A.T.E. Envirotech started its operations in 2008 specializing in industrial effluent treatment plants. Since then, A.T.E. Envirotech has installed over 100 effluent treatment plants in India, the US, South-East Asia and Africa, developing particular expertise in the textile, dairy, distillery, and pharmaceutical sectors. Of the 100-odd installations, 35 per cent find their place in the textile sector.
Mr. Bhushan says that textile sector-specific effluent treatment plants came into the picture after serious and rigorous research and development in the initial years of A.T.E. Envirotech’s journey into the industrial wastewater treatment.
A first of a kind anaerobic effluent treatment plant was pioneered and developed by A.T.E. Envirotech. The first such textile industry-specific anaerobic based effluent treatment scheme was installed at Kolhapur for Tessitura Monti in 2011, which is still going strong without use of any chemicals to treat the effluent water. Mr. Bhushan’s eyes glimmer with visible pride while mentioning about the highlights of the plant. He states that when compared to the conventional treatment plants, A.T.E. Envirotech’s plants generate only a third to a fifth of the total sludge generated by their counterparts.
Tessitura Monti’s first plant has a capacity of treating1.5 MLD effluent. Later on Tessitura Monti decided to install a downstream plant to enable recycling of the treated effluent, which was also installed by A.T.E. Envirotech.
Thereafter, a number of textile clients have signed up with AET, such as Jeya Vishnu Textiles in Tirupur, Superfine Bleaching in Erode, ALC, Sangam India in Bhilwara, D’Decor in Tarapur, and the list goes on…
Mr. Bhushan proudly recalls that the installation at Tirupur was a zero liquid discharge plant, again a first of its kind. The Managing Director of Jeya Vishnu Textiles was so impressed that he cancelled an order he had placed with a Singapore-based effluent treatment manufacturer and handed the purchase order to A.T.E. Envirotech after seeing the presentation on “AAA” technology.
Mr. Anuj Bhagwati, A.T.E. Group Director, is passionate about the environment, and has been behind this venture with an objective to bring about a change in the textile industry for better and sustainable wastewater management.
“A safe and secure water supply is critical to human and economic development. Long-term availability of water is only possible if wastewater is treated and recycled. At A.T.E. Envirotech, we believe the best source of water is your wastewater. Through our wastewater treatment and recycling solutions, we are pleased to play a growing role in enhancing water availability for industry and at the same time saving water for people. We’re happy we can do this with a growing portfolio of treatment processes and products ‘Invented in India’, and also from our partners Huber in Germany,” says Mr. Anuj.
All differentiating process technologies used by A.T.E. Envirotech are developed in-house through extensive investment in Research and Development and in pilot trials. A.T.E. Envirotech also has a long-standing association with a German company Huber SE for wastewater treatment equipment, including MBR, sludge de-watering and drying systems. With this technological portfolio, A.T.E. Envirotech has successfully positioned itself as a technology solution provider with E.P.C. capabilities.
When quizzed about the service and after-sales support, Mr. Bhushan says that their team comprises of about 70 personnel and is still growing. The service people are placed at Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad for regional support.
A.T.E. Envirotech’s “AAA” technology as fondly called by Mr. Bhushan which is their registered technology, has a clear edge over the others in terms of size so it demands lesser space, in terms of cost of operations in terms of power and chemical requirement, in terms of sludge generation and disposal, etc. Given these parameters the covering of the initial cost / the pay back tenure is around 12 to 18 months.
The future growth prospects for A.T.E. Envirotech are quite bright with the stringent Government legislation on effluent disposal and general awareness among the entrepreneurs as well the general public together with overseas buyers demands for reducing overall water and carbon footprint.
Since the technology (AAA) is based on bacterial digestion and conversion, the power requirement is minimum and the sludge generated is purely organic. The sludge conversion to solid fuel can be done by equipment sourced from Huber of Germany which uses solar power. So when it comes to carbon footprint, this process offers the least possible carbon footprint.
A.T.E. Envirotech’s design and engineering excellence has bagged the coveted “Vasundhara Award” in 2014 for one of their wastewater treatment plant installation in a large diary plant. The technology offered power generation using bio- gas generated in STP.
Having stated all this with regard to the growth prospects, Mr. Aras states that a lot depends on the growth and profitability of the industry that requires and uses this technology.
He adds that A.T.E. is looking to enter markets like Bangladesh and South-East Asian countries.
By Bhushan Zarapkar, Director (Operations), A.T.E. Envirotech, and Mr. G.V. Aras, Director, A.T.E. Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. (TEG)