Also available in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, China & Hong Kong
INDUSTRY WATCH - Chemical World
April 2013
EDITORIAL
Shale gas: The game changer?
V
eerappa Moily, the Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, was spot on when he recently stated that shale gas would be a game changer for India. Taking the first step in this direction, the Union Government is currently in the process of finalising the shale gas policy to tap this unconventional resource to fuel the nation’s expanding economy and cut subsidies. So, why shale gas – a natural gas trapped in sedimentary rocks (shale formations) below the earth’s surface – is so important for India? As existing conventional resources in India get either expensive or dry up, experts believe that India could potentially have the fifth biggest shale gas reserve in the world with recovery rate of up to 50 per cent – much higher than the 30 per cent in the conventional oil and gas reserves. For an energy-starved country, this is a boon that needs to be explored. But, the absence of a clear policy framework for shale gas exploration has prevented such possibilities. While now the process in on to frame new shale gas policy, it would be imperative for the policy-makers to provide clarity on gas pricing and fiscal incentives upfront as these could play dampener later. Further, the government will have to offer a liberal fiscal regime to exploration companies, considering the fact that shale gas industry is still in its infancy stage in India, and cost of operations during the initial phase is expected to be higher than the conventional oil and gas operations. At present, many view shale gas as pure energy play. But, going by the experience of the US, which has been witnessing shale gas boom, a positive rub-off on the downstream industry cannot be ruled out. According to the American Chemistry Council, as a result of low-cost natural gas availability, in near future, companies in the US plan to invest about $ 72 billion in petrochemicals business – an industry that many believed, only three years ago, was in long-term decline. This may be far-fetched from India’s context, with energy and fertiliser sectors being given priority for domestically produced gas. Nevertheless, any affirmative action in these two sectors will positively impact the chemical industry.
Editorial Advisory Board Pothen Paul Former Chairman, Aker Powergas Pvt Ltd
To begin with, India will have to put in place a favourable regulatory regime, followed by strong service and infrastructure capabilities. While many may argue that the Indian Government has belatedly woken up to the potential of shale gas, it is never too late to realise its potential.
D P Misra Director, TCE Consulting Engineers Ltd and Former Director General, ICC
P D Samudra Executive Director (Sales) & Member of the Board, Uhde India Pvt Ltd
Manas R Bastia manas@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
5
44
42
26 Cover illustration: Sachin Pandit
Insight & Outlook: Alternative Energy/Fuels Renewable energy ............................................................... 42
Special Focus: IT for Chemical Process Industry
Biofuels .............................................................................. 44
Virtualization ..................................................................... 26
Bio-based feedstock ............................................................ 46
Automation vendors .......................................................... 28
Interface - Andrew Soare, Analyst, Lux Research ........... 48
Machine safety .................................................................... 30
Roundtable .......................................................................... 49
Manufacturing Execution Systems .................................... 32
Safety governance ............................................................... 50
Automation in plant maintenance ...................................... 34
Chemical processing ........................................................... 52
Interface - Rajesh Rege, Director, Datacenter and Cloud Business, Cisco India and SAARC ................ 36
Ammonia market ................................................................ 54
Roundtable .......................................................................... 37
In Conversation With
Automation Trends WirelessHART technology: Process and asset monitoring simplified ................................................ 56
Amol S Sheth, Chairman, Anil Bioplus Ltd ......................................... 22
Energy Management ISO 50001 certification: A structured approach to power conservation ......................................................... 58
Policies & Regulations Facility Visit: FLOSTEER Engineers Pvt Ltd Adding quality value to valves with reliability .................... 38
Regular Sections Editorial ........................................................................ 5 News, Views & Analysis .............................................. 10 Technology & Innovation ............................................ 18 Technology Transfer .................................................... 20 Projects ........................................................................ 66 Tenders ........................................................................ 68 Event List .................................................................... 69 Book Review ................................................................ 71 Products ...................................................................... 72 List of Products .......................................................... 82 List of Advertisers ...................................................... 83
Government incentives for alternative energy: Are the initiatives renewing interest in renewable energy? ............. 62
Strategy Business plans for SMEs: Customised solutions with right pricing key to success ........................................ 64
Tips & Tricks RFID technology: Right tracking solutions for better resource utilisation ............................................ 65 In May: Presenting the inaugural edition of ‘Chemical & Process World’ Winning strategies for chemical manufacturers to ride out the global turbulence
Details on page no. 69
Note: ` stands for Indian rupee, $ stands for US dollar and £ stands for UK pound, unless mentioned otherwise April 2013 | Chemical World
7
Business Insights Technologies Opportunities
FOUNDER & EDITOR, NETWORK 18 Raghav Bahl PRESIDENT & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, TV 18 Senthil Chengalvarayan
GROUP CEO, NETWORK 18 B Sai Kumar CEO-NETWORK 18 PUBLISHING Sandeep Khosla
SENIOR EDITOR Manas R Bastia
EVP-HUMAN RESOURCES Sanjeev Kumar Singh
DEPUTY EDITOR Rakesh Rao
ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT Sudhanva Jategaonkar
EDITORIAL TEAM Prasenjit Chakraborty, Mahua Roy, Marcilin Madathil, Avinash Pandey, Rishab Kothari, Dharitri Dalvi, Avani Jain (Ahmedabad) ART DIRECTOR Varuna Naik DESIGN Mahendra Varpe CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER Mexy Xavier PHOTOGRAPHY Joshua Navalkar, Nachiket Gujar BUSINESS CONTROLLERS Lovey Fernandes, Akshata Rane, Deepak Bhatia, Ashish Kukreti, Shwetha ME, Jayashree N, Shefali Mahant
PRINTING EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Ananth R. Iyer ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER - PPC Shekhar Khot
PRODUCTION TEAM Surekha Karmarkar, Ravikumar Potdar, Ravi Salian, Sanjay Shelar
OVERSEAS CONTACT CHINA 1001 Tower 3, Donghai Plaza, 1486 Nanjing Road, West, Shanghai 200040, China Tel: +86-21 6289 – 5533 Ext. 368, Fax: +86-21 6247 – 4855 (Craig Shibinsky) Email: craig@ringier.com.hk Ringier Trade Media Ltd HONG KONG 9/F, Cheong Sun Tower, 118 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2369 – 8788 Ext. 21, Fax: +852 2869 – 5919 (Octavia Au-Yeung) Email: octavia@ringier.com.hk Ringier Trade Media Ltd TAIWAN Room 3, Fl. 12, No. 303, Chung Ming S. Rd., Taichung, Taiwan Tel: +886-4 2329 – 7318 Ext. 16, Fax: +886-4 2310 – 7167 (Sydney La) Email: sydneylai@ringier.com.hk Ringier Trade Media Ltd SINGAPORE Tel: +65 9625 7863; Fax: +65 6841 5273 (Annie Chin) Email: annie@janianmedia.com Ringier Trade Media Ltd GERMANY, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND Tel: +41-44 734 0472, Fax: +41 44 734 0680 Email: info@islerannoncen.ch USA Tel: (513) 527-8800 Fax: (513) 527-8801 Email: dhight@gardnerweb.com USA Alfredo Domador, 6505 Blue Lagoon Drive, Suite 430 Miami, FL. 33126, USA Tel: (305) 448-6875 Fax: (305) 448-9942 Ringier Trade Media Ltd
ADVERTISING SALES Shashin Bhagat (Ahmedabad) shashin.bhagat@network18publishing.com
Mahadev B (Bengaluru) mahadev.b@network18publishing.com
Hari Hara Subramaniam (Chennai) hari.s@network18publishing.com
Balakrishnan.S (Coimbatore) balakrishnan.s@network18publishing.com
Surendra Kumar Agrawal (Delhi) surendra.a@network18publishing.com
Dominic Dsouza (Hyderabad) dominic.dsouza@network18publishing.com
Ameya Gokhale (Indore) ameya.gokhale@network18publishing.com
Sandeep Arora ( Jaipur) sandeep.arora@network18publishing.com
Abhik Ghosal (Kolkata) abhik.ghosal@network18publishing.com
Inder Dhingra (Ludhiana) inder.dhingra@network18publishing.com
Olwin Dsouza (Mumbai) olwin.dsouza@network18publishing.com
Rohit Dass (Pune) rohit.dass@network18publishing.com
Vipul Modha (Rajkot) vipul.modha@network18publishing.com
Chirag Pathak (Vadodara) chirag.pathak@network18publishing.com
MARKETING TEAM Ganesh Mahale, Akshaya Jadhav
NEWSSTAND AND SUBSCRIPTIONS DISTRIBUTION HEAD Sunil Nair DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER Manoj Palsay SENIOR MANAGER - SUBSCRIPTIONS Sheetal Kotawdekar CO-ORDINATORS Rahul Mankar, Anant Shirke, Sarita Quadros, Chaitali Parkar, Kamlesh Mathkar, Vaibhav Ghavale
SERVICES SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES For subscription queries, write to chaitali.parkar@network18publishing.com or call +91 22 30034631-34 or toll free 1800 200 1021 PERMISSIONS For subscription to copy or reuse material from Chemical World, Write to chemedit@network18publishing.com • Monthly Issue Price: `100 • Annual Subscription: `799
Views and opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of Network18 Media & Investments Ltd (Network18)*, its publisher and/or editors. We at Network18 do our best to verify the information published but do not take any responsibility for the absolute accuracy of the information. Network18 does not accept the responsibility for any investment or other decision taken by readers on the basis of information provided herein. Network18 does not take responsibility for returning unsolicited material sent without due postal stamps for return postage. No part of this magazine can be reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher. Network18 reserves the right to use the information published herein in any manner whatsoever. Printed by Mohan Gajria and published by Lakshmi Narasimhan on behalf of Network18. Senior Editor: Manas R Bastia Printed at Infomedia 18 Ltd, Plot no.3, Sector 7, off Sion-Panvel Road, Nerul, Navi Mumbai 400 706, and published at Network18, ‘A’ Wing, Ruby House, J K Sawant Marg, Dadar (W), Mumbai - 400 028. Chemical World is registered with the Registrar of Newspapers of India under No. 79856. Network18 does not take any responsibility for loss or damage incurred or suffered by any subscriber of this magazine as a result of his/her accepting any invitation/offer published in this edition. *Ownership of this magazine stands transferred from Infomedia18 Ltd (Infomedia18) to Network18 Media & Investments Ltd (Network18) in pursuance of the scheme of arrangement between Network18 and Infomedia18 and their respective shareholders and creditors, as approved by the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi and the necessary approval of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is being obtained.
April 2013 | Chemical World
9
NEWS, VIEWS & ANALYSIS
FILTRATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
Eaton inaugurates filtration facility in India
BASF launches Master Builders Solutions in India BASF has rolled out its Master Builders Solutions brand in India, as part of a phased launch process. The portfolio of products and services marketed under this brand embraces chemical solutions for new construction, maintenance, repair & renovation of buildings and infrastructure. These include concrete admixtures, cement additives, chemical solutions for mining and tunneling, waterproofing, concrete protection and repair products, grouts and high-performance flooring products. Prasad Chandran, Chairman, BASF Companies in India and Head South Asia, said, “A powerful brand builds trust and confidence. The launch of Master Builders Solutions is in line with BASF’s new ‘We create chemistry’ strategy. By bringing all the specialty brands together, we are building up our business spirit and investing for future profitable growth. It will facilitate better access to the market and strengthen the awareness of the construction industry on our existing range of products and offerings.”
Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton has inaugurated its Filtration Division’s first manufacturing, assembly and distribution facility in India. The newly built facility is located at Hinjewadi in Pune. Richard Jacobs, President, Eaton’s Filtration Division, said, “India continues to be one of our focus markets. This new facility will further energise
our efforts towards bringing Eaton’s industry leading filtration solutions to our customers in India.” The new manufacturing facility occupies an area of 6,500 sq ft. The primary focus at this location is to manufacture Eaton’s Internormen filter elements with specification and distribution that support local customer requirements. The facility will currently offer element and filter assembly services, filter systems assembly, and customised filter element design and manufacturing. Nitin Chalke, Managing Director – India, Eaton said, “Eaton is committed to growing its diversified presence in India and the new filtration facility is a step forward in this direction.”
DIVESTMENT
Clariant India divests three divisions The Board of Directors of Clariant Chemicals India Ltd approved the proposal to divest the business of textile chemicals, paper specialties and the emulsion products, for a consideration of ` 209.15 crore. The divestment of the above businesses includes a textile chemical plant situated at Roha. The Roha site has multi-business, multiproduct production facilities and the textile chemical plant occupies a minor proportion in the overall site. “We are excited to continue crystallising our businesses and are putting a strong emphasis on advancing our stakeholders’ interests,” said R A Shah, Chairman - Board of Directors, Clariant Chemicals India Ltd. “Repositioning the company’s portfolio is an essential part of Clariant’s 2015 profitable growth strategy. This move has been designed to focus on our key businesses to ensure that Clariant in India provides maximum value to all our stakeholders,” added Dr Deepak Parikh, Managing Director, Clariant Chemicals India Ltd.
FINANCIAL REPORT
LANXESS India registers healthy growth in 2012 LANXESS India achieved sales of about ` 1,672 crore in 2012, attributed to its business out of its manufacturing unit in Nagda, Madhya Pradesh. “The business unit segment Advanced Intermediates has shown a significant growth of 11 per cent this year majorly coming from our manufacturing facility at Nagda. This has somewhat offset the drop in demand from the automotive and tyre industries in 2012, on which our rubber businesses are dependent. We have benefitted from the increase in domestic demand in certain segments such as paints and coatings, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals and 10
Chemical World | April 2013
done well in businesses that are driven by these segments,” said Venkatesh Sankaran, Chief Financial Officer, LANXESS India. Dr Joerg Strassburger, Managing Director and Country Representative, LANXESS India, added, “Despite the volatility in economic scenario and fluctuations in exchange rates, LANXESS has shown positive growth in terms of sales in the Indian subcontinent. This also implies that we are optimistic about the Indian market in the long term, and consider these uncertainties only a blip in the potential growth.”
Globally, LANXESS is planning capital expenditures of around Euro 650700 million for the current year. R&D expenditures are expected to grow by about 10 per cent in 2013 from Euro 192 million in the previous year. “The year 2012 was the best year in our growth story so far. Our business model proved itself once again,” said Axel C Heitmann, Chairman of the Board of Management, LANXESS. Business development was driven notably by the focus on emerging markets, solid demand for agrochemicals, pleasing contributions from acquisitions and the price-before-volume strategy.
NEWS, VIEWS & ANALYSIS
EPC CONTRACT
Uhde India awarded contract for caustic soda plant in Jordan National Chlorine Industries (NCI) has awarded a contract to Uhde India for expanding its caustic soda-chlorine plant at its chemical facilities in Amman, Jordan. The project, which is located 40 km south east of Amman city at Al-Mowaqqer area, close to Sahab Industrial Estate, proposes raising the capacity of the electrolysers A & B from 20 tonne per day (tpd) to 54 tpd, with the possibility of enhancing the capacity to 100 tpd in future. The expansion will be done by replacing the generation II membrane MARKET FORECAST
Agrochemical research is on the rise, says a report New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, ‘Advances in Agrochemicals’, finds that researchers have made significant progress in producing broad-spectrum, multi-purpose agrochemicals that eliminate the need to apply different chemicals for various purposes, thereby reducing the exposure of crops to chemicals. Also, seed treatment technology, which involves coating seeds with certain agrochemicals in which the resulting seedlings and plants acquire favourable properties, is rapidly gaining popularity. “To avoid the use of organohalides and similar conventional agrochemicals that harm the environment, ongoing agrochemical research focuses on the development of eco-friendly pesticides and insecticides,” said a Frost & Sullivan analyst. The excessive use of conventional agrochemicals over a long period has led to the emergence of resistant strains in moths, fruit flies and rats. As such, this has created an urgent demand for robust compounds capable of fighting these strains. In addition, biocompatible agrochemicals that prevent the accumulation of harmful chemicals in the food chain have become a necessity.
12
Chemical World | April 2013
cell elements with the new generation V membrane cell elements. The scope of work includes basic and detailed engineering services, supply of cell elements and supervision services during cell assembly, erection, start-up and commissioning of the plant. The project has a mechanical completion date of 20 months from the effective date of the contract. The enhanced output from the current project is intended for export, with a small proportion intended to be deployed for chlorinated paraffin wax.
Uhde India, who is among the preferred single-stop partner for membrane cell caustic soda plants, offers ‘under one roof ’ solutions to the caustic soda-chlorine industry globally. Its association with NCI dates back to the early nineties when the grassroots plant was set up for the customer. NCI, Jordan, is a publicly held company formed in the early nineties and engaged in the manufacture of caustic soda, chlorine gas, hydrochloric acid, sodium hypochlorite, hydrogen gas and chlorinated paraffin.
APPOINTMENT
R Mukundan is the new Chairman of CII Western Region R Mukundan, Managing Director, chemical, automotive and hospitality Tata Chemicals, has been elected as sectors of the Tata Group. He has been the Chairman of the Confederation on the executive committees of various of Indian Industry (CII) industry forums including Western Region for Indian Chemical Council, 2013-14. He joined Tata Automotive Component Administrative Service Manufacturers Association, (TAS) in 1990, after Alkali Manufacturers’ completing his MBA from Association of India, the FMS, Delhi University. He Council of EU Chambers is an Engineer from IIT, of Commerce in India. He Roorkee and an alumnus of was Deputy Chairman of Harvard Business School. CII Western Region During his 23-year career Council. Meanwhile, R Mukundan with Tata Group, he has Chetan M Tamboli, held various responsibilities including Chairman and Managing Director, strategy & business development, Steelcast Ltd, has been elected as the operations, corporate quality, corporate Deputy Chairman of the CII Western planning, projects, etc across the Region for 2013-14. PETROCHEMICALS
HPCL and Rajasthan sign MoU for refinery Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Rajasthan Government have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) envisioning a refinery and petrochemical complex at Barmer, near oil fields producing and under development by Cairn India Ltd. The project would be developed by state-owned HPCL, Rajasthan State Refinery Ltd, and other equity partners. The Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas estimated the project cost at $ 6.85 billion and construction time at 4 years. It said the complex would use crude oil produced locally and from elsewhere. The complex would represent Rajasthan’s first refinery and India’s first petrochemical plant designed to process indigenous crude oil. Cairn India, in partnership with state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp, is producing about 1,75,000 barrels per day (bpd) of waxy crude oil from a block near Barmer – 1,50,000 bpd from Mangala field and 20,000-25,000 bpd from Bhagyam field.
NEWS, VIEWS & ANALYSIS
PRODUCT EXPANSION WATER TREATMENT
Cognex expands its barcode readers range
Dow partners with Ahlstrom for drinking water solutions
Cognex Corporation, the world’s leading supplier of industrial ID systems, has added two new models to the DataMan 50 (DM50) series of compact barcode readers and a new DataMan 60 (DM60) series with three models that offer ethernet connectivity. “Cognex introduced the new series of low-cost barcode readers, DM50 & DM60 series, with an aim to help improvise on the performance of the readers and target applications typically handled by single-line or raster laser scanners. Cognex low-cost barcode reader DM50 is designed for those existing customers who are not satisfied with the laser and RFID bar code readers,” said Didier Lacroix, Senior Vice President, International Sales & Marketing, Cognex.
Dow Water & Process Solutions (DW&PS), a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, has entered into a collaboration agreement with Ahlstrom, a global high-performance fibre-based materials company, to use Ahlstrom Disruptor technology for drinking water applications. “This technology can be applied to a number of drinking water applications including under-the-sink purification, postfiltration for reverse osmosis, a counter top or pitcher unit or a unit internal to a refrigerator,” said Snehal Desai, Global Business Director, DW&PS. The agreement combines DW&PS industry-leading market, R&D, and manufacturing expertise with Ahlstrom’s innovative non-woven fibre technology to address an unmet need in drinking water applications. “We see a wealth of opportunities in our collaboration with Dow for providing pure water solutions through combining our expertise with Dow’s industryleading product portfolio”, said Fulvio Capussotti, Executive Vice President, Advanced Filtration, Ahlstrom. DW&PS will incorporate Ahlstrom’s high-performance, breakthrough filter medium into a new set of drinking water purification products that offer excellent pathogen rejection while operating at high flow and low pressure.
He added, “The laser & RFID barcode readers can only capture single scan line at a time, which means that their ability of reading is limited, especially while reading poorly printed or damaged barcodes. However, the Cognex DM50 is structured to read where continuous reading is a major issue. The reader can also achieve 99 per cent of high read rates.” In the chemical industry, there exist different sizes of packets where labels are of different sizes with different size of bar codes. “In such cases, laser & RFID readers fail to achieve high read rates, while Cognex low-cost barcode readers DM50 and DM60 achieves it efficiently,” claimed Lacroix. Prasenjit Chakraborty
NEW APPLICATION
Dow Corning launches silicone technologies for construction market Dow Corning, a global leader in silicones, silicon-based technology and innovation, has launched a range of silicone-based technologies and solutions for the rapidly growing Indian construction market. The newly launched solutions include sealants for panel bonding, as well as fire-rated joint sealants and acrylic sealants designed for internal perimeter of fire-rated doors & windows. Dow Corning introduced a premium performance weatherproofing sealant, specifically designed for general glazing and weather-sealing of curtain wall and building facades. One of the innovative introductions is a Transparent Silicone Structural Adhesive (TSSA) - a new technology that eliminates the need to drill holes in glass for bolt fixation in spider fitted hardware in point fixed glazing systems. Another innovation is a high design strength system, which can be used in high wind load environments.
EXHIBITION
GE showcases latest water treatment solutions at Aquatech GE displayed its advanced technologies, products and services for water and wastewater treatment at the recently held Aquatech India in Greater Noida. “India remains a water-stressed country, and demand continues to outpace supply, making water reuse imperative. Our expanding installed base of more than 70 projects in India demonstrates our strong commitment to India. Local 14
Chemical World | April 2013
engineering, project management and local manufacturing help GE deliver the most effective solutions to its Indian customers,” said Hoshang Subawalla, Business Leader, India - Water and Process Technologies, GE Power & Water. GE is a global leader in wastewater reuse and has the broadest chemical and equipment portfolio to address tough-totreat water and wastewater needs. GE’s
expertise on reusing sewage for industrial and non-potable use is helping secure India’s water resources. GE’s portfolio of advanced technologies - membrane filtration systems, next-generation membrane bioreactors, zero liquid discharge systems and water/ wastewater/process chemicals - are combined with leadership in process design and engineering to address wide-ranging customer problems.
NEWS, VIEWS & ANALYSIS
NEW SELECTION
Appointment of Mike Turner to boost Vertellus growth plans in Asia
DISTRIBU TION STRATEGY
Mike Turner, the newly appointed Director - Agriculture Business of Vertellus Specialties, is expected to give push to the company’s agriculture business activity in Asia. “Turner will spend a significant amount of time in Asia servicing out existing customer base and developing new opportunities to further grow and diversify our business within the agro-chemical markets. He has more than 6 years of experience managing and growing business in this region,” said Bentley Park, President - Agriculture and Nutrition Business, Vertellus Specialties. Turner will be responsible for establishing the strategic direction for the segment as well as its overall business profitability globally at Vertellus Specialties Inc, the world’s largest producer of pyridine, picolines and pyridine derivatives. Prior to joining Vertellus, Turner was the Vice President and General Manager for Universal Fibers Asia. Located in Taicang, China,
DKSH and Synthomer sign partnership deal in Asia
he successfully established and grew the business over the past several years. Before this, Turner spent his career at Honeywell International for more than 20 years, holding various positions within technology, quality and operations. Most notably, he managed a chemical additives business located in Eupen, Belgium, for several years. Pa rk added, “A g r o c h e m i c a l s business has been growing globally at a rate of 3-4 per cent and more specifically pyridine demand is increasing 7-10 per cent annually driven by high crop prices. Vertellus has benefitted from satisfying this global demand for its products and its ability to diversify and enhance its product portfolio.” With respect to Vertellus’ plans for India, he said, “Vertellus offers its full line of agricultural products in the Indian market. Our growth within this market will depend on the local demand and growth rates.” Rakesh Rao
NEW PLANT
Micro Polypet offers PET plant contract to Uhde Inventa-Fischer Micro Polypet Pvt Ltd, an Indian joint venture comprising the chemical companies RLG Group and Action Petrochem Pvt Ltd, has awarded Uhde Inventa-Fischer a contract to build a plant for the production of high-quality PET for bottling and packaging applications. The plant, which will be located in Panipat, will have a production capacity of 2,16,000 tonne per annum (tpa). The feedstock, terephthalic acid (TPA), will be supplied by IOCL following production at an adjacent plant.
