Paques India: Pioneer in Anaerobic Technology, has the latest 4th generation digesters.
An exclusive interview from Mr. Sudeep Sangameswaran, Managing Director, Paques India.
Over 200 of Paques installations treat Pulp and Paper effluents worldwide. This experience, combined with decades of expertise in biological purification, physical separation and filtration, enables Paques to design, build and deliver a custom-made and cost-effective purification process.
Paper Desk : Could you explain about Paques and its operations in India?
Sudeep Sangameswaran : Paques, founded in Balk, The Netherlands, has around 50 years of experience and has grown into one of the leading players in water and gas treatment worldwide.
Paques entered India in 2013, and we have been expanding our operations ever since. We started with a handful of employees in a small office space in Mylapore, Chennai. As of today, we have over 100 employees, head office in Nungambakkam, Chennai and a regional office in Noida with remote presence across various cities in India. We also have a world class manufacturing facility, a first of its kind for wastewater treatment equipment manufacturing that has over 50 workers & employees at Sri City, AP.
Customers of Paques are active in virtually every Municipal and Industrial market, such as Pulp & Paper, Food, Dairies, Distilleries, Beer and Beverages, Biofuels, Metal and Mining and Chemicals. We have over 100 running references in the country at present.
Paques is now a part of the German Investment Company, SKion Water (https://www.skionwater.com/en/) and we are extremely honoured to be the part of the global portfolio of water technology companies of SKion along with Ovivo, EnviroChemie, ELIQUO WATER GROUP, Ecopreneur, ADASA and Matten. Collectively, we will continue to provide fresh water and wastewater treatment solutions to both municipal and industrial customers worldwide.
Paques India is now present in the PHARMA INDUSTRY as well. We have the capability to treat the most difficult effluent on the Bulk Drugs and Active Pharma Ingredients (API) side at the lowest operating cost. We have achieved good success in Pharma Industry in Europe and China. Anaerobic Technology is being used by other API/ Bulk drug companies in India and is already an established technology.
Paques, a pioneer in Anaerobic Technology, has the latest 4th generation digesters, which offer much better results than the 1st generation technology commonly used today.
PD : What are your company’s mission & vision?
SS : Ever since we set foot on the Indian sub-continent, we have always envisioned of “The World without Waste”, where the people do not see waste as trash, but as something of value & source of revenue. Paques’ mission is to serve the solutions involving natural bio-technological processes to purify wastewater and gas streams thereby improving the sustainability of our clients and tribute to the balanced improvement of People, Profit and Planet through revitalization of resources.
Our culture is employee centric fostering professional and personal growth. A home away from home where your works gets recognised, rewarded, and celebrated. When you join Paques, you join a team which is passionately committed and self-driven.
PD : What do you offer for the current paper industry?
SS : Operating Effluent Treatment Plant in Closed Loop has been a great challenge for Indian Paper Industry, the product quality due to bad water conditions did not gave them assurance of producing Odorless paper. We have launched and demonstrated the proven concept of “The Next Generation Closed Loop System” for Paper Industry Effluent wherein we ensure Zero Liquid Discharge of the wastewater loop, and our client can produce Odour Free Paper. Many of our clients have started even positioning their products into the market as Food Grade quality due to the kind of treated water quality Paques Closed Loop System produces after treating them.
PD : Could you explain more about your BIOPAQ®IC treatment system?
SS : Biopaq® is the brand where generations of technologies have been evolved. Biopaq®IC is breakthrough technology in the world where in combining the principles and addressing the limitations of UASB or any other low-rate reactor technologies. Closed Loop Technology for Paper Industry in powered by Biopaq®IC and Biopaq®ICX system, where in the treatment process is quick enough to maintain the loop COD & VFA in the range to produce Odour-Free/Food Grade Paper.
PD : What is Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB)?
SS : UASB technology is much older generation technology needs considerably larger space and volume to treat the wastewater. Client prefers Biopaq®IC over UASB due to many distinct advantages. Paques’ Biopaq®UASB comes in modules with its own robustness – made from high engineered plastics – we also offer 10 years of warranty of the material. It doesn’t need periodical maintenance unlike the conventional UASB reactors.
