Purifying water from contaminants is an interesting task that concerns us all - Rustam Kialbekov, ANR Engineering GmbH
Rustam, first tell us a little about the company. What do you do?
— It all started with the company ANR Systech GmbH. For quite a long time, we offered all services from ANR Systech. And just about three years ago, everything related to water purification equipment was transferred to ANR Engineering, and everything related to the production of equipment remained with ANR Systech. Shared responsibility with each other. ANR Engineering develops technology, completes equipment, delivers and solves the client’s task on a turnkey basis. When a potential client comes to us with a problem related to wastewater treatment, we conduct monitoring, if possible, go to the site, if not, we request as much technical documentation as possible.
And in what cases is it impossible?
— If the client just needs to know the price in order to think about whether he needs such equipment or not, how feasible it is at the moment, and so on, then we limit ourselves to only obtaining technical information for calculating treatment facilities. But we are trying to go to the site as much as possible with our mobile laboratory, because the wastewater parameters that we are given have never corresponded to reality.
To find out the exact parameters, we go with our laboratory, conduct certain tests, find out the degree of pollution, that is, COD, BOD, nitrogen, phosphorus and main pollutants. Based on this, we make recommendations and select reagents that will work with this water. That is, we recommend a certain technology with two or three stages of purification, so that the output is the result the client needs.
To correctly calculate the cleaning technology, you need not only output parameters, the so-called MPC (maximum permissible concentrations), which must be met, but, accordingly, you also need input parameters. MPCs may vary depending on where you will discharge the wastewater. If these are urban wastewater treatment plants, then each enterprise needs a differentiated approach. And if this is some kind of introductory object, then this is simply stated in the legislation.
Are you talking about German legislation now?
— In any country there is legislation that prescribes maximum permissible concentrations when discharging treated wastewater into a water body. The same BOD and COD, they differ significantly in Europe from those adopted in the countries of the former USSR.
Tell us in detail what BOD and COD are, what do these parameters actually show?
— There are several parameters to determine the degree of purity or degree of purification of water. BOD and COD are one of the main parameters; they are biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand. Both parameters are determined in the laboratory. BOD is the amount of oxygen consumed by aerobic biochemical oxidation under the action of microorganisms, and COD is the amount of dissolved oxygen that must be present in water to oxidize organic and inorganic substances.
You work in different countries, tell me, where is the environmental legislation on permissible concentrations stricter?
— In the former Union it is tougher than in Europe. I can only compare with Europe. There is a saying that the severity of laws is compensated by the optionality of their implementation. In Europe, the standards are softer, but they are followed. If the standards are stricter, but are not implemented, then there is no point in them.
If we take all the countries of the former Soviet Union, how does legislation differ from country to country?
— As far as I know, in general there are no big differences, but in Russia, for example, it is more difficult and stricter than in Belarus. In Kazakhstan, I believe, all norms are based on the norms of the Soviet Union, and thus they do not differ significantly from Russian or Belarusian ones.
You actually created a company in Germany that worked only for Russia and Belarus?
- Yes, that’s how it happened. Until a certain point, we worked only in the former CIS countries. You can even limit yourself to two countries – Russia and Belarus. ANR initially positioned itself as an engineering company for solving problems of enterprises, for supplying complex equipment, and for solving specific problems in different fields. For example, at one time we supplied equipment for the production of transformers in Togliatti, Zaporozhye, and Kazakhstan. We were engaged in the supply of equipment for epitaxial growth and purification of complex gases for the electronics industry. But one request was formed quite a long time ago - a request for the treatment of industrial wastewater. We first worked with equipment suppliers and purchased equipment from third-party manufacturers. It is quite difficult to work with such suppliers, because you are the connecting link - the engineering company, which will still be responsible for the entire delivery and implementation of the project to the client. We have never given up our guarantees. Sooner or later we came to the conclusion that it is better to do the key components in such projects ourselves.
Do you produce components in Germany?
- Yes. If we are already responsible to the client, then we decided to take everything into our own hands. We have tried a lot of manufacturers, the same flotation machines. Many manufacturers, if they go into mass production, begin to look at where and what they can save on. You order the same car, but the sensors and components on the car and the whole body kit are already cheaper. A year later you order the same car again - the components are even cheaper. Some things have already been rationalized, some are no longer included. And we came to the conclusion that we had to do the production ourselves.
When did you decide to expand your regions of presence? I understand that in addition to Russia and Belarus, you are now starting to work in other countries? And which ones do you want to work in?