DKSH Business Unit Performance Materials, a leading specialty chemicals distributor and provider of market expansion services for performance materials, and Synthomer, one of the world’s leading suppliers of emulsion polymers for coatings, construction chemicals, adhesives and technical textiles, have entered into a regional distribution partnership covering India, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Thailand. The partnership will cover Synthomer’s business in the Construction & Coatings and Functional Polymers businesses. DKSH’s Performance Materials Business Unit will distribute and market Synthomer’s full range of emulsion polymers in Asia for the market segments coatings (excluding Vietnam), construction, adhesives (excluding Vietnam) and textiles (excluding India). Synthomer offers a particularly broad range of binders based around acrylics, styrene-butadiene and vinyl acetate chemistries for a wide array of applications including weatherresistant wood coatings, low-emission interior wall paints, elastic coatings, crack-bridging facade paints for cool roofing applications and plaster, as well as binders for PSA tapes, labels and technical textiles.
BUSINESS RESTRUCTURING
Sumitomo sets up regional headquarters for Southeast Asia, India and Oceania Region Sumitomo Chemical has newly established Sumitomo Chemical (Asia-Pacific) Pte Ltd in Singapore as its Business Support Regional Headquarters for the Southeast Asia, India and Oceania region. The new company has begun operation on April 1, 2013. Sumitomo Chemical has actively expanded its business activities in the region over the years, most notably through the petrochemical complex project in Singapore that began commercial operation in 1984 with Sumitomo
Chemical playing a core role while working with other major international companies. At present, 22 companies of Sumitomo Chemical Group are operating in eight countries in this region, and the region is positioned as an important stronghold for Sumitomo Chemical in advancing its global business management. This region, which includes Southeast Asia with a population of over 600 million and a gross domestic product (GDP) of about $ 2 trillion, is expected to grow
further in the future, driven by continued developments of various economic initiatives and cooperation among countries and areas in and outside the region. Given the prospects, Sumitomo Chemical has decided to establish Regional Headquarters anew in Singapore that will support the company’s business development in this high-growth region by securely capturing emerging business opportunities and accelerating exploitation of new business undertakings.
April 2013 | Chemical World
15
NEWS, VIEWS & ANALYSIS
BUSINESS STRATEGY BIOREACTOR TECHNOLOGY
LANXESS acquires Asian biocide specialist PCTS
Applikon acquires HaloteC’s biotech portfolio The Netherlands-based Applikon Biotechnology BV, a global leader in bioreactor systems, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the biotechnology portfolio of HaloteC Instruments BV, a Dutch provider of instruments and software solutions for the biotech market. Arthur Oudshoorn, CEO, Applikon Biotechnology, commented, “We believe that the acquisition of the biotech portfolio of HaloteC Instruments will accelerate our development of bioreactor software solutions, allowing our customers to greatly improve the efficiency and performance of their R&D departments. The instrumentation for the food and biofuel industry that HaloteC has developed extends the products offering Applikon Biotechnology for these industries.” He added, “Companies are looking for software solutions to allow parallel processing of bioreactor systems and to process the large amount of data generated by these processes. The advanced software solutions that HaloteC has developed for these types of applications allow the researcher to compare large data sets and easily see relations between various parameters. The software and instrumentation excel in ease of operation and robust design, and will contribute to the increasing marketshare of Applikon Biotechnology.”
L-R: Dr Torsten Derr, Global Head of Material Protection Products business unit, LANXESS, and Shae Toh Hock, Senior VP - Corporate Planning & Development, Nipsea Group
As part of a strategy to strengthen its product portfolio for biocides to serve the megatrend urbanisation, LANXESS has acquired Singapore-based PCTS Specialty Chemicals Pte Ltd for an undisclosed amount. Through the acquisition, LANXESS is now one of the leading suppliers of biocides for paints and coatings in the rapidly-growing Asia-Pacific region. LANXESS will gain access to a complementary portfolio of
biocides and will benefit from PCTS’ highly-recognised product expertise and know-how in paints and coatings. “This transaction underlines LANXESS’ standing as a key supplier of high-tech solutions for the megatrend urbanisation. It also strengthens our company’s asset base in the booming Asian market,” said Rainier van Roessel, Member, LANXESS Board of Management. PCTS, owned by NIPSEA Technologies Pte Ltd, specialises in biocides for environment-friendly waterbased paints that meet stringent health and safety, as well as environmental standards. Biocides prevent the deterioration and discolouring of the paints caused by micro-organisms. PCTS will be integrated into the LANXESS business unit Material Protection Products (MPP), which belongs to the company’s performance chemicals segment. The PCTS facility will also become the new Asia-Pacific headquarters of MPP.
BUSINESS REORGANISATION
BASF combines businesses for water, oilfield and mining solutions BASF has combined its global businesses of water solutions and oilfield & mining solutions, effective April 2013, to increase efficiency and support its growth strategies. The new global business unit will be located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. “By combining the strengths of these businesses, sharpening our focussed market approach and, at the same time, increasing operational and innovation excellence, we are in a good position to advance innovative solutions to the water, oilfield and mining industries,” said Hans W Reiners, President - Performance Chemicals, BASF. BASF offers a wide range of products for key processes of industrial and municipal water treatment, products for the drilling and completion of oil wells and mineral processing reagents for the mining industry. All three businesses include parts of the polyacrylamide (PAM) value chain.
EPC CONTRACT
Toyo awarded polyethylene plant contract in Egypt Toyo Engineering Corporation has been jointly awarded with ENPPI, an engineering company under the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, a contract to build a 4,00,000 tonne per annum (tpa) polyethylene plant as part of Ethydco’s petrochemical complex to be established in Alexandria, the Arab Republic of Egypt, and owned by The Egyptian Ethylene and Derivatives Company (ETHYDCO). This 16
Chemical World | April 2013
will be the largest polyethylene plant in Egypt. Toyo and ENPPI, based on the most advanced polyethylene technology of Univation Technologies of US, will execute the EPC and commissioning under a lump-sum turnkey contract. Toyo will lead the entire project execution, undertaking project management, basic engineering, and procurement of key equipment. ENPPI will be in charge
of joint project management, a part of basic engineering, detailed engineering and procurement of other equipment and materials. Both companies will execute the construction and commissioning in collaboration with PETROJET, an Egyptian construction company as a subcontractor. The contract amount is approximately $ 400 million, and the plant is scheduled for start-up in early 2015.
NEWS, VIEWS & ANALYSIS
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
LyondellBasell licenses technologies for LDPE and EVA to Jiangsu Shenghong Asia Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical Co Ltd ( JSPCL) has selected LyondellBasell’s Lupotech T and Lupotech A process technologies for a new plant scheduled to be built in Lianyungang, China. JSPCL, part of the Jiangsu Shenghong Group, said that the plant will have a total capacity of 300 kilo tonne (KT) per year for the production of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA). LDPE and EVA polymers are in high demand driven by an increasing need for consumer items ranging from shoes to specialty films. Zheng Guo Dong, General Manager, JSPCL, commented, “We selected LyondellBasell’s Lupotech platform based on the leading manufacturing cost performance and the
capability to produce high-quality LDPE and high EVA content LDPE.” Key features of the Lupotech T tubular technology and the Lupotech A autoclave technology include low manufacturing and investment costs, fast start-up and grade changes, and high-quality LDPE and copolymers with up to 40 per cent EVA covering the entire range of melt flows and densities. Proven single-line capacities of up to 450 KT per year are available with Lupotech T. LyondellBasell is a leading licensor of polypropylene and polyethylene technologies. The more than 250 polyolefin process licenses granted by LyondellBasell are twice that of any other polyolefin technology licensor.
CHEMICAL DISTRIBUTION
Brenntag teams up with Bayer for sulfuric acid supply Brenntag Schweizerhall AG, the Swiss subsidiary of the world market leader in chemicals distribution, has announced a co-operation with Bayer CropScience and Infrapark Baselland. Brenntag will invest in a new location with a sulfuric acid dilution plant and relocate to the Infrapark industrial park. This plant and a newly installed pipeline to Bayer CropScience, also with a location at Infrapark, will allow Brenntag to supply diluted sulfuric acid to Bayer just in time. “This system creates synergies for all participating companies. Bayer focusses on its core area of expertise and we pool our outputs, while Infrapark Baselland gains a new tenant,” remarked Wolfram Heymann, Managing Director, Brenntag Schweizerhall AG. Renaud Spitz, Head, Infrapark Baselland, added, “This settlement is a good example of how our chemical industrial park supports the principal of networking. Synergies can be used, and in this case, logistics costs decreased. Furthermore, the know-how and experience of our employees can be cross-linked.” ANTI-DUMPING MEASURES
China extends anti-dumping duties on nonylphenol imports from India China has extended anti-dumping measures on nonylphenol (NP) imported from India and Taiwan for another five years recently. NP, which is used as a chemical intermediate, is often a precursor to commercially important detergents and is widely used in the production of surfactant and paint. The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) slapped five-year anti-dumping duties ranging from 4.08 per cent to
20.38 per cent on NP imports from India and Taiwan on March 28, 2007, after finding that the imports had hurt the interests of domestic producers. At the request of domestic producers, the Ministry launched a review last year to evaluate the possibility of dumping and damages if the measures expired. The recent announcement by MOC said it found the damage is likely to recur if the measures are lifted.
PERFORMANCE MATERIALS
Momentive expands Korean technology centre Momentive Performance Materials Inc (MPM), a global leader in silicones and advanced materials, has announced expansion of its current technology centre in Seoul, Korea, creating a global innovation centre focussed on the electronics industry. The expanded innovation centre will combine existing technical labs with application development, research and development (R&D), testing and manufacturing operations.The expanded Korea Technology Centre (KTC) will be devoted to developing materials and solutions for display, light-emitting diode (LED) and organic lightemitting diode (OLED) applications. The centre will strengthen MPM’s existing presence in the region and is expected to be complete in June 2013. Based in the Gasan Digital Complex, the centre will be over 1,500 sq m.
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Johnson Matthey completes Formox acquisition Johnson Matthey recently completed the purchase of Formox AB (Formox) for SEK 1.05 billion (£ 107 million) in cash from Perstorp Specialty Chemicals AB, a company owned by PAI Partners. Formox is a leading global provider of catalysts, plant designs and licences for the manufacture of formaldehyde, an important chemical intermediate. It has developed a market leading range of novel metal oxide-based catalysts for the production of formaldehyde from methanol and is the leading provider of process technology for metal oxide-based formaldehyde production plants. Formox’s technologies complement Johnson Matthey’s existing strengths in process catalysts and in plant design and licensing. The acquisition enhances Johnson Matthey’s position as a leading supplier of technology for a range of syngas and other chemical processes.
April 2013 | Chemical World
17
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
Honeywell launches cost-effective wireless technology Honeywell announced the launch of OneWireless Network Release 210, which incorporates several new features that make wireless technology easier to deploy and operate, and result in lower deployment and operational costs. New features in Release 210 include overthe-air field device provisioning and a Gateway General Client Interface (GCI) made possible by the ISA100 standard; and native integration of OneWireless field networks into Honeywell’s Experion® Process Knowledge System (PKS). “Wireless technology is transforming the industrial landscape and we are trying to make it even easier for end-users to deploy and use,” said Ray Rogowski, Director, Global Marketing Wireless, Honeywell Process Solutions. He added, “With OneWireless Release 210, users can benefit from the flexibility and scalability offered by the ISA100 standard while maintaining high performance and reliability.” With the over-the-air provisioning feature, field devices can now be configured and commissioned without having to invest in handheld devices or needing to perform provisioning locally at the device. The result is faster and less costly deployment and improved worker safety. The GCI feature, enabled by the ISA100 standard, allows operations to continue using legacy protocols and proprietary applications while making it easier to wirelessly expand those applications throughout the plant. The GCI also allows third party client applications to communicate natively using proprietary or common field protocols with wireless field instruments over the ISA100 network. Enabling operations to continue using existing applications or protocols eliminates the need to reinvest in additional equipment and new client applications, re-train maintenance and operations personnel.
18
Chemical World | April 2013
Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500 enhances productivity Siemens launched new generation controllers SIMATIC S7-1500. The products are suitable for medium to high-end machine and plant automation. The new generation of controllers is characterised by high performance & efficiency and offers numerous benefits such as integrated motion control, plant security, and safety applications that are easy to implement. Greater efficiency is represented by the innovative design that enables simple commissioning & safe operation, by the configurable diagnostic functions that provide the plant status and by the integration into the Totally Integrated Automation (TIA) Portal for simple engineering and low project costs. With regard to overall performance, the technology, security, safety and system performance has been considerably improved. In order to increase efficiency, further developments have been made specifically in the areas of design and handling, system diagnosis and engineering with the TIA Portal. Commenting on the new product, Bhaskar Mandal, Executive Vice-President, Industry Sector, South Asia, Siemens Ltd, said, “Being in the Indian market for decades, Siemens has a thorough understanding of the industry needs. It has continuously designed products & solutions that help clients maximise productivity and increase efficiency. The new SIMATIC S7-1500 controller sets new standards for maximised productivity. This benefits small-series machines as well as complex installations that place high demands on speed and deterministic communication. The SIMATIC S7-1500 is seamlessly integrated in the TIA Portal for maximum engineering efficiency.” The Siemens Industry Sector’s Industry Automation division also announced the enhancement of its TIA Portal engineering framework with numerous new functions. Version 12 enables all Siemens drives of the Sinamics G converter series to be parameterised via the TIA Portal, and additional diagnostic functions have also been integrated. Among other things, the safety functionalities have been extended for SIMATIC S7-1500 and the Profinet communication performance has been expanded.
Mokon’s portable chillers provide superior energy efficiency Mokon’s Iceman LT Series line of portable chillers is now available in air-cooled and water-cooled models with up to 12 tonne nominal chilling capacities and operating temperatures from -20 to +20°F (-29 to -7°C). They feature non-ferrous components and a semi-hermetic discus compressor, providing superior energy efficiency, robust operation and easy maintenance. Cylinder unloading, hot gas bypass used for capacity control, increasing the longevity of the compressor, are provided along with a microprocessor-based controller for extreme accuracy. The Iceman LT chillers utilise R-507 refrigerant which provides customers with an environment-friendly option to CFCs and HCFCs. Mokon’s low temperature chillers are ideal for jacketed vessels, reactors, laboratory, sanitary and other industrial applications.
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
Dow’s new FILMTEC RO helps remove contaminants and impurities in household water systems Dow Water & Process Solutions (DW&PS), a business unit of Dow Chemical Company, launched Dow FILMTEC Reverse Osmosis (RO) 75 and 100 gallon per day (GPD) home drinking water membranes at the Water Quality Association (WQA) Aquatech USA 2013 conference and exhibition recently. The FILMTEC RO membranes are Dow’s latest innovation to facilitate potable water that tastes & smells better and has fewer impurities to help bring clean drinking water to homes in waterstressed areas. Dow FILMTEC elements help remove contaminants that can lead to health risks, and reduce impurities such as calcium, magnesium, and iron. With a stabilised salt rejection rate of 99 per cent at 75 GPD and 98 per cent at 100 gallons per day, in standard sizes (1812 configuration), Dow FILMTEC BW-60-1812-75 and TW30-1812100HR home drinking water elements offer premium water – faster. The new 75 GPD membrane uses new Dow membrane chemistries, which have been customised to maximise element performance. The 75 and 100 GPD elements offer a balance of flow and high rejection, producing more water with 20 per cent higher flow rates at standard test conditions. “Dow FILMTEC residential elements are reliable, consistent and high quality. Dow is committed to helping OEMs and brand owners meet the rising consumer demand for better in-home water treatment systems, and facilitate cleaner, safer, better tasting water to homes in water-stressed areas,” said Chrys Fernandes, Manager, Strategic Marketing, Residential and Commercial, DW&PS.
Atlas Copco’s nitrogen and oxygen generators enable cost savings Atlas Copco has come out with three ranges of nitrogen and oxygen generators for on-site gas generation. With these innovative gas generators, companies can expand their existing compressed air installation to generate their own nitrogen and oxygen. An independent supply of on-site gas can realise significant economies of scale as well as save on operational costs. Atlas Copco’s new range of on-site gas generators are designed to meet the highest purity standards and run economically for both large and small applications. On-site gas generation is more sustainable and cost-efficient than gas delivered in cylinders or bulk liquid supply, as it eliminates the operational and administrative costs of ordering, transporting, storing and delivering the bottles or bulk liquid into cryogenic tanks. With an independent supply of nitrogen and oxygen, companies’ gas demand is always met in time, at the lowest cost. Koen Lauwers, Vice-President, Marketing, Industrial Air Division, Atlas Copco, said, “With these ranges of gas generators, our customers will dramatically increase their productivity. We help them to discover untapped saving potential through economy of scale, combining their compressed air systems with the production of nitrogen or oxygen, serving their specific needs.” Its membrane nitrogen generator (the NGM) is efficient, reliable and ideal for applications such as fire prevention, tank and pipeline cleaning, and many other oil & gas, mining and marine applications. The NGM uses membrane air separation to produce nitrogen. A bundle of polymer fibre acts as a membrane that allows nitrogen to pass and other gases (oxygen, water vapour and carbon dioxide) to permeate. Compressed air goes in at the inlet and enriched nitrogen comes out at the other end of nitrogen generator. Membrane technology generates nitrogen with an adjustable purity and flows up to 500 m³/h. The OGP oxygen generator also makes use of PSA technology, with zeolite pellets that act as adsorbent.
SKF’s lubrication helps save energy and offers safety to workers Conveying chains require continual lubrication to reduce high levels of friction that can result in chain wear, high energy consumption and unplanned production stops. Keeping this in mind, SKF has come out with a complete range of oil or grease lubrication systems for conveyor chains, with or without air. These customised systems are controlled and monitored by control units or special software. The product has many advantages. These enable higher productivity by eliminating the unplanned production downtime for lubrication tasks. Moreover, these increase conveyor service life through reduction of chain wear and offer safety to operators. Due to reduction in friction, energy is saved. The lubrication systems also find application in the paintshops and drying kilns in the car industry. In most plants, lubrication is applied manually – a task that requires the chains to continue running while production is stopped. Downtime is costly, creates environmental problems related to possible oil leakage, and can risk injury as operators lubricate while the chain is moving. Inadequate lubrication and irregular lubrication cycles lead to breaks in the chain or links, resulting in a need for frequent chain replacement.
April 2013 | Chemical World
19
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
TECHNOLOGY OFFERED As part of our endeavour to spread the technology culture, this section provides a means to promote and facilitate exchange of select technologies. We strive to bring together suppliers of such technologies with suitable users for negotiations and industrial collaboration. Activated carbon
Phosphate esters
An Iranian firm is willing to offer activated carbon from coconut shells. Areas of application Food processing, pharmaceuticals, etc Forms of transfer Technology licensing
An Indian firm is offering technology for manufacturing phosphate esters like tributyl phosphate. Areas of application Specialty chemicals Forms of transfer Joint venture
Ethanol An Iranian company is offering ethanol from molasses using the fermentation of sacharomyces cerevisiae. Ethyl alcohol is widely used for making many organic chemicals. Areas of application Chemical and energy industries Forms of transfer Technology licensing
Furfuryl alcohol technology
Sodium hydrosulfite An Iranian company is willing to manufacture sodium hydrosulfite using chemical compounds. It is widely used as a stripping agent in dyes and chemical industries. Areas of application Chemical industry Forms of transfer Technology licensing
An Indian firm offers technology for producing furfuryl alcohol from furfural by liquid hydrogenation as well as vapour hydrogenation, with a capacity of 6,000 tpa to 24,000 tpa. Areas of application Furan polymers, sealants & cements, urea-formaldehyde, and phenolic resins & foundry cores Forms of transfer Consultancy, technical services, technology licensing
Sodium silicate recovery from rice husk ash
Precipitated calcium carbonate
Sodium sulfide
An Indian consulting company for the chemicals, minerals & food processing industries is offering precipitated calcium carbonate and turnkey projects for the same. Areas of application Plastics, paper, paints, rubber, inks Forms of transfer Consultancy, technical services
An Iranian firm is willing to offer sodium sulfide, which is used mainly in textile industry, paper mill, artificial silk and curriery. Areas of application Leather industry, textiles, curriery industries, paper mills, etc Forms of transfer Turnkey
20
Chemical World | April 2013
An Indian firm is offering technology to recover sodium silicate from rice husk ash. The technology claims to offer better ROI than other processing methods. Areas of application Chemical industry Forms of transfer Consultancy, technical services, turnkey, etc
Synthesis routes for organic chemicals An Indian firm is offering consultancy in design of synthesis routes for organic chemicals. Areas of application Pharma industry, specialty chemicals, plant protection chemicals, etc Forms of transfer Consultancy
Transformer oil unit An Indian company is willing to offer consultancy for making a transformer oil unit with domestic coal from its waste. Areas of application Transformers Forms of transfer Consultancy, technical services
Zinc phosphatiser/rust converter (Ferphos) An Indian firm offers technology to produce Ferphos – a unique chemical formulation that acts as a zinc phosphatiser cum rust converter. Ferphos is an innovation and improvement over existing phosphating products/technologies practised around the world. Ferphos solution does not die, ie even after prolonged use, and does not require daily addition of chemicals and hence it results in zero effluence. Ferphos solution also acts as a rust converter when brushed on rusted iron products. It is an ideal substitute for sane/shot blasting. Areas of application All iron and steel products including aluminium, SS, GI products Forms of transfer Technology licensing
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
TECHNOLOGY REQUESTED Activated carbon and sodium silicate A company from Thailand requires technology for manufacturing activated carbon and sodium silicate from rice husk & rice husk ash. Areas of application Manufacturing and construction industry Forms of transfer Others
Glyoxal An Indian company is looking to switch the production technique for manufacturing 40 per cent glyoxal from its existing acetaldehyde-based method to the MEG-based glyoxal production. Areas of application Pharma & textile Forms of transfer Others
Inorganic chemicals An Indian company is interested in seeking the technology and process knowhow for production of potassium nitrate, chromium acetate, and magnesium hydroxide suspension. The company already produces inorganic chemicals and wants to add several other items. Areas of application Chemical industry Forms of transfer Others
Lime
Silica gel
An Indian company seeks to adopt new cost-effective technologies, which can reduce carbon emissions and earn carbon credits, for manufacturing lime. Areas of application Quick lime and hydrated lime Forms of transfer Others
An Indian firm is looking for new technology for manufacturing silica gel in which the wastewater discharge is minimum. Areas of application For various industries and most importantly breweries Forms of transfer Others
Phenolic and phenol formaldehyde resin An Indian company needs the technical know-how for producing phenolic and phenol formaldehyde resins. Areas of application Foundry, rubber adhesives, rockwool, abrasives, plywood, etc Forms of transfer Others
Quaternary ammonium chloride An Indonesia-based company is planning to diversify into manufacturing of quaternary ammonium chloride. It is seeking technology along with the supply of critical plant and machinery for the manufacture of the chemical 3-chloro-2hydroxypropyl trimethyl ammonium chloride that is produced from epichhlorohydrin. Areas of application Chemical industry Forms of transfer Technical know-how, consultancy
Small-scale environment-friendly chemical technology An Indian company is looking out for an economically viable smallscale environment-friendly chemical technology useful in the textile sector as well as in pharmaceutical sector. Areas of application Textile and pharmaceutical industry Forms of transfer Others
Solvent dyes An Indian company has recently installed a manufacturing capacity of 2,400 mtpa and is looking to diversify its product range by including various solvent dyes in its product portfolio. The company is seeking process consultancy for this project. Areas of application Plastics, petroleum, solvents, etc Forms of transfer Others
Information courtesy: Dr Krishnan S Raghavan, In-Charge, Technology Transfer Services Group, Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT) of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), APCTT Building, C-2, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi - 110 016, Tel: 011-3097 3758 (Direct), 3097 3710 (Board), Fax: 011-2685 6274, E-mail: srinivasaraghavan@un.org, Web: www.apctt.org, For more information on technology offers and requests, please log on to www.technology4sme.net and register with your contact details. This is a free of cost platform provided by APCTT for facilitating interaction between buyers and seekers of technologies across the globe. After submitting technology offer or request to this website, you are requested to wait for at least two weeks for receiving a response from a prospective buyer/seeker through this website, before contacting APCTT for further assistance.
Share and Solicit Technology The mission of Chemical World is to spread the technology culture. Here is an opportunity to be a part of this endeavour by sending your technology on offer or technology requirements. If you belong to any of these two categories, you are invited to furnish the techno-commercial details for publication. The write-up needs to be as per the format of this section with information about the particular technology offered or requested, its areas of application and forms of transfer. Contact us: Chemical World, Network18 Media & Investments Ltd, ‘A’ Wing, Ruby House, J K Sawant Marg, Dadar (W), Mumbai 400 028 Tel: 022-3024 5000, 3003 4672, Fax: 022-3003 4499, Email: chemedit@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
21
IN CONVERSATION WITH
Amol S Sheth
Photo: Vijaykumar Soneji
The demand for bio-industrial products is likely to get stronger
...says Amol S Sheth, Chairman, Anil Bioplus Ltd. In an interaction with Avani Jain, he underlines the fact that the demand for bio-industrial products is likely to get stronger. He also comments on the future trends for this segment and the company’s growth plans. 22
Chemical World | April 2013
Amol S Sheth
How is the global demand for bio-chemicals and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)? Demand for bio-industrial products and APIs is strong. However, the market has gone down in the last few years due to recession in the US, European Union, Japan, and slowdown in China and India. However, the growth rate is still in early double digits. Also, it is believed that with recovery seen in the US and slowdown bottoming out in India and China, this figure is likely to go up by around 2-3 per cent by 2014-15.
