In an interaction with Greentechlead.com, Samit Jain, director, Pluss Polymers, talks how their polymer products help reduce carbon emission and promote green concept in the industry.
What are the major products from Pluss Polymers? Why do you call them green solutions?
Pluss Polymers has two broad product ranges: – 1) Speciality Polymers 2) Phase Change Materials
Both the products provide innovative solutions to the environment issues faced by the planet. Speciality polymers give a way to improve the mechanical properties of the base polymer thereby replacing the metals being used in various applications. Metals are more energy intensive in production as well as usage. A range of speciality polymers developed by us help in bringing up the recycled polymers to virgin levels, helping address the issue of improved properties of recycled polymer.
Phase change materials (PCM) are thermal energy storage products. PCMs store the heat/cold when available in abundance and make it available when required. It helps in reducing our energy requirements. This can help reduce energy cost, ensure temperature control when power is unavailable or improve overall efficiency of the system. Some industries where PCM finds application are Building & Construction, Cold Chain – Storage & Transportation, HVAC, textiles, solar/Geothermal energy storage, Pharmaceuticals and Automobiles.
What are the main applications of your polymer products? How do they help support environment in each case?
Speciality polymers are used as coupling agents, compatibilizers, wetting/dispersing agents, impact modifiers, flow modifiers, scrap upgraders and chain extenders for polymer compounds. Pluss markets these speciality polymers under the brand names OPTIM, OPTIPET, BindEX and NOVIS. These enhance properties of polymer compounds thus enabling their increased adoption in white goods, automotives, wire and cables, wood plastics composites, polymer recycling and plastics film industries besides several others.
Automobiles have for long used metals which increase the weight of the vehicle and thereby reduce the fuel efficiency. Polymers with enhanced properties provide a sustainable alternative for metals, lowering the weight of the automobile and therefore increasing the fuel efficiency.
PVC cables have been the norm in the construction industry for decades. However, now PVC is being abolished because of the environmental concerns. PE based halogen free cables are the future and Pluss provides the coupling agent for the same.
Another major area of concern which Pluss’ speciality polymers address is the efficient recycling of polymer waste. These speciality polymers help in improving the properties of recycled polymer upto the level of virgin polymers which can be then be used is high end applications.
Recently, wood waste/agricultural waste and polymer waste are being combined to make what are known as Wood Polymer Composites. This is enabled using our additives.
What are the sustainability practices adopted by your company itself, esp in manufacturing process?
Sustainable processes are the way forward and realizing the same. Pluss has taken certain small but effective steps in our new manufacturing plant at Bawal. We have installed a 40 Ton thermal energy storage system to maintain the temperature of the unit between 24-28°C. It will help save tremendous amount of diesel requirements considering the poor power situation in Haryana and will also be a small contribution towards the demand side management of electricity. Lights in the manufacturing unit are LED, reducing the energy requirements. No VOC emitting paints have been used in the plant! We have also installed an ETP plant for treatment of water. We have made a start with these few steps and we plan to take many more in the coming year. One of the first on the list in Energy audits and systematically reducing the energy consumption!
Each employee is sensitized towards environment. For instance, no one will throw a paper that is not used on both sides. All paper and plastics waste is collected and sold to the recycler. We don’t k junk it.
What is the future of your technology? What innovations are expected in the near future?
Pluss is a research oriented company and all our products are indigenously developed. After the equity infusion from Tata Capital Innovation Fund, we have stepped up our research efforts and have a series of products lined up in the coming few months. We are working on a low cost Phase Change Material around 5 deg C. Vaccines should not typically go below 2 deg C. The current gel packs used in the industry cannot ensure this. The right PCM is the solution and PLUSS hopes to make one. We are also working on new products for the building industry to reduce energy consumption by use of PCMs in ceiling tiles in the range of 22 to 27 deg C. This is part of a larger project being led by CEPT, Ahmedabad and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, USA and funded by the US-Dept. of Energy and DST, Govt. of India under the “Partnership for Advancement in Clean Energy – Research or the PACE-R” program of the two governments.
We are also designing complete HVAC systems to store thermal (cold) energy at night and use it for cooling spaces during the day time. This would result in savings in costs by use of night time tariffs and reducing use of generators during the day time. It would also substantially use the free energy cooling available at night thereby reducing energy consumption during the day. A concept of “free cooling” is being proposed.
Pluss has developed PCMs which help tiffin boxes and hot plate to keep food warm for a period longer than 5-6 hours. It is being used in products in USA already. We plan to enter the Indian markets too.
PCM panels for incorporation in the vegetable carts to keep the vegetable fresh for a longer time is also in advanced stages. Pluss along with CMC Vellore is developing a low cost cooling device using PCM for treating HIE (Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy) in infants
We are working on developing a tie layer for multilayer packaging films. This will give better adhesion between the metal and the polymer layer in packaging films. Other products in the pipeline are grafted SEBS for TPE compounding, grafted ABS for helping recycle and increase impact strengths of recycled ABS and Polystyrene; and a coupling agent for better performance of nylons at extremely low temperatures.
What benefits do these products bring to your customers, in terms of cost, carbon emission, etc. Any tangible estimate?
The Phase Change Material products typically have a return on investment of anywhere ranging from 6 months to 2 years. Very often, PCMs are used to do something that was never being done earlier. Eg, in Rajasthan, the temperatures are as low as 20 deg at night. If I store this cold, and reduce my day time temperature using this cold, I have saved on cooling costs! This is something novel in application, though the science is not new. Here the customer saves from day one literally. The material costs get paid for in as less as 6 months. It will ofcourse depend on the areas to be cooled.
CO2 emissions are reduced drastically, because of the reduced electrical or diesel energy usage. Imagine a truck running with a diesel powered refrigeration unit to distribute ice-creams. It is polluting the city all along. If PCM is used, then the energy can be stored in a PCM using electricity. This PCM can keep the ice cream frozen. A diesel powered refrigeration unit consumes anywhere between 1 and 4 liters of diesel during multi-drop deliveries. This diesel consumption is completely eliminated with PCM based trucks. Further, electricity is cheaper than diesel.
Waste polymers are sold in the order of Rs. 30 to Rs 50 per kg. These can be upgraded to have higher and better mechanical properties using fillers and additives that we have developed. The increase in costs because of these additives is very marginal. With improved properties, the recycler can demand a better margin for the product, closer to virgin materials that sell from Rs. 70 to 100 per kg. It can be a good substitute for the virgin polymers.
Polymers are a given today, one needs to use them responsibly. In spite of that polymer waste generation is substantial – the only way to get over this is to have technology to recycle them efficiently. Pluss has the right additives and is working towards developing more solutions to solve the problems of different types of polymer waste.