In an interview with TechGraph, Deepak Pahwa, Chairman of Pahwa Group and Managing Director of Bry-Air spoke about how technology-enabled solutions are helping address the global challenge of reducing carbon emissions in India with initiatives such as becoming an EV-first nation and achieving net-zero status, and how Pahwa and Bry-Air’s customized innovations are transforming industries like Li-ion battery manufacturing, Data Centres, and Pharma, setting them apart in the market.
Read the complete interview:
TechGraph: Can you describe in more detail the technology behind Pahwa’s advanced environmental control solutions? How does it work, and what sets it apart from other similar solutions on the market?
Deepak Pahwa: Pahwa Group, as an organization, has always been touching people’s lives around the clock. Considering that in the present age, technology is transpiring at a very fast pace, the Group is working on all the latest technologies by continually innovating and upgrading based on the evolving requirements of the myriad industries. To match the evolving trends, we modify and customize our technology. In short, we carry out the customization of products where the same technology is configured in different ways for different industries while delivering the same result of providing quality air solutions for various processes.
Keeping in line with this, our products are highly advanced and are sought by Li-ion batteries, Data Centres, and Pharma industries to name a few, for our real-time innovation. For example, the patented Green DryPurge (GDP) series is adept at providing efficient dehumidification solutions for Li-ion battery manufacturing.
Along with this, looking at the rising demand for sustainable products, we came up with Low Dew Point Dehumidifiers (LDP) that have been customized for furnishing highly energy-efficient dehumidification that requires the shortest manufacturing lead time for Li-ion battery manufacturing.
Given the latest technology, the products are revolutionizing the Li-ion battery manufacturing ecosystem across the world. It is helping a great deal in manufacturing quality, safe and long-lasting batteries, to avoid fire accidents in e-vehicle occurring due to poor-quality batteries.
The dehumidifiers are proficient at controlling the moisture levels for achieving humidity between the range of -40°C to -80°C dew point depending on the process being carried out. At the same, we also have P95x that has been specially engineered for the pharma industry. It consists of a new generation G4 desiccant rotor that allows regeneration/ reactivation at just 95°C, promoting unbeatable energy savings of more than 30%.
In recent years, the phenomenal rate at which digitization has taken place has invariably contributed to the surge of Data Centres. Understanding the menace moisture can create by causing corrosion in the facility, our compact dehumidifiers, gas phase filtration systems, and customized pressurization units aim to increase the uptime of the facilities by impeding the process of corrosion.
Along similar lines, looking at the requirement of small server rooms, we customized our product to devise BryShield, a first-of-its-kind air filtration system for small server rooms, that finds application in MRI rooms, IVF clinics, smoking lounges, etc. for providing quality air solutions in an energy-efficient way.
Therefore, it can be said that all our products are engineered. Considering the various factors such as the requirements of the pharma, food, automobile, and various industries, taking into account the number of people working, the area, technology or machinery to be processed, we modulate our machines accordingly to cater to the needs of our customers.
TechGraph: How have Pahwa Group’s technology-enabled solutions impacted the environmental impact of the industries it serves? Can you share any data or case studies that demonstrate the solutions’ efficacy?
Deepak Pahwa: Over the years, we have observed that the world has been changing and so have the requirements. Today, companies across industries are on the lookout for sustainable products, seeking energy-efficient and green solutions to reduce their operational costs and carbon footprint at the same time.
They are working towards minimizing their dependency on the already depleting natural resources. Similarly, great strides are being made in the HVAC&R industry for contributing towards environmental conservation.
For instance, as stated above, LDP and P95x are aiding in bringing down the humongous energy consumption load of the manufacturing sector by resorting to energy-efficient dehumidification solutions. In addition to this, the DRI Arctic Coolers provide economical, energy-efficient Industrial Evaporative Cooling for large, complex spaces such as factories, warehouses, etc.
They are adept at minimizing energy consumption by 80% as compared to other alternatives available in the market. Working on the principle of ventilation, the coolers make use of 100% natural fresh air, cutting down the unnecessary usage of electricity. Here, by ensuring a continuous supply of fresh oxygen to the room, it improves the indoor air quality of the space.
Perceiving the demand for sustainability, Green Buildings have become quite popular in recent years. Green Building accreditation is a validation to signify that there is optimum utilization of resources. Based on the next level net zero concept, it promotes less wastage, which works towards re-channelizing the resources.
Here, instead of releasing the used resources to the environment, they are recirculated or regenerated for refurbishing for other apt usage. It encourages the adoption of clean practices that come to benefit in refraining from polluting the environment. The buildings are configured in such a way that makes sure that less heat is emitted by promoting passive cooling in the building. It ensures that all necessary parameters are met during the time of construction.
