Innovation

Human waste removal is a steadily developing issue prompting the danger of natural contamination and leading to infections because of the pollution of groundwater, food chain, and drinking water assets. In the current framework, the excreta when flushed out goes down into a little concrete chamber, and then into the septic tank leading to contamination of groundwater further leading to health hazards. The E P Kamat Group has come up with an innovative idea of a biodigester tank that can avoid problems with traditional septic systems, such as foul smells, contamination of groundwater, repeated cleaning, transportation of sewage, and also the need for a very large amount of ground space.

The Bio-Digester toilet from the E P Kamat Group is a cutting-edge sanitation system that completely breaks down human waste at all stages. Inoculum bacteria can easily function in even the worst weather circumstances and can deactivate 99% of infections under anaerobic conditions according to technology approved by the Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO). The sole byproducts are odourless gas and water that can be used for gardening. This technique can break down even detergents and phenyl with just one bacterial inoculation. They are the only sole TOT holder present in Goa, bringing this Clean, Green, and futuristic sanitation solution.

The biodigester tank is loaded up with inoculum microorganisms that hold excreta as food and convert it into biogas and water. The biogas can be utilized as fuel for any heating purposes. The water can be utilized for cultivating and farming purposes as it is liberated from microbes or it can also be let out into a drench pit which is covered with a permeable wall chamber that permits water to gradually douse into the ground, and this water does not taint the groundwater. This anaerobic biodigester tank is compact and one-third the size of a traditional septic tank, hence it’s economical and has a smaller footprint leading to lower construction costs. It is a 100% percent eco-friendly system that requires only a one-time charge of bacterial inoculum, unlike a septic tank which requires periodic refills. There is no need to evacuate the tank, which is required for conventional septic tanks at frequent intervals which makes it maintenance-free.

The primary resource that ensures the survival of all life on Earth is water. Although having access to water, sanitation, and hygiene is a fundamental human right, billions of people daily struggle to get even the most basic amenities. Water waste left untreated is one of the significant explanations for water shortage. Water squander is produced from modern waste, private waste, ecological waste, and considerably more. The E P Kamat Group decided to contribute to this noble cause by providing solutions for the reuse of wastewater through Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) and Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) by providing customized solutions.

The E P Kamat Group helps develop and build innovative and customized solutions for wastewater treatment. STP (Sewage Treatment Plant) is used to treat human waste whereas, ETP (Effluent Treatment Plant) is used to treat chemical waste such as from hospitals, chemical plants, and paint Industries. Both come under wastewater treatment. The unique and innovative technology used in STP, and ETP are SBR, MBBR, and MBR.

The Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) is an advanced high-rate wastewater treatment technology with high treatment efficiency; low capital, low maintenance, and replacement cost; single reliable, and robust operation procedure. Moreover, this technology is applicable to a wide range of wastewater flows ranging from 10,000 to 150,000 m3 per day. The MBBR is effective in removing up to 90% of chemical oxygen demand and 95% of biochemical oxygen demand with nutrients from the effluent stream at optimum conditions, provided there is sufficient retention time. It is a cost-effective way of upgrading existing wastewater treatment systems as it is efficient, compact, and easy to operate. This process can be provided for new sewage treatment or for retrofitting existing wastewater treatment plants where a higher treated effluent standard is required without any running and capital costs. The performance of MBBR depends on the percent of media provided in the reactor, the surface area of the bio carrier, dissolved oxygen, and the organic loading.

The MBR technology in BIO STP Plus is used for sewage and other effluent treatment plants. It works on the principle of physical separation of physical waste, chemical treatment, and biological digestion, followed by specially designed submerged hollow fibre membrane filtration. Hollow fibre membranes have a pore size of 0.06 microns which ensures the removal of pathogens and bacteria in treated water. BIO STP Plus is a mix of tanks, blowers, films, siphons, and other electrical gear which makes itself one of a kind having no maintenance. The benefit of BIO STP Plus is a cost-effective practical solution and the treated water meets the 2020 norms of the pollution control board. It is a completely automatic plant with PLC-based automation. This generates negligible sludge hence very less maintenance is required. The bi-product water can be reused for toilet flushing, construction, cooling tower, fishpond, horticulture & floor washing.

Inspiration

When your goals are so powerful that challenges, failure, and loss only serve as inspiration, and not as obstacles. This indeed holds true for Mr. Rajkumar Kamat.

Although he was born into a low-middle-class family, his dreams were huge. From a young age, he had a strong desire to take risks and dreamt of starting his own business venture. Kamat while working at ACGL Goa where he honed his engineering and management skills for a decade took a life-changing decision to answer his call into entrepreneurship. His vision was very clear to focus on environmental protection through engineering products and services. “My personal mission became employment generation through entrepreneurial growth. So everything that I then got associated with whether it is GEMS-Goa Entrepreneurs Mentoring Services or whether a huge event like Vibrant Goa or whether a part of Goa state Industries association, my sole goal was to generate employment through entrepreneurial expansion ” says R. Kamat.

