“In line with Glasgow COP26, they have targeted reduction of fossil fuel by various means like increasing thermal efficiency, selection of the right fuel (coal), adding agro-waste, adding municipal solid waste – refuse-derived fuel (MSW RDF), industrial RDF, and waste gases to steam. We are doing that,” explains Vishal Budhia, a second-generation entrepreneur based in Surat, Gujarat, MD, Steam House India Ltd. In 2015 during one of his visits to South Korea Budhia was introduced to the concept and technology behind the community boiler. His family business is textile processing. A unique concept was started by him when he visualised green hydrogen as an important fuel in the future and he is investing in tree plantations to get carbon neutral. “I felt that India definitely needs such solutions, especially in the industrial clusters where steam is required for product manufacturing. Currently, every plant has its own boiler that takes up space, requires adhering to industrial compliance and manpower. We are addressing all these issues with this concept where we supply steam to industrial clusters in Gujarat through our 30 and 60-tonne plants costing Rs20 crore and Rs30 crore respectively, via Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) led technology via overhead pipes,” says Budhia who uses the technology that follows the steam consumption pattern of each plant and adapts and creates a customised plan. “This helps in increasing productivity, reducing capex, enhancing capacity and delivering a higher profit.” Steam is an inevitable requirement for most manufacturing industries like textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, plywood, paper, etc, to meet their heat requirements in chemical reactions and so on. Steam is also used for effluent treatment or for evaporating industrial waste. This waste cannot be treated, as the liquid is evaporated and salts get collected, which in turn dissociates the water and chemicals into untreatable liquid wastes even for finishing garments by garment manufactures. For years, industries have been setting up their own boilers at their premises to meet their steam requirements. “These boilers are small to medium in size, have low efficiency; the operations are usually not taken care of by professionals, and at times safety is compromised, which results in casualties. Another major hazard is the increasing level of industrial air pollution. The chimneys in industrial areas that emit black smoke add to PM-5 and PM-10 of the environment, causing diseases from asthma to cancer as a result of improper air pollution control equipment and non-professional management,” adds Budhia. Plug and play So, what has Steam House done? They have set up a concept called common boilers in various industrial areas in Gujarat where the steam demand is high. These are large, high pressure, high-efficiency boilers with highly efficient air pollution control equipment. These large boilers generate quality steam at a lower cost under the supervision of experienced professionals. This steam is then distributed to industries in local areas by an overhead pipeline network spread across 22 km. “The industries get steam at their doorsteps as a plug and play solution with their own billing meter installed at the premises,” points out Budhia who has a virtual monopoly in the business and runs common, large AI integrated steam boilers. These AFBC (Atmospheric Fluidised Bed Combustion) boilers with emissions control technology have 83 per cent efficiency as compared to the small boilers industries generally use which only have 65 per cent efficiency. Industries save up to 40 per cent precious fossil fuel by using the bigger boilers.