The term ‘sustainable development’ gets thrown around quite liberally in a world desperately in need of solutions to the increasing effects of climate change. Summit after summit, world leaders and wealthy industrialists hamper on about visions of a greener future; where energy is renewable and economical growth can be achieved with minimal damage to the environment.
The biggest barrier towards sustainable development is the modern world itself. Though we dream about ‘green solutions’ can they really keep up with consumer trends and market demands. How many resources are we going to spend to replace ten petrol cars with ten EVs when one electric bus is enough for the drivers of those 10 cars and their passengers?
A Sri Lankan company thinking outside the box, builds eco-friendly solutions for hotels, apartments, homes and facilities with a clear understanding of sustainability and looks at problems with modern infrastructure holistically. With an emphasis on recycling and equilibrium, Eco Engineers and Company has introduced award winning solutions for waste water treatment in Sri Lanka and abroad.
Eco Engineers is a biotechnology company specialising in the engineering design, consultancy and construction of effluent treatment plants and sewage treatment plants. Due to a high demand for its wastewater treatment technology, Eco Engineers has become one of the first Sri Lankan companies that exports this technology to India, Philippines and Indonesia.
Eco Engineers is the initial developer of the BIOUAFF (Up-flow Anaerobic Floating Filter) reactor technology (Sri Lanka Patent No: 14932). The UAFF technology was developed by Eco Engineers founder, environmental scientist Athula Jayamanne following 10 years of research.
Foreign projects
Eco Engineer’s solutions are currently used by a number of leading local industries including large-scale coconut mills, garment factories, hotels, distilleries, dairy farms, housing projects and bakeries. The company has completed over 13 foreign projects in agriculture and hospitality sectors, earning foreign exchange and international prestige exporting a truly home-grown technology.
Eco Engineers cite several advantages for their BIOUAFF technology; the foremost is it doesn’t require electrical power, thanks to their Multistage Facultative Bacterial Tank (MFBT) wastewater treatment system. The treated wastewater can be used to flush toilets or cooling towers; it can be done by microfiltration with minimum cost, Eco Engineers say.
Bio-gas generation from the UAFF system can be used as thermal energy or power requirement. For example a factory in Marawila, saves over Rs. 15,000 per day on diesel from the application of biogas produced by the system.
Director/Head of Project of Eco Engineering, Mario Jayamanne said the company’s biggest international project to date was Akshaya Patra Foundation in Bangalore – an urban kitchen which prepares two million meals a day to feed underprivileged children. “Our system processes 80 cubic metres of wastewater per day and the biogas powers their kitchen,” he said. The company is currently building another treatment plant for the Akshaya Patra Foundation’s urban kitchen in Mangalore.
No sludge
Most wastewater treatment technologies require disposing sludge that is generated by the aeration tanks, but Eco Engineers’s technology does not produce any sludge due to MFBT. Other advantages of UAFF include minimal construction cost, negligible maintenance cost and space saving.
Eco Engineers has won Green World Award 2018 as a Global Gold Winner from Green World Organization England. The company’s founder Athula Jayamanne bagged won the UK’s Green Apple Awards for Environmental Best Practice in 2015 in addition to many prestigious accolades like two consecutive National Award for Green Jobs in 2009 and 2010, a Presidential Award in 2009, and Commercially successful Sri Lankan inventors and Sahasak Nimavum in 2012 for his innovations.
When asked what is store for the company’s future internationally he said that they have completed a number of projects in India and recently started some projects in Malaysia. “We expect to expand our business in other countries as well in the future”.