Dr Richard Lobo sheds light on the know-how of creating a sustainable environment focused on growing shared values, promoting a low-carbon economy and minimising environmental footprint. Its priorities include carbon abatement, circular economy, biodiversity preservation, energy conservation, water management, emission management and waste management.
In our conversation with Dr Richard, he enlightens us on the results of adopting sustainable practices and how it has impacted the company’s operations.
Tata Chemicals is among the few companies that have won international recognition for innovation in corporate sustainability. Could you tell us about the initiatives and innovations?
Our mission of Serving Society through Science guides us as we continually innovate, leveraging science-led differentiation, to contribute toward a better world and deliver a positive impact to people and the planet. We are focused on aligning our businesses along the core principles of Green Chemistry to drive sustainability and organisational resilience.
Our business model and growth focus on the sustainability dimensions of climate change, circular economy and biodiversity. We have committed to reducing our carbon footprint per the Science Based Target initiatives (SBTi) guidelines by 30% by 2030. Key levers have been identified to reduce, reuse and recycle critical natural resources and waste. We are investing in Green Chemistry as part of the sustainability commitment to ensure circularity of feedstock, low energy intensity and zero effluents. Our indigenously developed Fermentation Platform for the synthesis of chemicals, i.e. technology to produce Fructo-Oligosaccharides from sugar, is one such example we have commissioned UK’s first at-scale Carbon Capture and Utilisation facility (CCU) that reduces carbon intensity and provides CO2 as a critical raw material to produce Sodium Carbonate, enabling our UK operations to make a net-zero carbon footprint Sodium Bicarbonate and Sodium Carbonate products.
Our ‘Connected Plant’ framework aims to make our Mithapur, Gujarat facility into a world-class smart factory by rolling out a host of smart innovations on-site. The facility is currently witnessing extensive use of IIoT, especially in the carbonation towers and boilers, comprising the creation of a digital twin of the process using AI/ML techniques, with the benefit of prescriptive analytics and generation of online advisories to run operations more efficiently. Satellite image analytics is implemented to improve the predictability and efficiency of solar salt operations.
These and many more innovative technologies are aiding us on our journey of Sustainable growth.
We are also committed to human rights principles, fair labour relations, business integrity and anti-corruption. Further, our actions are directed toward meeting the sustainable goals of several global public institutions, including the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Tell us more about the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to reduce CO2 emissions? As a part of our commitment to reducing Co2 emissions, Tata Chemicals Limited has signed up with SBTi or the Science Based Targets Initiative.
The SBTi was set up in 2015 and is a collaboration between Carbon Disclosure Project, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature. And aims to help private companies set emission reduction targets in line with climate science and goals based on the Paris Agreement.
Through the 2015 Paris Agreement, world governments are committed to limiting global temperature rise to well below two °C above pre-industrial levels and are pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C. To this end, the business has a vital role in driving down greenhouse gas emissions and building the resilient, zero-emissions economy the world urgently needs.
We are keen to transition to a low-carbon economy and have rolled out initiatives to achieve this objective.
As mentioned earlier, our Carbon Capture and Usage Plant in the UK captures Co2 emitted by the gas-powered energy system and uses it as a feedstock to manufacture high-purity sodium bicarbonate for the pharma and food industries.
Meanwhile, we have also identified abatement levers, low carbon growth opportunities and carbon offset opportunities.
We have also rolled out several programmes beyond our operations to help sustain the habitats, biodiversity and communities in our facilities’ regions.
How has the company ensured that its ESG initiatives protect the environment, human health, and safety is also reflected in its product portfolio?
Our ESG initiatives go a long way in helping us grow as an organisation that is even more responsible, agile, transparent and responsive to stakeholder needs, which reflects in our product portfolio too. For instance, to strengthen our Responsible Care approach, we practice a product stewardship code to minimise the health, safety, environmental and social impacts of our products and packaging throughout all lifecycle stages while simultaneously maximising their economic benefits. Product safety encompasses a selection of safe raw materials, the use of safe processes, and the adoption of safe practices for handling products. Our teams make an effort to ensure that our products are manufactured, stored, transported, used, disposed and recycled, with high regard for human health, safety, and environmental stewardship.
Take soda ash, for instance, a key component in glass containers that are environment-friendly replacements for plastics. It is a key ingredient in the manufacture of solar glass and is a key component of lithium carbonate that is used for Lithium Battery cell manufacture for the shift to green electric mobility; Similarly, our bicarbonate is used for emission controls by power utilities and municipal incinerators while our speciality silicas go into the new generation of green tyres globally that help reduce fuel consumption and increase safety.
