“Technological breakthroughs are the key to our success”
-Taimur Dawood, Chief Operating Officer, Dawchem Industries

Mr. Taimur Dawood, Chief Operating Officer of Dawchem Industries (Pvt) Ltd, recently gave an exclusive interview to Pakistan Textile Journal and talked about his company Dawchem, which has seen steady growth in the last twenty years with a number of technical joint ventures with leading chemical companies in different fields of expertise. Following are excerpts of his interview with PTJ editor.

Please tell us about Dawchem and some milestones achieved since its inception?

We are part of a group of companies which, besides Dawchem, also includes the leading engineering concern Descon. We started Dawchem Industries (previously Delta Industries) 20 years ago, primarily as a manufacturer of resins and allied chemicals. From 1983 to 1986, we launched Unsaturated Polyester and Amino resins, which were developed in cooperation with Reichold Chemical, U.S.A. Polyester resins remained our bread and butter for the first few years. This successful technological collaboration paved the way for future collaborations and we expanded our products base by introducing chemicals for the textile and paper industries with much more value addition than polyester resins.

Dawchem plant

At this point we entered in a technology transfer with Enkim, the leading company for textile auxiliaries and optical brighteners for textile and paper industry. The range of textile and paper chemicals includes Softeners, Wetting and dye fixing agents, Emulsions, Peroxide stabilizers and dispersing leveling agents. Our next technical collaboration was with the world renowned enzyme manufacturer, Genencor International to formulate alpha amylase for textile process industry and neutral and acid enzymes for garment wash industry.
Most recently just a few months ago we have signed a Memorandum of Association with a leading Chinese company for setting up of a 60,000 tonnes per annum hydrogen peroxide plant, to be set up at Lahore Sheikhupura Road, which will start production within eighteen months. This plant will meet the requirements of textile and paper industry. Dawchem today has over two hundred products encompassing the surface coating , unsaturated polyester, textile, leather and paper industries. Today we have four main production units equipped with R&D facilities for 1)Polymers. 2) Optical brighteners and Textile chemicals, 3) Fortified Resin for paper industry and 4) PVA & Acrylic based Emulsions etc.

What are your strengths which have allowed this consistent growth in a difficult market like Pakistan?

Competition is very stiff because textile is, of course, the biggest market in Pakistan. We are not only dealing with local manufacturers but also large multinationals, who have their own manufacturing facilities in Pakistan and they import those products, which they do not manufacture in Pakistan, from their various facilities across the globe. In the unorganised sector there are fifty plus manufacturers as well as a large number of unorganised importers. These Importers can import from countries like China and India. Under-invoicing is also a major problem.

Plant overview

We do face certain hurdles because we are in the organised sector. We try to overcome these disadvantages through our quality. Our product range and our technical services differentiate us from the unorganised sector. That is why we are not only competing well against both multinational companies and local manufacturers but also exporting to various countries.

Reactors at the plant

I believe that the backbone of Dawchem’s success has been the technical department, strongly supported by active marketing services. The technical department has been continuously involved in products and market related development in close cooperation with our valued customers. Providing services of high technical standards and customer satisfaction has been the driving force of our technology.

How do you treat the effluent discharge at your production facility to protect the environment?
Our production facility is located on Sheikhupura road with fourteen reactors dedicated to different segments. Being environmentally conscious we have made sure that the effluent discharge strictly complies to EPA standards.
Adoption of new Process Technology, developed and installed by our sister concern, Descon, for reducing pollution from wastewater ia another step towards safe environment. I believe that being socially conscious is part of our corporate culture and an attribute which has contributed significantly towards our progress in the last two decades.

How quality conscious are textile chemical users in Pakistan?
Textile is our biggest market which is large enough and now quality conscious as well as service conscious. These days you cannot expect to provide a range of products without proper service.
Our customers range from small to very large companies for whom quality is a must. We firmly stand behind their effort. The value we provide to our customers is highly appreciated and that is why we have observed a steady growth of our customer base over the last twenty years.
Apart from manufacturing we also provide a one stop trading platform through our own trading company Dawchem Pvt Ltd, for anything we do not manufacture but which is required by our customers.
- by Nadeem Mazhar, Executive Editor, Pakistan Textile Journal

Dawchem emphasizes a better life through chemistry

We all know that irresponsible disposal of chemicals can be very hazardous to the environment as well as to the health of the people living in that environment. Dawchem Industries (Pvt.) Ltd have also made a commitment to play its part in the protection of the environment and in order to show their commitment they have supplied the following information regarding their Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) at Dawchem Industries.

The new Process Technology not only offers the greatest opportunity for reducing pollutant loads from its wastewater but also shows our commitment towards safe environment.
ETP developed by Descon Engineering
At Dawchem Industries (Pvt.) Ltd. effluent from various operations at all units is drained through bar screen to an underground equalization tank equipped with air purging system. The aerated equalized effluent is pumped into the reaction channel where the floc get settled and clear supernatant is cascaded to bio-reactor maintained at fix food to Micro-organism (F/M) ratio for biodegradation. The Oxygen requirement is met through aeration. Nutrients required for bacterial growth are supplied in the form of Urea and DAP. The bioflocs formed in the bioreactor are fed to the secondary clarifier for the separation of bio-floc, part of which is recycled back into the bio-reactor through air lift pump, to maintain desired mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS).
The treated clarified effluent overflows from secondary clarifier to a supernatant sump from where a sample is drawn for testing and a strict check is maintained to keep the specification of water in accordance with the requirement of EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) of Pakistan.
The parameters regarding treated wastes water characteristics include:
Chemical Oxygen Demand < 250
Biochemical Oxygen Demand < 80
Suspended Solids < 100
pH 6.5 to 7.5
The excess sludge generated from secondary clarifier and sludge from primary clarifier is collected in sludge swamp. The sludge is then filtered through a filter press to reduce the volume of sludge and to convert it to an easily disposable semi solid cake as landfill/fertilizer. The filtrate is recycled back to the equalization tank for recycle.
The treated output is used for various auxiliary applications such as floor washing, machine washing, toilet flushing, gardening, fire fighting etc., which in turn reduces cost of intake water.

ETP at Dawchem Industries developed by Descon Engineering