May 20, 2018
Kriya Labs — converting waste to wealth
Tell us a bit about yourself
I am Pracheer Dutta from the 2017 IIT Delhi batch. I, along with two others from my batch, are working on Kriya Labs which is incubated in IIT Delhi.
Our CTO, Kanika, is also studying textile technology. Her responsibility is R&D and process improvement. The CEO, Ankur Kumar, is studying engineering physics. He handles day to day decision making. As COO, my responsibility is business development and Ops. My degree is also in textile technology.
And what does Kriya Labs do? Do you have competitors?
We have a process to convert agro waste into pulp which can be used to create paper products or tableware. Our current status is that we have developed the process and are trying to expand it to solve the very real problem of burning agro waste in Punjab and Haryana which leads to large scale pollution, specially in winter.
Our goal is to convert agro waste into valuable product.
Our competitors are plants converting agro waste to electricity or packaging. So there are people using rice straw but the sheer volume of it is overwhelming. This is a huge market for people like us to get involved.
Once your output becomes valuable, will it affect your profitability? Will farmers continue to sell to you?
Since our process can work at a very small scale as well, farmers have the option of buying the machinery from us. That way, any profit farmers make from processing rice pulp goes right back to the farmer. Even if the prices of raw materials prices rise, it won’t affect us since we are simply providing the required chemicals for the process and servicing the machine.
Our machine can be installed and used very close to the source of the agro waste.
Is the machine expensive?
It’s not that expensive. The machine costs between ₹ 30–35 Lakhs (₹3,000,000–3,500,000) with a monthly expense of around ₹6 Lakhs (₹600,000). The pulp sells at around ₹15 Lakhs (₹1,500,000) so there is a huge profit margin built into the process. Farmers can recover their investment in roughly 7–12 months.
The ₹6 Lakhs they will need to spend is for the proprietary chemicals needed in the process which they will have to buy from us. Of course, there is some other costs for processing and I obviously can’t disclose the exact profit margin but the profit is substantial.
Do you help farmers find buyers for the pulp?
We usually try to locate our machines near existing paper mills and near sources of raw agro waste. The farmer thus has an opportunity of selling straight to the mill.
We also provide a buy back option where we guarantee that we will buy the pulp and sell it to mills. We have identified areas around NOIDA where there is high demand for pulp.
Do your chemicals have any environmental impact?
Our chemicals are completely green, non inflammable, and non volatile substances. On top of that, they are used in a process that is completely cyclic meaning we can recover the solvents used in it and reuse it N number of times. We don’t generate any slurry meaning you don’t lose anything to the environment in this process.
Did you develop the process yourself?
Yes, we developed it. We optimized it. Back in the first year of our engineering degree, we were trying to create tableware from recycled paper. We realized that many people were already doing this so the real challenge was to use agro waste.
Back in 2013, the CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board) shut down a lot of factories which were using traditional means of converting agro waste to paper. Their process used to yield a black liquer which was highly polluting. So we researched this area and after much testing came up with our proprietary chemical. We are still trying to improve our chemicals with continuing R&D.
Is the paper produced safe for packaging food?
We are currently in the process of getting our paper approved as food grade. Our tests in our own labs indicates it is safe but we are waiting for certification. These certifications are performed by proper third party auditors.
By when do you expect to be operational?
The first plant will come online within two months (Ed Note — this interview was conducted in mid April). We are negotiating with a number of parties but we should be live by October. You essentially need just 1000 sq. ft. of land.
We are hopeful about one particular collective in Samrala in Punjab. These guys currently just burn off their bio waste and the government is after them to stop.
We help collectives with every aspect of setting up the plant — from forming the collective to structuring the deal to finding customers for the produced pulp. We want the profits from conversion of waste to value to accrue to the farmers and not the consumers of pulp.
How much help do you get from the governments of Haryana, Punjab, and Delhi?
We are constantly talking to them. We apply for grants. Some grants get approved, some don’t, so we aren’t fully dependent on them.
We are definitely eager for governmental help. What is stopping us right now from deep engagement is that they usually require proof of concept beforehand. Once our first plant is online, we hope to show them the benefits of our process — that waste gets converted to valuable pulp and the process is profitable to farmers — and get their support. Not just the government, we should be able to attract even farmers who are waiting on the sidelines for us to prove ourselves.
Our big hope is for government to subsidize the cost of operating the plants because of the net benefit to the environment.
How did you find your first customers?
We attended a Krishi (farmer) mela in March through IIT Delhi. We also plan to work with a lot of NGOs and government departments because farmers won’t simply trust people like us walking in and telling them how to make money from bio waste.
How do you plan to grow your business in the long term?
Currently we are focused on getting the first plant operational. In two years, we’d like to have about 20 plants active. In five years, we want to expand to other states.
If you could wave a magic wand, what kind of regulatory support would you ask for?
More than changes to the regulatory regime, we would like to see more enforcement of the laws currently in the books. There are plenty of laws but to really push change, they have to be enforced.
Does your process work only for rice straw or also for other agro products?
The process is currently optimized for rice straw but the underlying raw material can change. It can be millets or wild grass as well. You can use any agricultural residue. We have tested on wheat straw and banana stem. The color of unbleached paper produced from each of these materials changes.
This is very interesting stuff. Any parting words?
The cool thing for us as young students is that we are promoting a decentralized system of manufacture. We have gone straight to the source with our process to convert waste — which is high in volume — to pulp — which is high in value — and cheaper to transport to mills.
Originally published at tt2c.in on May 20, 2018.
