WASTEWATER TREATMENT IN INDONESIA

In the course of my studies and my career, I have had the good fortune to travel to many parts of the world, and meet with peoples of various description, different cultural, moral, social and religious backgrounds. Indonesia was one such country I visited way back in the year 1990 in connection with a professional assignment. Vast growth potential of this beautiful and resource rich country has been stifled by a succession of inept Governments and all pervading corruption - a close parallel to the decades long sad story of India. Bali in Indonesia may be eulogised as the "enchanted land" by tour operators : not so the rest of the country where conditions are not far removed from those prevailing in rural India.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT FOR A TEXTILE MILL

IN INDONESIA

I have reasonably good knowledge, skill and experience in design and execution of Wastewater treatment plants for textile mills.  In my initial years in Dorr-Oliver, the Surat - Baroda-Nadiad - Ahmedabad belt was my regular beat : And all this was prime textile country in the boom years of the 80’s.  Ambica, Ambuja, Arbuda,  Arvind, Calico, Navsari, New Shorrock, Saraspur, Sarangpur, Garden Mills, all household names of the day,  were my clients.  In the first phase, treatment was restricted to primary treatment – Coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation for colour and suspended solids removal.  Secondary stage was added later to include biological treatment.  Reliance Industries in Naroda, a fledgling manufacturing facility at that time, put up the first integrated treatment plant. Reliance stole all my designs and engineering, and by the most foul act of chicanery, gave the job to Voltas.  I have harboured a deep rooted hatred for the Reliance group ever since.

Towards the end of my stint with Dorr-Oliver, I was associated with the design and engineering of a Wastewater Treatment and Water Treatment Plant for a major Polynosic Staple Fibre Plant of Tungabhadra Fibres Ltd.,( TUFIL).  Tehcnical knowhow, plant and machinery were purchased from Mitsubishi Rayons.  Mr. V.P Gohel of Gohel Consultants and Engineers was the consultant to TUFIL.

The Late Mr. V P Gohel was the doyen of the Pulp, paper, rayon and synthetic fibres industry, and a towering figure both in India and abroad in the profession.  His achievements during his lifetime and accolades received from across the Globe are truly mind boggling.  His profile in brief may be found in :

http://www.indiamarkets.com/imo/industry/paper/paperfea1.asp  

It may be that Mr. Gohel had a soft corner for me as a fellow Chemical Engineer : I would like to believe that it was my seminal work in the design of the treatment plant for TUFIL that earned me his respect.  During his last assignment abroad for PT Texmaco Jaya, Mr. Gohel invited me to visit Indonesia, and complete design, engineering and procurement of critical equipments of a treatment plant for a Purified Terephthalic Acid ( PTA) and Polyester plant.  Thus it was, that I made my way to Jakarta via Singapore in January of 1990.

The overnight stay in Singapore was made memorable only by the number of visiting cards slipped under my hotel door, offering all kinds of titillating massages, with alluring colour photographs of the practitioners of this oldest profession.

In Jakarta, I got down in earnest to designing the treatment plant.  The PT Texmaco office was in a spanking new building of glass and chrome, with all latest gadgetry associated with a Hi Tech building.  A visit to the site of the proposed factory was the first order of business. It was a drive of about 30 KM West of Jakarta, again on a spanking new expressway courtesy the Peoples’ Republic of China (This was the age before tensions heightened and violence of volcanic proportions erupted in the year 1998 between the locals and the ethnic Chinese, resulting in death of thousands of  “Chinese Indonesians” ).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Indonesians

The site of the factory was near a paddy field ( the Indonesian countryside is one big paddy field), with a fair sized irrigation canal running alongside, brimming with water.  This was to be the source of water for the factory.  I marveled at the engineering genius and far sightedness of the Dutch who ruled Indonesia, and built these canals : the locks and the gates, though ancient, were in perfect working order.

The average rural Indonesian is lazy, poor and uneducated, with innocence and ignorance bordering on stupidity.  At a Rest stop on the way back from the site, I spied a local who had run out of gas for his rickety motorcycle.  He had apparently managed to get a plastic bag full of the fuel from the nearest petrol pump. The plastic pouch was securely tied and knotted with a piece of thread.  Unable to unravel the knot, this crazy cur would have immolated himself had we not stopped him in time : he was proceeding to cut the knot open with the burning tip of his cigarette !

