Green Technology

With our mission to assist clients in making business decisions based on sustainable approach, and leveraging business growth & environment protection; STEP guides clients in effective solutions for resource conservation using novel & green technologies.

Through the Green Technologies, STEP is working on projects connected with 3 sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by United Nations viz. SDG6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG7 (Affortable Clean Energy) and SDG9 (Industry, Innovation & infrastructure).

1. Process Intensification:

Process Intensification (PI) is an engineering development that leads to a cleaner, safer and energy efficient technologies. PI helps in sustainable operations through productivity improvement and reduction in waste generation.

STEP guides clients through various interventions in the following areas:

• Productivity Improvement through increasing batch size, batch cycle.
• Converting batch operations into continuous especially for reactions.

2. Column Chromatography:

Adsorbents like activated carbon, silica, alumina or zeolites are used in industry for moisture/ color removal and product purification. Activated Carbon (AC) is widely used in chemical industry for color removal and product purification. The process is generally performed in a batch, and fine particles of AC end up in the product, many a times. AC is not reusable and has to be disposed of after use & may have to be incinerated. Fine particles of AC could end up in effluent streams, as well.

Silica, alumina or zeolites have been used in batch & continuous mode for product purification and they can be reused. However, they have limitations in terms of effectiveness compared to synthetic polymeric adsorbents (SPA).

STEP has experience in color removal, product purification and recovery of chemicals from effluent streams using SPAs. The process can be operated in a continuous mode (Column Chromatography). SPAs are commercially used in various separations/ purifications in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and specialty chemicals.  

STEP provides services in 2 areas:

• Recovery of chemicals from wastewater- Specific chemicals & solvents could be recovered from effluent streams e.g. Phenol, Aniline, Methylene Di Chloride, DiMethyl Formamide (DMF) or metals like copper, chromium, arsenic etc.
• Colour removal :- Replacement of AC by SPAs which can be reused over several cycles.

STEP has demonstrated the effectiveness of SPAs in lab process to remove few chemicals viz.  Aniline, Di Methyl Formamide (DMF), Methylene Di Chloride (MDC)., and for colour removal of Sodium acetate.

3. Sonochemistry for Crystallization & Miling:

Cavitation is one of the emerging technologies being practiced in chemical industry for process intensification. Cavitation by ultrasound has been used for crystallization and milling in pharma APIs and specific products.

STEP has demonstrated this technology for crystallization and/or milling of specialty chemicals and APIs, this includes producing milled product with less than 50 microns particle size in very short time.  

Major Clients: