How do you define the water and wastewater treatment market in the Indian pharma context? Does it include pure wastewater treatment or even water recycling and reuse? Explain.
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| Sasidhar Chidanamarri |
The pharma industry uses purified water in process applications for drug manufacturing, sterilisation of equipment, captive power plant commissioned in a pharma plant etc. Different water treatment technologies deployed include filtration (multi media/activated carbon/cartridge), ion exchange, distillation, reverse osmosis and softening and disinfection systems. Depending upon the water purity requirement, one technology or a combination of these technologies is used.
Wastewater generated by the companies undergo conventional treatment such as aeration and activated sludge process and the treated effluent is discharged into the nearby lakes, river, sea etc. Penetration of recycle and reuse applications is very low and the recycled water is only used for landscaping purpose. Recycled water is not used for process water applications because of the fear of contamination. Water treatment accounts for 72 per cent of the water and wastewater treatment equipment in pharma industry and the remaining 28 per cent of the market is accounted for wastewater treatment.
How huge is this market in India? What percentage of the current demand for water and wastewater treatment comes from the pharma industry? What are its growth drivers and who are the main players?
The water and wastewater treatment equipment sold to the Indian pharma industry was worth Rs 5.8 billion in 2012. The pharma industry accounts for approximately 10 per cent of the total water and wastewater treatment equipment market in India.
The water and wastewater treatment equipment demand from pharma industry is growing due to the following factors:
- High growth witnessed in pharma segment because of the low production costs observed in India and increasing domestic demand
- Supportive government policies are driving the entry of multi-national companies (MNCs) in the pharma segment which bring in the global best practices that further drive the demand for high purity water treatment systems and advanced wastewater treatment systems
- Stringent regulations adopted for wastewater treatment by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
These factors are anticipated to drive the market at a CAGR of 13 per cent for the period 2011 – 2016. Major companies providing water and wastewater treatment systems to the pharma segment are Ion Exchange, Neela Systems, CN Tech, Nilsan Nishotech, Triveni Engineering, UEM India, GE Water, and Doshion among others. The Indian market is dominated by domestic companies.
What effluents from pharma firms rank on the alert list of regulators?
Wastewater is generated from various sources and the major source is the wastewater generated from production process (drug manufacturing), which is high in Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS). Other sources include cooling towers, boilers, and fire prevention systems. The various contaminants covered by CPCB regulations are BOD, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), pH, TSS, oil and grease, mercury, arsenic, lead, sulfides and phosphates. Among these contaminants, pH, BOD, TSS, and oil and grease are the major ones.
What are some of the latest technologies and equipment’s employed for treatment?
Traditionally, Indian industries have been using chemical treatment and demineralisation (DM) systems for water treatment. A demineralisation(DM) plant is a low cost option available for water treatment and is a time-tested technology. Cost of consumables to run it is high as large volumes of chemicals are required for regeneration. With the advent of membrane technologies, usage of chemicals reduced significantly, so membrane systems are preferred because of low requirement of consumables. Another reason for the growth of membrane systems is the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) adopted by all major companies in the pharma industry. Indian companies are adopting global standards for drug manufacturing, which is creating demand for high purity water.
This is driving the sales of RO systems along with MF/UF/NF systems as pre-filtration or final filtration in a water treatment system. Activated sludge process is the commonly used wastewater treatment method in India. Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) and Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) are other technologies which are being adopted by chemical and pharma companies, although the penetration rates are very low. High capital investment and energy requirement deters the growth of such advanced ZLD systems. The pharma industry in India has many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), who are not financially strong to build an individual effluent treatment plant. Hence, all the SMEs in a particular region would come together and build a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP). Companies operating from a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), divert their wastewater to the CETP which is managed by the SEZ.
Which segments do you see are growing and why? Recycling systems seem to be the trend in the US. What about India?
Key areas of growth within water and wastewater treatment include RO systems for water treatment and MBR, ZLD and conventional treatment systems for wastewater treatment.
Increasing demand for high purity water for process applications would drive the demand for RO systems. Many pharma companies in India export their products and hence the products have to meet global standards. So, pharma companies are deploying advanced water treatment systems such as membrane-based systems. Recycling and reuse market is in a very nascent stage in India and Frost & Sullivan estimates that it would take a few years for the market to develop.