How has been the shift from family business to a publiclisted company? From the 90s, we started professionalising our whole business. That time, we thought that bringing in people into the system is the topmost thing. But gradually, we realised that it is not just that but several processes and systems had to be changed as although professionals were hired, the decisions were taken by the family. So, the need of the hour was to move out of that mould and let professionals do their job.
What prompted the company to invest in greenfield project near Vadodara to manufacture modern range of bio-chemicals? The company has already acquired land for this project and work has begun since November 2012. This project will enhance the capacities of the existing product line of Anil Bioplus and augment its products range with the addition of new enzymes and varieties of gluconates. By using the most sophisticated fermentation facilities with downstream processing, the company will be engaged in the production of APIs, specialty enzymes for pharmaceutical and other industries.
What are the challenges faced by the company in establishing this project? The challenges are similar to that of setting up any greenfield unit, ie the
time-bound implementation of the project. But the company is confident that it will be able to complete the project in time.
What are the recent R&D initiatives undertaken by the company? We are focussing on isolation of industrial strains to manufacture various bio-products including enzymes. Thus, we will be the first in India to manufacture some of the products at a cost-effective rate. For such products, we are at the advanced stage of development and trials are already in progress in the pilot plants. The initial results are encouraging. We have also developed four types of gluconates apart from calcium gluconate to cater to growing domestic as well as global needs. We are evaluating two new projects to convert process waste into a high value-added product, which has a good overseas market.
What would be the future trends? The demand for bio-industrial products is likely to get stronger. The reason for this growth is the fact that major contribution to bio-industrial products comes from the exports, which are likely to revive from FY13-14 due to recovery in developed markets and subsequent revival in their demand. The environmental norms and the massive environment-consciousness have also seen companies switch to bioindustrial products from conventional chemical ones.
What are the company’s growth plans? Environmental norms have actually triggered the shift from conventional chemical products to bio-industrial products. We have already started working in that direction to encash that trend. The company is optimistic about growth of bio-industrial products segment and aims at capitalising on this trend through its experience in related sectors. The current capacity expansion project will help the company touch ` 400 crore turnover on
Which was your toughest business decision? The toughest phase of my life was the period when we changed to a public-listed company. It was difficult for me to move out of the factory, be in the corporate office, and let the professionals run the factory.
What is it that you ensure before signing a deal? It is important to know whether the two companies are culturally aligned to each other or not, otherwise it would be like a marriage that fails in the long run.
How do you deal with a tough situation? In any difficult situation, it is important to analyse it without hitting the panic button and losing cool. Then you need to bring in the right set of people with whom you can discuss and work out a path. You also need to use your intelligence, and work accordingly as every problem has a solution. I also do the same.
What is the business etiquette you value the most? It is necessary to respect every individual. Right from the sweeper to the top professional, everyone commands respect. This is one thing that people forget and I hate it the most because everyone has an important role to play, which should be valued.
completion. As and when the company completes this project, it will reassess the market situation and depending on the circumstances then, it may decide to further expand its capacity. The company is also looking for exports of these products to optimise margins and profitability. Email: avani.jain@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
23
An invite that rewards as well... Dear Reader, ‘Chemical World ’ solicits original, well-written, application-oriented, unpublished articles that reflect your valuable experience and expertise in the chemical process industry. You can send us Technical Articles, Case Studies and Product Write-ups. The length of the article should not exceed 1500 words, while that of a product write-up should not exceed 100 words. The articles should preferably reach us in soft copy (either E-mail or a CD). The text should be in MS Word format and images in 300 DPI resolution & JPG format. The final decision regarding the selection and publication of the articles shall rest solely with ‘Chemical World ’. Authors whose articles are published will be sent a complimentary copy of that particular edition. Published by Network18 Media & Investments Ltd, ‘Chemical World ’ is one of the leading monthly magazines exclusively meant for producers and user fraternities of the chemical process industry (CPI). Well supported by a national readership of over 80,000 and our strong network of 26 branch offices across India, this magazine reaches out to key decision makers among the Indian CPI. Moreover, it offers a broader platform facilitating effective interaction among several fraternities of these industries by enabling them in reaching out to their prospective buyers & sellers through better trade contacts and more business opportunities. So get going and rush your articles, write-ups, etc… Thanking you, Yours sincerely,
Manas R. Bastia Senior Editor Chemical World Network18 Media & Investments Limited ‘A’ Wing, Ruby House, J K Sawant Marg, Dadar (W) Mumbai 400 028 India
D +91 22 3003 4669 T +91 22 3024 5000 F +91 22 3003 4499 E manas@network18publishing.com W www.network18publishing.com
SPECIAL FOCUS
IT FOR CHEMICAL PROCESS INDUSTRY VIRTUALIZATION Serving IT optimisation on your fingertips ..............................................................................................26 AUTOMATION VENDORS Upgrading process control system with virtualised offerings ...................................................................28 MACHINE SAFETY From a discrete component to a discreet investment ...............................................................................30 MANUFACTURING EXECUTION SYSTEMS Enhancing production, maximising profitability ......................................................................................32 Sunil Chaudhari, Country Manager - South Asia, AspenTech AUTOMATION IN PLANT MAINTENANCE Securing all links to ensure safety .............................................................................................................34 INTERFACE - Rajesh Rege, Director, Datacenter and Cloud Business, Cisco India and SAARC “Virtualization is widely seen as a precursor for cloud adoption”.............................................................36 ROUNDTABLE Are Indian chemical companies leveraging on latest automation solutions? ...........................................37
April 2013 | Chemical World
25
SPECIAL FOCUS Virtualization
Illustration: Sachin Pandit
Serving IT optimisation on your fingertips
Companies today look for technologies that can reduce costs, increase productivity, enhance security and fasten recovery process in case of disaster. Virtualization can prove to be panacea for these challenges by simplifying complex IT assets and creating a highly flexible information infrastructure. Against this backdrop, chemical companies are realising the virtues of virtual machines for keeping efficiency and productivity in control. Rakesh Rao
I
n their quest to stay ahead of their competitors, chemical companies are adopting state-of-the-art automation solutions to bring in efficiency. While companies invest time and money for upgrading their IT and automation technologies, users may not be 26
Chemical World | April 2013
able to take immediate advantage of the upgraded software, thus resulting in lost value for the organisation. In order to address these challenges, companies are increasingly using virtualization technologies that allow secure, one-time configuration and enterprise-wide deployment in an encapsulated or ‘virtualised’ environment,
which ensures shorter deployment times and eliminates delays caused by end-user software platform conflicts. Virtualization allows one computer to replace multiple computers and simplify software upgrades, thus saving valuable time and allowing automation users to concentrate on improving production. Barry Young, Principal Analyst, ARC Advisory Group, observes, “Virtualization reduces the amount of PC and server hardware, and thus helps reduce hardware costs. This is accomplished by taking a few servers that may be only 10-15 per cent utilised and combining the applications onto one server that might be more than 50 per cent utilised. Also, the reduced server hardware and data center footprint saves energy in the form of electricity and cooling. Because virtualization decouples hardware from software, the operating system update costs are also greatly reduced. A standardised architecture allows for centralised administration and maintenance. Users can recognise these benefits immediately as well as throughout the product lifecycle, thereby reducing the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Companies of all sizes can benefit from virtualization.” Chemical companies can extract multiple benefits from virtualization, which provides an efficient, cost-effective, and secure solution for increasing reliability for customers aiming to reduce operating costs while ensuring the safety and productivity of their plant.
Hardware refresh optimisation One of the struggles industrial sites consistently face is the disconnect between the fast-paced, obsolescencedriven world of computer hardware and operating systems (OS) and that of process control operations, which plant managers want to remain static. But in an industry where technology has to remain current in order to be supported, plants are struggling to keep up with the rate of OS and computer hardware changes. “Virtualization helps reduce the strain on industrial facilities by allowing existing hardware to be maintained for as long as it is able to provide the minimum levels of
Virtualization
performance an application requires of a virtual machine. By sticking with existing hardware, plants can reduce the cost of system upgrades. They can also stay on the same operating system for a longer period of time,” states Paul Hodge, Head Product Marketing - Virtualization, Honeywell Process Solutions. Virtualization also minimises the disruption to plant operations when hardware changes are required. He adds, “Thanks to more advanced virtualization features, a computer’s operating system and applications do not need to be shut down during a hardware replacement. Operations can continue without interruption while this work is taking place.”
Higher availability Virtualization helps applications achieve higher availability than they would be able to natively support. This is performed through the virtualization environment monitoring the status of the virtual machines and restarting a virtual machine on another host if required. “Honeywell’s new Premium Platform for Virtualization, which leverages blade server technology, provides the capability to ride through a host upset without any impact on operations,” says Hodge. Another feature, snapshotting, allows the current state of a virtual machine to be captured like a picture. If a problem is found, the virtual machine can be instantly rolled back to a previous point in time. He adds, “Honeywell Backup Control Center solution enables industrial facilities to simplify and automate the key elements of disaster recovery: setting up disaster recovery plans, testing those
Virtualization reduces the amount of PC and server hardware, and thus helps reduce har dware cos ts. Because virtualization decouples hardware from software, the operating system update costs are reduced. Barry Young
Principal Analyst, ARC Advisory Group
plans, executing failover when a control center disaster occurs or as the event requires, and failing back to the primary control room. This makes it possible to provide faster, more reliable, and more affordable disaster recovery protection than previously possible.”
With virtualization, plants can undertake expansions or upgrades without the need to add new nodes to the control system, and without having to perform fresh operating system and application installations.
Facility and utility savings
Paul Hodge
Deploying virtualization allows multiple virtual machines, each running their own OS and application, to be operated at the same time on a single physical machine. Hodge elaborates, “Virtualization achieves this while guaranteeing that a given virtual machine gets exactly the amount of resources required to do its job, and ensuring any issues with one virtual machine would not impact another. This type of consolidation reduces the need for multiple machines and maximises the use of hardware resources.” By improving hardware utilisation, plants are able to cut down on the number of physical computers they require, which has a direct correlation with associated running costs such as space, power, cooling and maintenance. “Virtualization also allows plants to undertake expansions without adding new hardware. That is because ‘platform virtualization’ is capable of running many virtual machines on a single piece of hardware. Machines can continue to be added as long as there are sufficient resources available to meet their operational needs,” he explains.
Head Product Marketing - Virtualization, Honeywell Process Solutions
operators to monitor system performance and access the desktop of any node. Health and status information can be viewed from a single, integrated user interface. Plus, it simplifies remote management by allowing remote access to the virtualization console.”
Improved console experience Virtualization allows for the expanded use of thin client technology within control rooms. According to Hodge, through the use of thin client technology, customers can: Improve security through moving the physical hardware that is required to run the operator stations into a central computer room Reduce power, noise and heat in the control room Reduce Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) from hours to minutes Improve performance through the use of common high performance hardware for operator stations
India, rising fast Simplified system management Virtualization supports a strategy of ‘build once, deploy many’. It enables the hardware configuration, OS and application to be contained in a single ‘capsule’. Any new instance of this capsule is exactly the same, thus reducing configuration errors and installation time, and ensuring a more reliable and repeatable result. Hodge opines, “With virtualization, plants can undertake expansions or upgrades without the need to add new nodes to the control system, and without having to perform fresh operating system and application installations. Virtualization also offers improved diagnostics, allowing
In India, the market is heating up for virtualization starting with business process applications. The adoption rate of virtualization in India are expected to increase manifold as vendors are pitching hard on several of their offerings as hardware forms a key constituent in the virtualization. Hodge sums up, “Usage of virtualization is increasing in the private sector in India; however adoption within the public sector in India is still slow. Skill shortages in various sectors are driving some of this adoption along with the increasing adoption of virtualization within India’s IT industry.” Email: rakesh.rao@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
27
SPECIAL FOCUS Automation vendors
Rakesh Rao
A
ll virtualization is abstraction that uses software to create an isolated, functioning duplicate of a computer system component. While virtualization is not new, its application in the process control systems has gained traction in last few years, with leading automation vendors offering virtualization technology. Barry Young, Principal Analyst, ARC Advisory Group, says, “Yes, all the major automation suppliers now incorporate virtualization to varying degrees within their process control system architectures. Initially, suppliers used virtualization in the operator interface area in the form
virtualization offers, its application within the industrial control domain is increasing rapidly. In a recent survey of our large customers, 50 per cent of these customers were virtualising their advanced control networks today, and the remaining 50 per cent had plans to do so. Of these same customers, 80 per cent have plans to virtualise their DCS networks. In addition to the customer demand, awareness is being driven by the fact that most automation vendors now have virtualization offerings.” For virtualization to be successful in the process automation industry, customers need turnkey solutions. These include supplying the processing, networking and storage components along
on ‘one box’, suppliers must address user concerns over potential hardware failures. Automation architectures for high availability, and disaster recovery and backup are available to address these concerns.” Realising these shortcomings, automation vendors now offer solutions that can solve challenges of people training and design process skills. “Customers face the challenge related to training of their people, given that this can be a new technology within their organisation. For this, Honeywell has training courses on virtualization that can help customers learn how to apply it in an industrial context. Another challenge is the skills required in the
UPGRADING PROCESS CONTROL SYSTEM WITH VIRTUALISED OFFERINGS The use of virtualization in a control system is a recent phenomenon. However, chemical companies are showing increasing inclination to use virtual machine as it helps the plant operators to achieve the goal of maximising RoI by improving the utilisation of their control system server assets. In order to tap this trend, automation vendors are now offering a wide range of process control system architectures with virtualization feature.
of thin client HMIs being served by one hardware server, rather than a separate PC for each operator interface. Once this application was field proven, other applications were virtualised at the operations management level. Today, virtualization is used for engineering, factory and software acceptance testing, training, simulation, and advanced process control. We are also beginning to see virtualization used to emulate legacy and proprietary control platforms.”
Expanding virtualised offerings Practically any system component can be – and has been – virtualised: disk drives, servers, operating systems and networks. Paul Hodge, Head Product Marketing - Virtualization, Honeywell Process Solutions, elaborates, “Because of the many compelling benefits that 28
Chemical World | April 2013
with guidance and support to deliver a complete solution from design through implementation and management. Hence, automation vendors such as Honeywell Process Solutions, Emerson Process Management, Rockwell Automation, etc are expanding their range of products with virtualization features.
Virtual portability The application of virtualization in process control environment is a challenging task as it involves collaboration from multiple disciplines. Young elaborates, “The use of virtualization requires close co-operation between a chemical company’s operations, IT, and control engineering departments, as well as with the automation supplier. This has required some departments that traditionally have had competing agendas to now work together. Also, since many applications are now virtualised
design process. We believe that building a virtual environment for process control is different from the approach that would be taken in IT. Honeywell has taken its process control expertise and designed best practice virtualization reference designs,” observes Hodge. Though application of virtualization in process control system is new phenomenon, experts believe that in next few years every aspect of chemical industry right from plant and process design to manufacturing operations will run on virtual machines. Young agrees, “Eventually, everything will be virtualised in the process control architecture. The use of virtualization will begin during detailed design and then used throughout the project lifecycle. Essentially, applications are now ‘virtually’ portable and hardware independent.” Email: rakesh.rao@network18publishing.com
SPECIAL FOCUS Machine safety
Prasenjit Chakraborty
M
achine safety is an impor tant factor regardless of any specific industr y. For chemical industry, it holds more importance as it handles hazardous chemicals. Depending on the nature of the chemical, its reaction with the electrical sparks, spatters, current etc should be taken into consideration while deciding on the machine safety issue. If the chemical under consideration is inflammable, highly corrosive – the vapours of which can cause health hazards – these factors should also be looked into seriously. “The machines processing chemicals for packing, conveying, etc, should consider the health hazard other than the regular safety hazards. Earlier, there was resistance from chemical manufacturers towards adopting safety concepts in machines. But, slowly the Indian chemical industry is realising the importance of machine safety and its benefits,” says Suresh Warade, Chairman, Warade Automation Solutions Pvt Ltd.
From a discrete component to a discreet investment
Worldwide trends
Safety first Though initial cost of machines incorporated with safety aspects may seem little higher as compared to traditional machines, payback is quite fast. Safety is always important whether it is machine or process safety, especially for chemical companies that deal with hazardous materials and expose plant, people & environment to hazards. As people work with machines, they are exposed to personal injuries; and injuries (which may be fatal in certain circumstances) can lead to production downtime; it will also dampen employees’ morale and reduce the efficiency of workers. “Machine safety is important from the point of view of the manufacturers because it lends competitive advantage and enhances public image of the company,” says 30
Chemical World | April 2013
industry is different from that in developed countries. Law enforcement in developed countries is stringent because of which they adopt machine safety to be cost-efficient rather than bearing the penalty of non-compliance. “However, in Indian chemical industry, wherein the law enforcement is not as stringent and monitored, the adoption of machine safety (unlike process safety) is likely to be not so proactive,” opines Bera. Another reason for non-adoption of machine safety is that end-users do not consider the areas under machine safety as critical to invest as in process safety. However, nothing remains constant forever, so is the chemical industry.
The concept of machine safety is evolving from being a discrete component to an integrated system. It has been observed that an integrated system offers many benefits when it comes to safety. As far as India is concerned, chemical manufacturers should pay more attention to machine safety. Abanibhusan Bera, ISA 84 SFS, Industry Sales Manager - Oil & Gas, Rockwell Automation India Pvt Ltd. According to him, adoption of machine safety in Indian chemical
Globally, machinery directive 2006/42/ EC has been made compulsory. ISO 12100 provides overall framework and guidance for designers to enable them to produce machines that are safe for their intended use. Minimum safety category expected is CAT3 globally. “Now, safety categories are being changed to SIL2, SIL3, and SIL4 standards. These are now recognised as global safety standards for machine safety,” says Warade. According to Bera, the global trends in safety are different with respect to the twin safety domain – machine safety and process safety. However, the common characteristics of both the domains are increased awareness and adoption against the backdrop of accidents still happening across the globe. So far as machine safety is concerned, emerging countries are leaning towards adopting machine safety due to growth in manufacturing coupled with new safety requirements. “However, the recent economic downturn is forcing manufacturers to prioritise their investment, which can help reduce operation & maintenance cost, and can yield immediate return on investment. Areas of machine safety are being looked upon as a non-critical area
Machine safety
due to which the investment is either not made or delayed,” points out Bera. The trend in developed countries is somewhat different as those countries are already having stringent safety requirements. “The end-customers there are concerned about people’s injury, lost production, company reputation and hence they prefer to use machine safety devices for preventing injury, lost production and avoiding government law suit in case of accidents,” says Bera.
Changing phase of machine safety Like in any other plant, chemical plants also have several machineries that include compressors, heat exchangers, pumps, reactors etc. In an increasingly competitive market, owners are continuously challenged to run the plant more profitably. “Since any equipment failure can dramatically affect throughput, we need to be able to count on both the reliability and availability of assets, especially pumps and compressors. If a compressor or turbine trips, whether due to excess vibration, malfunctioning instruments or surge, it can bring entire operation to an abrupt halt and cause you to flare or vent, creating environmental concerns,” points out Dr A S Prasad, Director - Solution Group, Emerson Process Management (India) Pvt Ltd. With the passing of time, the concept of machine safety has also evolved from being a discrete component
The recent economic downturn is forcing manufacturers to prioritise their investment, which can help reduce operation & maintenance cost, and can yield immediate return on investment. Areas of machine safety are being looked upon as a non-critical area due to which the investment is either not made or delayed. Abanibhusan Bera
ISA 84 SFS, Industry Sales Manager - Oil & Gas, Rockwell Automation India Pvt Ltd
FIVE PILLARS OF SAFETY Globally, plant and people safety is given prime importance as it directly affects the downtime (profitability) of the plant. In this context, the five pillars of safety drive a strong safety eco-system. Standards and legislations: These are considered as enablers for consistent implementation of safety measures and are enforced through regulatory compliance. Further, the standards, whether being implemented or complied are certified by organisations such as DAR in Germany, UCAS in UK, BIS CCOE in India and accrediting agencies such as TUV, Kema, SIRA, CASS etc. Risk assessment: Every plant has different risk tolerance levels and it is important to identify them and plan risk measures accordingly. This is also termed as risk management, wherein probability of hazardous occurrences (low, medium, high) and its corresponding consequential class (minor, medium and major) is determined. The aim of risk management is to achieve controlled process of risk assessment, safety requirement specifications, design implementation and operation of risk reduction measures. Integrated solutions: Plant automation systems are integrated with safety systems (which were earlier standalone) that ensure accurate and quick safety implementation measures to reduce downtime, plant hazards, and accidents; it also offers comprehensive diagnostics, for eg line fault detections, F&G incidences. Personal Protection Environment (PPE): Personal protection for people safety is extremely important. All the plants have dedicated HSE departments that are responsible for defining and implementing procedures, training, rules, programmes and matrices (number of near miss incidences reporting etc). These actions are converted into goals, objectives that become part of management behaviour and are cascaded to the bottom level in organisations. Workplace environments are also given equal importance. Safety culture: Safety has now become an integral part of every organisational culture that includes people, process and technology.
to an integrated system. The benefits of integrated safety perhaps can best be understood by first setting machine safeguarding in historical perspective. “A century ago, machine safety controls did not exist. Accidents and injuries on the shop floor were common. In an attempt to reduce incidents, manufacturers began to apply basic wiring techniques and components – such as limit switches, relays, and pushbuttons – to establish early machine safety. The slow evolution that started from relays, configurable relays, stand-alone safety Programmable Logic Controller (PLCs) is now in a mature state with the ICSS that are more efficient, flexible, and economical,” opines Dr Prasad. According to Warade, in earlier days, machine safety meant having limit switches for doors, some guards
and that was all about it. “It was found that such systems were easy to tamper with and most of the time found to be completely bypassed. Then came safety relays where one has to put little more efforts to bypass the safety. The process PLC used to handshake with the safety components in terms of digital signals. Safety zones were controlled through locally mounted safety components making wiring too complex and cumbersome,” he says. Now safety is evolved into an integrated form with the process PLC. Safety relays can now directly fit into the integrated architecture of safety process PLC. “It paved the way for the quick installation, less wiring efforts and debugging during maintenance,” Warade points out. Email: prasenjit.chakraborty@ network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
31
SPECIAL FOCUS Manufacturing Execution Systems
Today, a business needs to be more agile and responsive to fluctuations within the market. Effective performance management involves integrating planning, scheduling, production execution and ability to respond to change immediately. Here we take a look at how investment in Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) software technology delivers more efficient data management, improved production execution and enhanced operational performance, enabling manufacturers to quickly turn data into profit. Sunil Chaudhari
D
elivering p ro d u c t s that consistently meet customer expectations helps manufacturers remain competitive and achieve higher profitability. With a better understanding on how their operations are performing in real-time, companies can positively impact the bottom line with timely, informed decisions about production performance. Transforming data into meaningful business knowledge is vital to optimising production and maximising commercial potential. MES provides intelligence for optimising operations with rapid, accurate and transparent data in real-time. The first milestone is MES 1.0, which integrates the past to achieve more efficient data management. MES 2.0 is called the era of work process automation, which improves production execution. Last but not the least is MES 3.0, also called technology on the move, which brings about enhanced performance management.