Being a responsible company, where we provide sustainable solutions to our clients, we also believe in practicing the same at our facilities as well. For this, one of our DRI facilities at Manesar has been awarded the Net Zero Building Certification for utilizing renewable energy and resources. It has also been recognized as a Platinum Certified Green Factory Building for abiding by the guidelines set by prominent green building certification agencies namely, ASSOCHAM, ECBC, LEED, and Indian Green Building Council. The facility works towards optimal energy utilization by harnessing the benefits of reducing, reusing, and recycling resources for sustainable growth.
The investment in our technology to adopt sustainable practices showcases our resolve to reduce the carbon footprint of the world. As a company that believes in embracing energy-efficient technology is bound to offer environment-friendly solutions to its customers.
TechGraph: With the increasing focus on sustainability and reducing carbon emissions, how does Pahwa Group see its technology-enabled solutions fitting into this larger trend? How do you see the market for these solutions evolving in the coming years?
Deepak Pahwa: Given the rising awareness around global warming, carbon emission, environmental pollution, etc., various industries such as EV, pharma, food, and many more are showing great enthusiasm for quality air solutions along with advanced dehumidification technologies.
Looking at the rising conversations around sustainability, the country aspires to reduce the dependency on natural resources such as diesel, petrol, etc., by 2030. For which great strides are being made on the EV front.
In addition to this, India is also eyeing to become a net zero country by 2060-2070. In line with this, the initiatives undertaken by the government are further giving impetus to the demand for sustainable products aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of the country. The budget 2023-24, laying great emphasis on green growth and renewable energy is spurring the demand for advanced, energy-efficient dehumidification solutions.
Observing that India is a developing nation, it is the need of the hour to adopt sustainable practices as soon as possible. A bigger shift is happening in the automobile industry, concerning Li-ion batteries, and likewise, in the Data Centres, pharma, and HVAC&R industries, they are on the lookout for sustainable technologies to witness the larger impact on the environment.
The country’s pledge to become the EV-first nation by 2030 along with the G20 summit focusing on renewable sources has surged the demand for Li-ion batteries and energy storage systems.
Here, battery manufacturing is the main energy guzzler in the EV industry which is marked by enormous energy consumption. LDP from the house of Bry-Air is changing the dynamics of the industry. It provides futuristic solutions with the help of the shortest Li-ion manufacturing lead time and energy-efficient solutions.
As a result, it reduces energy consumption leading to profound electricity savings. The Bry-Air Dry Rooms play a crucial role in lithium battery production and also aid in bringing down the carbon footprint of the company, making us the fastest-growing adsorption technology group in the world.
Similarly, even in the pharma industry, India is considered to be the ‘pharmacy of the world’ with more than 10,500 manufacturing facilities. At the same time, the country is also expanding its foothold in the international market, laying great responsibility to increase the manufacturing of the products while abiding by the highest industry standards. Manufacturing at such a large scale requires enormous energy and resources. To cater to the requirement, P95x has been specially designed for the industry to provide energy-efficient solutions that save more than 30 percent of energy.
In recent years, major revelations have happened in the emergence of large Data Centres as part of mission-critical initiatives where industries are adopting digitization with alacrity. Given the corrosion threat in the presence of moisture, dehumidification solutions find immense application to arrest the damage to the facility and ensure zero downtime of the Data Centres.
Likewise, the BBS series for the food and pharma industries helps the industry stay ahead of the technological curve. It has a certain algorithm, BFD (Bidirectional Forwarding Detection), and VFD (Variable Frequency Drive), that changes the parameters in real-time to give better energy efficiency.
At the same time, there are Green Dry Smart Dryers that offer waterless plastic drying for the plastic industry. This somewhere minimizes the dependency on natural resources and cuts down on piping, making it an energy-efficient solution.
In addition to this, our dehumidifiers also find application in government PSU (Power Supply Units) and old thermal power plants. A lot of thermal power plants in India are still dependent on coal translating into huge emissions from the plant.
As the country is moving towards renewable energy and alternate technologies, it becomes crucial to ensure that the old plants are not releasing further VOCs and harmful gasses into the air. Catering to the industry, we supply dehumidifiers for the Sox and Nox process to aid in the reduction of emissions released into the environment and at the same time improve the efficiency of the power plant.
Having talked about the various industries, semiconductors are the next big thing gaining traction in the country. Similarly, India is also expanding its foothold in the international market as the global manufacturing hub. This puts a lot of responsibility on the country to manufacture high-quality products to meet the expectations of consumers across the world seeking quality, zero defects, and high-performance products.
Considering that the industries are huge energy guzzlers, they put a lot of burden on the environment. The industry, hence, requires breakthrough temperature and humidity control solutions, making our technology providing quality air solutions relevant for industries not just in the country but also internationally.
Dealing in the B2B business for years, we have forayed into varied dehumidification solutions to cater to the requirements across industries. Pahwa Group, coming with years of extensive knowledge in dehumidification and quality air solutions, always works towards futuristic vision and technologies.