The assignment in Indonesia took me a full 12 days to complete, at the end of which detailed construction drawings were generated, critical equipments ordered out and the execution plan put in place.  All through my stay in Jakarta, my staple dinner menu in the Hotel restaurant was Hamburger with fries and slaw washed down with a couple of bottles of Bintang Beer.  Bintang is brewed by Heineken, who set up the brewery in Surabaya in the year 1929.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bintang_Beer

To celebrate a job well done, I was treated to dinner one evening by the engineering department of PT Texmaco, in an authentic Sumatran restaurant : All the dishes on the menu of the day were laid out on the table : you chose and ate only from those plates which you fancied, and get billed for the plate.  Nasi Goreng with chicken and Nasi Goreng with prawns were the signature dishes of the day, both delicious.

The return journey via Singapore- Chennai  and then on to Bangalore, sad to say was uneventful : except for a minor irritant of cattle class travel in the Brindavan Express in the absence of prior reservation.

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                              August 12, 2011

LYNCHBURG, TENNESSEE

Am just back from a visit to the wine country of Nashik, Maharashtra. Spending time upgrading a Treatment plant for a multinational ice cream, Squash and jam manufacturer has put me in a mood to get away from Treatment plants this week, and instead write of a pleasant trip to the Jack Daniel's Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, eons ago. A memorable trip, I daresay for more reasons than one.

43. LYNCHBURG, TENNESSEE

 

Anyone who has had only a nodding acquaintance with Mr. Jack Daniel and his wonderful concoction, may be forgiven if he is not fully upto speed on the hallowed ground where old Jack trod.  Lynchburg, Tennessee is a small hick town about 75 miles South of Nashville the capital city of Tennessee in the South Eastern part of the United States.  And in the year 1978, Lynchburg  boasted of Sign Boards at the entry points of the town with typical  southern corn, saying  “ Don’t blink : you might miss us - Pop. 350 “.

Indeed, Lynchburg was the Jack Daniels’ Distillery, and vice versa in those days, since there was nothing else in town, except for a part time hole in the wall Post Office run of course by volunteers from the distillery during their lunch break.  Not for nothing is Tennessee called the Volunteer State.

Jack Daniel’s Green Label whisky was the cheapest brew available in those days and as indigent graduate students at Vanderbilt, we used to raise a toast to that noble gent every weekend after a long day’s workout on the cricket field ( see earlier article- French Fries and Bar Screens ).  JD Green label and Jim Beam Whiskey were almost on par on the price stakes, and both were equally favoured by the Vanderbilt Cricket team, with 7 UP as the preferred pop to add the fizz.

My respect and lifelong affinity for Mr. Jack was forever sealed after an opportune visit to his distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, by pure happenstance.   The visit leaves memories not only of the distillery but also of a pleasant interlude in my life, of a different kind.

The American Institute of Chemical Engineers – Students Chapter ( South East) had assembled in Vanderbilt for a three day convention.  As a Graduate student and Teaching Assistant in the Department, I was tasked with showing around the group of students from all over the South Eastern States ( Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi ) the laboratory and pilot plant facilities available at Venderbilt for various chemical engineering unit operations and processes.

 Among the group was a pretty young thing from Florida, who had driven up all the way in her spanking new Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme ( all the rage at that time).  This lass had taken quite a shine to me in the very short period of time that we had spent doing the rounds of the Distillation column, Centrifuge, Thin Film Evaporator, Heat Exchanger and other paraphernalia in Olin Hall housing the ChE department at Vanderbilt.  There was an indefinable sense of suppressed thrill accompanied by a pleasant feeling of warmth, when we were together.  I just could not refuse her pleading eyes when she invited me to accompany her to the plant visit to the Jack Daniel’s Distillery in Lynchburg the following day.

So off we went down Interstate 24 South, past Murfreesboro and Shelbyville, surrounded by the pleasant countryside, the rich and fertile farmlands and rolling hills of Tennessee to reach the Distillery well before lunch time.  The tour of the distillery itself warn’t no great shakes : only the cavern whence the sparkling clear spring water emanates, stirred a little interest.  Seeping through and oozing out of limestone deposits of thousand of years, the mineral spring water was the perfect starting material for Mr. Jack to work his magic in his wooden vats, followed by his trump card – the sugar maple charcoal filter. The resulting brew was then filled in wooden casks made of white oak, charred on the inside to lend a further smoky flavour, and left to age in the Barrel House. The barrel house was just a barrel house, was just a barrel house.

