Ion Exchange is a pioneer in water treatment and one of the few companies in the world which offers total water management solutions for industry, homes and communities. Ion Exchange is a market leader in industrial water treatment world-wide. It removes pollutants from waste water and recycles and recovers water and valuable products for reuse. The company has over 30,000 installations worldwide and has 17 patents in its name. Ion Exchange came in the limelight of public with the launch of Zero-B water purification products. Since then the company has launched products for various water related problems.

In an interview with The Financial Express, RajeshSharma, Deputy Managing Director of Ion Exchange (India) talks about the role of water treatment industry in the country.

On the scenario of water treatment in the country

In India water is not valued very highly. This is specially true in urban areas. Per capita consumption of water in the country is quite high. Reports say that water will be scarce by 2005. Even today Mumbai recieves only 60 per cent of its demand. It is here that water treatment, which leads to recycling of water comes in handy.

Waste water generated can be recylced after processing, and be used for secondary purposes like flushing, gardening or even given to the industry for general purpose use. There is no point in giving the industry fresh water for all its usage. Madras is the first city in the country which has recently started giving recycled water to companies like Madras Refineries and Madras fertilisers.

Recycled water can also be used for irrigation purposes. Around 15 countries in the world use 70 per cent of sewagewater (treated water)for their irrigation purposes. Infact, in England water is recycled at least 10 times before it is discharged. There are companies in developed countries that are involved in zero discharge.

On the economics of recycling water

It is economically possible to recycle 90 per cent of water. Though it is possible to recycle 100 per cent water the last 10 per cent is quite costly. Recycled water works out to around Rs 6-10 per 1000 litres. This is comparable with industrial water available to the industry. Today only 30 per cent of water in the country is treated.

On the scope for pollution control (liquid, solid as well as gas) industry in the country

Investment required in the pollution control industry is to the extent of Rs 50,000 crore (around $12 billion) as on date. As compared to this, average yearly international investment is in the range of $3 billion. Most of the investment is needed in setting up pollution control equipments in the old plants. The newer units are being setup after getting the required environmental clearances.

However, not all companies are able to set up pollution control equipments. Typically, the onus is on the state government entities like MIDC to take up the task of setting up a centralised pollution control unit. Private sector companies can then tap these government entities for business under BOT norms. However, such projects are either delayed or not completed due to one problem or the other.

On the scope of water treatment industry in the country and Ion Exchange's role in the industry

Among the major problems faced by the industry is availability and cost of water. Water treatment is one solution to the problem. To meet the growing demand for quality water as water scarcity and waste pollution increases, Ion Exchange has developed integrated solutions for water and waste water management. Earlier water used in industrial processes was directly discharged without treating the same. However, Ion Exchange through its integrated solutions notonly recycles water through its water treatment plant but also recovers valuable products from it.

The reason for doing this was mainly because mentality of entrepreneurs was that there is no benefit in treating effluent, which could very well be discharged. But by recovering products from effluent water we were adding value to treating water, which made a lot of sense.

Requirements for water treatment is specific to a particular industry. Depending on the pollutants of the industry we suggest the best form of treatments. We have implemented projects for various highly polluting industries like sugar, paper, textile, electroplating, fertilisers among others.

On the performance of the consumable division of the company.

The consumable division of Ion Exchange currently accounts for only five per cent of the sales. But in the next few years we expect the division to contribute around 20-25 per cent of the sales. We are expecting a 10 per cent growth rate in this sector.

Here again we have productsdepending on the type of water as well as on the location. We have water purifiers that take care of pollutants like iron, fluoride, arsenic and nitrates as well as products to treat hard water.

On the speciality chemicals division of the company

We have speciality chemicals pertaining to the treatment of effluents in a particular industry. For example in sugar industry we have chemicals that takes care of refining sugar as well as for treating the high quantity of waste generated in the process of manufacturing sugar. This we offer to the companies as a packaged deal along with other water management solutions. Similar packages are offered to industries like power, paper, pharmaceuticals among others.

In the power sector Ion Exchange has commissioned India's largest sea water reverse osmosis desalination plant. This plant was for the 2 x 120 MW Sikka Thermal power plant of Gujarat Electricity Board which produces one million gallons per day of desalinated water to be used as demineralised water for thepower plant as well as potable water for the GEB township. Cost of desalinated water in Sikka works out to around Rs 40 per 1000 litre.

On the projects that are being handled by Ion Exchange and the order book scenario

The main utility section for the Haldia Petrochemicals projects is nearing completion. We are also doing projects for the Bakreshwar Power project and a few more for NTPC in Vindhyachal, Faridabad to name a few. We have also bagged a sub-contract from Kawasaki for the massive world bank funded project of sewage recycling project using membrane technology. We are also associated with Reliance Refinery project for their process water and in Essar's power project.

Our order book project at the current level is comfortable and we should be able to achieve 1997-98 figures.