New products are focused on green chemistry principles, says Richard Lobo of Tata Chemicals

Tata Chemicals, part of the steel-to-salt conglomerate Tata group, is focusing on green chemistry principles for all its new products. For the world’s second-largest soda ash player with operations in India, Europe, North America and Africa, carbon and sustainability have become vital and 70 per cent of the capacity comes from natural sources, says Richard Lobo, Head Innovation, Research and Development (R&D), Business Excellence and Chief Ethics Counsellor at Tata Chemicals.

Technology started playing a very important role in the way Tata Chemicals started doing business. “We started investing significantly in technology innovation, which is also R&D led, foreseeing new businesses for the future and then making our factories far more sustainable, both from carbon energy and water perspectives,” says Lobo.

For instance, Tata Chemicals’ 80-year-old Mithapur plant is pivoting to becoming a smart factory. The company has put up a connected plant concept and is using analytics, IoT, artificial intelligence, digital twins and more, to track emissions and become sustainable, improve operating efficiency, and lower impact on the environment. “It uses data as an enabler for becoming world class,” says Lobo.

Having a presence in various parts of the world, Tata Chemicals has also started UK’s very first carbon capture plant. “Mainly it’s an amine-based carbon capture technology. It sucks carbon dioxide up to 40,000 tonnes per annum, which is about equal to taking out 20,000 cars from the road, and it converts that carbon dioxide into sodium bicarbonate,” adds Lobo.

The company is also focusing on decarbonisation, redesign, and circular designs and from the R&D side is looking at sustainable renewable solutions and green chemistry for all its products. “100 per cent of our products are now focused on green chemistry principles. And pivoting our future products to market, which are far more sustainable in nature,” adds Lobo. Sharing an example, Lobo said, Tata Chemicals has a product called highly dispersible silica, which goes into tyres.

The company is able to take out the silica from the rice husk cache, which is an agricultural waste. It goes into tyres, which makes them more sustainable. Lobo says, “It delivers better safety on the road because there are grips. The rolling resistance is better and the tire is far more durable. So, it’s 20 per cent longer life. So if a tyre went for 50,000 kilometres, it now goes for 62,500 kilometres. So, in that sense, the product becomes green and sustainable.”

This Highly Dispersible Silica (HDS) grade is being manufactured based on the patented technology developed by the innovation centre of Tata Chemicals. These specialty-grade products are customised for the specific requirements of large customers with support from the innovation centre. The products are sold in domestic and export markets through a combination of direct supply and distributors.

Apart from investing in its own R&D, the company is constantly looking at the best technologies available in the world and adopting them (whenever possible).

Right from coffee plantations to the extraction of metals from lithium-ion batteries, as the Tata group focuses on sustainability; Tata Chemicals is also working closely with other group companies whenever there is a need.