“When managing a company, one must consider both the growth of their employees and the growth of the organization as a whole. it’s imperative to keep growing and a feeling of continuous growth is a wonderful source of motivation and self-confidence” says Rajkumar kamat.

His early years were difficult and demanding because he had to juggle daily administration, finance, acquisitions, marketing, production, and other tasks. He ran into a lot of issues. His strategy was to see every obstacle as an opportunity to advance.

After detailed research, he decided to focus on composites and the sanitation sector. “Inspired by the vision of prime minister Narendra Modi the group decided to take part in the Swachh Bharat mission by going in for biodigester technology which eliminates groundwater contamination vis a vis traditional septic tank” says Rajkumar Kamat. Actions were taken accordingly and the group signed the technology agreement with DRDO in July 2017. With a focus on an open defecation-free initiative, the E P Kamat Group was the first to promote the idea of bio-toilets. The then Chief Minister of Goa, the Late Manohar Parrikar who was fully aware of the benefits of biodigester technology decided to offer bio-toilets to individuals in the villages of Goa with a tie-up with the E.P Kamat Group.

While promoting their biodigester toilets, the E P Kamat group noticed that most of the sewage treatment plants in various establishments were not functioning appropriately, thereby not meeting the objective with which they were established. Therefore, the group further ventured into the area of sewage and effluent treatment plants for wastewater recycling in accordance with the most recent pollution control norms. His main goal was to extract recyclable clean water from wastewater, thereby benefiting both the environment and the community as a whole.

Overall impact

Water is a precious resource and it is becoming scarce every passing day. India is going to be a water-stressed country in the next 10-15 years. Water is an essential commodity for the survival of species. Its conservation is what matters the most in today’s times. With developing infrastructure excessive usage of water can be seen, while in developing countries 70% of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into the waters where they pollute the usable water supply leading to water pollution.

There are many industries that discharge their waste into natural water bodies without prior treatment. This untreated water discharged into the environment is a major cause of pollution and can be hazardous to human life as well as the environment.

India is blessed with a lot of water bodies but most of these water bodies are contaminated and in unhealthy conditions. The EP KAMAT group has ventured into sewage treatment technology which is a process of recycling water to a safer level and secondly effluent water treatment technology which is an advanced solution that incorporates industrial wastewater for reuse and safe return to the environment.

EP KAMAT group has become a major player in wastewater treatment and the state today has benefited greatly due to this business. The company has been successfully recycling over 1 million liters of water every day and aims to recycle 100 million liters of water per day by 2025 determining to be the market leader in sanitation and water recycling space in India.

With more than 3500 bio-toilets installed in individual households in Goa, their toilets are cost-effective, environmentally friendly, and maintenance-free with their only by-product being odourless bio-gas and water for gardening. The E P Kamat group has made significant contributions as the state of Goa declared itself open-defecation-free in July 2019. Their products help eliminate groundwater contamination and provide support to brands in the hospitality sector, industry, and construction companies.

The group recently signed a partnership agreement with Swedish sustain-tech company Wayout International to bring down the carbon footprints. This will provide a pioneering world-class solution that can locally produce and distribute drinking and cooking water with minimal eco-footprint, anywhere on earth. This innovative water purification and dispensation system are touted to reduce the use of plastic bottles and therefore carbon footprint. It has the potential to reduce 14,500 tons of CO2 emissions by cutting down the use of 170 million plastic bottles in Goa.

Business benefit

EP Kamat Group’s mission is to consistently contribute towards a Clean, Green, and Safe Planet. This is accomplished through three of its main business verticals: Bio-Digester, Sewage Treatment Plant, and Effluent Treatment Plant.

EP Kamat group has diversified and grown keeping the environment in mind. The bio-digester toilet business was started in the year 2017, using the bio-digester technology from DRDO. The biodigester tanks are smaller in size, cost less, are environment friendly, and have no maintenance vis-a-vis septic tanks, making it the perfect technology to become one of the company's most profitable products. The bio-digester tank is made available in different sizes depending on the number of users. Currently, more than 3500 bio-digester toilets have been installed under the Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Mission to control open defecation. In the coming years, the company also plans to target the tourism sector in Goa.

While marketing the biodigester product, the group realized that many Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) in various organizations were not functioning which defeated the very purpose of an STP. Therefore, the group decided to expand its business and began to construct STPs and ETP’s for clients. Along with the STPs they also design, manufacture, set up, and operate Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP), which help to remove contaminations from wastewater and water used by industries that contain organic wastes, suspended solids, oil & grease, chemicals, metals, resins, colorant, & surfactant. The ETP systems are very compact, tailor-made designs, are portable, require very less footprint to accommodate, and are energy efficient. The E P Kamat group got empanelled with the pollution control board for offering these services and is proud to cater to clients like Taj resorts in the hospitality sector, IFB from the industry sector, and Umiya housing society from the construction sector. The organization has worked on over 2000 projects for more than 3500 clients from various sectors.