Additionally, a retrofit programme is available for existing UASB installations. Paques not only has a lot of experience in updating Paques’ installations, but also in improving products of our competitors.
PD : Do you manufacture any special treatment systems for heavy turbid and slightly contaminated liquids?
SS : We have complete range of solutions depending up on the industry and influent types, and we go methodologically and don’t sell unless we are confident of solving the issues and for that we have pre-sales procedures like Piloting & Biodegradability Tests.
PD : How about your service & support activities before & after sales?
SS : I am proud to share the technologies what we manufacture comes with longer warranties up to 10 years because of its robustness and high durability. None of the wastewater process technology comes for such larger warranties, hence our business from warranties/repairs from our own products is virtually zero.
However, our dedicated service team comprising of process specialists together with site operations task force ensure the seamless operations of the plant. Our unique service propositions encompass portfolio of Operations, Remote Support, Online/Real time monitoring. We also supply unique specialist products like Nutrimix, Granular Biomass which can improve the performance of the existing plants.
PD : Do you have in-house laboratory and R&D facilities?
SS : Paques India has world-class sets of laboratory equipment, on-site Pilot Tests & real time Biodegradability Analysis. Global Design and Engineering Centre (GDEC) team based out of Chennai, focusing on new product development, and supporting global engineering activities.
PD : Where is your Manufacturing facility located?
SS : We inaugurated “The State of the Art” modern manufacturing unit in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh in the year 2016. The plant is one of the most modern Water Treatment Equipment manufacturing units in India. It encompasses 40,000 square feet area across a plot of two acres, is fully air conditioned & fully automated.
It manufactures core components for reactors that treat wastewater and gas, and supplies products to customers across Southeast Asia, Japan, Vietnam, besides India and the SAARC countries.
PD : Challenges you face in the Indian Market ?
SS : India Cleantech market is of tremendous opportunities, we knew it from the day one while forming the core start-up team in 2014. Within time of 5 years of starting up our factory, we are the number one company in the Anaerobic Treatment Market in India – serving specific-niche markets like Ethanol, Sugar, Paper, Dairies and Food Processing, where we are growing at almost double the pace of the usual market growth rate.
We understand it takes time for market like India to accept the next generation technology and it is a process of change and adaptation, which of course every next gen technology must go through.
PD : What are your other markets?
SS : SKion Water is the balance between entrepreneurialism and synergy to perfection. Its portfolio companies enjoy a high degree of independence, while the group structure enables them to work together seamlessly to deliver comprehensive solutions to key industry sectors.
As an anchor investor in Emerald Technology Ventures’ global water innovation impact fund, the group can now source a much broader range of opportunities for collaborative solutions across the globe. Furthermore, by positioning itself as an end-to-end water and wastewater solutions provider in the pharma value chain, it has expertly captured the zeitgeist of the vaccination age.
Paques would focus on SKion Water’s flagship products/technologies which are useful across the target industries.
“We don’t sell unless we are confident of solving the issues and for that we have pre-sales procedures like Piloting & Biodegradability Tests”.
PD : How does your company contribute to the society?
SS : Paques strongly support Women Empowerment. We have thus partnered with Tender Heats NGO, a non-governmental organization in Bhatola Village, Faridabad that empowers underprivileged women from the local community through providing vocational training and creating employment opportunities. For our corporate gifting initiatives, Paques purchases handcrafted products like macrame coasters, handbags, laptop sleeves, and other products made by the skilled women of the NGO. The purpose of this small gesture is to give the women of the village a sense of honour and to remind them to be economically independent.
In 2018, Paques participated actively in providing relief materials to the victims of the cyclone of Gaja. As part of Paques’ Gaja cyclone relief fund, Paques teams visited down south areas like Nagapattinam, Velankanni, Vadaranyam, and Thiruvarur in Tamil Nadu and provided relief materials to the victims like rain covers and tuffpaulines to build shelter from the cyclone & incessant rains.
PD : Any special achievements for your company?
SS : In February 2020, PAQUES India was honoured by ET Now with the “Business Leader of the Year Award – Excellence in Sustainable Water Management.”