As Sarah and I emerged out of the dimly lit barrel house, we found ourselves holding hands, as we walked into the bright sunshine of a Tennessee afternoon.

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                       Oct. 23, 2011

P.S :

It is strange that although Jack Daniel’s is the largest selling Whiskey in the world, Jim Beam gets eulogized in more southern ballads than ole’ Jack : But that is the gentleman’s style, I guess.  My favourite is the Travis Tritt version of the Lynrd Skynrd classic  “Don’ ask me no questions, and I will tell you no lies” …… I like drinkin’ Jim Beam Whiskey, and playin’ in a honky tonk bar”.  And every visit to a Brewery or a winery or a distillery brings back fond memories of that visit to Jack Daniel’s in Lynchburg, Tennessee more than 30 years ago.

WASTEWATER TRAINING IN YOKOHAMA

The Land of the Rising Sun is a fascinating country. Gone are the Daimyos, the Samurais and ritual of Seppuku of yore : but they have left behind a legacy of fierce loyalties, courage, determination, discipline and hardwork, which one can readily see in the common man in Japan today. The same indefatigable spirit underlies the dominance achieved by the Zaibatsu - Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and other Japanese entities in the world of commerce and industry. Fear of the Yellow peril has yielded place to a grudging respect for the remarkable turnaround achieved by a diminutive nation devastated by a war not many years ago.

32. WASTEWATER TRAINING IN YOKOHAMA

On January 30, 1998, a batch of 28 trainees from India, departed from Delhi on an Air India Flight to Narita International Airport – Tokyo.  The training program in “ Environment Protection” was organized under the auspices of the AOTS ( Association for Overseas Technical Scholarship) of Japan, a Govt. funded initiative, for the benefit of  third world developing countries like India.  The venue for the 20 day residential training program was the Yokohama Kenshu Centre ( YKC).  In India, the Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII) was the nodal agency for selecting and deputing the participants to the training program.  AOTS regional chapters in India could also nominate one delegate each : I was the nominee from the Bangalore Chapter.

It was a non-stop flight of nearly 8.5 hours to Narita, reaching late in the evening of January 31.  A coach from the AOTS transported us directly from Narita to the YKC, a distance of nearly 50 Km, and we were each allotted an individual room in the Centre, which had Guest rooms, classrooms, kitchen, sports and other recreational facilities on a huge campus, in Kanazawa ward of Yokohama City, with the Tokyo bay a walking distance away to the East.

Here are some vignettes from the 20 day sojourn in Yokohama and visits around :

THE TRAINING COURSE

-          The YKC around that time was hosting nearly 100 trainees from different parts of the world, in different disciplines

-          Immediately our group landed in YKC, Indian food was included in the menu – for the most part North Indian Punjabi cuisine

-          Green tea was available on tap, gratis : I have since become addicted to this beverage

-          Ours was a disparate, heterogeneous group, ranging in age from 25 to 60, and from all walks of life, not necessarily concerned with “Environment Protection” – ample testimony to the age old Indian custom of nepotism, favouritism, and outright bribery.

-          The course material was  rudimentary and of a very low technical standard bordering on insult even to a greenhorn environmental engineer

-          At the end of the training course, each one of us was given a Certificate of Participation

THE VISITS

More than the training course itself, it was the visits outside the class rooms which gave me satisfaction and a better appreciation of the country and its people, which I cherish the more.

-          Japan Railways (JR) is a marvel in all aspects of transportation management. 

-          On the trip back from Kyoto to Yokohama, the Shinkansen ( Bullet Train) was delayed midway by about 15 minutes on account of very heavy snowfall : the train arrived on time however at the next stop

-          Most visits to the treatment plants were a big bore : except for a visit to a huge Municipal sewage treatment plant, totally covered, employing diffused aeration, fully automated, operated by only three persons from a central control room.

-          A hazardous waste disposal system fashioned out of a constructed lagoon out in the sea was a novel and very innovative idea.