MES 1.0: Integrating the past MES first emerged in the process industries over 30 years ago when minicomputers had finally become affordable enough to be successfully used in these industries. The earliest applications were primarily data historians in the large continuous industries used for ‘historising’ timeseries data for trending and later analysis. 32
Chemical World | April 2013
At first, manufacturers, who were primarily batch-orientated, applied the same data historians that had gained acceptance in the continuous industries to the problems that they were facing. However, for those manufacturers the majority of their production is campaign-orientated with well-defined start and stop times. While time-series historians generally did provide some value in analysing production runs, the real analysis of production run campaigns turned out to be a complicated, labourintensive process. It meant trying to track different types of information, potentially from different systems, which were all related to the same batch, not just timeseries data, and then literally overlaying them on top of one another in order to provide the right context. Since this was a fairly intense process, engineers rarely performed this type of analysis, except maybe when a customer complained about the quality of a previous batch. During the era of MES 1.0, other new technologies, such as scheduling, also emerged that further enhanced manufacturing profitability. Scheduling tools were developed that could provide a fully integrated environment between scheduling and plant operations, supporting collaborative production management. They were designed to align with the key industry business processes, providing manufacturers with the capabilities to make real-time
decisions and synchronise the plant & supply chain. As MES software continued to evolve, the foundations to greater manufacturing profitability were being laid. During MES 1.0, an experienced engineer was usually required to interface with an MES system. Casual users either were intimidated or the training requirements were too steep. However, with the more recent advent of new technologies, it is now possible for casual users to take advantage of the power of an MES system. Some MES vendors are now providing ‘Google-like’ intelligent search to improve a user’s ability to find information. Intelligent search capability within a MES system operates in a similar fashion as Google. In short, it selects the best match similar to the Google functionality. Another recent innovation was the increasing use of Business Intelligence (BI), which changed the way manufacturers managed their business. Some years back, engineers manually downloaded from the historian into standard tools like Excel where they could perform any type of analysis they desired. Then improvements were made, so that any report produced during this process could be automatically distributed throughout the enterprise via Microsoft SharePoint. With more technological advances, changes in historian data now can automatically update spreadsheets, which then are disseminated automatically
Manufacturing Execution Systems
throughout the enterprise via SharePoint. The net result of all these changes was the increased ability to have information at one’s fingertips without the need for extensive and detailed training.
MES 2.0: The era of work process automation Throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium, manufacturers recognised the importance of automated processes and workflow to allow for scalability and meet the increasing needs of the business. Simply relying on a data historian alone was not enough. Fundamentally, they needed the ability to manage all the different aspects of the production workflow and order management in a manufacturing facility. This included both the design and execution of standard operating procedures, work orders and production protocols supporting procedural and regulatory compliance. The design aspect would consist of defining the recipe and workflow to produce a given product. On the other hand, the execution aspect would dispatch the order to the appropriate operator terminal at execution time. The system would need to deliver complete traceability, an unalterable history, and automatic generation of audit trails and reports. In addition, during MES 2.0, vendors started offering ‘production context’ technology that was more appropriately aimed at solving problems associated with production campaigns with a definitive start/end time. Fundamentally, this involved using any production marker, such as a batch number, lot number, or refinery blend type, and quickly gathering all the relevant information that describes a defined production period, regardless of the data source. Production context analysis, as it came to be known, allowed a user to seamlessly overlay all relevant data (eg historian data, ERP, lab, etc), so that they can visually determine areas for improvement or compare/contrast with similar, previous production periods. The data that provides contextualisation is all the process and event data that is necessary
to understand that production period. This technology allowed users to easily visually compare and contrast previous, similar production periods across units, process cells, areas and even multiple sites. In essence, the introduction of this technology allowed batch manufacturers to overcome the limitations that they had encountered in MES 1.0. MES today enables manufacturers to quickly identify production performance problems, assess root causes and take corrective action. Production execution software introduced during MES 2.0 is now tightly integrated with data historian software from MES 1.0 to improve the manufacturing process, which automatically reaps positive returns on investment.
MES 3.0: Technology on the move New smart products developed during the past decade have provided greater communication and collaboration functionalities, facilitating quicker decision making while operating on the move. Flexibility, ease of use and real-time data visualisation are significant benefits to users. This period of greater intelligence in technology has opened up new possibilities. The batch industry has a greater need today to streamline processes to improve operational performance and intelligently manage the huge quantities of data that process plants produce on an hour-by-hour and minute-by-minute basis. BI empowers employees to perform with better flexibility as it helps improve access to manufacturing data at all organisational levels to drive quicker decisions. Event notifications coupled with mobile analysis tools enable faster adjustments to minimise the impact of production issues. This is vital in the process industries because there are many operations-based personnel who are not desk-bound and can benefit from access to real-time data, trends and alerts anytime & anywhere. The prevalence of mobile devices is transforming the process industries. Mobile solutions empower decisionmakers to have immediate access to
important data enabling them to make informed and quick decisions to improve profitability. Easy, digestible analysis of plant information even in remote locations helps industry leaders react to adverse changes and keep the operation performing to targets. The ability to access and analyse real-time plant data has enormous benefits. In the past, users needed to be in the control room or in front of a monitor to track and manage manufacturing performance. Mobile BI has proven to be more effective when users are provided with visualisation tools (eg charts, graphs, portals, etc).
Pillars of profitability Over the past 30 years, MES technology has dramatically evolved to help manufacturers survive in today’s highly competitive markets. Real-time data and decision support tools provide access to plant information to allow quick and timely responses to production issues that negatively influence efficiency, quality and regulatory compliance. MES is essentially the nucleus of the operation, which links all capabilities of the business. It is an integrated set of production activity and support software designed to harmonise and optimise the plant. The bottom line is that effective production drives operational excellence enabling better and faster decisions. Software technology helps the batch industry achieve consistent performance across all assets. It also defines the importance of real-time business performance management: plan, execute, monitor and respond to change immediately across all time horizons. History has shown that MES has laid the foundations to help batch manufacturers across the globe strengthen their competitiveness and build upon the pillars of profitability. Sunil Chaudhari is the Country Manager - South Asia at AspenTech. For details, contact Minakshi Hase on email: minakshi@gri.co.in
April 2013 | Chemical World
33
SPECIAL FOCUS Automation in plant maintenance
Prasenjit Chakraborty
B
efore going into the intricate details of automation technologies, it is essential to understand the importance of safety and maintenance measures at a chemical plant. The significance of safety cannot be overemphasised ever, which has been understood & realised with great pain and loss 28 years back – Bhopal gas tragedy at Union Carbide plant in 1984 is still in the memory of the entire world. It had led to loss of lives of thousands of innocent people and affected millions. “If we add up the casualties of all the industrial accidents of the entire world up-to-date, it will not outnumber the casualties of the Bhopal accident. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) formed
Bhopal gas tragedy happened while the plant was shut down for maintenance. What is important here is that, unlike today, technology was not so advanced in those days due to which gas leakages could not be detected. Hence, safety and maintenance activities in chemical plants are not isolated; but any flaw in maintenance can jeopardise safety as well.
terms of specification, design, installation, operation, maintenance, etc, would have been flawless,” opines Bera. The picture depicts the findings of HSE. Control system incidents
20% 15%
44% 6%
15%
Role of automation How important is automation for the safety and maintenance of a chemical plant? Automation is not a present-day affair in any chemical plant or for that matter in any manufacturing plant. Control and safety of chemical plants are achieved through the use of automation products and systems, which nowadays are more IT-centric and complex. Due to technological
Specification
Design & implementation
Installation & commissioning Operations & maintenance Changes after commissioning From ‘Out Of Control’ A compilation of incidents involving control and safety systems by the UK HSE Functional safety standards address all these issues
SECURING ALL LINKS TO ENSURE SAFETY Automation plays an important role in ensuring safe environment at a chemical plant. However, it was observed that several industrial accidents had occurred due to malfunctioning of automation system. Today, integrated safety and control system is in demand as it provides myriad benefits. the Centre for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) after Bhopal tragedy to take proactive actions and measures in ensuring plant safety,” says Abanibhusan Bera, ISA 84 SFS, Industry Sales Manager - Oil & Gas, Rockwell Automation India Pvt Ltd. As chemical manufacturers process hazardous chemicals, it exposes people, community and environment to danger; and safety can never be undermined and compromised in chemical plants. It will be worth mentioning here that 34
Chemical World | April 2013
advances, software-based systems have helped in achieving productivity, and at the same time, have also increased the risk of improper operations as well as maintenance. “The UK-based Health & Safety Executive (HSE) had analysed 34 industrial accidents and found that all accidents had been caused due to failure of automation (mainly failure of control and safety systems). It also found that all these accidents could have been avoided, if all the aspects of plant automation in
Where India stands? As the manufacturing sector in India is gradually maturing, adoption of new automation technology is becoming increasingly important for running a profitable and safe business or plant. “This is even more important today as the Indian manufacturing sector is seeing significant rise in labour costs, which means that productivity must be improved in order to maintain a competitive cost
Automation in plant maintenance
position. Indian chemical industry comprises several small and medium-sized manufacturers who mostly require a robust, reliable plant automation system to run their plants safely,” points out Ritwij Kulkarni, Business Unit HeadField Products, Honeywell Process Solutions India. Large chemical companies, however, are coming of age. There is an increased awareness on how modern plant automation can help them negotiate the uncertainties of the market; improve bottom line by employing process and business excellence initiatives; ensure plant safety by deploying safer and more secure automation systems. “Safety has to be the highest priority for all plant managers, be it safety of the personnel or of assets. We have a wide variety of offerings to help companies effectively manage both process and personnel safety,” says Kulkarni. Keeping safety and maintenance issues in mind, automation providers have come out with new products for different arenas. For example, Honeywell offers safety system that includes assessment and documentation, emergency services, shutdown optimisation services, etc. For shutdown optimisation services, its expert review of event log, including results of previous test findings, is evaluated against initial testing recommendations. “For example, our in-depth safety system health checks enable plants to minimise the risk of equipment failure and address a wide range of potential operational issues. And our service staff responds 50 per cent faster than the typical service organisation to expedite problem resolution. With on-demand services, getting a safety system expert to your facility can involve lengthy delays – potentially impacting in-house productivity or even production by days,” claims Kulkarni.
Safety trends Increasing awareness about safety systems coupled with the need to improve safety standards and drive operational excellence is encouraging both the process and discrete industries to invest in safety systems. “Integration of control and safety is important. This is an emerging trend in the safety systems market for process industries. Integration makes the entire system consistent and single-window view of the process enhances operational excellence and safety measures,” opines Arunkumar Janarthanan, Industry Manager, Industrial Automation and Process Control Practice, Frost & Sullivan. Integration of safety and security is also equally important in today’s context. “Earlier, an independent safety system controlled all safety aspects related with process areas, whereas a security system controlled plant access. However, nowadays there is major concern with regard to cyber security. The integrated system can simultaneously address process control, safety and security,” points out Janarthanan. Email: prasenjit.chakraborty@ network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
35
SPECIAL FOCUS Interface - Rajesh Rege
Unified Management features end-toend management software solutions. These solutions provide an intelligent, automated approach to IT management, offering speed and enterprise-grade reliability while simplifying deployment and operation of physical and bare metal, virtual, and cloud infrastructure.
What are the benefits of virtualization for chemical companies? The chemical industry faces a number of important business imperatives that
Virtualization is widely seen as a precursor for cloud adoption ..says Rajesh Rege, Director, Datacenter and Cloud Business, Cisco India and SAARC. In conservation with Rakesh Rao, he offers insights into advantages of virtualization for chemical manufacturers. What type of solutions do you offer in virtualization space? Considering the amount of scalability and flexibility required, there is an increased focus on IT spending, and Cisco offers a huge portfolio of products that help in increasing efficiency and productivity. The Cisco Unified Data Center consists of Unified Computing, Unified Fabric and Unified Management. Cisco takes a holistic fabric-based approach to the data center, linking virtual and physical resources. Unified Computing is the innovative fabric computing infrastructure that simplifies operations, speeds deployment, and runs applications faster in bare metal, virtualised, and cloud computing environments. Cisco Unified Fabric provides the foundational connectivity. By unifying storage, data networking, and network services, Unified Fabric delivers architectural flexibility and consistent networking across physical, virtual and cloud environments. 36
Chemical World | April 2013
can be addressed by cloud computing and virtualization. These include operational & cost productivity (globally scaling scarce resources, while solving problems faster), growth & innovation (bringing new ideas to market faster than the competitors), customer experience (providing new services in support of customer service), risk management protecting intellectual property & mitigating global disruptions to supply chains, and green initiatives (ever-increasing demands to reduce energy use and environmental impact).
What advice would you like to give to companies who are planning to go for virtualization? Virtualization does not necessarily entail restructuring of the entire existing IT system/structure. However, it is important for the organisation to take a close look at their existing IT infrastructure, practices and processes, and get as much visibility as possible before deploying it.
Can virtualization leverage on cloud computing for enhanced benefit? Virtualization is widely seen as a precursor to cloud adoption; so the adoption of virtualization is definitely spawning greater adoption of cloud computing as well. In India, the demand for cloud computing is picking up – as data center adoption is picking up. Government support, a favourable regulatory environment, and an effective broadband/IT infrastructure are critical factors for cloud development.
Is usage of virtualization increasing in India? Yes, some companies have made significant strides towards virtualization and others are just beginning their journey. Though virtualization demands a serious transformational process and substantial investment in technology, the benefits remain compelling. Virtualization allows scaling of key resources and skills. Specialised expertise can be deployed anywhere in the world, combating the loss of expertise due to an aging professional workforce. Projects can be staffed based on competency, instead of physical location, improving performance and outcome. People can connect regardless of time, space, or organisational boundaries. Asset usage increases due to increased field productivity. Virtualization allows even smaller companies to establish an effective global presence. The dynamics of the chemical industry are changing rapidly as old business models quickly become obsolete. Companies that cannot adapt to the exigencies of ever-more-difficult extraction/manufacturing of chemicals, the pressure to operate globally, and the increased scarcity of the industry’s professional expertise will have a hard time surviving. Companies need to map how they will evolve to the next step, using the network as a platform for virtual, agile operations that respond quickly to global changes. Email: rakesh.rao@network18publishing.com
Roundtable SPECIAL FOCUS
Are Indian chemical companies leveraging on latest automation solutions? Chemical industry in India is more proactive in implementing IT& automation technologies when compared with other sectors. However, with regulatory norms becoming more stringent, there is more to be done. Through an interaction with industry experts, Prasenjit Chakraborty looks into the issue to gain more insights.
Abanibhusan Bera ISA 84 SFS, Industry Sales Manager - Oil & Gas, Rockwell Automation India Pvt Ltd
Ritwij Kulkarni Business Unit Head - Field Products, Honeywell Process Solutions India
Arunkumar Janarthanan Industry Manager, Industrial Automation and Process Control Practice, Frost & Sullivan
Historically, chemical companies, majority of which deal with hazardous chemicals, not only need to have complex controls but also ensure safety aspects. Consequently, chemical industry is quite ahead of other industries as far as the adoption and implementation of modern technologies such as IT, process automation & advanced process control are concerned. While process automation enhances product quality, improves process safety & plant availability and helps in the efficient use of resources, IT helps to increase productivity, efficiency and achieve regulatory compliance. Let’s take the example of pharmaceutical industry – one of the sectors under knowledge chemicals – wherein IT solutions are being increasingly implemented in order to achieve regulatory compliance; keep pace with technological advances; and improve productivity.
According to recent findings of IMS Research, the global industrial automation market is likely to surpass $ 200 billion by 2015. A lot of it, however, will depend on the kind of technologies and processes that automation industry will adapt to, going forward. IT today has become the backbone of process industries. They have become technologyfriendly and are investing heavily in technologies such as cyber security, wireless and virtualization. Automation solutions that improve productivity are being adopted by Indian companies, as labour costs are rising in India. These technologies give Indian manufacturers the opportunity to increase the level of automation in a chemical plant to reduce labour dependence. Repetitive tasks can often be automated, freeing highly skilled resources’ time to carry out value-added tasks.
Chemical industry, being one of the key users of various automation solutions, is expected to move beyond the conventional use of automation. High global standards, improved safety & production rates, stringent environmental norms and high process complexity are necessitating the optimisation of assets and cost reduction through increased automation adoption. It is high time for the industry to implement such technologies to become globally competitive and also ensure smooth process operation. There is a greater need to integrate the shop floor with top floor by adopting Manufacturing Execution System (MES), for overall operational excellence. Chemical industry is also expected to focus on adopting solutions enabling energy management and green processes. All these will take the chemical industry in India to the next level.
EDITORIAL TAKE For the chemical industry, there is lot of scope to improve from what it is now. It is high time for chemical manufacturers to go for sophisticated IT & automation solutions. And as far as SMEs are concerned, they should not spend any more time sitting on fence.
April 2013 | Chemical World
37
FACILITY VISIT FLOSTEER Engineers Pvt Ltd
steam from the boiler, and thus blasts can be averted. Valves are chosen according to the application and chemical being used. ”
Manufacturing range The company manufactures a variety of valves that include gate valve, globe valve, check valve (non-return valve), ball valve, blow down valve, butterfly valve, etc. Patel states, “At present, the company manufactures nearly 12 varieties of valves. The production capacity of the plant is 1,000-1,200 valves. However, the production capacity differs depending on the size of the valve as it takes lesser time to manufacture small-sized valves.” The manufacturing facility is divided into testing, assembly, painting
ADDING QUALITY VALUE TO VALVES WITH RELIABILITY
With the Indian chemical industry making rapid growth strides, the demand for valves has increased manifold in the recent past. Identifying this market trend, FLOSTEER Engineers Pvt Ltd strives to offer the highest level of customer satisfaction through its quality and reliable products. Avani Jain
T
he growth of chemical industry has catapulted the Indian industrial valves market to new heights. Future investments in chemical and petrochemical projects are likely to generate substantial revenues for the industrial valves market, providing many avenues for industry participants to increase their marketshare. Leveraging on the growth opportunities, FLOSTEER Engineers Pvt Ltd manufactures various types of valves including specialised manual, automatic, pneumatic and electrical actuated industrial valves. The company, incorporated in 1995, manufactures and exports wide range of industrial valves. It has an area of around 703 sq m, with the modern manufacturing facilities in Ahmedabad at GIDC, Vatva. Sagar Patel, Director, FLOSTEER 38
Chemical World | April 2013
Engineers Pvt Ltd, notes, “The chemical industry is growing by leaps and bounds in India, and this has generated demand for industrial valves. Valves are at the heart of any chemical plant and are important for efficient production as well as safety. Valves help in overcoming problems such as leakage from pipe leading to fire and other damage. For example, boiler blow down valves help in releasing the extra
and machining areas. Patel notes, “The manufacturing process involves casting and machining. These two tasks are performed in-house. After this, the mechanical and chemical properties of the parts are checked. Then the parts go to the assembly area where the necessary parts are assembled. Thereafter, testing is done so as to ensure that the products are up to the mark and conform to all the
The manufacturing area
FLOSTEER Engineers Pvt Ltd
The company has separate quality control depar tment. Ever y material is thoroughly checked before it is used in the plant. Only after conducting the required tests, the materials are used for further production. Sagar Patel Director
standards. Later, the products are painted and dispatched.” Material of construction is selected based on pressure/temperature limits and corrosion resistance. Manufacturer and exporter, the company has advanced engineering capabilities and innovationdriven focus. The company mainly provides services to power plants, pharmaceutical plants, oil fields, petrochemical industry, chemical plants, etc. The reliability of FLOSTEER valves is reassured by the fact that these are regularly procured by all the users.
Ensuring the quality The company is stringent about the quality of its products. The plant is ISO 9001:2000 accredited and American
Finished valve ready for dispatch
Raw casting of valve body
Petroleum Institute (API) certified. The company believes in providing third party inspection also as per clients’ needs, thereby striving to achieve growth and leading position in the market. Patel states, “The company has separate quality control department. Every material is thoroughly checked before it is used in the plant. Only after conducting the required tests, the materials are used for further production. Inspection agencies are also invited for the approval of the material.” Through continuous efforts in research and development, the company has developed various types of valves for high pressure, high temperature and highly corrosive fluids. Import substitution is another achievement of the company. FLOSTEER valves have been successfully substituted for valves imported from technically advanced countries and proved to be more efficient for highly corrosive and critical service. Patel notes, “We design the valves according to the design approved by our clients. Also, during innovating any product, we never compromise on quality and standards.” The company has created a different mark for itself in the market due to various reasons. Patel notes, “What makes us different from others is the fact that we test our products two to three times
before dispatching to our customers. For this purpose, we have improved our testing bench and now, machining of parts is also done in-house to ensure maximum quality.”
Envisioning growth In future, the demand for automatic valves will increase. Patel avers, “Standardisation will become all the more important in future as low-quality products can result in plant shut down leading to huge losses. However, there are many companies, which are producing low-quality products. Thus, if proper steps are taken to address this problem, the demand for good quality valves will increase in the future.” He adds, “For tapping this growing demand, we are setting up another unit for manufacturing bigger valves. The total area of this unit is 1,200 sq m and it will mainly produce high-quality ball valve and butterfly valve. The present plant will then focus mainly on gate, globe & check valves and few others. Thus, the company strives to deliver quality products to its customers. Patel concludes, “We are not a profit-making company and believe in manufacturing quality products. This is our motto and the principle for success.” Photo: Nachiket Gujar Email: avani.jain@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
39
INSIGHT & OUTLOOK
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY/FUELS RENEWABLE ENERGY Fuelling growth with specialty chemicals .............................................................................................. 42 BIOFUELS A better alternative among renewable solutions! ................................................................................... 44 BIO-BASED FEEDSTOCK Lifting the load off fossil fuels............................................................................................................... 46 INTERFACE - Andrew Soare, Analyst, Lux Research “Bioprocessing companies are uniquely positioned to succeed in the alternative fuel segment”........... 48 ROUNDTABLE Are Indian investments in renewables promising energy security? ....................................................... 49 SAFETY GOVERNANCE Nurturing the culture of ownership ...................................................................................................... 50 K N K Murthy, Consultant CHEMICAL PROCESSING White biotechnology offering green solutions ...................................................................................... 52 AMMONIA MARKET Standing tall on a fertile ground............................................................................................................ 54
April 2013 | Chemical World
41
INSIGHT & OUTLOOK Renewable energy
with specialty chemicals Epoxy resins, Ethylene Vinyl Acetate (EVA) and silicones are showing buoyant growth rates in recent times – the reason being their contribution as the backbone of the renewable energy industry. Research is being continuously directed towards their higher efficiency. Mahua Roy
T
he Indian Government has quadrupled its renewable energy targets as part of its national plan to reduce carbon intensity. It has aimed at installing 74.4 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022 and reducing carbon emissions intensity by 20-25 per cent of 2005 levels over the next decade. As of today, India has a total installed renewable energy capacity of 26,000 MW, and wind power comprises 18,275 MW. About 89 GW of wind power could be installed in India by 2020. This would attract around $ 16.5 billion of annual investment to the sector. By 2030, the installed capacity could reach as much as 191 GW, as per report. The market 42
Chemical World | April 2013
for wind power is about five times larger than that for solar, as per Eric Peeters, Vice President – Solar Solutions & Wind Energy Solutions, Dow Corning. “The main advantages of wind energy are that it is utility scale, available 24 hours a day and relatively predictable, especially for offshore. This has made it attractive from an electricity generation perspective, as wind turbine arrays can be connected directly to the grid. The other factor that makes wind attractive is that this technology is relatively mature,” he adds. Also, India expects to achieve solar grid parity as early as 2017. The solar energy sector saw a 52 per cent increase in investments to reach $ 147 billion in India. These numbers translate to a positive outlook for the wind and solar
power sector. Two special chemicals – epoxy resins, EVA – and more recently, silicones contribute heavily to these sectors. In the wake of growth spurt in these renewable sectors, the specialty chemicals are consequently seeing huge demand.
Epoxy resins fuelling wind turbines The global epoxy resins market is projected to reach 3.03 million tonne by 2017, according to a new report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. Known for improving stiffness, stability, and fatigue resistance of wind turbine blades, epoxy resins found steady demand in windmill turbine blade manufacturing. Global major Dow Chemical’s Dow Epoxy System (DES) established a
Renewable energy
manufacturing facility in China to produce blends in a Dow Epoxy site in South Korea. Dow expects demand growth for epoxy resins in the wind market at 20 per cent per year within the next five years. Also, Hexion Specialty Chemicals announced that it will build a new specialty epoxy resin production facility in Esslingen, Germany, for use specifically in the production of windmill blades. Another major, BASF, launched an expanded offering of epoxy resin systems for fibre-reinforced composites developed specially for the production of wind turbine rotor blades. BASF’s new offering includes two infusion resin systems and one laminating resin system designed for the production of wind turbine rotor blades. Momentive Specialty Chemicals recently introduced a line of epoxy resins for longer and lighter wind turbine rotor blades. In India, at present, there are 16 wind turbine manufacturers with a consolidated annual production capacity of over 9,500 MW. Another four companies are expected to enter the sector over the next few years. By 2013-14, more than 20 wind turbine manufacturers and suppliers would be operating from India. Indian companies are now exporting to Australia, Brazil, Europe, USA and a few other countries. Some of the international companies with subsidiaries in India are sourcing over 80 per cent of their components from Indian component manufacturers. As per estimates, India’s annual wind turbine manufacturing capacity is likely to cross 10,000 MW. A further backward integration also brings out the growth in demand for phenol and acetone. Around 40 per cent of phenol sold globally is consumed in the production of bisphenol A, an intermediate by-product, which is in turn converted into two principal materials – polycarbonate and epoxy resins. Now typically, a standard 1.5 MW wind turbine has approximately 10 tonne of epoxy in its blades made from 6.6 tonne of phenol and 2.2 tonne of acetone.
