Reduces Specific Water Consumption by 11% in FY22
Team News Riveting
Bhubaneswar, September 6
Vedanta Aluminium’s Smelter-I at Jharsuguda (Odisha) has emerged as a national benchmark in water efficiency amongst aluminium smelters in India.
The smelter has substantially reduced its Specific Water Consumption (water consumed per unit of metal produced) by around 11% in FY22 over the previous fiscal, while producing more than 17,400 tonnes of aluminium over FY21.
Vedanta Aluminium’s Jharsuguda operations house one of the world’s largest aluminium smelting complexes, with two state-of-the-art aluminium smelters. Its Smelter-II (SEZ) has reduced its Specific Water Consumption by around 8 per cent in FY22, while increasing production by nearly 2 lakh tonnes. On the whole, the site has recycled around 5 billion litres of water for inhouse consumption in the last fiscal. This is a significant step in the company’s commitment to turn its operations Net Water Positive by 2030.
Speaking about the company’s water management endeavours, Sunil Gupta, CEO – Vedanta Ltd., Jharsuguda, said, “Our water management endeavours are aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 of Clean Water & Sanitation. We, at Vedanta Jharsuguda, are on a mission to minimize our water footprint, while supporting the local communities in their water-related requirements and helping maintain the ecological balance. Emerging as the national benchmark in specific water consumption heartens and motivates us to redouble our efforts in this direction. Our journey towards making our operations water positive will ensure sustainability of our business and make available more water for local communities and biodiversity.”
Water management is an integral part of Vedanta Aluminium’s aspirations of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) excellence. It is underscored by the governing principle of Zero Liquid Discharge, which ensures that all liquid generated at its operations is contained, processed and reused inside the plant itself. Vedanta Aluminium follows a 4-pillared approach to sustainable water management, which includes monitoring water usage, ensuring maximum water reutilization, creating a positive water footprint and enabling communities’ access to water and climate-smart agriculture.
Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.26 million tonnes in FY22. The company operates a world-class 1.75 MTPA aluminium smelter and 3615 MW thermal power generation facility at Jharsuguda, in Odisha. The only Indian smelter in the global ‘1 Million Tonne’ production and export club, Vedanta Jharsuguda is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications across core industries. With its state-of-the-art facilities, unparalleled engineering prowess, R&D and innovation abilities, the company is working towards a sustainable and greener future for all by spurring emerging applications of aluminium, the ‘Metal of the Future’.
