IIT Mandi start-up uses green tech to convert steel mills waste into useable products

New Delhi: A start-up incubated by the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi is using green technology which avails less energy, no electricity or furnace and is completely pollution-free, to convert waste from steel mills into useable products. Steel mills generate a huge amount of waste, most of which gets thrown into landfills contributing to environmental pollution.

Green Trek, a Jammu and Kashmir-based start-up, was founded by Satinder Nath Gupta and his son Sandeep Gupta, and uses extractive metallurgy to address the problem of pollution.

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According to officials, the team uses clean combustion techniques to trim the waste into a metal with high iron content which can then be reused by industries like ship building, stone crushing plants, oil and gas plants and power plants.

“We are working on a circular economy model by utilising extractive metallurgy whereby greenhouse gases are reduced and a sustainable waste management process is put in place,” Sandeep told PTI.

“The method we have devised uses less energy, uses no electricity or furnace and is 100 per cent pollution-free, and emitting minimal greenhouse gases. The end product is molten meal with an iron content of 99.6 per cent which is then mixed with other metals to make various kinds of high value steel and alloy castings used in a range of industries,” he added.

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Green Trek’s vision is to manufacture quality green steel products by leveraging cutting edge technology and pioneer solid waste management in India and abroad. The team signed an MoU to set up a permanent plant in Himachal Pradesh which will cater to leading companies like Ultratech, ACC and Ambuja Cement.

“The objective of this MoU is to facilitate Green Trek to set up a green steel recycling unit for the supply of spares to the locally based heavy industries such as cement plants and stone crushers by minimising greenhouse gases through its unique process of manufacture. The government in this regard would facilitate all necessary approvals, licenses and help to green trek as and when required,” Sandeep added.