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The pulp and paper industry should leverage technology to address the challenges it faces, said Sandeep Saxena, Chairman and Managing Director of Tamilnadu Newsprint and Papers Limited.
Inaugurating the a zonal seminar of the Indian Pulp and Paper Technical Association in Coimbatore on Friday, July 26, 2024, Mr. Saxena said the industry faces three major challenges – it uses trees and natural resources as raw materials, consumes huge volume of water, and uses a lot of energy.
Pulp comes from trees and other biological sources. “We need to take care of the environment.” Researches need to come up with species where the density of the hard wood is high and it easy to process. “We need a lot of research and there are promising suggestions,” he said.
The green cover reduced by the industry should be replenished regularly. Similarly, the operational efficiency and processes should be improved so that the energy used is reduced.
Further, “We are a water intensive industry using a lot of chemicals,” he pointed out. The water used should be brought down and the chemicals used should be recovered from the effluents. While it will take a long time to go for zero liquid discharge, there is a need to improve the water use and treatment processes immediately and reduce the use of chemicals.
If the industry is able to address these issues, it will be sustainable, Mr. Saxena said.
According to Gowthaman Swarnam, Global Practice Head – Digital of Tata Technologies, Artificial Intelligence and Gen AI are spoken at enterprise levels and digital technology will play a major role in the industry in the coming days.
Pavan Kalyan, president of the association, said, “Digital technology is the future of our industry. It is transforming the way we manage our processes.”