-          A visit to Kyoto, the old capital of Japan was organized : this was purely a cultural trip.  Visit to kiyomizu- Dera , an ancient Buddhist temple, and a UNESCO world heritage site.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera : visit to a Kimono fashion show :   visit to the Kinkakuji Gardens http://kyotogardens.s3.amazonaws.com/Kinkakuji.html

-          Past Hamamatsu on the way back from Kyoto – Home of Suzuki Motor Corporation

-          Night halt in Shizuoka – home of the Fuji F-1 Speedway

-          Visit to a huge paper mill to see its treatment plant at the foothill of Mt. Fuji, and the majestic Mt. Fuji itself, snow capped, but barely visible

-          A visit to the Shiseido ( the oldest cosmetics company in the world) factory in Kamakura,  a washed good luck coin as a souvenir from the shrine nearby, which I carry in my wallet to this day

-          All across Japan, Pachinko parlours ( gambling dens) housed in huge warehouse like structures  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachinko

-          Finally a visit to  Akihabara ( Field of Autumn Leaves ) Section in Tokyo, shopping for knick knacks  - Pair of Minolta Field glasses, Velbon Camera tripod, several Chokin plates and Chokin wall Plaques of pastoral scenes in Japan – cherry blossom  trees, birds, and the ever present mountain in the background

-          Finally a fun trip to the Hakkejima Sea Paradise Amusement Park, close to the Yokohama Kenshu Centre  : http://www.seaparadise.co.jp/english/index.html

That is all I carried back from the 20 day stay in Japan.

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                          July 16, 2011

P.S :

And yes : another vignette on the productivity of the hardworking Japanese. On a day trip by bus out of our training centre, we spied three little Japanese re-laying tarmac on the highway.  On our return trip that afternoon, the same gang had progressed a further  20 KM ahead on the Highway !  A feat that would take weeks, if not months in an Indian City.

A JOINT VENTURE COMPANY IN YEMEN

A very memorable title of a book reads thus  :  " Naval Memories in Bits and Snatches - From Over and Under Hatches" by an anonymous Admiral of the Royal Navy.  I have been relating stories of my escapades from far off places in India - Malda, Veraval, Munger, Etah to name a few.  Let me step out of the hatch,  cast the net a little further afield,  with stories and deeds of derring do on foreign shores.

Yemen takes pride of place in my heart for its gentle, easygoing people and the beautiful countryside.  But even in those halcyon days over 25 years ago, the motorcade of Col. Ali Abdullah Saleh (now wearing the stars of a General)) when he chose to hit the streets in the Capital city of Sana'a, was a spectacular display of armed might, equivalent to the show on our Republic Day parades : assorted armoured personnel carriers trundling by with machine guns manned by security forces, securing his person from the ever present threat of ambush by a myriad warring tribes from the hinterland.

30. A JOINT VENTURE COMPANY IN YEMEN

During my stint in Dorr-Oliver Bombay, I had proven my worth to the Company and more : the first big turnkey assignment in Wastewater treatment for the Cochin Refineries came thru Engineers India Ltd.,  largely due to my efforts. I had learnt my lessons well in dealing with EIL, through an earlier failed attempt after a long drawn out battle to bag a tender for the Gujarat Refineries Secondary Processing Facility of the Indian Oil Corporation in Baroda.  This was indeed a signal success, and a historical First for Dorr-Oliver, who hitherto had been content with selling pieces of equipment to needy clients who came knocking on its doors.

This feat of mine and other major contributions to the Company’s order books and bottomline went unrewarded, when my boss P. S Prabhu magnanimously announced a Rs. 50 annual increment for the fourth time in a row – a great big bounty by his reckoning.  Disheartened, I put in my papers.  I signed up with Voltas International Ltd., to start up their Environmental Division, targeting to bag projects overseas.

VIL was a hotch potch of Company with no strategic vision.  There were Divisions and individuals in the Company selling anything from toothbrush, fish, mangoes and grapes in season, to sophisticated air conditioning systems, mostly to oil rich and empty headed clients in the gulf region.  Coming as I did from a highly professional and technically focused company like Dorr-Oliver, I was miserable like a fish out of water in this menagerie of a traveling circus.  Abject cronyism and boot licking was rampant in this stifling atmosphere.