Another opportunity exists in case of dicyclopentadiene (DCPD). “One specialty chemical that we believe is of specific potential interest in the Indian market is DCPD. It is made as a by-product in the production of ethylene, the major building block of the petrochemicals industry. What makes DCPD interesting in India is that it can be refined to a 99.9 per cent pure grade and then it can be polymerised by reaction injection moulding using a new generation of catalysts. PolyDCPD RIM provides a cost-effective means of fabricating large strong structures of wind turbine blades. With some large steam cracking operations in India, there is potentially a large supply of DCPD available that could allow for cost-effective domestic production of large-scale wind turbines,” explains Dr Mark Morgan, Global Managing Director-Renewables, Business Advisory Services, IHS.
EVA and silicones shine in solar sector “The energy policy for India is broad and wide-reaching. In order to meet the ambitious targets for renewable energy, solar is likely to see the biggest investment, especially if India builds its own large-scale polysilicon production,” adds Dr Morgan. Asia’s impressive growth in the solar sector was largely responsible for a predicted worldwide EVA demand of 2,966,078 tonne by 2017. This contributed to EVA’s CAGR of 4.4 per cent. According to GBI Research, 9 per cent of EVA manufactured globally is used for photovoltaic panel production as an effective encapsulant. “EVA is used in the construction of solar voltaic panels as an encapsulating material. It prevents moisture from entering the panels and shorting out the solar cells. It also minimises glass shattering and provides a buffer to prevent solar cells from cracking. The growing solar power industry is, therefore, predicted to play an important role in the future production of the co-polymer,” says Dr Morgan.
Silicones are ideal for solar panel and photovoltaic applications. While solar cells themselves are made of silicon, silicones are used during module assembly and installation as encapsulants, coatings, potting agents, adhesives and sealants. Eric Peeters
Vice President – Solar Solutions & Wind Energy Solutions, Dow Corning
Encapsulants present an opportunity to cut down on the cost of production of solar energy. EVA has been used as an encapsulant since the last 30 years to protect cells, as Peeters puts forward. Encapsulants present an opportunity to cut down on the costs. “Silicones are ideal for solar panel and photovoltaic applications. While solar cells themselves are made of silicon, silicones are used during module assembly and installation as encapsulants, coatings, potting agents, adhesives and sealants. While EVA performs well, it also has some disadvantages. Thus, now several companies are working on alternative solutions like silicones. Silicone encapsulation improves manufacturing efficiency, durability and cell efficiency through better UV transparency,” elaborates Peeters. Global silicone market is forecast to reach $ 17.2 billion by 2017, according to a report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. Also, since the PV industry has been focussing most of its innovation on cell efficiency, concentrating on silicones is a big investment. “In recent years, it has become clear that large opportunities for cost optimisation exist in the overall system configuration and installation,” adds Peeters. Dow Corning’s Encapsulant series technology builds on the UV stability of the silicone molecule to enhance benefits for crystalline modules by improving the durability and efficiency. Email: mahua.roy@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
43
INSIGHT & OUTLOOK Biofuels
Mahua Roy
G
IA’s annual report on ethanol and biodiesel markets states that the global consumption of ethanol and biodiesel is projected to reach 135 billion gallons by 2018. Biofuels are fast growing to become a prominent alternative energy resource. The Indian biofuels production industry registered total revenue of $ 167.1 million in 2010, representing a CAGR of 7.7 per cent for the period spanning 2006-2010. However, the performance of the industry is forecast to decelerate, with an anticipated CAGR of 5.7 per cent for the five-year period 20102015, which is expected to drive the industry to a value of $ 220.1 million by the end of 2015. However, the good news is that India is aggressively moving towards becoming a global clean tech powerhouse and currently ranks 4 th among the G20 nations in terms of clean tech investments. The goal of India’s National Policy on Biofuels is to ensure that a minimum level of biofuels become readily available in the market to meet the demand at any given time. But is the potential of this enormous plan being realised truly?
Under-harnessed power National Policy on Biofuels was approved by the Government of India in 2009. The policy encouraged the use of renewable energy resources to supplement transport fuels. Additionally, it proposed a target of 20 per cent biofuel blending by 2017. Then came the ambitious National Bio-diesel Mission, which identified jatropha curcas as the most suitable source for commercial bio-diesel production. The 44
Chemical World | April 2013
Planning Commission had set target to engage 13 million hectare of land under jatropha cultivation by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan. However, the biodiesel industry in India is still in infancy stage, despite the fact that demand for diesel is five times higher than that for petrol. “Currently, jatropha occupies only around 0.5 million hectare of low-quality wastelands across the country, of which 65-70 per cent are new plantations of less than three years. Only a few states have been able to actively promote jatropha plantations despite government incentives,” says Prabhakar Nair, Executive VP Business Development Asia, Lanzatech. Another major obstacle in implementing the biodiesel
A strong National Energy Policy becomes the demand driver, which companies can use in their strategic plans to define the tactics/investments to commercialise their new energy solutions. Effective energy solutions will be those that address energy needs at a local level. Prabhakar Nair
Executive VP - Business Development Asia, Lanzatech
programme has been the difficulty in initiating large-scale cultivation of jatropha. “The jatropha production programme was started without any planned varietal improvement programme, and use of low-yielding cultivars made things even tougher. The higher gestation period of biodiesel crops (3-5 years) resulted in a longer payback period. Besides, the jatropha seed distribution channels are currently underdeveloped,” explains C S Jadhav, Director – Marketing, Nandan Biomatrix.
A better alternative among renewable
solutions!
India currently imports 70 per cent of its total petroleum consumption. And in the next two decades, this figure is expected to reach 94 per cent. However, the tables can turn if India makes the most of its potential for biofuels. This will not only help in self-sustenance, but also heavily aid the chemical manufacturing industry. India is still land of opportunities The favourable subtropical climate, huge stretches of culturable marginal lands and the natural resource wealth of the country stand testimonials to the fact that the country has good
Biofuels
India has witnessed a steep rise in energy consumption in recent years. Given the facts that India spends more on import of crude oil and has got huge potential for production of biofuels, this fuel has got remarkable prospects as alternative fuel. C S Jadhav
Director – Marketing, Nandan Biomatrix
scope for biofuel production. “India has witnessed a steep rise in energy consumption in the recent years and is today the world’s sixth-largest energy consumer, with the demand growing at an annual rate of 4.8 per cent. The demand for diesel is estimated to grow at an annual rate of 5.8 per cent till 2030. India produces about 30 per cent of its annual crude oil requirement of approximately 105 million tonne. For the balance, it relies wholly on imports,” says Jadhav. According to experts, even a 5 per cent blend of biodiesel could generate anywhere between $ 400 million and $ 3 billion as additional income for farmers, and save the
GREEN TRANSPORT Biofuels are transport fuels produced from biomass. Feedstock sources include food crops (sugars, starches and oil crops), fast growing energy crops (such as jatropha, miscanthus and algae), crop residues and waste products (such as used cooking oil). They are broadly classified as: First generation, which refers to crop-based ethanol and biodiesel Second generation that includes ethanol and biodiesel from nonfood crops and waste Third generation constituting biofuels produced from algae Fourth generation, which includes those with identical chemical structures to fossil fuels and other new products
government around $ 420 million to $ 1.5 billion on oil imports at current prices. The National Mission has given the blending mandate of biodiesel with high speed diesel. “To execute this mandate, the biodiesel production by the end of one year has to reach 13.38 million metric tonne. This demands 11.19 million hectare of land in the country to be converted into biofuel plantations. These numbers and statements provide scope to the players in the industry to explore the possibilities for commercialising the biofuel production. Given the facts that India spends more on the import of crude oil and has got huge potential for production of biofuels, this fuel has got remarkable prospects as alternative fuel,” says Jadhav. The National Energy Policy is an important driver to the growth of alternative energy solutions. “These policies serve to set the objectives for the implementation of new energy solutions by industry. A strong National Energy Policy becomes the demand driver, which companies can use in their strategic plans to define the tactics/ investments to commercialise their new energy solutions. Effective energy solutions will be those that address energy needs at a local level,” says Nair. It will be a welcome move when the industry and government, along with the academia devise such responsible solutions for tomorrow.
Aiding the chemical industry An increasing interest has been seen in the arena of bio-derived chemicals where biofuels can play a huge role. The global chemical industry can benefit hugely from this development, if commercialised effectively. “While bioderived chemicals currently hold a small position, most major chemical groups are now active in the market, seeking to hedge against rising petrochemical feedstock prices, and anticipating potential regulatory tightening along the lines of the transport fuel sector,” adds Nair. An analytics firm RNR Market
QUICK FACTS Globally, India is in the fourth position in generating power through biomass The country is poised to become a world leader in the utilisation of biomass Biomass power projects with an aggregate capacity of 1,083 MW through over 100 projects have been installed in the country For the last 15 years, biomass power has attracted annual investments of over ` 1,000 billion, generating more than 9 billion unit of electricity per year Source: Deloitte
Research pegs the global bio-based chemicals market to grow to $ 12.2 billion by 2021, accounting for 25.4 billion pounds of bio-based chemical production at the end of the decade. Steady sales for lactic acid and biopolymers over the next decade will act as stable drivers for the bio-based chemicals market through 2021. The overall growth of the market, however, will greatly depend on the continued adoption of biofuels to provide steady glycerin production and the market growth of new glycerin-based intermediate chemicals. India has taken serious cognisance of the need to grow its chemical industry as a whole and the FiveYear Plan (2012-2017) is perfectly in place for this industry. “This Plan will enable the country to develop its entire chemical sector including infrastructure, IT, specialty chemicals manufacturing and exports, thereby allowing India to expand its current access to the $ 4-trillion worth global chemicals market. A part of this Plan will be used to evaluate the use of renewable feedstocks to produce chemicals. For example, producing chemicals using precursors such as ethanol that could be derived from renewable sources,” adds Nair. Email: mahua.roy@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
45
INSIGHT & OUTLOOK Bio-based feedstock
Avani Jain
T
he chemical industry uses energy both to supply heat and power for plant operation and as a raw material for the production of chemicals, plastics and synthetic fibres. However, in the present scenario, chemical manufacturers are reeling under the pressures of energy crisis. The reason for this being rising energy prices; scarcity of conventional or fossil fuel resources as these are non-renewable and, at the same time, polluting. T h e re f o re, such resources need to be used prudently. On the other hand, alternative sources of energy, ie renewable resources, are indigenous, non-polluting and inexhaustible. This calls for adoption of renewable energy by chemical companies to run their plants, and subsequently, become competitive in the market. These days, companies have become more conscious about the strain (caused by human activity) on the environment, and many of them have started to change their approach. In this scenario, biobased feedstock truly has the potential
Advantage bio-based feedstock Most of the energy requirements in the chemical plant are currently satisfied using fossil fuels such as coal and petroleum-based products. However, domestic production of crude oil can only fulfill 25-30 per cent of the national consumption. This has inherently given boost to bio-based feedstock. The biomass resources are the biodegradable fraction of products, wastes and residues from agriculture, forestry and related industries
Thus, bio-based feedstock can make a significant contribution to solving two of the most urgent environmental problems, ie climate change and depletion of fossil fuels. In present times, non-renewable energy use and greenhouse gas emissions are reduced due to the current stateof-the-art biotechnology, improved fermentation and downstream processing. Industrial biotechnology offers excellent opportunities for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and decreasing dependence on fossil energy sources, and therefore, has the potential to provide solutions to the chemical industry. Research is on for utilising bio-based feedstock in the best possible manner, which also will help in reducing the operating cost. Although the use of bio-based feedstock is limited, it has a larger economic impact.
Overcoming bottlenecks The use of renewable/bio-based feedstock has gained importance in last ten years due to high prices of crude, and subsequent uncertainty related to price and availability of petro feedstock. Mukul B Malvi, Partner, TEXSPAN, notes, “As seen in last five years, weather has acted as a damper, and world over, biobased raw material’s
Rising energy prices are taking a toll on the chemical industry. Economic, environmental and energy security concerns resulting from excessive reliance on coal and crude oil are forcing companies to shift to alternatives such as bio-based feedstock for generating energy in their plants. to serve as an alternative to the conventional resources and is the future of chemical industry. Green or plantbased chemistry principles can strongly facilitate development of the industry. Green chemistry is the key element of sustainability. It is also important to understand that it is not just about bio-based feedstock, but mainly about preserving the environment. 46
Chemical World | April 2013
as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal wastes. It is estimated that the existing biomass in the form of agro/dairy/horticulture wastes and municipal solid waste can meet our 40 per cent energy demand through biogas. One of the major advantages of using bio-based feedstock is less pollution. Moreover, it can result in energy efficiency as it can generate more calorific value at lesser cost.
yield went down and prices skyrocketed. Food security became a subject of intense importance. Surplus stocks of grains and other food items turned in became deficit and food prices doubled in a year’s time. Thus, biobased raw material has become unviable in pricing and availability. However, if proper steps are taken, then this issue can be tackled.”
Bio-based feedstock
As seen in last five years, weather has acted as a damper, and world over, bio-based raw material’s yield went down and prices skyrocketed. Bio-based raw material has become unviable in pricing and availability. However, if proper steps are taken, then this issue can be tackled. Mukul B Malvi Partner, TEXSPAN
On the green path of progress Keeping all the facts in mind, it seems that the use of biomass is likely to increase manifold in the near future. It can provide a replacement to the non-renewable sources of energy being used in various industries, if not completely, then at least to an extent of 40-50 per cent. Narendra R Mehta, Managing Director, Fibro Organic (India) Pvt Ltd, observes, “In order to increase the usage of renewable feedstock, there has to be proper R&D and strategy
in place. Also, there needs to be proper planning for collection, separation and utilisation. Not only the industries but also the government should take steps for promoting the use of bio-based feedstock. The government should come forward and provide incentives to those who use bio-based feedstock and put restrictions on the companies using scarce fossil fuels.” India’s crude oil and petroleum product supplies are largely import-dependent. With increase in oil import expenditure by more than six times in the last 25 years due to escalation in global demand and prices, alternative sources of energy are likely to be pressed into services. The alternative energy sources will be critical in reducing the dependence on fossil fuels, achieving higher energy security, and reducing noxious emissions. Thus, with the ever-increasing cost of production and price of petro-products, the Indian chemical industry is left with no choice but to think about alternatives to the existing feedstock. As a traditional
In order to increase the usage of renewable feedstock, there has to be proper R&D and strategy in place. Also, there needs to be proper planning for collection, separation and utilisation. Narendra R Mehta
Managing Director, Fibro Organic (India) Pvt Ltd
agro-based economy, the country needs to look inward to work out its appropriate development strategy for producing chemical products from the agricultural crops in a viable manner, which can compete with the synthetic chemicals now produced from petroleum-based feedstock. But the challenge remains in exploiting these appropriate and promising resources, which can be achieved only by initiating and implementing short-term and long-term strategic plans with well-conceived R&D programmes in a sustained manner. Email: avani.jain@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
47
INSIGHT & OUTLOOK Interface - Andrew Soare
What are the pros & cons of the various types of alternative fuels mentioned in your report? It is tough to generalise by each category, since every company has its own unique positives and negatives, but I can take a more general look. Gasification and pyrolysis are similar in that both can process a range of low-cost feedstock (such as MSW, agri-waste, wood, etc), though typically these have high capital cost. Crop modification companies have a unique position at the top of the value chain to create a lot of value,
focussing on biodiesel are hurt by high vegetable oil prices, yet play into an existing market today. Torrefaction companies can tap into incentives for renewable coal, but are typically more expensive than conventional coal.
Does that mean algae-based fuel technology is witnessing lower investment? Yes, investment in algae has been decreasing in the last few years. A few companies are still raising investment, but overall the investment has gone down.
on alternative fuels in regions with cheap shale gas.
Will the rise in oil prices lead to increased investment in alternative fuels? Oil prices were certainly higher and rising more quickly in the 20072008 timeframe, and that is where a lot of these plants were built. Today, oil prices are likely to rise in certain regions and there are a number of new plants scaling up, but based on many other reasons than just oil price – such
Bioprocessing companies are uniquely positioned to succeed in the alternative fuel segment …says Andrew Soare, Analyst, Lux Research, and the lead author of the recently released report, ‘Leading alternative fuel developers race to real revenue in 2013’, which analyses companies in various categories of alternative fuels. During an interaction with Rakesh Rao, he provides insights into emerging opportunities for the alternative fuel technology developers. How are bioprocessing companies placed? but typically have long timelines to reaching commercial scale. Algae companies have high capital and operating costs, and are unlikely to be competitive with conventional fuels. Bioprocessing companies have flexibility to produce a range of endproducts (from fuels to chemicals), but can be difficult to scale up economically as novel organisms may scale irregularly, need unique distillation infrastructure, or require specific ambient conditions. Catalysis companies are broad, and tough to generalise, but the companies 48
Chemical World | April 2013
Bioprocessing companies are uniquely positioned to succeed in this space because many of these producers can scale in the chemicals market, reach critical mass where they improve efficiencies, and then turn to the fuels market when cost points are lower.
Will the shale gas boom in the US result in alternative fuel developers focussing more on developing markets? Shale gas is more a chemicals and energy production play than a transportation fuel play; so it has not decreased focus
as high feedstock price, government support, etc.
Are companies from India and China also investing in alternative fuels? Yes, these countries are investing in the space, but less so in innovative companies that we cover, and are more reliant on conventional processing technology. These countries will definitely increase their investment in this space as they require more and more transportation fuel (and food) to supply to their growing populations and must look for alternatives. Email: rakesh.rao@network18publishing.com
Roundtable INSIGHT & OUTLOOK
Are Indian investments in renewables promising energy security? The renewable energy sector has grown at an annual rate of 23 per cent to about 25,000 MW in 2012. But is this enough to meet the growing energy demand, in wake of rising crude oil prices? Mahua Roy speaks with experts in this sector to gauge the spate of investments.
Gunderao Manurkar Business Manager – Energy Sector, Huntsman Advanced Materials India Pvt Ltd
Dinesh Shahra Managing Director, Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd
David Anil Kumar Senior Research Analyst - South Asia & ME, Chemicals, Materials & Food, Frost & Sullivan
The energy sector in India is growing at a tremendous pace with energy generation capacity reaching 1,80,000 MW, of which renewable energy constitutes 8.5 per cent. Wind energy is the major concentration area among the renewable sector, with a 14,000 MW total installed capacity in India. As per industry figures, $ 9 billion would be invested in India for wind power development in next few years. Subsequently, wind turbine generator capacity addition in India has taken place at a CAGR of 25 per cent over the last 12 years. The government has been supportive of this industry as there is incentive based on power generation. Wind power accounts for 11 per cent of installed capacity and 6 per cent of total generation in India. The government targets to increase the share of wind power to 15 per cent by 2020. All these will propel further investments in this sector.
FDI worth about ` 4,900 crore has been invested in India in the renewable energy sector during the last three years. When it comes to generation of power through biomass, India stands fourth globally. Biomass power projects with an aggregate capacity of 1,083 MW through over 100 projects have been installed in the country. Of the around 2,128 MW total capacity registered, 50 per cent is based on biomass and biofuel. Further, 1,500 MW projects are in pipeline. The country’s energy demand is expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.8-5 per cent over the next decade. In last couple of years, the global crude oil prices remained above $ 100/barrel. This has inherently given boost to biofuel production. The industrial sector is positive about the growth in the renewable energy sector. Evidently, to meet future demands, renewable energy will pave the way.
The Indian renewable energy sector is experiencing a period of brisk activity. Though the markets are not growing at the 50 per cent rates as witnessed before the recession, growth rates greater than 20 per cent are expected. In 2009, $ 2.3 billion was invested in renewable energy in India. Then the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was launched by the government to promote solar energy and install 20 GW solar capacity by 2022. As part of this, investments to the tune of $ 19 billion are to be pumped by the government with support of the World Bank and International Finance Corporation. In India, investments related to solar energy were witnessed across various sections of the value chain. Investment was also seen in solar module and cell manufacturing as a result of increased exports and rising local demand. The government mandate on domestic production of panels and cells will further ensure investments in the area.
EDITORIAL TAKE Yes, investments are plenty. However, the growth rate at which investments were happening in the pre-recession era is yet to be achieved. The good news is that the government is already supporting clean energy as was seen in the announcement of 2013 Union Budget. As a result, we can expect more investments in this sector. April 2013 | Chemical World
49
INSIGHT & OUTLOOK Safety governance
Nurturing the culture of
ownership By nature, everyone feels attached to what they possess, earn or achieve. This type of obsession has significant impact on one’s attitude towards observance of safety, in general, and industrial loss prevention, in particular. For reaping maximum benefits from such a natural instinct, it is imperative to adopt the right culture/methods for moving towards safety governance by all personnel, irrespective of the tasks being performed.
(b)
(c)
(d)
K N K Murthy
C
onceptually, safety has been viewed as an ‘add on’ element or necessity in whatever one does. Accordingly, people have been observed to be acting safe whenever the compliance requirement is preceded by an externally-driven attitude change, behavioural correction (both mostly accelerated through additional motivation, encouragement, recognition and enforcement) and supplemented by compulsive enforcement through diktat, mandate or statute. Of late, this approach has turned out to be a myth since the positive response cannot be sustainable as it depends greatly on the success rate of external efforts, which can never be consistent (as it may change from person to person, establishment to establishment, system to system etc). Accordingly, total dependence on such initiatives has proved to be nothing more than a ‘one and all’ exercise. This has been the case on a larger scale even when people are wise, duly educated, trained and experienced. Besides any external appeal, demand for safe behaviour encounters severe resistance from most of the stakeholders. 50
Chemical World | April 2013
The net effect is just lukewarm resulting into the compliance becoming more of an exception/reactive response than a proactive strategy. Few basic and conventional elements aimed at enhancing safety compliance include: Company’s HSE policy Organisational discipline or code of conduct as part of personnel establishment system Establishment of training/awareness/ competency build-up covering technical, systemic, administrative and personnel (addressing attitudinal problems and behavioural correction) aspects Campaigns and promotional activities Statutory or legal requirements Few indicative examples where the compliance response has been limited/ inadequate/reactive in nature, especially due to external impact and not because of the inner instinct and belongingness from stakeholders, are as follows: (a) Adherence to just the bare minimum safety practices as reflected in standard operating procedures, work instructions, log book entries etc. At the most, these can provide brief/detailed guidelines but always
(e)
(f )
have scope of further improvement, finetuning based on the demand at job location (especially in chemical plants where varying process conditions/ situations may call for specific deviations from set procedures/work instructions etc) Reluctant enforcement of wellestablished, proven, time-tested and user-friendly permit-to-work or similar job control system/procedures/ practices. Limiting safety compliance within the ambit of statutory provisions. In fact, statutes are quite generic being applicable to a large cross-section of industrial establishments in the country and do not (cannot) provide detailing of all safety aspects of different types/nature/activities in the establishments Acting just out of concern on legal implications/prosecution/job suspension/industry closure/public pressure/social impact etc Negligence towards the use of personal protective equipment even while facing imminent injury risks (ie, compliance is serious only while being watched/reprimanded by seniors; on certain occasions such supervisory initiatives are also not visible) Providing special but temporary makeover for safety/occupational health/environment preservation, which are restricted to campaigns, seminars, conferences, week/ month-long celebrations, one-time housekeeping drive etc
Moving forward All the well-intended systems/practices/ performance standards aimed at proactive compliance and responsible care must become instrumental in inculcating an ownership- or belongingness-based safety culture among all in the pyramidal hierarchy of the organisation, society or even family establishments. A beginning can be made by weeding out the fallacies of the long-time existent but inadequate safety compliance responsibility matrix
Safety governance
in an organisation followed by periodical reviews, revisions, amendments and continual improvement as listed below. Linking safety into the quality assurance chain: Just like process control, technical services, analytical laboratory, utility, maintenance, supply chain and marketing departments strive to ensure the demand for highest quality standard to the delight of customers, all aspects of safety must be ensured when it comes to the satisfaction of stakeholders (to be precise ‘internal customers’ as per ISO terminology), environment or society at large. Once the awareness is created about the hazards and consequential risks associated with an activity, the aspects of process technology, design, detailed engineering, unit installation, commissioning, sustained operation, maintenance and/or other allied functions must consider making safety an inherent feature and not an ‘add on liability, necessity or compulsion’. It is to be considered as a value-added service philosophy. The selection and adoption of the industrial activity: It must conform to the latest safety standards and acceptable risk level; wherever applicable, additional inputs such as inventory control of hazardous materials, installation of machine/equipment with safer design aspects, etc should be considered. In a nutshell, a hazard identification/ risk assessment strategy should be adopted, followed by finding ways and means to bring down the projected risk to the acceptable level. The selection criteria of employees (top to bottom): All the predetermined factors being equal, preference must be given to those having passion, obsession and positive attitude to work safely. Considering such persons for future career growth (by evaluating their performance with reference to safety along with other factors) will motivate others to improve upon. This can well be interlocked with the performance appraisal/reward system of the organisation. The personnel/group training: This need must be assessed, evaluated and then
implanted focussing on all areas having general and specific safety concerns with regard to their respective areas of work. The responsibility matrix: It must also clearly include the relevant safety elements so that all individuals/groups are motivated to consider the same as part of the job requirement and not any additional work load. Company’s policy on delegation of powers: This policy must consider vesting adequate decision-making authority to those concerned as part of their line management functions (with reference to general safety and concerns of imminent danger). Administrative convenience and accountability: Mostly, certain top authorities such as Occupier and Factory Manager have been considered responsible/accountable for statutory compliance. However, it is prudent to encourage the participation of other senior officials down the line by assigning the duties of planning, scheduling and executing all relevant statutory functions pertaining to their areas of work (administrative, legal and technical) and empowering them. Safety, the ‘switch on’ agenda: Safety aspects should be given priority at regular production and quality-related deliberations, periodical performance review meetings etc. Maximum thrust must be given to efficient execution of all joint participative endeavours involving workers and management. This will create a true feeling of belongingness among them. The regular upkeep/maintenance of equipment: Giving thrust to maintenance of safety/fire service, health and environment-related equipment, devices and facilities around the installation must become the onus of plant/field personnel as they are in no way different to all other process- and maintenance-related items, which they own. However, with reference to any specialised items, the guidance of centralised Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) professionals can be sought in executing regular inspection/ rectification/refill/replacement as well as
improving the performance level besides going for newly developed gadgets.