Besides the raw materials, processes and their end-products, our green initiatives go beyond our manufacturing operations. At Tata Chemicals, we have aligned our sustainability goals with Responsible Care, CORE, and UN SDG guidelines to ensure maximum impact. For over 80 years, we have fostered innovative activities that contribute to a thriving planet, nature, and communities. We are building long-term resilience and contributing to sustainability aspirations in whichever geography we operate in, running a series of nature conservation initiatives, including whale shark conservation, coral reef restoration, mangrove plantation, biodiversity reserve plantation, marine turtle monitoring, community-conserved wetland, birdlife monitoring, and eco clubs, among others. We also look at improving people’s livelihood by providing them vocational training and education to children.
How is Tata Chemicals making a difference to the food and fuel, energy and environment? Kindly share details on projects in the areas of food, nanotechnology, and biotechnology that are currently underway?
Sustainability remains a key focus of our Innovation. In the area of food, we are using our expertise in fermentation technology to strengthen our nutrition portfolio. We have developed a 100% soluble, potent prebiotic and dietary fibre made from fermented cane sugar, which selectively enhances the growth of beneficial microbiota in the gut. A healthy microbiome is known to improve immunity, nutrient absorption, lipid transport and overall digestive and bowel health; Recently, we have developed an Inulin manufacturing technology (long-chain oligosaccharides) to enhance our prebiotic portfolio for newer applications and customer base. We have completed human clinical trials to test the efficacy and synergistically acting synbiotics for immunity markers. For animal nutrition, a formulation has been developed that increases milk yield, for which overall performance trials are under validation.
In FY 2020-21, through Rallis, our Agri subsidiary, we have launched two products for crop protection — Kriman, a fungicidal combination formulation for effective disease and resistance management in grape and tomato crops that provides yield improvement of about 10%; and Eevee, a combination insecticide and fungicide formulation for rice and tomato for both insect pest and disease management, which also gave an improved yield of 10%. Such innovations are an ongoing process, and the company plans to evolve sustainable solutions through research in gene-editing and other technologies.
In the area of energy and environment, we created a business line a few years ago by focusing on flue gas treatment. Today we have a thriving business in Europe around Briskarb. Soda Ash is expected to remain on a growth path in India and around the world with an increase in demand for solar glass and lithium carbonate for Lithium Batteries. Green Specialty silica is an essential ingredient for the green labelling of tyres.
Our Future Sustainability Projects
- Commercialising RHA Green Technology to manufacture highly dispersible silica
- Developing green surfactants technology
- Exploring value-added chemicals from the captured CO2
- Recovery of salts and minerals from waste streams
Operationally, In the UK, we are a founding member of the NetZero Northwest initiative that focuses on the advanced use of Hydrogen and CO2 and Hydrogen storage. We have installed efficient new boilers at the Middlewich site producing the same steam output with 15% lower natural gas consumption &reduced carbon footprint at the Lostock site by replacing increased electricity generation from the steam turbine with that from natural gas.
Our new facility at Nellore, where we produce nutraceuticals, was built ground up to run on renewables and primarily on solar energy and biomass. The plant achieved high-energy optimisation by increasing solar power generation capacity and reducing maximum grid power. Across all our operations, we continuously monitor our performance with online emission monitoring systems.
Tata Chemicals is harnessing the latest scientific areas such as nanotechnology to offer path-breaking products to customers. The company has developed nano zinc oxide (nZnO) that offers improved anti-fungal, anti-microbial and UV blocking properties for industrial and cosmetic applications, including cosmetics, paints/coatings, adhesives, plastics and baby care products.
How are you creating a valuable economic model to maximise natural materials usage by recycling them during the value chain processes like using plastic waste as fuel in Cement Kiln & Watershed management and rainwater harvesting?
Recycling is a tried-and-tested method for establishing a circular economy. Across our processes, Tata Chemicals has been creating avenues to maximise the usage of natural materials through recycling, helping us further reduce our carbon footprint. Our CSR arm, Tata Chemicals Society for Rural Development (TCSRD), has played a significant role in our waste management mission.
In December 2019, TCSRD set up a dry waste processing plant at Mithapur in partnership with Sampurna Earth under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The project aims to improve sanitation in the area, reduce the environmental impact through recycling waste materials, and provide livelihood opportunities to the waste picker community in the region. The recyclable waste, which is processed into granule/pellet forms, is sent to recycled plastic manufacturing units for reuse. Non-recyclable waste is being incinerated and used as fuel in cement manufacturing plants, cutting down coal usage.
TCL’s cement plant at Mithapur was set up to consume solid waste generated during the manufacturing of soda ash and to utilise other waste streams from unutilised limestone. [iv] Our watershed management and rainwater harvesting initiatives also contribute to our circularity vision. In Gujarat and Maharashtra, we have carried out land development and Jal Dhan (water management and conservation) programmes, with a focus on water recharging, harvesting by check dam and reviving community ponds. Similar initiatives are also underway in our global markets. In the British Salt Middlewich site, we have reduced freshwater consumption by harvesting rainwater for use within the plant, and in Kenya, we continue to run awareness drives on efficient water management.