I got my first real opportunity to utilize my knowledge and skill towards the end of my second year at VIL, for a Sewage Treatment Plant for Sana’a, the capital city of the Yemen Arab Republic - North Yemen, as it was called before merger with its Marxist ruled kin to the South, appositely named the Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Yemen.  I traveled to Sana’a several times during this period, getting to know the country, its people, its culture and ways and means of doing business in that far off land.  Yemenia, the National carrier had a direct nonstop flight from Bombay to Sana’a, a distance of 3000 km, covered in about 4.5 hours of flying time.  Excitement was building up in that tiny nation after Hunt oil, a little known Company made the first wildcat strike of oil in the Marib desert, estimated to yield 10,000 barrels per day, a meagre find by all counts. Today, the oil reserves are fast dwindling and at the present rate of extraction, in the absence of new finds, Yemen will run out of oil by the year 2020.  With a burgeoning population, a great majority of which is uneducated, unemployed, under 25 years of age, living in abject poverty, in conditions of severe drought and constant civil strife in the country, the future of Yemen is uncertain.

In Sana’a, as per commercial intelligence received from the First Secretary in the Indian Embassy,  I zeroed in on  the Adhban Trading Corporation (http://adhbanye.com/ ) as a  congenial ”local sponsor”, obligatory for all overseas entities to do business in that country.  I found the father and son duo of M/s Mohammed Adhban and Mubarak Adhban to be very forthcoming, progressive, cooperative and downright charming ( if I may use that term) rarely witnessed in businessmen of such high standing in the gulf countries.  Adhban Trading Corporation was a multi dimensional company dealing in commercial and passenger vehicles, heavy machinery, and a host of other business enterprises ranging from trucking, shipping to General insurance.

We did not win the STP contract for Sana’a, severely beaten on price by the Koreans, at a time when that country was run by a military dictator, and overseas projects were bagged aplenty across the entire gulf region employing conscripted Korean labour.

The short period of interaction during these months between Adhban and Voltas however bore fruit in a different form : I was invited one afternoon for the traditional qat chewing session with Mr. Adhban, the Patriarch, a privilege rarely extended to foreigners. In this meeting, we outlined a plan for future cooperation between the two Companies in the field of Water well drilling and modern irrigation systems, which offered a huge business potential : Voltas had necessary expertise in these lines of business, running similar Joint ventures in Oman, the UAE and Sri Lanka.

These daily afternoon qat sessions keep the Yemenis indoors and protected from the severest heat of the afternoons : These are social occasions, where the tribesmen and clansmen meet, greet and resolve personal issues, much like the Panchayats in India.  It is also in the Qat sessions that multi million dollar contracts and deals are struck chewing the cud of the shrub (Catha edulis, family Celastraceae), a mild intoxicant, setting the mood.  Much like wine, only a connoisseur knows to pick the best of the sprigs.

I drew up the Project Report outlining the contours of the Joint Venture Company, business projections and preliminary estimates of the bottomline over a 5 year plan period.  The plan was accepted by both parties.  Voltas however balked when I refused to compromise on the salary and benefits projected in my Business Report for the Manager designate of the Joint Venture Company ( it was to be yours truly)  including education of my kids in the International School of Sana’a.

I quit Voltas in utter disgust, giving them a free hand to reward cronies and bootlickers in their customary tradition.

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                                      July 12, 2011

Footnote

On every visit to Yemen, there was an exchange of gifts : From the Adhbans - Packets of coffee from Mocha, a string of semiprecious stones, a Jambiya - now a mostly ornamental dagger worn in the belt of every true son of Yemen.  The Jambiya hangs on the wall of my home in Whitefield, the gemstone necklace graces my wife on special occasions.  The Mocha is long gone : only the delicate flavour and aroma lingers in my mind, reminding me of the gentle people of Yemen.

Pictures of Yemenis enjoying chewing qat

http://www.google.co.in/search?q=qat+yemen&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS285&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=lkodTvT7LMPLrQfVtp2xDA&ved=0CD4QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=869

Images of Jambiya

http://www.google.co.in/search?q=jambiya&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS285&prmd=ivns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=5k0dTo6tAcLNrQfCqfizDA&ved=0CC8QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=869