Facilitation efforts from HSE professionals This is the era of integrated HSE management system in most of the industrial establishments. Professionally qualified safety, fire service, occupational health and environmental scientists/ engineers are being deployed in most of the units (especially those involved in hazardous materials and manufacturing processes). Managements must always consider their observations, studies, innovative ideas and suggestions in right earnest, since they are required and do carry out their duties independently besides being directly responsible to the chief executive. They play proactive and liaison roles with regulatory authorities and professional organisations. They become catalytic in evolving systems/ procedures and practices besides getting involved in sharing of case studies, analyses of accidents/mishaps etc, all of which add value to the ongoing safety promotional initiatives in an organisation. In short, whole-hearted efforts are required from top management to ensure that the culture of ‘true belongingness/ ownership’ is created, nurtured, and promoted using proven and timetested behavioural improvement techniques. Besides, such efforts must be demonstrated, and the results must be made visible to all stakeholders. K N K Murthy has been in the fertilisers and petrochemicals industry for 38 years and retired as Senior Manager (Safety) from Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd, Vadodara. Currently, he works as a Safety Consultant and is associated with Mahatma Gandhi Labour Institute, Ahmedabad. He has done pioneering works in various aspects like hazard identification, safety audits/ inspections/surveys, training, emergency preparedness planning, quality/environment standards (ISO), etc. He can be contacted on email: mohanaknk@yahoo.co.in
April 2013 | Chemical World
51
INSIGHT & OUTLOOK Chemical processing
Glutamic acid is the largest-volume amino acid produced in the world. What is common to these fine chemicals is their biotechnological method of production. The misconception that biotechnological methods are expensive is fast diminishing. “It is more of a myth that enzyme technology is always expensive. Of course, in certain areas, specifically for new applications, it might look as a costly proposition vis-à-vis the corresponding chemical process. But people have to look at the overall advantages from the environmental point of view, also,” echoes G S Krishnan, Regional President - India, Novozymes South Asia. Biotechnological processing offers a new possibility for the chemical industry to improve environment-friendliness of different processes. “Bioprocessing does not require toxic catalysts and it also aids in reducing fossil fuel consumption.
industrial chemicals. Few chemicals currently produced by biotech means include ethanol (bioethanol), acrylamide, 1,3-propandiol (for the production of polytrimethylene terephthalate) and lactic acid (for the production of polylactide). Marketshare of chemicals produced using fermentation techniques, enzymatic conversion, or which use bio-based feedstock, is expected to increase to 10 per cent of the overall white biotechnology market by 2013. “Biotechnical production procedures are primarily used in industrial processing of renewable natural raw materials and are increasingly replacing fossil raw materials. This means they can also make an important contribution to sustainability, cutting material and energy costs, and thereby reducing negative impacts on the environment,” says Dr Michael Nusser, Head - Department
White biotechnology offering green solutions
The global market for white biotechnology will shoot up as crude oil costs surge worldwide, and parallelly as demand for green products put pressure on the chemical industry. Fine and specialty chemicals are increasingly adopting this biotechnological prowess to solve the problems of tomorrow, today. However, the first step right now is to bring down the cost of processing. Mahua Roy
T
en years ago, vitamin C was produced industrially using a complicated process involving almost 13 steps, and thus was extremely energy-intensive. Today, using industrial biotechnology, the high purity product can be obtained in just one fermentation step. Other fine chemicals like Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are expected to show a doubledigit annual growth rate. Lactic acid is also expected to show an above average rate of growth, fuelled by the high potential seen in Polylactic Acid (PLA) development, one of the most promising biopolymers. 52
Chemical World | April 2013
Bioprocessing is also interesting from the economic point of view. Raw materials are often plant-based wastes or industrial side streams. The reaction conditions are typically in low temperature, normal pressure without the addition of expensive additives,” says Jouni Ahtinen, Key Account Manager - Industrial Biotechnology, VTT Technical Research Centre, Finland.
Market scenario The global market for white biotechnology is expected to generate about $ 182 billion as per a recent report by McKinsey & Co. White biotechnology essentially utilises living cells such as moulds, yeasts or bacteria, as well as enzymes, to produce
of Emerging Technologies, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI), Germany.
Rooting for the greener route As of today, the chemical industry is still largely dependent on petrochemicals for the raw materials. Over 90 per cent of all industrially manufactured organic bulk chemicals or base chemicals are synthesised out of petroleum or natural gas. A sophisticated and integrated reaction system, in which by-products from one synthesis can be used as feedstocks for other synthesis can permit highly efficient and economical production of a wide range of chemicals.
Chemical processing
One of the major goals of white biotechnology has been the production of biodegradable plastics. “Over the past two decades, the efforts of R&D in this field have concentrated mainly on polyesters of 3-hydroxyacids (PHAs), which are naturally synthesised by a wide range of bacteria. These compounds have properties similar to synthetic thermoplastics and elastomers from propylene to rubber, but are completely and rapidly degraded by bacteria in soil or water. A major limitation of the commercialisation of such bacterial plastics has always been their cost, as they are 5-10 times more expensive to produce than petroleum-based polymers,” adds Ahtinen. Thus, the major priority currently is to bring down the cost via process redesign. Also, it is essential that the feasibility and economic viability of the manufacturing process is intact to make it commercially successful. This is the biggest challenge faced by the industry. “In pilot projects the challenge is often the performance of the engineered production process in real process conditions. The yield must be high also in less favourable conditions than in the laboratory in order to reach economic feasibility. Often nature’s biomasses and industrial side streams contain inhibitory compounds making biological processing quite challenging,” voices Ahtinen.
Process redesigning, a challenge Another challenge faced in the biotech route is the stereochemical issues faced. Two stereochemically opposite molecules can have exactly opposite characters, and this can create undesirable problems. “If complex molecules have to be
It is more of a myth that enzyme technology is always expensive. Of course, in certain areas, specifically for new applications, it might look as a costly proposition vis-à-vis the corresponding chemical process. G S Krishnan
Regional President - India, Novozymes South Asia
manufactured or chiral substances to be produced in an enantiomerically pure form, petrochemical processes are generally complicated and heavily expensive. For such cases, white biotechnology has proven to be enormously successful. For example, proteins are solely accessible by biotech routes. The more complex the chemistry gets, the greater the opportunities pan out for a biotech route of production,” says Krishnan. For this reason, fine and specialty chemicals are currently white biotech’s biggest domains. “In a broader perspective, enzymatic solutions help specific industries manufacture products with less toxic inputs, thereby enabling environment protection. Often, this reduced impact contributes to the sustainable development of industries as well as society as a whole,” adds Krishnan. As per industry figures, world over, almost two-third of all enantioselective syntheses are currently performed using enzymes as biocatalysts. Chemicals that are metabolites of micro-organisms are increasingly being synthesised by fermentation as an alternative to conventional, multistage chemical production processes. “Industrial white biotechnology includes the utilisation of biotechnological processes in industrial production and plays an important role as a leading edge and cross-sectional technology in several industries in the innovation and growth process. Several experts estimate that the realisation of the economic potential of industrial biotechnology is at the beginning of its development,” adds Dr Nusser.
Encouraging developments “In the future, with more extensive research and innovation project being emphasised upon, biotechnological processing will surely offer economical and sustainable solutions for the production of fuels, chemicals and other materials,” adds Ahtinen. Many chemical majors have started investing heavily towards this, thus displaying a responsible and forward thinking image. LANXESS, one of the largest producers of synthetic rubber globally,
In the future, with more extensive research and innovation project being emphasised upon, biotechnological processing will surely offer economical and sustainable solutions for the production of fuels, chemicals and other materials. Jouni Ahtinen
Key Account Manager - Industrial Biotechnology, VTT Technical Research Centre, Finland
has invested in US biofuel & biochemical company Gevo, Inc as part of a proposed co-operation to produce isobutene from renewable resources. The companies aim to find an alternative route to source isobutene – a key raw material needed in the manufacturing of butyl rubber. Isobutene is conventionally produced in steam crackers, which use petroleum derivatives as a feedstock. Alternatively, Gevo is developing a fermentation process to produce the organic compound isobutanol from the fermentable sugars in biomass, starting with corn. Isobutanol is a fundamental building block for making biodiesel, bio jet fuel as well as plastics, rubber and fibres. Also, LANXESS is strengthening its commitment to renewable raw materials as it aims to produce phthalate-free plasticisers from bio-based succinic acid. DSM has invested in China-based PHA developer Tianjin GreenBio Materials to produce bio-based polymers for applications in fibres, films and foams. Wacker is developing innovative ways of economically producing ethylene and acetic acid from renewable raw materials. It is already running a pilot plant for the production of acetic acid produced via biotechnology. Such laudable efforts by chemical majors worldwide prove that white biotechnology will be the next big revolution for the industry. “The only question that remains is, to what extent and at what pace is the industry going to adapt to biotechnology and enzyme application in particular,” concludes Krishnan. Email: mahua.roy@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
53
INSIGHT & OUTLOOK Ammonia market
Standing tall on a fertile ground As the consumption of fertilisers increases in India and China to augment agricultural production, the demand for ammonia – one of the key inputs for urea and other ammonia-based fertilisers – is all set to rise manifold in the region. In India, the new Urea Investment Policy is expected to give further boost to this market. Rakesh Rao
M
ost of the commonly used fertilisers such as urea, ammonium nitrate, Nitrogen Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK), Diammonium Phosphate (DAP)/Monoammonium Phosphate (MAP) and calcium nitrate either directly consume ammonia in their manufacturing process or use a product (nitro phosphate) that is derived from ammonia. There are some other fertilisers that are not made with the use of ammonia such as Muriate of Potash (MOP), Sulfate of Potash (SOP), Single Super Phosphate (SSP), and Triple Super Phosphate (TSP). “But one look at key fertiliser products by marketshare shows that ammonia-based fertilisers dominate the global fertiliser consumption,” observes Brijesh Ramani, Analyst, GBI Research.
A similar trend prevails in Asia-Pacific (China and India) and is expected to continue in the near future. He explains, “The main reason being the increase in yield obtained by the use of nitrogen-rich ammonia fertilisers, whereas the other non-ammonia fertilisers do increase the quality of crop. But, their contribution in increasing the crop yield is still limited. So, these countries, which have huge population to feed, are using more ammonia-based fertilisers.”
Rising fertiliser demand, aiding ammonia market As India and China lead a trend among emerging countries seeking to become self-sufficient in terms of food production by using ammonia-based fertilisers, the demand for ammonia is on the rise, according to a new report by GBI Research.
Figure 1: Fertiliser production routes Natural gas
Ammonia plant
Air
NH3
Air
Nitric acid plant
CO2 Urea
HNO3 Rock
Ammonium nitrate
Nitrophosphate plant Calcium nitrate Salts of K, Mg, S
Rock
NPK fertilisers
Phosphoric acid plant H2SO4
Rock
H2PO4
DAP/MAP
Sulphuric acid plant Rock
TSP/SSP
Source: GBI Research; Yara Fertilizer Industry Handbook 2011-12
54
These two countries have almost one-third of the global population, which is also increasing rapidly, generating increased demand for food. The response to this rise in food demand by their governments has been the sustained use of agricultural chemicals, particularly fertilisers. “The response of these governments, which are seeking to provide food security to their nations, particularly because they are still developing and have low per unit area fertiliser utilisation, provides substantial market potential for ammoniabased fertilisers such as urea, ammonium nitrate, sulphate and phosphate in terms of increased consumption from these countries,” says Ramani. There is a high demand for ammonia-based fertilisers such as urea, ammonium nitrate, etc because they are the major suppliers of nitrogen, which is considered more important in increasing the crop yield as compared to some other phosphate- and sulphate-based fertilisers that are necessary in increasing crop quality. He adds, “Annual application is not always needed, as the soil absorbs and stores these two nutrients (phosphate and sulphate) for a longer period compared with nitrogen. So, ammonia-based fertilisers must be applied every year to maintain yield and biomass.” Ammonia is the basis for all nitrogen fertilisers and contains the highest amount of nitrogen (82 per cent). “So, these countries consume more ammoniabased fertilisers because their main aim is to increase crop yield, which is beneficial in feeding their ever-increasing large population. This does not mean that they do not use other fertilisers, but ammoniabased fertilisers have the predominant share,” adds Ramani.
Chemical World | April 2013
India and China, the growth drivers Agricultural fertilisers accounted for a combined share of around 62 per cent of ammonia demand in 2011. Asia-Pacific accounted for a 58.7 per cent share of global demand for ammonia in 2011, with China and India accounting for the majority of this. China and India’s large populations
Ammonia market
AMMONIA, KEY NUTRIENT Ammonia is one of the most highly produced inorganic chemicals because of its wide applications. Today, virtually all nitrogenous fertilisers are derived from synthetic ammonia. The main fertilisers such as urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphate are produced directly from ammonia. Other fertilisers such as ammonium sulphate and ammonium chloride are mainly obtained as co-product or by-product of the production of caprolactam or soda ash, also using ammonia as a raw material. China (with about 32 per cent of the worldwide production) is the leading producer of ammonia in the world, followed by India, Russia and the US. More than 80 per cent of the ammonia produced is used for agricultural needs. Ammonia is also used for the production of plastics, fibres, explosives, and intermediates for dyes and pharmaceuticals. Today, most ammonia is produced on a large scale by the Haber-Bosch process with capacities of up to 3,300 metric tonne per day.
Figure 2: India’s ammonia demand and import dependency, 2000- 2020
Volume (million tonne)
and growing economies promise substantial consumption potential, reflected in the high growth of ammonia-based fertilisers. As a result, the Asia-Pacific region will continue to drive global ammonia market in future. According to GBI Research, global demand for ammonia increased from 96.438 million tonne (MT) in 2000 to 120.780 MT in 2011, and is expected to grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.2 per cent to reach 160.094 MT in 2020. To meet this rising demand, one can expect to see more investment by companies to increase ammonia capacity in the region. “Definitely, we are expecting more companies to invest in ammonia capacity in India and China. For example, China is expected to see the start-up of around 8 new ammonia plants, whereas India is expected to see the start-up of 3 new ammonia plants by 2018. As a result, the Chinese ammonia capacity is
25
25%
20
20%
15
15%
10
10%
5
5%
0
0% 2000 Demand
2005
2011
2020
Imports
Imports/Demand (%) Source: GBI Research
expected to increase from 66.73 MT in 2011 to 71.896 MT by 2018. Similarly, India’s ammonia capacity is expected to increase from 13.52 MT in 2011 to 16.36 MT in 2018. These capacity additions are based on available announcements and might see further increase in future,” discloses Ramani.
Policy boost for ammonia While the demand for urea in India has been growing at a rate of 3 per cent annually, the sector has not seen any investments in the last 15 years in the country because of policy uncertainty till now. As a result, India’s production has remained stagnant at 21 million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa), while its imports have increased to 9 mmtpa now from nil in 2001. In order to fill the widening gap between domestic demand and supply of urea, the Government of India announced the new Urea Investment Policy 2012. The new policy is expected to mobilise dormant plans of fertiliser players in the country bringing about a wave of investments to the tune of ` 40,000 crore in the next five years, which could enhance domestic output by up to 10 million tonne. According to a report of GlobalData, a global research and consulting firm, urea production capacity in India is expected to increase at a CAGR of 5.2 per cent during 2011-2016, showing substantial
improvement from the CAGR of 0.7 per cent during 2005-2011. This will also result in more demand for ammonia. “Yes, there is a definite expected increase in ammonia demand from around 16.1 MT in 2011 to around 21.2 MT in 2020. Currently, urea with 12.89 MT of demand is the largest enduse for ammonia in India in 2011. And now with the government announcing urea policy to boost domestic capacity, the consumption of ammonia is expected to increase to 16.7 MT by 2020,” opines Ramani. Though the domestic ammonia capacity in India is expected to witness rapid rise, the country will still have to depend on imports to meet the demand. “The increase in demand would definitely see an increase in both production and imports. But the growth of imports would be more than the increase in production, as only three new ammonia plants are coming up in future. The percentage of imports satisfying the demand is expected to increase from around 14 per cent in 2011 to 20 per cent by 2020,” opines Ramani.
Reference: GBI Research report – ‘Ammonia global market to 2020: Food security concerns driving demand for ammoniabased fertilisers’ Email: rakesh.rao@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
55
AUTOMATION TRENDS WirelessHART technology
Photo courtesy: Emerson Process Management
Process and asset monitoring simplified
Meeting process users’ needs WirelessHART was developed to meet the requirements of process industry users. In the early phase of development, the HCF collected wireless requirements from end-users in the process industries. Users demanded coexistence, reliability, long battery life, security, multi-vendor interoperability – all that plants need to solve process problems – and end-users are experts on their process. However, end-users are not necessarily experts on Radio Frequency (RF) design or communication protocol stacks, so HCF member companies sent their experts on RF and digital communication to design the WirelessHART technology to meet these process requirements.
Wireless plant network Over the past few years, WirelessHART transmitters have been used in process and asset monitoring tasks that previously were too risky or impractical to automate by laying cables in an operating plant. But what important characteristics of the WirelessHART technology make it so uniquely adept for process applications? Read on… Jonas Berge
I
ndustrial wireless sensor networks have existed for more than ten years. However, the first generation of wireless sensors was impractical because every manufacturer had a different proprietary protocol. Products from different suppliers did not work together. Multiple gateways and configuration software were required to use different kinds of sensors. This mirrors the early days of ‘smart’ protocols for 4-20 mA transmitters. DCS manufacturers used different protocol that only supported their own devices. Multiple handheld terminals were required. Eventually, the HART protocol prevailed, and thanks to 4-20 mA/HART, most DCS can now communicate with any 4-20 mA device, and only a single field communicator is required. WirelessHART is doing the same for wireless. IEC 62591 is the only international standard for wireless in process 56
Chemical World | April 2013
applications. It was originally developed by the HART Communication Foundation (HCF), released in 2007, and subsequently approved as an international standard in April 2010. Standard WirelessHART products are available, thus there is no need to buy proprietary or ‘standards-ready’ wireless products now, and later worry about how to upgrade. The same common handheld field communicators and laptop software that plants already have for configuring 4-20 mA/HART devices can also be used to securely commission WirelessHART devices, regardless of manufacturer or type before it joins the WirelessHART network. WirelessHART security measures include encryption, authentication, verification, key rotation, sequence number etc, but if not enabled it would be useless. For this reason, WirelessHART security cannot be turned off, ensuring these security measures are constantly active.
WirelessHART is a wireless level 1 network for sensors and actuators that complements the existing level 2 industrial protocols that may use Wi-Fi (wireless Ethernet) such as Modbus/ TCP, EtherNet/IP, FOUNDATION fieldbus HSE, and PROFINET, etc, as well as level 3 and 4 standard protocols for web browsing, email, file transfer, voice, video, etc. It is not a good idea to put all eggs in one basket, so a single wireless network covering the entire plant may not be ideal. A practical solution would be having one network per plant area, just like plants have one DCS controller per plant area. It fits in with the DCS architecture in most plants and the division of job responsibilities within the plant. WirelessHART supports this architecture. It is even possible for the same area to have different gateways for process automation and asset optimisation if preferred, but usually a single gateway is used. Data from gateways in different plant areas is backhauled over Ethernet or Wi-Fi using the HART-IP protocol, Modbus, etc. WirelessHART fits well with existing plant philosophies. Because WirelessHART requirements were collected from end-users only in the process industries, not from factory automation, building automation, or
WirelessHART technology
power grid, the protocol is optimised for process application. An advantage of this application optimisation is that a multitude of communication options need not be set at commissioning. This prevents errors and reduces delays.
A true standard Over the past few years, WirelessHART devices have made their way into all kinds of plants in every industry around the world. A vast majority of these devices in operation are so called native devices meaning the radio, antenna, and power module (battery pack) are built into the device as a single integrated unit such as a pressure or temperature transmitter. The other solution is wireless adapters that are mounted on conventional 4-20 mA/HART devices and tap into the digital HART communication, tunneling the device set-up information and diagnostics to intelligent device management software. Such tunneling is only required for the HART protocol, and it is useful because more than 90 per cent of the 4-20 mA/HART devices installed are not digitally integrated; they use 4-20 mA to the DCS. The HART communication is only used with a handheld field communicator at commissioning. A WirelessHART adapter is an easy way to add HART capability to an old DCS. However, FOUNDATION fieldbus, PROFIBUS, and Modbus, etc, have no 4-20 mA, they are all purely digital, and therefore, already digitally integrated with the DCS. Therefore, there is no need for wireless adapter or tunneling for those protocols; tunneling HART is sufficient. By using a single standard protocol, WirelessHART avoids the problem of multiple protocols such as multiple gateways, numerous drivers, and different ways of mapping the process variable (PV ) to the system database. A single protocol avoids multiple ways to configure, calibrate, and diagnose/ troubleshoot device problems. The WirelessHART approach is to use a single common protocol for all wireless devices regardless of manufacturer and
type. Moreover, native integration of the DCS with the gateway or wireless I/O card is possible without drivers and data mapping. A single common protocol is the only way to true interoperability.
Technology ready for control when you are WirelessHART operates in the same license-free 2.4 GHz ISM-band as Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies, but since it uses channel hopping and channel black listing, WirelessHART is able to coexist with these technologies. WirelessHART transmitters are predominantly used for process and asset monitoring. However, the technology is ready for control when you are. The technology is time synchronised and scheduled with a precisely periodic macrocycle (called superframe), and makes use of publisher/subscriber (called burst mode and catch) communication similar to FOUNDATION fieldbus. The result is deterministic communication.
Full mesh topology Although opinions of wireless experts differ on many points, there is consensus on at least one point: that self-organising mesh topology is the most robust. This is because devices establish multiple paths among themselves, routing messages at device level, in a mesh. If one of the paths is disrupted, the network automatically switches to another path, thus maintaining a reliable connection. That is, redundant data pathways eliminate single points of failure. Actual installations consistently demonstrate more than 99 per cent data reliability. Mesh topology is therefore the best practice. Star topology is typically not used although supported by the technology. WirelessHART uses a unique full mesh topology as many as seven hops deep, providing an important advantage: It does not need a costly infrastructure of multiple backbone routers to be installed throughout the plant within range of every wireless device. Running costly hazardous area power supply to backbone routers is therefore not required. Mesh
topology is truly wireless and with low risk. The ability to self-organise is critical in a plant environment with intermittent sources of noise and temporary obstructions. With sources of noise ranging from motors and pumps starting and stopping to walkie-talkies, the RFI environment is constantly changing. But a self-organising network can easily adapt and maintain high data reliability. It also makes adding and removing devices easy as manual configuration is not required.
Deploying wireless After thousands of installations in industries globally, users have found that choosing their wireless network can be simple with a few thumb rules to follow. Choose a wireless technology, which is an international standard supported by one’s preferred transmitter suppliers, and has all the device types required for one’s current and future applications. Narrow it down to a single protocol that ensures ease of deployment and long-term device maintenance, and which makes use of your existing commissioning tools and requires less training. Make sure to use a self-organising mesh topology for maximum robustness and ease of management. One common protocol customised for process automation users eliminates the need for superfluous configuration. Last but not the least, security that cannot be turned off greatly reduces cyber security risks. Many believe that the question is not if they will use wireless, it is merely a question of when. By choosing the wireless network wisely, the investment will be repaid not only on the first application, but for every additional application that is added to the same network in the future. Jonas Berge is Director of Applied Technology at Emerson Process Management. He has more than twenty five years of experience in the field of instrumentation and controls. Berge is a subject matter expert in the field of fieldbus, wireless, and intelligent device management. Email: jonas.berge@emerson.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
57
ENERGY MANAGEMENT ISO 50001 certification
Awareness about ISO 50001:2011
Avani Jain
T
The ISO 50001:2011 was formally released on June 15, 2011, for certification. Trivedi notes, “Within less than two years, several hundred companies have been certified globally. In light of the success stories of these leading companies, increasing number of organisations are showing interest for the certification.”
