difficult and expensive. Industrial associations are trying to find ways to work on the recycling and reuse of solid waste. We are also looking at technology to help achieve water and carbon neutrality.

How to reduce water usage?

Forty per cent of water consumption happens at the cooling tower alone. We found a technology, SCALE-BAN, where you can sample water up to two litres ppm TTD, thereby reducing water consumption in the cooling tower and recycling water up to 2,50,000 TDS.

Similarly, with operational excellence you can reduce energy consumption and thereby carbon emission. The Green Power Purchase agreement can also be met by using solar and other renewable energy resources. This contributes to lesser carbon emissions.