Mr. Rajkumar Kamat says, “So far we have supplied more than 3500 biodigesters since we started. These biodigesters are doing away with groundwater contamination and at present point of time it is very negligible. But the sewage and effluent treatment plant in the first year treated 1 million litres of water per day”

With a vision to grow the business exponentially without any constraints of funds and add value to the business, the group decided to raise funds through an IPO and is currently listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) as EP Biocomposites Limited. The workforce includes a mix of young and experienced professionals with decades of work experience. Another advantage is that the firm and its concept are both indigenous to India, so, it acted as good leverage for the company to become a profitable business. So far the group receives most of its business from Goa while some bit comes from North Karnataka. Now with the funds raised through the IPO, the company plans to invest in North and South Karnataka followed by parts of Maharashtra especially the Konkan areas like Ratnagiri and Kolhapur in terms of building the brand, and the company further plans to explore the overseas niche markets as well.

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Social and environmental benefit

Wastewater management has become the most important area of concern. India is home to 17% of the world’s population but has only 4% of the world’s freshwater resources. At present, 75% of Indian households do not have access to drinking water, and close to 90% of rural households have no access to piped water. It is reported that only 27% of wastewater from sewage is treated in India and the rest is just released into the environment contaminating it and resulting in waterborne diseases. More than 80% of consumed water becomes wastewater.

Just a few years ago, in 2015, nearly half of India’s population of around 568 million people suffered the indignity of defecating in fields, forests, water bodies, or other public spaces due to a lack of access to toilets. E P Kamat group aims to be the leader in sanitation and water recycling space in India by introducing the most technologically advanced yet environmentally friendly products. Under PM Swachh Bharat’s mission, the company has introduced biodigester toilets in order to reduce open defecation. A traditional septic tank releases sewage underground leading to groundwater contamination which causes various diseases such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery, diarrhoea, etc. However, the biodigester toilets ensure that human waste is completely degraded or eaten up. Thus, the company has been able to contribute to this cause greatly by making it a safer environment.

With smarter solutions like sewage treatment plants that successfully treat and manage wastewater generated from residential and commercial complexes, EP’s commitment to producing environmentally friendly products has brought about an everlasting shift in the state. The company also produces other environmentally friendly products such as Effluent Treatment Plants and Bio-Digester toilets.

“The company has generated employment in the state and the mission of the company is contributing towards a clean green and safe planet. The company is planning to come up with a cost-effective solution to treat sewage waste which is generated by beach shacks as they generate a lot of waste, especially near the coastal area which gets absorbed by the land. This product will be very much suitable for beachside shacks and also for a lot of restaurants and it will definitely have a positive impact on the environment.” Says Rajkumar Kamat.

While keeping an eye out for new water-related technologies, the group took on Sweden's sustainable technology leaders, Wayout International, and their 'pure water without plastic bottles' initiative. This water purification and dispensary system reduce the use of plastic bottles, lowering the overall carbon footprint. With no by-products, a single Wayout System provides clean and safe drinking water to nearly 2000 people. This system saves up to 483 tonnes of greenhouse gases and 5.7 million single-use plastic bottles per year.

The E. P Kamat Group under the able leadership of Mr. Rajkumar Kamat has created 100+ employment opportunities. In April 2018, he was presented the “Business Enabler of the Year Award’ at the Business Goa Awards for Corporate Excellence. With a promising series of products in the future, EP Kamat Group stands to provide sustainability, promote better economic growth, improve quality of life, protect our ecosystem and preserve resources for future generations.

Additional Resources:

1. https://www.business-standard.com/content/press-releases-ani/swedish-sustain-tech-company-wayout-and-ep-kamat-group-introduce-eco-friendly-technology-to-bring-down-the-carbon-footprint-122052800938_1.html

2. https://businessgoa.in/from-recycling-1-million-litres-in-2022-to-100-million-in-2025/

3. https://epeeaqua.com/importance-of-valuing-wastewater-for-a-sustainable-life/?fbclid=IwAR3oEDUcg9e9kMRegabNYeoSbaCH91o1_r7sR045Fn5YY4-3T7EytuxPrXY

4. https://epkamatgroup.com/

5. https://www.youtube.com/@epkamatgroup8525/videos

6. https://issuu.com/business_goa/docs/business_goa_september_2022

7. https://www.youtube.com/@epkamatgroup8525/videos

8. https://www.bseindia.com/corporates/download/367215/EP%20Biocomposites%20Limited-Draft%20Prospectus_20220204134935.pdf

Interview

Rajkumar Kamat, Founder & Managing Director