Chemical World | April 2013
A S T
58
As feedstock and energy prices continue to rise with each passing day, it has become imperative for the chemical and process industries to adopt energy conservation measures like the energy management system to optimise plant’s overall efficiency. Adopting ISO 50001 can offer numerous benefits to chemical manufacturers when it comes to saving energy.
SERVAT I O N
E R D AP U T C P U R R
O T P O H WE C A R O
CON
he chemical industry is currently facing a difficult energy scenario. This is because energy prices are steadily going up, thereby upsetting the economics of operations. In addition, procuring energy sources such as coal and natural gas is posing problems due to shortage conditions. In fact, besides raw materials, the energy cost is considered to be the second-largest operating expense in a chemical manufacturing plant. Thus, ensuring energy efficiency at the chemical plant becomes imperative. Manish Trivedi, Head, Det Norske Veritas AS - Gujarat & South Africa Operations, states, “Energy efficiency results in reduction of energy usage by cutting down the amount required for a given output. It is achieved through process improvement, technological progress and proper repair & maintenance. Energy conservation also helps in cutting down consumption. Further, chemical industry is polluting by nature. Hence, effective energy management, which can reduce wastage and pollution, is important from energy and environment point of view.” Energy management system enables an organisation to achieve continual improvement in energy performance, efficiency and conservation. He adds, “It provides a formalised structure and a systematic approach for ensuring that energy issues are addressed and works to control significantly a company’s energy use as well as achieve regulatory compliance.”
According to him, there is no big difficulty for chemical organisations to achieve ISO 50001 certification. In the wake of energy crisis, most chemical manufacturers have already implemented energy conservation schemes. “In all, ISO 50001 energy management system offers a comprehensive and structured approach for management of energy in the entire supply chain management from purchase to utilisation through sustained management attention to achieve energy-efficiency improvement. Underpinning success factors are management commitment, provision of resources, collection and monitoring of energy data and training, among other key issues,” Trivedi opines.
Need for international standards
New pressures and threats to business can influence the decision to implement an energy management system. These threats include global warming, new legislation (PAT for major consumers & Bureau of Energy Efficiency), public concern, media attention, customer requirements & marketing benefits, internationalisation, new knowledge & technology and stronger enforcement. An energy management programme can help overcome these pressures and also demonstrate corporate social responsibility. Trivedi notes, “According to a recent global survey, controlling costs, protecting global climate and maintaining a good corporate image among customers are the top three reasons for an organisation’s interest in energy efficiency. Further, energy
ISO 50001 certification
REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPLIANCE There are numerous steps that need to be taken in order to fulfil the requirements of ISO 50001:2011 certification. According to Trivedi, companies have to adhere to the following ten-point rule: Identify activities in the organisation where energy is used Carry out energy review based on past energy consumption data v/s output Fix-up energy baseline and predict energy consumption to calculate energy saving Provide meters and metering plan Identify significant energy use Get energy performance objectives & goals and monitor energy consumption data for significant energy uses Train employees for operation control for managing energy uses Identify opportunities for energy performance improvement by reducing energy wastage, improving equipment efficiency and procuring energy-efficient equipment, optimising process, etc Take corrective actions when deviations are observed Conduct management reviews at intervals to ensure continual improvement
is the major cost in any chemical process plant. Thus, with the help of ISO 50001:2011, energy cost can be reduced substantially by systematic energy review.” ISO 50001:2011 provides a framework for implementing an energy management system, which meets an organisation’s stakeholder interests. “It can minimise waste & energy bills; reduce greenhouse emission and carbon footprint; increase awareness about energy among staff members; facilitate better business processes; enhance company reputation; improve compliance; meet concerns of interested parties; gain international recognition; improve marketing potential; and reduce liabilities & risks,” he states.
Future trends Sustainability is a critical global issue, and without energy security it cannot be achieved. Trivedi concludes, “Therefore, every energy-intensive industry including chemical will have to improve energy performance. Many countries have already set energy performance targets for energy-intensive industries. Other countries will need to follow similar regulations. Therefore, the world will witness significant growth in energy management system certification in coming years.” Email: avani.jain@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
59
Exhibitor Categories t 1SPDFTT FRVJQNFOU t 1VNQT 7BMWFT t "VUPNBUJPO QSPEVDUT t 1JQFT mUUJOHT t 5FTUJOH NFBTVSJOH FRVJQNFOU t )7"$ QSPEVDUT TPMVUJPOT t -BCPSBUPSZ BOBMZUJDBM FRVJQNFOU t (FBST NPUPST
t .BUFSJBM IBOEMJOH TUPSBHF TZTUFN t )ZESBVMJD QOFVNBUJD QSPEVDUT t 3VCCFS QSPEVDU t 8BUFS USFBUNFOU TPMVUJPOT t 8BUFS NBOBHFNFOU TPMVUJPOT t 1BDLBHJOH NBUFSJBM t &RVJQNFOU TPMVUJPOT
Value Added Services: t )JHIMJHIUT PG ZPVS CVTJOFTT BOE QSPEVDUT JO $IFNJDBM 8PSME NBHB[JOF t 0QQPSUVOJUZ UP QBSUJDJQBUF JO UIF XPSLTIPQT BU UIF WFOVF t /FUXPSLJOH PQQPSUVOJUZ t 0OF QBHF TIPXDBTF UP QSPmMF ZPVS CVTJOFTT BOE QSPEVDUT JO FYIJCJUPS DBUBMPHVF
ProямБt from This Opportunity! 'PS FORVJSJFT DPOUBDU DQX!OFUXPSL QVCMJTIJOH DPN ]
Book Your Stall NOW! 3 -in- 1 package Trade show %JTQMBZ %FNPOTUSBUF ZPVS QSPEVDUT Magazine 7JTJCJMJUZ UISPVHI $IFNJDBM 8PSME NBHB[JOF UISPVHIPVU UIF ZFBS Internet .PSF BDDFTTJCJMJUZ UP DVTUPNFST BOE IFODF NPSF DIBODFT UP HFU TBMFT MFBET
By Organisers Of
A
Event
POLICIES & REGULATIONS Government incentives for alternative energy
Are the initiatives renewing interest in renewable energy? That India is right on track to achieve the proposed ambitious target of reaching 30,000 MW installed renewable energy capacity by 2017 is indeed electrifying news. It currently has an installed capacity of 26,920 MW. But the past two years have seen a slowdown in investments in this sector. Is the government taking enough measures to set the record straight?
Mahua Roy
A
bout 25 per cent of our country’s population, or 288.8 million people, have no access to electricity, according to the International Energy Agency. Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has thus termed renewable energy sector as a priority. The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and the Centre for Emerging Markets Solutions (CEMS) at the Indian School of Business (ISB) have found that high interest rates and relatively short-
The growth in installed capacity for solar power generation is expected to be the highest among the renewable sources because of the government’s target of 20 GW by 2022 (under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission). Kalpana Jain
Senior Director, Deloitte India
62
Chemical World | April 2013
term loans for renewable energy projects in India add 24-32 per cent to the cost of renewable energy in India compared to similar projects in the US and Europe. The government has set a goal to reach 4,000-10,000 MW of renewable energy by 2017 and 20,000 MW by 2022. Recently, a scheme was announced for making renewable energy cheaper by providing for low interest bearing funds, besides offering incentives for wind power generation and waste-to-energy plants. Such incentives are expected to rekindle growth in India’s renewable energy sector, which is currently suffering from a noticeable downturn. The Government of India has steadily been promoting an inclusive growth, while renewable energy supports this ambitious objective. The renewable energy sector has grown at an annual rate of 23 per cent to reach about 25,000 MW in March 2012. The renewable power installed capacity forms 6.5 per cent in the total electricity mix and 12.5 per cent of total installed capacity in 2011-
2012. Wind energy accounts for 70 per cent of installed capacity. Also, as per proposed investments, capacity addition of around 30,000 MW is planned from various renewable energy technologies in the next five years. Taking into account all the renewable energy categories, India currently ranks fifth in the world with 15,691.4 MW grid-connected and 367.9 MW off-grid renewable energy based power capacity, as per an Ernst & Young report. Also, India is among the top five destinations worldwide for solar energy development, according to Ernst & Young’s renewable energy attractiveness index. So, the potential exists tremendously; what is needed is the big support by way of government measures. “India has significantly increased its renewable energy investment with tax benefit for wind power projects and funding support for solar power. Reasons for India’s impressive 25 per cent growth shows that investment was supported by a number of factors, including a race to exploit the accelerated depreciation tax
Government incentives for alternative energy
break for wind projects before reforming in 2012; the government’s new Solar Mission to develop 1 GW of gridconnected capacity by 2013; and the launch of Renewable Energy Certificate and Renewable Purchase Obligation schemes,” explains Kalpana Jain, Senior Director, Deloitte India.
POLICY INITIATIVES Support schemes for renewable energy generation in India include: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): India permits FDI up to 100 per cent in the sector under the automatic route in Renewable Energy Generation and Distribution projects. Tax holiday: Undertakings engaged in generation or generation and distribution of power have been offered a 10-year tax holiday for renewable energy plants, if they began power generation before March 31, 2013. However, they have to pay a minimum alternate tax at the rate of approximately 20 per cent, which can be offset in future years. Financing: The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency has been set up under Ministry for Non-Conventional Energy Sources and is a specialised financing agency to promote and finance renewable energy projects. Generation-based incentives: Wind power @ ` 0.50 per MW, Solar Power @ ` 12.41 per KW Accelerated depreciation: Renewable companies (solar as well as wind power) were provided with accelerated depreciation at 80 per cent. However, recently, the government has restricted the accelerated depreciation of 80 per cent to windmills installed on or before March 31, 2012. Windmills installed after March 31, 2012, will be eligible for depreciation of 15 per cent instead. But, 80 per cent depreciation is still available for solar power projects. Source: KPMG
Winding up the bad times? The wind energy sector has remained the most favoured among all renewable energy technologies in India for the last several years. “This was due to the announcement of two crucial incentives for the wind energy sector – Generationbased Incentive (GBI) and accelerated depreciation. Surprisingly, both were repealed in April 2012. As a direct consequence, the capacity addition in this sector fell significantly,” says Jain However, P Chidambaram recognised that the wind energy sector deserves incentives, and hence proposed to reintroduce GBI for wind energy projects and provide ` 800 crore to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy for the purpose, as per Union Budget 2013 announcement. This is expected to increase activity in this sector again. Wind energy is the most promising of renewable energy sources in India.
Waste-to-energy gains recognition Incentives have also been announced for waste-to-energy projects in cities across the country. The technology remains in a nascent stage with less than 100 MW capacity installed by January 2013. “The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy had set a target to install 20 MW of waste-to-power projects in urban and industrial sectors in 2012-13, but only 6.4 MW capacity had been added by January 2013. The government has announced that it will provide financial support to city authorities that intend to set up such projects,” says Dr Suneel Pandey, Fellow, Centre for Environmental Studies, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). It is in this context, the role of renewable energy is no longer seen as alternative energy, but is increasingly becoming a vital part of the solution to the nation’s energy shortfall. “India has an estimated potential of over 30,000 MW of power from biomass, but around 3,000 MW has been exploited. Thus, over 90 per cent of potential capacity lies untapped,” adds Dr Pandey.
India has an estimated potential of over 30,000 MW of power from biomass, but around 3,000 MW has been exploited. Thus, over 90 per cent of potential capacity lies untapped. Dr Suneel Pandey
Fellow, Centre for Environmental Studies, TERI
The overall demand-supply gap in the energy sector is expanding due to an increase in the standard of living of the growing population. The demand-supply gap in power is currently at 10.3 per cent and is one of the key drivers of renewable energy, states an Ernst & Young report.
Sunny side up, yet? “The growth in installed capacity for solar power generation is expected to be the highest among the renewable sources because of the government’s target of 20 GW by 2022 (under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission). Also, there has been substantial reduction in PV prices, which is expected to drop further. Friendly policies have helped in the development of technology, which is expected to reduce unit cost of power generation,” summarises Jain. Over the past few years, the government has announced incentives such as reduction of duties on imported solar modules or equipment used for setting up solar thermal power plants, or other financial incentives for off-grid solar power solutions. Almost certainly, the cheaper loans and the generation-based incentives would attract investors and project developers to set up more projects. With all the attractive characteristics and potential stated above, India presents a significant market opportunity for renewable energy firms worldwide. However, the government needs to provide extensive guidance and assistance on several strategic and operational aspects before this sector is in a position to effectively tap into this opportunity. Email: mahua.roy@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
63
STRATEGY Business plans for SMEs
Prasenjit Chakraborty
W
ith Asia’s growing contribution to the g l o bal ch emi c al industry, India has emerged as one of the key destinations for specialty chemicals. The specialty chemicals industry provides colossal growth opportunities for SMEs as well as big players, thanks to the increasing demand for chemical products within the country and emerging markets.
Green is the future It is a fact that global companies are today eyeing India for future business relations as it offers quality products and services for the high-value and low-volume chemicals, which are known for their end-use applications and performance enhancing properties. Hence, there is vast potential for chemical industry to
understanding customer needs and products, application development to meet the demand at a competitive price-performance ratio. Going ahead, innovation and sustainability initiatives will be the major game changers for the sector, including development of processes, products through green chemistry route. “Specialty chemicals have witnessed a high growth rate in the past and have grown at about 11.5 per cent per annum since FY07 while the market size was about $ 13.5 billion. Going ahead, the growth potential of the specialty chemicals consumption in India is poised to remain irrepressible and is expected to reach about $ 45 billion by FY17,” says Herlekar.
India gaining competitive edge Compared to the developed world – the US, Europe – the current penetration of specialty chemicals within India’s end-
labour laws, and low R&D cost. All these make India a preferred destination to set up manufacturing units,” says Herlekar.
Challenges for SMEs The chemical industry, to a certain degree, lags behind in focussed growth and planning, which hampers global competitiveness. It needs to increase domestic value-addition and technological depth to promote sustained growth. The industry requires substantial investments for capacity creation, technology development, access to feedstock and a larger pool of skilled human resources. “To make it happen, the sector requires investments to the tune of $ 200 billion. Pro-active action by the government and nodal agencies of Petroleum, Chemicals & Petrochemicals Investment Region zones by way of encouraging anchor tenants to establish facilities, making feedstock available for downstream plants and
Customised solutions with right pricing key to success For SMEs aiming to gain foothold in the market, it is imperative to understand the exact needs of customers and deliver the products at competitive rates. In the present context, developing products by adopting green route is also essential for success. explore opportunities within the country and become a dependable supplier of quality chemicals to the world. According to Omkar P Herlekar, Whole-Time Director, Omkar Speciality Chemicals Ltd (OSCL), Indian specialty chemicals market size is pegged at $ 24.3 billion, witnessing a steady growth at 14 per cent per annum. “As one of the dominant players in the specialty chemicals space, we are of the opinion that the Indian specialty chemical industry is at an inflection point and is expected to emerge as a major contributor to the country’s growth in the coming years,” he adds. However, the critical success factors for most of the SMEs in specialty chemicals segment hinge on 64
Chemical World | April 2013
markets is low. With an increased focus on improving products, the usage intensity of specialty chemicals within the endmarkets will rise in India in couple of years. Further, increasing global demand is most likely to result in improved production by low-cost manufacturing locations of Asia-Pacific. Currently, India exports to most of the Asia-Pacific countries and other developed countries of Europe, and the US. Going ahead, India’s exports are likely to proliferate further as many of the neighbouring countries lag in competitive capacities. India is potentially seen as a preferred sourcing hub over China. “It is also because India has a balanced IPR regime with decent talent pool, pro-industry
creating a favourable ecosystem in terms of infrastructure and other facilities will help the sector evolve strong chemical manufacturing competence centres, thereby sending a positive message to the global investing community,” points out Herlekar. The R&D spend of the chemical industry needs to go up substantially – from the current level of 0.5 per cent of sales to the global benchmarks of four per cent of sales. It will also enhance India’s global competitiveness in the chemical sector. “With current initiatives of industry and government, the Indian chemical industry has the potential to grow at 11 per cent to reach the size of $ 224 billion by 2017,” concludes Herlekar. Email: prasenjit.chakraborty@network18publishing.com
RFID technology TIPS & TRICKS
RIGHT TRACKING SOLUTIONS FOR BETTER RESOURCE UTILISATION
Chemical industry comprises complex manufacturing processes and supply chain network. To ensure safety during manufacturing and transport, the industry has to comply with international standards and regulations. Chemical companies can use RFID technology to track hazardous goods shipments and to monitor temperature, pressure & the general condition of individual containers. They stand to benefit from RFID implementation in order to lower operating costs. Given below are different areas within this industry, which might benefit from RFID application. Work In Progress ( WIP): In the chemical industry, 1 there exist many WIP applications. One example is that of chemical vats, which have undergone different treatments, but may look similar to the eyes. By tagging the vats, right vats can be used for the next process step. Another WIP application may include chemical labelling. RFID labels are integrated into the chemicals used in manufacturing and the manufacturing process is updated to be able to automatically identify and request required chemicals. Returnable assets: There are many assets in the chemical 2 industry, which move through the supply and manufacturing chain and are returned to the supplier. Assets such as drums, totes as well as many others can be tracked in order to facilitate finding them as well as their return. Access control: In chemical facility, there are many sensitive 3 areas where only authorised personnel can enter. The movement of people to such sites can be controlled and monitored by using RFID access cards at the gates and doors. Access control, when coupled with tagged equipment, can be used to prevent theft of high value or strategic equipment.
Asset tracking and management: RFID can be used for tagging 4 and tracking expensive tools, materials and equipment to enable a more optimal utilisation. The usage of tagged assets can be tracked, and schedules for the asset can be more easily and accurately planned. Some assets are especially hard to track due to environmental or geographical conditions. In such cases, active RFID tags can be used to automate accurate tracking information. Safety tool: RFID can be an important safety technology for 5 workers in the chemical industry. Companies can use RFID to protect workers who have access to areas in which they may be exposed to harmful radiation. With RFID, managers can calculate how much time a worker has spent in a given area and call him out if he risks overexposure. Warehousing: Efficient warehousing or distribution centres 6 (DC) can be enabled with RFID, thus resulting in useful savings. Some potential applications where RFID can be useful include pallet, case and item tracking (especially, if pallets continue to be reused within the warehousing system); forklift localisation, asset management allowing optimal usage of all assets in the warehouse or DC; monitoring of tagged goods to prevent unauthorised removal etc.
Inventory management: Reduced inventory levels and the 7 traceability of material usage are possible with RFID. Inventory levels can be dynamically set based on production plans and inventory can be automatically reordered once a threshold is passed. Production slowdowns due to lack of inventory can be reduced, which bring down inventory expenses. Supply chain visibility: RFID systems can foster better and more 8 accurate information shar ing between chemical company and suppliers. This leads to more accurate and timely delivery of supplies making sure the company has the right supplies in the right place at the right time and in the right sequence. Traceability: It is increasingly gaining importance in many 9 industries where the genealogy of a part or a product at every point in its lifecycle is required. RFID has memory on the tag that can be updated at any point. The data can be stored both locally and externally in a database creating a redundancy. Recalling and service of the product becomes much easier and fake items can be identified quickly. Courtesy: Total RFID Solutions Inc Email: rakesh.rao@network18publishing.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
65
PROJECTS
Benificiated rock phosphate
International Speciality Chemicals Ltd Project type New facility Project news ISC Speciality Chemicals Pvt Ltd is planning to set up a new chemical plant at Bharuch in Gujarat to manufacture non-ferric alum. Project location Bharuch, Gujarat Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: International Speciality Chemicals Ltd 101, Atlanta, 209, Nariman Point Mumbai 400021, Maharashtra Email: Technical@isc-chemicals.com ---------------------------------------Carbon black
Karthik Alloys Ltd Project type New facility Project news Karthik Alloys Ltd is planning to set up a new chemical project in Goa. The plant will involve in manufacturing of carbon black. Project location South Goa, Goa Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Karthik Alloys Ltd L6 & L7, Industrial Estate Cuncolim, Salcete Tq South Goa, Goa 403703 Tel: 0832-2763402/539 Email: bsrinivasa@karthikgroup.com ---------------------------------------Carbon disulphide
Indo Baijin Chemicals Pvt Ltd Project type New facility Project news Indo Baijin Chemicals Pvt Ltd is planning to set up a new chemical
66
Chemical World | April 2013
project at Bharuch in Gujarat. The project will involve in manufacturing of carbon disulphide. Project location Bharuch, Gujarat Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details Indo Baijin Chemicals Pvt Ltd C/o Indofil Industries Ltd Plot no Z/7/1, Dahej SEZ Part - I Tal: Vagra, Dist Bharuch 392130 Gujarat Tel: 02641-304100/101 Email: rmishra-icc@modi.com ---------------------------------------Chemicals
Khushi Chemicals Pvt Ltd Project type New facility Project news Khushi Chemicals is planning to set up a chemical unit at Mahesana in Gujarat. An MoU has been signed with the State Government of Gujarat. Project location Mahesana, Gujarat Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Khushi Chemicals Pvt Ltd Plot no 3548, Phase-4 GIDC Chhatral, Kalol Taluka Gandhinagar 382729, Gujarat Tel: 02764-326551 Email: khushichemical@yahoo.com ---------------------------------------Essential oils & resinoids
Synthite Industries Ltd Project type New facility Project news Synthite Industries Ltd is setting up an essential oils and resinoids unit (phase1) with a capacity of 13,200 tpa at Prakasam in Andhra Pradesh. Project location Prakasam, Andhra Pradesh
Project cost Not known Implementation stage Work ongoing Contact details: Synthite Industries Ltd Ajay Vihar, MG Road Kochi, Kanayannur Ernakulam 682016, Kerala Tel: 0484-3051200 Email: info@synthite.com ---------------------------------------HCFC-chloro difluoro methane
Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd Project type New facility Project news Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd is planning to set up a new chemical plant at Panchamahals in Gujarat. The project involves manufacturing of HCFCChloro Difluoro Methane(R-22). Project location Panchamahals, Gujarat Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd INOX Towers, Plot no 17 Sector-16 A , Noida 201301 Gautam Budh Nagar Uttar Pradesh Tel: 0120-6149600 Email: inoflon@gfl.co.in ---------------------------------------Liquid choline chloride
Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd Project type New facility Project news Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd is planning to set up a new chemicals project at Vadodara in Gujarat for manufacturing of liquid choline chloride. Project location Vadodara, Gujarat Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning
PROJECTS
Contact details: Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd 1A, Sector 16A, Noida 201301 Uttar Pradesh Tel: 0120-4361000 Email: support@jubl.com ---------------------------------------NPK fertilisers
Gujarat State Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd Project type New facility Project news Gujarat State Fertilisers & Chemicals plans to set up a D Train DAP/NPK fertilisers unit with a capacity of 1,650 tpd at existing complex of GSFC in Sikka. Project location Sikka, Gujarat Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Gujarat State Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd PO: Fertilisers Nagar Vadodara 391750, Gujarat Tel: 0265-2242651/751 Email: info@gsfcltd.com ---------------------------------------Perfumes
Oriental Aromatics Project type New facility Project news Oriental Aromatics is planning to set up a perfume manufacturing unit at Ambarnath in Thane district of Maharashtra. Project location Thane, Maharashtra Project cost Not known Implementation stage Work ongoing Contact details: Oriental Aromatics
Jehangir Building 2nd Floor, 133 MG Road Mumbai 400001, Maharashtra Tel: 022-66556000 Email: sales@orientalaromatics.com ---------------------------------------Pinaverium bromide
Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd Project type New facility Project news Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd is planning to set up a new chemical plant in Karnataka for manufacturing of pinaverium bromide. Project location Mysore, Karnataka Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd 1A, Sector 16A, Noida 201301 Uttar Pradesh Tel: 0120-4361000 Email: support@jubl.com ---------------------------------------Producer gas
Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd Project type New facility Project news Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd is planning to set up a new chemicals project in Chhattisgarh to manufacture producer gas. Project location Raigarh, Chhattisgarh Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd Monnet House 11, Masjid Moth Greater Kailash Part – II New Delhi 110048
Tel : 011-29218542/46 Email: monnet@monnetgroup.com ---------------------------------------Single super phosphate
Khaitan Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd Project type New facility Project news Khaitan Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd is planning to set up a new chemicals project in Uttar Pradesh for manufacturing of single super phosphate. Project location Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Khaitan Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd 301-308, Apollo Arcade 1/2, Old Palasia Indore 452001 Madhya Pradesh Tel: 0731-2564936/937, 2565663 Email: khaitan@sancharnet.in ---------------------------------------Quinine sulphate
Surya Pharmaceutical Ltd Project type New facility Project news Surya Pharmaceutical Ltd is planning to set up a new chemical plant at Patiala in Punjab. The project involves manufacturing of quinine sulphate. Project location Patiala, Punjab Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Surya Pharmaceutical Ltd Sco-164-165, Sector-9 Chandigarh 160017 Tel: 0172-5005000 Email: info@suryapharma.com
Information courtesy: Tendersinfo.com 1, Arch Gold, Next to MTNL Exchange, Poisar, S V Road, Kandivali (W), Mumbai - 400 067, Maharashtra, India Tel: 022 28666134 • Fax: 022 28013817 • Email: parmeet.d@tendersinfo.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
67
TENDERS
Latest Popular Tenders brought to you by www.tendersinfo.com Ammonia detection system Org : Department of Atomic Energy TRN : 15477503 Desc : Supply, erection and commissioning of fixed type gaseous ammonia detection system BOD : April 22, 2013 Loc : Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh BT : Domestic _______________________________________________
Dissolved oxygen monitor Org : Petrochemical Kala Company TRN : 15343628 Desc : Purchase of parts for dissolved oxygen monitor BOD : April 22, 2013 Loc : Tehran BT : ICB _______________________________________________
Mobile oil spill recovery unit ORG : Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) TRN : 15462632 Desc : Supply of mobile oil spill recovery unit gully sucker BOD : April 22, 2013 Loc : Panipat, Haryana BT : Domestic _______________________________________________
Hydrocarbon gas detection and monitoring system Org : Numaligarh Refinery Ltd TRN : 15451865 Desc : Design & engineering, supply, installation & commissioning and post-commissioning maintenance of safety PLC-based hydrocarbon gas detection and monitoring system BOD : April 24, 2013 Loc : Golaghat, Assam BT : Domestic _______________________________________________
Gas analyser Org : Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd TRN : 15345910
Desc : Supply of completely assembled dilution type SO2/NOx/CO analyser BOD : April 25, 2013 Loc : Mangalore, Karnataka BT : Domestic _______________________________________________
Dew point analyser for hydrogen gas Org : Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) TRN : 14886150 Desc : Supply of dew point analyser for hydrogen gas, Qty-02 BOD : April 26, 2013 Loc : Roopnagar, Punjab BT : Domestic _______________________________________________
Gas analyser Org : La Société Des Ciments De Zahana S.Ci.Z TRN : 15459609 Desc : Supply, installation and commissioning of a gas analyser for four coino/02 the dry cement BOD : May 08, 2013 Loc : Zahana, Algeria BT : ICB _______________________________________________
Toximeter, methanometer, multigas detector, oxymeter Org : Eastern Coalfields Ltd TRN : 15375654 Desc : Supply of Toximeter - 50 nos, methanometer 17 nos, multigas detector - 01 nos and oxymeter- 03 nos BOD : May 09, 2013 Loc : Burdwan, West Bengal BT : Domestic _______________________________________________
Dissolved oxygen removal system Org : Department of Atomic Energy TRN : 15398146 Desc : Design, fabrication, supply, installation, commissioning & guarantee of membrane-based dissolved oxygen removal system BOD : May 16, 2013 Loc : Mumbai, Maharashtra BT : Domestic
Org: Organisation’s name, TRN: Tendersinfo Ref No, Desc: Description, BOD: Bid Opening Date, Loc: Location, BT: Bidding Type Information courtesy: Tendersinfo.com 1, Arch Gold, Next to MTNL Exchange, Poisar, S V Road, Kandivali (W), Mumbai - 400 067, Maharashtra, India Tel: 022 28666134 • Fax: 022 28013817 • Email: parmeet.d@tendersinfo.com
68
Chemical World | April 2013
EVENT LIST
NATIONAL
The trade exposition on chemical plant, equipment and process industry; February 2014; at Surat International Exhibition & Convention Centre, Surat, Gujarat
HYDERABAD Andhra Pradesh, May 31-June 3, 2013
India’s premier industrial trade fair on products and technologies related to Machine Tools, Hydraulics & Pneumatics, Process Machinery & Equipment, Automation Instrumentation, Packaging & Auxiliaries, IT Products, Electrical & Electronics, Material Handling and Safety Equipment.
