Page 84 - March 2020 - WT Site

LEADER'S
LEADER'S
T AL K
TALK
“Sewage is a Resource that can be
Recycled for Various Uses”

Thermax’s systems, products and services help industry achieve better resource productivity,
and improve bottom lines while maintaining a clean environment. It’s portfolio includes
products for heating, cooling, water and waste management and specialty chemicals.
Thermax designs, builds and commissions large boilers for steam and power generation,
turnkey power plants, industrial. Thermax provide solutions for municipal wastewater
treatment plants, waste heat recovery systems and air pollution control projects. Through its
water and waste management solutions, the company supports industries and civic bodies to
reduce pollution, recycle resources and to generate revenue from waste.

Name: Mr Hemant Joshi the High Court in incremental steps in 2011 for Zero Liquid
Discharge or ZLDs. The industry has grown from adapting
Company: Thermax Limited effluent treatment plants (ETPs), to ETP Recycle and now
Designation: Head - Water & Waste Solutions adapting zero liquid discharge with multi-effect evaporators
Business (MEE) and mechanical vapor re- compression (MVR). With
scarcity and stress for fresh water, the industry is now more
aware of the water recycling and saving initiatives.
To begin with, we would like to know about your journey
in the water industry and your association with Thermax How is Thermax an edge over other water treatment
companies?
I have been associated with Thermax for the past 30 years
now. I have worked in the Energy as well as the Environment As you know, Thermax has a spectrum of product which
Businesses of Thermax. I started my journey in Thermax caters to the water requirement of both, the industry as well
with the Energy business, graduating in handling boilers, as the commercial segments. We have more than 45 years
heaters and absorption chillers, and later moved to the of industry expertise in providing innovative solutions
Environment Business, managing the water and wastewater and customer experience in meeting water and wastewater
solutions business for the past 4 years now. Most of my years treatment needs through our solutions, products and
have been spent in the Energy business, and water being an services. With more than 500 large scale water treatment
integral part of heating & cooling equipment, so, in a sense, plants and more than 25,000 standardized products installed,
my association with water business started during the early Thermax caters to industry-wide solutions from smaller
days in Thermax. I have handled both the front end as well as capacity products to large projects. From our smallest 200
the back end operations of the business during this journey, litres per hour plant capacity going up to 100 million liters
and it has been a wonderful and satisfying experience, which per day size capacity catering to small, medium and large
I enjoyed all through. enterprises. Thermax was the first to install a large scale
desalination plant in India, and was also the first to install an
How has the water industry grown over the years?
effluent recycle plant in India. We also offer “plug-n-play”
In the mid-1980s, there was little knowledge and nearly standardised skid mounted and containerised plants making
no enforcement of effluent/ sewage standards. The it easier for the industry and community to adapt these
transformation was prompted by many actors. The region’s technologies into their systems.
farmers stood behind the initial push, along with the
Pollution Control Board and the court system. However, We have supplied advanced treatment technologies such
the pressure to change behaviour at a large scale came from as Membrane Bio-Reactors (MBRs) and Sequencing Batch

86 Water Today - The Magazine l March 2020