Adiabatic cooling towers adding to water conservation in Hindustan Zinc

India CSR News Network

UDAIPUR: Development is one of the major goals of a country for which self-sufficiency is a pre requisite. Along with being one of the leading producers of zinc in the world, Hindustan Zinc has been a loyal executor when it comes to caring for the environment.

The company has various mining and smelting operations in Rajasthan and all of them practice the policy of reduce, recycle, reuse and reclaim. The company had installed its first Adiabatic Cooling Towers (ACTs) in the year 2013 that have replaced the conventional cooling towers, incurring a cost of around Rs. 40 crores.

The importance of water conservation cannot be emphasized enough as ACTs reduce water wastage that gets lost due to evaporation by almost 80% by operating in a closed circuit. Also, the ETP (Effluent Treatment Plant) with Reverse Osmosis technology and Multiple Effective Evaporators have been installed at smelting locations that reduce fresh water foot-prints and maintains zero discharge status.  Through all such environment friendly efforts Hindustan Zinc has been able to bring down its overall Specific Water Consumption by 16 % from FY 2011 to FY 2016.

“We are committed towards sustainable business which is guided through taking care of People, Planet and Profit.”, Hindustan Zinc said in a statement.

“Over 1.4 million green plantation cover the company’s premises. Hindustan Zinc is producing 35.4 MW of power through waste heat recovered from roasters.”, Company added.

The company has been successfully operating 273.5 MW of wind farms, located in five States of India – Gujarat (88.8 MW) and Karnataka (49.40 MW), Rajasthan (88.8 MW), Maharashtra (25.5 MW) and Tamil Nadu (21 MW). Moving towards enhancing the efforts towards Green energy the Company has established roof-top solar panels (100-KW each) at Head office in Udaipur and Chanderiya Smelting Complex office.

In association with Government of Rajasthan, Hindustan Zinc has constructed the first PPP Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Udaipur, with a capacity to treat 20 million litres of domestic sewage daily with an overall investment of around Rs. 170 crore. With the success of Phase-I, the Company is looking at doubling the capacity of STP Plant to 40 MLD.

Hindustan Zinc is committed to measuring, controlling and reducing air emissions at each of its locations. With the help of Cansolv Technology and Tail Gas Treatment Plants, the SO2 emissions are controlled and converted into Sulphuric Acid. This technology does not produce waste and effluents.

Hindustan Zinc has a state-of-the-art Central Research & Development Laboratory (CRDL) which helps enhance metal recoveries and efficient utilization of waste generated at its mines and smelters.