Amid growing environmental regulations, water scarcity, and the push for sustainable industrial practices, chemical plants are increasingly adopting advanced, efficient, and eco-friendly water treatment technologies—not only to minimize their ecological footprint and ensure compliance, but also to enhance operational efficiency, enable water reuse, and future-proof their manufacturing processes in a resource-constrained world.

Leading industry experts discussed the latest scenario at the ninth session, 'Efficient and Sustainable Water Treatment for Chemical Plant’ at the maiden edition of Chem & Petchem Conference 2025 organized by the Indian Chemical News on May 07-10, 2025 at Baruch in Gujarat.

The session was moderated by Murari Mohan Jha, Executive Editor, Indian Chemical News.

Experts Speak 

Keyur R. Desai, Professor of Practice, UPL University of Sustainable Technology

“In terms of challenges, the Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) is the last priority for the organizations. ETP is considered a cost centre not a service centre. The person who does the best  liasoning with the inspectors is the best environmental manager. In the industrial estate there is a common Effluent Treatment Plant and the total load was 30 MLD by 500 industries. Later officially only 15% industry were left with effluents and the rest of them with zero discharge, the load was still 30 MLD, marking no visible change in load. That means we need to define what we mean by zero discharge. The mode of discharge has changed and this is the challenge. We must realise that we are owners but custodians of natural resources. Sustainability is all about conserving for future generations, not consuming everyone. With technologies imported from European countries, we are still not able to create a major difference. The operators are not trained enough or they show least attention due to a number of factors. Passing on the buck just to avoid responsibility while lacking the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Total Quality Management (TQM) are common occurrences in India. That affects the implementation of new technologies. We must address all kinds of waste equally and any kind of spending on it should be considered as an investment for the future.”

Chaitanya Joshi, Head of Operations, Indo Baijin Chemicals

“Manufacturing is a cyclic process  and if we improve something it will circulate at various levels and vice versa if we lose something. Technical capability is the basic knowhow of the people and process is important to ensure that we are working in the right direction. Water is either being used for utility or process purposes and we need to treat it before using it. Those are also varying as water is either coming from the same source or the multiple sources as the quality differs. Therefore, online or periodic monitoring is necessary otherwise we will find that a person entrusted with operating a plant is repeating the same readings taken in the morning in the afternoon as well. It is important that we must train our people the importance of doing things right and the resulting negative or positive impact of their actions. Understanding the objectives in terms of why, what and how will help us in creating an effective process and reducing the cost. The waste water from air conditioners used in vertical gardening is a basic example of noticing the waste water in a plant and re-using it, reducing the need for freshwater. It will help in reducing the cost of fresh water or pre-treating the water. In a treatment plant, the capacity should be flexible enough to tackle the challenges such as fluctuations or deviations in process. Standard operating Procedures (SOPs) are very important and our processes should be simpler and easy to understand for employees so that they deliver what they are expected to do.”

Rajeev Vijay, Head - Utilities and Offsite, ONGC Petro additions

“We are hiring the best people but we need to train them appropriately for managing the processes effectively. For example the water we get from the canal is normal during the winters but once the water crosses riverbeds in the summers, the chloride levels shoot up due to the water pump. To address it, we need to have updated the SOPs in place, validated from time to time by the engineers on the ground. If we have invested into the set up, we need to incur the cost to maintain it as well. Audit is very important in our processes. Despite having the best knowledgeable people in our plants, the third eye is very much required. To get the exposure to new technologies and developments, the timely audits required. If a plant is designed in a particular way and now we are getting the desired results with a lesser load on treatment plants then we have to work on the energy and chemical optimisation. The process changes and reviews are important to keep the system well maintained. We have to strengthen the chemical treatment processes through a continued audit process. The plants that have good effluent treatment plants must get incentives. For example, we have to pay the drainage cess for the water purchase from GIDC despite the fact that our discharge is just 5% of the total water purchased. That means we pay Rs 32 extra to purchase water at Rs 85 per litre. That makes it a cost intensive process and highlights the need for incentives or other alternatives for water sources.”

The Chem & Petchem Conference 2025 themed 'Viksit Gujarat: Visit Bharat@2047’ witnessed massive attendance by leading industry experts and stakeholders across Gujarat and India. The 12 sessions at the two day event were attended by a total of 76 speakers and more than 600 delegates.

The conference was supported by Academia partner - Somaiya Vidyavihar University; Platinum partners -- PremierTech Systems & Automation, ABB India, and Netradyne; Gold partners - Tvarit GmbH (Germany), SNF Flopam India, Alleima India, AMETEK Land Instruments International, BEIL, UPL University of Sustainable Technology, Forbes Marshall, Utthunga Technology, Syinfotech, Servilink Systems, Graphite India, Thermax, Gem Machinery & Allied Industries and Thermax; Associate partners - Diyani Automation, Flaminia Ecarb India, LAPP India, Goodrich Gasket, and GD Waldner; Industry Association partners - Gujarat Chemical Association (GCA), Jhagadia Industries Association (JIA), Dahej Industries Association (DIA) and Alkali Manufacturers Association of India (AMAI).