What are the water treatment and conservation solutions do you offer, and how are they relevant for cement industry?
Environmental conservation solutions:?VEXL has expertise in providing single roof solution to hydrology, hydrogeology covering all the requirements like water pumping systems, water distribution, storm drainage systems, rainwater harvesting systems, sewage drainage system, water and wastewater treatment plants in line with the requirements of CGWA, NGT, CPCB and other statutory requirements of State or Central government. VEXL caters from concept till commissioning in terms of all aspects related to water, energy and environment management. VEXL takes up water audits, flow metering, energy audits with an aim to make the sector water positive.
The general understanding is that cement manufacturing does not involve huge consumption of water. What are the areas in which your water treatment services could be of use?
It is true that the cement manufacturing does not involve huge consumption of water. In cement industry, water is required mainly in the following areas: Area of consumption and quality of water required is as mentioned below in the table. Further, the table in the next page mentions about the area of waste water generation and the treatment process involved.
What is the cost-benefit ratio your products and solutions could offer for cement manufacturers? Cite two brief examples.
In last 15 years, we have worked in almost 16 states of the country and understand source and reject quality very well.
1.VEXL achieved 60 per cent energy saving and 40 per cent water saving at Saurashtra Cement by optimising the process water pumping and piping system
2.VEXL achieved 40 per cent energy saving to a 2.5 MLD desalination plant at UTCL, Sewagram by optimising the entire pumping and membrane designs
What is the contribution of your R&D division to your growth and leadership? In how many countries you are the leader in water treatment solutions?
The R&D division is constantly working on water, wastewater treatment, sustainable water management solutions, energy and environment conservation. With the upcoming challenges in the industry, VEXL has tied up with various institutional experts from UDCT, IITs, NEERI to bring down capex and opex to water and wastewater treatment system.
VEXL is working on reverse engineering with an aim to bring efficiency to the process so that the source consumption itself comes down thereby bringing down the life cycle cost of treatment. VEXL is also working on efficient handling of solid waste generated in the units so as to give a holistic solution to water and solid waste management. VEXL has a strong base in the cement sector of the country and has been awarded similar projects in South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In cement, we are serving ACC, Ambuja Cement, Ultratech, JK Cement, Lafarge/Holcim, KJS, Birla, SCL, etc. at there various units across the country. VEXL is also catering to steel, aluminium, education, railways, power and hospitality sectors to companies like SAIL, Vedanta, WCR, SECR, Reliance ADAG, Taj Group of Hotels, etc.
What are the global best practices Indian manufacturers in general can adopt to avoid water pollution and treatment?
With the given cement industry scenario in India, VEXL feels that one should not look for a short term solution to the given problem. For existing plants, VEXL believes that a detailed water audit should be done with water balance at initial level, then our expertise should study and give measures for implementation which then should be thoroughly discussed between the client and experts and then phase wise implementation should be planned.
About 50 per cent of the cases, we have seen that industry asks for breakdown implementation of any system rather than preventive planning. VEXL suggests using self cleaning filters, IOT/AI to operation and maintenance, low energy sustainable solutions to sewage and effluent treatment, energy efficient pumping systems and many such measures after the detailed study is done.
Cement companies use different kinds of alternative sources of energy. What are the alternative energy sources you are involved in?
In energy sector, VEXL is concentrating on setting up solar-based energy generation system. Other source of energy generation is automatic biogas plants. These plants can handle all kinds of kitchen waste, dairy waste generated at the units and the botheration of handling the untreated solid waste is also resolved. These plants run on IOT and give ease of handling the entire system with minimal manpower.
Environmental protection and maintaining ecological balance are the two important aspects that are high on the agenda of governments and people. How your products contribute to these aspects?
Economic solutions:?VEXL strives to provide high quality products and expertise at reasonable prices thus making our clients more competitive in their marketplace. Moreover, VEXL products and expertise help our clients create value and protect their capital assets.
Note: We also take up O&M contracts for running and operating the above units using IOT & Artificial intelligence.