Reliance Industries Limited Hazira Manufacturing Division
Name of project:Extended Product Responsibility and Waste Reduction
Write up:
Introduction
Reliance Industries Limited, India is the largest producer of polyester globally with manufacturing spread over India & Europe and its marketing presence in 58 countries for its Polyester range of products. It is a signatory to the Responsible Care Initiative for the Chemical Industries and engages in all ways and means to exhibit product stewardship for its entire range of products across the complete life cycle --- from cradle to grave. Hence it has been a constant endeavor at RIL look out for all avenues to own and make its entire supply chain green. In its Polyester Sector of business, more than three quarters of its manufacturing is located at its Hazira Manufacturing Unit. The most critical part in the polyester industry is a pack. Its main role is the filtration of the polymer before it is being spun into fiber. Since SS powder is best filtering media, it is used across the industry in the packs. After the life is over (15-60 days), the spin packs are removed and sent for cleaning .The polymer cake in the pack is discarded along with SS powder as waste. Since this SS powder is a high valued imported item, its reuse would not only save foreign exchange but would also save scarce natural resources and eradicate the potential of environmental degradation due to the SS powder.
Objective
World Wide, in the entire industry no eco-friendly & efficient system existed for recovery of SS powder. Even our licensor; Dupont used ‘Hot Solvent’ system for pack cleaning (Hazardous & non-eco-friendly TEG system) & ‘Inefficient’ method of powder recovery (Efficiency-50-60%). Being the largest Polyester producer globally, RIL Hazira division took it as a moral responsibility to execute its product stewardship and design / develop a system for pack cleaning & SS powder recovery thereby minimizing the eco impact, reducing waste and converting it into value. This project is integrated with the core strategies of RIL, where safety of its employees & people residing in nearby villages is of paramount importance & its Environment management system lays highest importance to reduce/recycle/reuse schemes.
System Details
Each and every section of the system was designed with basic and fundamental research. The S.S. powder recovery essentially consists of two sections:
1. Section-I- Polymer removal from the powder cake- We have designed an eco-friendly system using ‘Hydrothermal’ process designed to ensure efficient removal of polymer from the SS powder.
2. Section-II- Recovery of the SS powder from the cleaned cake- We have designed an efficient system for SS powder recovery (Efficiency-99.5%) which consists of the following:
a) System for thorough Cleaning of polymer free powder
b) System for separation of Alumina powder from SS powder
c) System for maintaining distribution of various SS powder grades as per specs
Initial Bottlenecks
Initially few difficulties were faced in Polymer cleaning system like irregular burning of polymer and high cycle time while heating/cooling. Various remedial actions like redesigning the oven & super heater and providing additional cooling line were taken to resolve these bottlenecks. Similarly in Powder recovery system, difficulties were faced like improper separation of alumina from SS powder for which settings between the rollers & the belts were optimized for effective separation.
Performance of the new system
Section-1, i.e. The hydrothermal process for Polymer removal is much superior to the conventional solvent system. The following table gives comparative performance of the conventional system vs new eco-friendly system designed at RIL, Hazira:
New Process / Conventional ProcessSS powder waste generation / Nil / 73200 Kg/year
Atmospheric Pollution / Negligible / Moderate
Effluent COD / 1050mg/l / 3000 mg/l
Fire and explosion risk / No / Very High
Section-2, i.e. Powder recovery system designed by us is highly efficient. The following table exhibits that the powder quality achieved through our process is even superior to the new powder imported from U.S.A.:
Virgin Powder / Recovered powder (by new technology)Fines (measured by sieve analysis) / 0.1% / 0.01%
Pack failures (thin filaments in micro deniers) / 10% / 2%
Breaks/ton / 0.5% / 0.3%
Conclusions
The S.S. powder recovery system designed by us has not only reduced the environmental impact of the Industries impact, but also enhanced the profitability of the industry, which is highly manpower intensive, and every avenue of cost reduction means value to the society, which is largely moving towards embracing Polyester Products. Following are few of the dividends for Reliance & the society:
1. Safe & conducive work environment, as new process doesn’t employ any chemicals.
2. Reduction of TEG fumes in environment & presence of TEG in effluent.
3. Reduction of COD loads by 70%.
4. Saving of natural resources- Our efforts would save 75 MT/annum of stainless steel (only for RIL sites). The global conservation of this would be synonymous when it comes to the conservation of valuable natural resources.
5. Waste management of scrapped polymer cakes- Disposal of polymer cakes with SS powder is a big concern, which is avoided by the new process. In fact these cakes are now converted into froth, which is saleable in the market. The entire development was done in-house at a cost of only Rs 40 lakhs/system (pay back period- 4 months). No outside R&D assistance was obtained during development of the system. So far 4 such systems are in operation & 6 more are under erection for future polyester expansion. We are filing a
patent for the same.
Supporting Materials:
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