— Yes, we want to work all over the world. At the moment, for example, we have several projects in the European Union under implementation. But the question of working in different regions is one of expediency. Experience shows that there are certain markets in which we are not competitive with the quality we offer. Theoretically, you can reduce the price by simplifying everything to the extreme, but this goes against our philosophy. North African markets, for example, are quite poor markets where initially they only look at cost. It doesn’t matter how much better the technology is, how much more expedient the technology is, and so on, there is simply a criterion of low price and that’s all. If, for example, manufacturers come from Turkey, China or India, we simply cannot even compete with them on the price of a working hour. Even if our employees work twice as efficiently, the cost of a working hour in Turkey, China and India is an order of magnitude lower.
In your experience, are the markets in the former CIS countries not so low-segmented? Especially now, for example, if we take Russia. Have the sanctions affected you?
— The sanctions had an impact, of course. We keep in touch with potential customers as much as possible so that when the whole market situation normalizes, and someday it should normalize, we can continue to offer our services. When it comes to wastewater treatment plants, everything is very complicated, so we are looking for alternatives and trying to enter other markets. We have already participated and this year we will participate for the second time at the exhibition in Gulfood in Dubai. This is a very big exhibition, there were a lot of visitors at the stand, I didn’t even expect it. In less than three days of the exhibition, more than 70 potential customers visited us.
Have you worked with Ukraine, did you have clients there?
— We had requests from Ukraine, and we offered our equipment. But then somehow it all died out when hostilities began. Although this year there was a request for municipal wastewater treatment plants. I think that if not this year, then next year everything will be born. The Ukrainian market is complex, I probably won’t make loud statements, it has its own specifics.
Tell me, please, is Central Asia and Kazakhstan also a market with such a low entry price threshold, when equipment produced in Germany will be very expensive? Moreover, in Kazakhstan, as far as I understand, there is very tough competition from suppliers from Russia, Turkey, India and China.
— Yes, there is a lot of China. But you see, in any country there are several market segments, and in any country there are customers who look only at the low price. There are clients who look at the price-quality ratio, and there are simply premium clients for whom, as they say, “satisfy all my desires.”
When I talked about the African market, there are probably 90% of clients who are in the low price segment. You can find premium ones, but the ratio of the time spent and the output that is possible will be very low. And Kazakhstan, I think, is about half and half. Well, besides everything, the markets of the former USSR have a weakness, in my opinion, for German quality.
How much water does a dairy plant consume and discard?
— In theory, 5-7 liters of water per liter of milk, but in practice it can be more. Such high consumption is present not only in milk, it is inherent in many food industries. Basically, this is water from washing equipment. In principle, these are average statistical data; they can be found in any book. Again, these vary depending on what is being produced, what type of cheeses, and so on. For example, in Europe, whey cannot be poured down the drain; it must be recycled. But in the former Soviet Union they still drain it. The whey pollutes the drain very much, even if you drain a tenth of the total flow of this whey. It complicates the cleaning process and the reagents stop working properly. This is not entirely clear to me; serum is real money. And when you pour it down the drain, you spend extra money to clean it up. The company is deceiving itself twice. I understand that whey processing equipment costs money. But the goods that are produced from it are also in demand.
That is, problems arise at the level of strategic water security of the country?
— When we were in Dubai at the exhibition, I noticed one pattern. If local food processors came in and had very little clean water, their only question was how to turn the wastewater into process water. That being said, cycling water is not cheap. You can clean it up to a certain point in order to drain it into a body of water, and nature will do the rest for you. Or you must do what nature does yourself using expensive and very energy-consuming equipment.
For Kazakhstan, I think it would be enough to clean wastewater up to the water body. If we look at the south of Kazakhstan, then, as far as I know, the water situation there is generally very bad. If I’m not mistaken, from the Uzbekistan side the water in the rivers is reaching Kazakhstan less and less, and someday there will come a time when it simply won’t reach there.
It turns out that you are doing a holy thing. Scarcity of water resources and shortage of water resources also due to pollution is a huge problem.
— The task of purifying water from pollution is a very interesting task that concerns all of us and our future, our children and grandchildren. This problem, in light of a significant increase in the planet's population, global climate change and further industrialization, is becoming more acute every day.
The I International Conference AqAltyn - Dairy Industry of Kazakhstan will be held on November 28, 2023 in Turkestan, Kazakhstan.
Registration for the event can be completed until November 20, 2023 VIA THIS LINK .
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Technology partner: Kieselmann
Altyn Sponsor: Borte Engineering
Altyn Sponsor: ANR Engineering
