The second project that comes to mind is the NIOCL project. National Iranian Oil Company awarded a contract to Inpex Corporation from Japan who in turn awarded camp construction projects to the experienced and capable EPC contractor, viz. Tehran Afra Engineering, Tehran for the construction of road networks and man-camp for 3500 people at a location near Ahwaz in Iran very close to the Iraqi border and a very rich oil drilling site.  The waste was a mixed one, municipal solid and hazardous waste generated in the camp and as per contract, it had to be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner, even though there is not a living soul in a 100 km radius.

Tehran Afra had the experience and expertise to do this kind of work and while work was going on in the desert site, their Chief Executive, rushed to Bangalore to discuss his requirement of an incinerator with us.  His visit coincided with the construction of our multi-storeyed office complex in our premises and he had to contend with the dust and debris. After a couple of days’ discussions and deliberations, he accepted our proposal to install a 12 ton per day incineration plant with 2 primary chambers connected to a common secondary, wet scrubber, stack, control panel, etc. Then followed an intensive negotiation process and finally everything was concluded to everyone’s satisfaction.

The system was inspected by the client and then shipped. Due to its bulk, we had to use flat rack containers.  Our commissioning team travelled to the site from Tehran in an aged turbo prop aircraft which was badly in need of spare parts, but arrived safely. They were accommodated in fabricated containers, which were air-conditioned, provided with TV, bathroom, etc. While they worked, they had to contend with a scorching 50°C, but at the end of the day, they could relax in air conditioned comfort.

The system was commissioned and offered to NIOCL inspectors who cleared it without raising any doubts.

The system has been working for many years since 2008 and in later years, we installed another system 5 km away from the Iran site, across the border in Iraq.

We shall write about this in the next blog.