Owing to this, it is pioneering and changing the dynamics of the industries to help clients in a great way to reduce energy consumption and in turn bring down their carbon footprint. We continuously work towards getting them more sustainable results. Considering that ‘Innovation is Life’ has been our DNA, we keep investing in our technology to upgrade it to the latest requirements. From the customer’s point, we are giving them solutions to help them work in this direction.
TechGraph: How has Pahwa Group worked to ensure that its technology-enabled solutions are accessible and affordable to a wide range of businesses and industries? Are there any plans to expand into new markets or industries in the near future?
Deepak Pahwa: Focusing on quality air solutions, Pahwa Group strives to impact and elevate the day-to-day lives of the people. From batteries in laptops or the automobile industry to drugs and medicines, the food industry, and many more, achieving stringent environmental conditions is a prerequisite to ensure the quality of the end product.
To meet the evolving demands of the industries, under Industry 4.0 we have embraced ‘smart manufacturing.’ It’s been a while since we have integrated Industry 4.0 into our solutions. Advanced technologies such as AI, AR, robotics, 3D printing, cloud computing, etc. allow for process automation along with minimum wastage of resources. This plays an instrumental role in curtailing customer claims by increasing user satisfaction.
The technologies allow for efficient control of systems and exercise energy optimization to ensure cost-effective and energy-efficient operations. Coming with the advantage of connecting multiple devices, it makes remote monitoring easy for the HVAC&R industry. At the same time, it also enables predictive troubleshooting that helps in controlling unannounced damage by detecting faults beforehand based on real-time data.
Along with this, day-to-day activities and shop floor workflows can be streamlined with the help of data and devices. This allows for looping the various stakeholders in the same network to track the operations, send notifications, monitor inventory, invoice sales orders, etc. Looking at the transparency and flexibility of the process, it becomes easy to make informed decisions in the factory environment.
In addition to Industry 4.0, Pahwa Group invariably focuses on R&D to offer accessible and affordable solutions to businesses. It is backed up by a full-fledged R&D center that is recognized by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. This shows our unequivocal resolve to curate world-class solutions that are acceptable in India and across the globe to offer products at low cost with high throughput making use of limited resources. Increasing the productivity of the customers underscores our thought leadership and innovation as a result of routine collaboration with scientists, global research institutes, test labs, and universities.
Under Pahwa Group, Bry-Air has always been ahead of the technological curve and well prepared in advance to support the needs of the customers and the industries. As a frontrunner in the industry, the Group has always been futuristic in its vision which helps in anticipating the trend beforehand and channelizes the strategies accordingly.
The Group is already working on the Carbon Capture technology and Air Water Generator (AWG) concept. Where carbon capture aids in arresting global warming by reducing industrial and thermal carbon emissions, our breakthrough concept of AWG aims at mitigating the water scarcity problem across the globe.
Constantly working towards enhancing the efficiencies of the customers with the help of new-age material and chemical science, we are involved in the curation of new solutions that work towards energy efficiency, cost reduction, and curtailing the carbon footprint.
Along the same line, we are working towards bringing down the regeneration capacity of P95x even lower, striving to increase energy savings beyond 30%. For this, we are focusing on enhancing the rotor capabilities and adsorption by working on new chemicals and materials.
TechGraph: How does Pahwa Group envision technology’s role in solving some of the biggest environmental challenges facing the world today? What other innovative solutions do they see emerging in this space?
Deepak Pahwa: Looking at the deteriorating state of the environment, the dynamics of the industries are changing at a fast pace. The whole world is making strides toward fast-paced EV adoption because of skyrocketing petrol and diesel prices and depleting natural resources.
At the same time, recent years have seen the mushrooming of Data Centres giving impetus to the demand for dehumidifiers for quality air solutions. Likewise, even the pharma industry is rising to prominence in the international market. Looking forward, semiconductors are expected to be the next big market in India. All the factors lay irrevocable importance on the safety and quality of the products.
Dealing in B2B business, we ensure that the end product that goes to the customer is of superior quality. It is our responsibility to ensure that the food the consumer eats tastes the best and our technology helps in achieving the result. Our product lines help in impacting big segments, industries, and the overall world. The breakthrough technologies help our customers and end users to get the benefit out of it.
For instance, our dehumidification solution aids in the manufacturing of quality Li-ion batteries with zero defects that too in the most energy-efficient way. This in turn helps address the incidents of EVs catching fire and at the same time reduces the revocation of vehicles from the market.
In the same way, understanding that PET plastics are likely to form acetaldehyde, it can increase the chance of cancer in humans given to its application across water bottles, aerated beverages, juices, liquor, PET aluminum lid cans, jars, trays, etc. Bry-Air Green DrySmart (GDS) Dryer comes to the rescue by minimizing the formation of acetaldehyde.
Hence, we are invariably involved in coming up with better, safer, and quality products to help our customers in their businesses. We work towards bringing about a change in the world where people talk about quality air solutions, in which we play a critical role.