For details contact: Network 18 Publishing
For details Network18 Media & Investments Ltd
Ruby House, 1st Floor, J K Sawant Marg, Dadar (W), Mumbai 400 028. • Tel: 022 3003 4651 • Fax: 022 3003 4499 • Email: engexpo@network18publishing.com
Poly India A trade show for plastics and petrochemicals industries; April 25-27, 2013; at Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai For details contact: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry Federation House 1 Tansen Marg, New Delhi Tel: 011-23738760/8770 Fax: 011-23320714 Email: ficci@ficci.com
Copexpo A trade show for industrial paint and coating industry, which will be attended by industrialists, policy makers, dealers, researchers; June 07-09, 2013; at Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai
Ruby House, A-Wing, 1st Floor, J K Sawant Marg, Dadar (W), Mumbai 400 028. Tel: 022 3003 4651 • Fax: 022 3003 4499 Email: b2b@network18publishing.com
Fax: 0124-4381162 Email: siddharth@interads.in
Process Engineering Expo An international exhibition and conference on process technology; September 04-06, 2014; at Hyderabad International Trade Exposition Centre (HITEX), Hyderabad For details contact: HITEX First Floor, Trade Fair Office Building Hitex Exhibition Centre Izzat Nagar, Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh Tel: 040-23112121/2122 Fax: 040-23112124 Email:pr@hitex.co.in
India Chem Gujarat For details contact: Smart Expos New No 116 Old No 81 Mount Road, Guindy Chennai, Tamil Nadu Tel: 044-22501986, 22501987 Fax: 044-28604261 Email: office@smartexpos.in
PetroWorld India An event showcasing novel technologies in oil & gas sector; August 22-24, 2013; Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai For details contact: Siddharth Chibba Inter Ads Exhibitions Pvt Ltd Plot No 859, Phase-V, Udyog Vihar, Gurgaon 122016, Haryana Tel: 0124-4524200/4201
The exhibition will showcase the latest products, machinery, equipment and developments in the chemical industry; October 24-26, 2013; at Gandhinagar, Gujarat
For details contact: Avisha Desai Project Manager MMI India Pvt Ltd Lalani Aura, 3rd Floor, 34th Road, Khar (West) Mumbai 400 052 Tel: 022-42554710 Email: avisha.desai@mmi-india.in
Chemical Expo A trade show for chemical equipment, environment & safety, plastic & packaging, electric & electronic, petroleum & gas, engineering and equipment; December 07-10, 2013, AIDS Ananpura, Ankleshwar, Gujarat For details contact: Better Deal 204, Concord Complex R C Dutt Road Alkapuri, Vadodara 390007 Tel: 09979871798 Email: info@chemicalexpo.in
India Chem 2014 For details contact: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry Federation House 1, Tansen Marg, New Delhi Tel: 011-23738760/8770 Email: ficci@ficci.com
analytica Anacon India 2013 International trade fair for laboratory technology, analysis, biotechnology and diagnostics; November 12-14, 2013; at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai
An international exhibition on chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, technologies, process plant machinery and control & automation systems; October 9-11, 2014; at Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC), Mumbai For details contact: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry Federation House 1, Tansen Marg, New Delhi Tel: 011-23738760/8770 Email: ficci@ficci.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
69
EVENT LIST
Kuwait Oil and Gas Summit & Exhibition An exhibition & conference focussing on the development, diversification and growth of the oil & gas industry of Kuwait; April 28-30, 2013; at Kuwait Regency Palace Hotel, Kuwait City For details contact: The CWC Group Ltd Regent House, Oyster Wharf 16-18 Lombard Road London, The UK Tel: +(44)-(20)-79780000 Fax: +(44)-(20)-79780099 Email: info@thecwcgroup.com
Israchem Expo An exhibition focussing on metal coating and automation accessories for the process industries such as chemicals, gas, etc; April 30-May 02, 2013; at Israel Trade Fairs and Convention Center, Tel Aviv, Israel For details contact: Stier Group Ltd Stier Group Building 12 Tversky Tel Aviv, Israel Tel: +(972)-(3)-5626090 Fax: +(972)-(3)-5615463 Email:maker@newmaker.com
Fax: +(44)- 207 022 1722 Email: info@bme-global.com
IE Expo - IE Water An exhibition focussing on water supply, drainage & water treatment (CWS); May 13-15, 2013; at Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), Shanghai, China For details contact: Shanghai Zhongmao Exhibition Service A/10, Huading Tower, 2368 Zhongshan West Shanghai China (Macau SAR) Tel: +(853)-(21)-54592323 Fax: +(853)-(21)-54253480 Email: eptee@zhongmao.com.cn
Asia Coatings Congress An event focussing on the latest developments of the coatings sector; May 14-15, 2013; at Windsor Plaza Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam For details contact: Quartz Business Media Ltd Quartz House 20 Clarendon Road, Surrey Redhill, England The UK Tel: +(44)-(1737)-855000 Email: johnlane@quartzltd.com
Petrochem Arabia An event dedicated to the technological improvements and sustainability of the downstream and petrochemical industries; May 12-14, 2013; Dhahran International Exhibition Center, Dammam, Saudi Arabia For details contact: Bme Global Ltd Waterfront Studios 1 Dock Road, London E16 1 Ag London, The UK Tel: +(44)-(207)-5119582
Petro.t.ex Africa Focussed event on refineries & oil and related technology; May 14-16, 2013; at Gallagher Convention Centre, Midrand, South Africa For details contact: Exhibition Management Services PO Box 650302 Benmore, Johannesburg South Africa Tel: +(27)-(11)-7837250 Fax: +(27)-(11)-7837269 Email: director@exhibitionsafrica.com
Oil And Gas Asia 2013 An exhibition showcasing the latest technology, equipment and machinery in the fields of oil, gas and petrochemical engineering; June 05-07, 2013; Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), Kuala Lumpur For details contact: Allworld Exhibitions 12th Floor, Westminster Tower 3 Albert Embankment London, The UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7840 2100 Fax: +44 (0)20 7840 2111 Email: info@oesallworld.com
Dye+Chem Bangladesh 2013 An international exhibition on all kinds of dyes and fine & specialty chemicals; September 05-08, 2013; at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, Dhaka, Bangladesh For details contact: CEMS-Global Asia Pacific Pte Ltd 8 Temasek Boulevard, # 42-00 Suntec Tower Three Singapore 038988 Tel: + (65) - 6829 - 2144 Fax: + (65) - 6829 - 2145 Email: contact@cems-dyechem.com
China Adhesive An exhibition focussing on latest development on adhesive and sealant products, chemicals and raw materials for adhesives & sealants; September 25-27, 2013; at Shanghai Everbright Convention & Exhibition Center, Shanghai For details contact: CCPIT Sub-Council of Chemical Industry Building 16, Block 7, Hepingli Dongcheng District Beijing, China Tel: +(86)-(10)-64275419 Email:contact@chinaexhibition.com
The information published in this section is as per the details furnished by the respective organiser. In any case, it does not represent the views of Chemical World
70
Chemical World | April 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Scaleup of chemical processes Authors: Attilio Bisio and Robert L Kabel Price: ` 3,495
This book will enable engineers and research scientists to design and analyse complex flow and reaction systems, thereby helping to take commercialised reactions from the lab to the manufacturing area. Specifically dealing with mixing effects important to the design of chemical reactors, it uses systems models, typical of any large chemical plant or oil refinery, to examine temporal mixing, or the mixing among particles or any conserved entities that have remained in the system for different lengths of time. In addition, it views mixing from a spatial perspective, treating it as a process that brings system components into closer physical proximity. In addition, it reports the first step towards unification of the temporal and spatial viewpoints of mixing. It includes the basics of scaleup and mathematical modelling. It also explains how to select reactors and study flow pattern. There are special sections on fluidised beds and laminar flow processes. Stagewise and continuous mass transfer processes are detailed in the book. The final section deals with gaining experience through pilot plants and demonstration units. An ideal text for graduate students with a working knowledge of physical chemistry, classical gas absorption and mass transfer processes, it constitutes an exhaustive treatment of four important areas: industrial exposure, theory, applications, and practical problems along with their remediation.
Distillation control: An engineering perspective Industrial distillation happens to be the most common separation technique used in the chemical and petroleum industries. All distillation columns need to be carefully controlled in order to meet specified production and quality levels. This book enables readers to analyse, and troubleshoot all aspects of column controls. It includes special chapters on underlying principles of distillation, including separation processes, reflux and boil-up ratios, and composition dynamics. The book also emphasises on important aspects such as composition control, pressure control and condensers, reboilers and feed preheaters, application of feed-forward, unit optimisation and complex towers. The book is a complete guide with clear diagrams and illustrations that clarify complex concepts and guide readers through multi-step procedures. It will guide engineers as well as professionals working in process facilities, which use distillation to separate materials, to implement the latest tested and proven distillation control methods to meet their specific processing needs.
Author: Cecil Smith Price: ` 5,100
Reviewer: Tejas Padte, Lecturer, Ramnarain Ruia College
Available at: Wisdom Book Distributors, Hornby Building, 1st floor, 174, D N Road, Mumbai 400 001 Tel: 022-2207 4484/6631 8958, Telefax: 022-2203 4058, Email: thadam@vsnl.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
71
PRODUCTS This section provides information about the national and international products available in the market
Booster system
which One must invest wisely. Choose a product ing cuts down the operational cost without affect ncy. efficie and n isatio optim
Navneet Punj (Head – Business Operations) Wide Bridge Consulting
The hydro-pneumatic pressure booster system consists of an automatic pressure controlled pump and a pressure tank, along with an airfilled Poly-Ether-Urethane (PEU) bladder. Water pumped into this tank is compressed and generates pressure on the bladder. This in turn maintains a desired pressure within the whole water system. The automatic system requires no manual intervention and is built for flow maintenance. Jay Water Ltd Ahmedabad - Gujarat Tel: 079-2685 0026 Email: info@jaywater.com Website: www.jaywater.com
Air operated double diaphragm pump
BPT tubing BPT tubing formulation is ideal tubing for use in cell culture, tissue culture work, medical diagnostic product manufacturing, fermentation systems and purification applications. It is manufactured according to GMP; is FDA-compliant (21 CFR 177.2600); and meets USP Class VI, European pharmacopoeia and NSF (Standard 51) requirements. It can be used in clean-in-place (CIP) and steam-in-place (SIP) cleaning systems and can be sterilised by autoclave, ethylene oxide or gamma irradiation. This tubing is non-toxic, non-hemolytic with extremely low permeability. It resists acids, alkalies, oxidising agents and animal & vegetable oils. PharMed BPT is heat-resealable, bondable and formable, making it ideal choice in bioreactors and single use applications. It is useful in applications involving light-sensitive samples. It operates optimally in temperatures between -59°C to 135°C. Cole-Parmer India Pvt Ltd Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-67162209/2222, Fax: 022-67162211 Email: response@coleparmer.in Website: www.coleparmer.in
Looking For A Specific Product? Searching and sourcing products were never so easy. Just type CW (space) Product Name and send it to 51818
eg. CW Pump and send it to 51818
72
Chemical World | April 2013
Lutz air operated double diaphragm pump is simple, versatile, easy to use and maintain. The pump sizes range from 1/4” to 3”size. Pump housings are available in polypropylene, PVDF, nylon, aluminium and stainless steel. Internals are available in teflon, EPDM, nitrile rubber or viton. The pump runs on dry, non-lubricated, clean air. It is lube-free, non-stalling operation, corrosion-free, weight reduction, air valve body available in corrosion-free engineered plastics, commonality of spares across models and sizes. The double diaphragm pump come in bolted construction and are designed for a variety of industrial applications. It is self-priming and can carry solid particles/slurries without any damage. Typical pumping applications include industries such as pharmaceuticals, glass and fibreglass, oil and gas, marine/shipbuilding, metal and steel, effluent treatment, paint, aircraft, electroplating/surface treatment, food and beverage, automotive, chemical, clay and ceramics etc. Shanbhag & Associates Mumbai – Maharashtra Tel: 022-28346604/28340071 Email: info@shanbhags.com Website: www.shanbhags.com
Air operated pump The air operated pump is used for handling viscous liquids (solvents, toxic fluids, oil, grease, etc). It provides hydro-static pressure testing with high pressure up to 500 bars. This is used for high pressure greasing. This does not need electricity as it runs on compressed air. Din-Tech Control Pvt Ltd Ahmedabad - Gujarat Tel: 079-22820008, 22821417 Email: info@dtcpl.in, Website: www.dtcpl.in
PRODUCTS
Automatic amino acid analyser The innovative automatic amino acid analyser AT 2433 combines the advantages of the classical ion exchange separation method with the modern technique of high performance liquid chromatography. The complete package of sophisticated instrumentation, a wide variety of prepacked and tested separation columns, combined with optimised ready-to-use buffer solutions and chemicals, creates the right answer for any routine or research problem in amino acid determination. With old fashioned step-elution systems, four and/ or five buffer solutions were needed. Now, due to the optimised buffer system, only two buffers for hydrolysates and three for the physiological sample are necessary. The buffer can be adjusted individually to the samples by varying the mixture of the buffer. The flexible design of each instrument allows the user to change all important parameters to fit the desired application from protein hydrolysates, physiological fluids to sugar analysis and biogene amines. Analytical Technologies Ltd Vadodara – Gujarat Tel: 0265 – 2253620 Email: info@hpcltechnologies.com, info@ais-india.com Website: www.analyticalgroup.com, www.hpcltechnologies.com
Internal gear pump Internal gear pump is positive displacement pump with linear flows and is widely used in the chemical industry. It is ideal for transfer of thin, viscous liquids and slurries. The pump is selfpriming with dry suction lift of 0.5 bar and wet lift of 0.8 bar. It is available with integral single and double precision relief valves and in CI, carbon steel, SS and other materials of construction. Soft packing or mechanical sealed versions can be offered based on liquids being handled. Magnetic gear pump is ideal for hazardous and corrosive liquids, handling them in a leak-free manner and is cost-effective when compared to pumps requiring specialised sealing options. The flow rates vary from 0.5 m3/hr to 340 m3/hr with pressures of up to 14 bar. The pump can handle up to 3,80,000 cSt liquid viscosities and can work with operating temperatures of 370oC. Various suction or discharge configurations can be offered based on liquids and site conditions. Shanbhag & Associates Mumbai – Maharashtra Tel: 022-28346604/28340071 Email: info@shanbhags.com Website: www.shanbhags.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
73
PRODUCTS
cts One should scan the market for relevant produ which suit the company’s requirements.
Amarpreet Singh (Sr. Manager – Services) Geo Informatics Consultants Pvt Ltd
It provides numerous user-configurable features including adjustable sample rates, dampening, tare, custom engineering units, min/max and password-protected field calibration. A five digit rotating backlit display with oversized digits, 20 segment bar graph and high contrast provides superior resolution and excellent readability in poor light conditions or bad viewing angles. Temperature compensation circuitry and multi-temperature calibration provides outstanding accuracy over a temperature range of 0° to 50° C. Cole-Parmer India Pvt Ltd Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-67162209 / 2222, Fax: 022-67162211 Email: response@coleparmer.in, Website: www.coleparmer.in
Hollow fibre ultrafiltration module
PVDF pipe PVDF pipe has the characteristic stability of fluoro-polymers when exposed to harsh thermal, chemical and ultraviolet environments while retaining the properties of a conventional thermoplastic material. Its features are high chemical resistance, low temp resistance, mechanical strength and toughness, abrasion resistance, thermal stability and low permeability to gases and liquids. Sangir Plastics Pvt Ltd Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-28726120 Email: sangirnp@bom7.vsnl.net.in Website: www.sangirplastics.com
Digital test gauge Digital test gauge for pressure measurement and calibration in process monitoring and control application is ideal for calibrating pressure transmitters, switches and gauges. It offers outstanding accuracy, resolution and stability for pressure measurement and calibration requirements. AccuCal Plus is ideal for calibrating pressure transmitters, switches and gauges. It is housed in waterproof casing of polished stainless steel and rated IP65/ NEMA4. Accurate stainless steel pressure sensors offer models to cover from vacuum up to 10,000 psig with accuracy up to 0.05% of full scale. 74
Chemical World | April 2013
Q-SEP hollow fibre Ultrafiltration (UF) modules contain UF membranes manufactured with an innovative cloud point precipitation method. This process ensures a high pore density along the length of the fibre and uniform pore size distribution in the membrane. Q-SEP modules deliver superior performance characteristics and product water quality that surpasses the quality from conventional UF modules, with low silt density index (SDI) and excellent rejection of bacteria and viruses. Q-SEP UF modules are made from a hydrophilic polyethersulfone material that provides high fibre strength and excellent low fouling characteristics, resulting in higher productivity. These hollow fibre membranes operate under low transmembrane pressure in an insideout flow configuration for superior performance. Aquatech Systems Asia Pvt Ltd Pune - Maharashtra Tel: 020 – 66547000/7269, Mob: 09890343114 Email: waghn@aquatech.com Website: www.aquatech.com
Test tool The Fluke Color ScopeMeter test tool comes with automated test capability for Fieldbus, Profi Bus and other industrial communication protocols. Fluke 225C and 215C ScopeMeter test tools are designed for maintenance specialists who keep automation and process plant equipment operational. These instruments feature easy signal validation of all the critical signal parameters, such as amplitude & noise and have floating and fully isolated inputs for true differential signal measurements on two-wire differential bus systems. TTL Technologies Pvt Ltd Bengaluru - Karnataka Tel: 080-25251859 Email: tmidirect@ttlindia.com
http://eshop.network18publishing.com
You Pay ` 2199/` Get 39% off on cover Price ` 3600/`
You Pay ` 899/` Get 25% off on cover Price ` 1200/`
` 2199/-
`
` 899/-
favouring Network18 Media & Investment Ltd payable at Mumbai.
Terms & Conditions: Your Subscription will start from the next available issue. Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. will take utmost care to dispatch the copies safely. Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. does not take the responsibility of any postal delays and damaged copies dispatched. For more information contact Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. subscription department. Above rates are valid in India only.
Subscription Department, Network18 Media & Investments Ltd, A Wing, Ruby House, JK Sawant Marg, Dadar (West), Mumbai 400 028. customercare@network18publishing.com
PRODUCTS
Digital magnahelic gauge This digital magnahelic gauge is used for pressure/vacuum measurement in the magnahelic pressure range. The instrument is capable of measuring differential pressure (two ports), gauge and vacuum measurement for all ranges. Also available is the standard pressure measuring range of 0 to 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 40, 100, 400, 700 bar gauge pressure indicator and 0.0 to -760.0 mm hg vacuum range indicator. It finds applications in cleanroom pressure measurement, HVAC equipment, Hepa filters, boiler equipment, air handling units, etc. Ace Instruments Hyderabad - Andhra Pradesh Tel: 040-23078848, Mob: 09394030848 Email: sales@aceinstrumentshyd.com
Wastewater treatment system This wastewater treatment system employs pulsed electric field processing. The operations of a pulsed electric field (PEF) wastewater treatment system are based on the process of electroporation in cells to accelerate pre-digestion. This results in up to 80 per cent less solid waste output. The wastewater treatment PEF system destroys cell membranes by applying 1-20 microsecond, 35-50 kV/cm high voltage pulses at a frequency of up to 2 kHz to the wastewater stream. This system facilitates the anaerobic digestion process of cells and is available in sizes beginning from 10,000 lph and reduces the solid waste by up to 80 per cent. Diversif ied Technologies Inc Massachusetts - USA Tel: +1-781-2759444 Email: kempkes@divtecs.com
Facemask respirator The facemask respirator is used for dust filtration. It is convenient to carry in the pocket. The facemask respirator has a durable elastic band, which is soft and safe when it comes in contact with the skin. This mask is easy to wear, comfortable while talking and has breathing resistance. The product finds applications in various industries, such as cable, battery, PVC processing, heavy electrical, power and cement plants, ceramic, silica and glass. It is also used while laying cables, spraying paints, grinding, dusting, soldering and electroplating. Empire Trades Coimbatore - Tamil Nadu Tel: 0422-5377228, Mob: 09894232828 Email: ynajmi@indiatimes.com
April 2013 | Chemical World
77
PRODUCTS
Hydrogen gas detection system The hydrogen gas detection system is used for detection of hydrogen gas. It uses a 3-status technology, which displays in terms of low/medium/high concentration. It has selectable slide switch for audio and visual built-in solid state buzzer. The system has the facility to function five gas detectors with independent alarm latching facility, potential free N.O/N.C contact and recorder output. The system is equipped with 4-wire technology and maturity timer. Subtronics (India) Pvt Ltd Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-24224461 Email: service@subtronicsindia.com Website: www.subtronicsindia.com
Pipe bevelling tools Pipe bevelling tools are fully portable for offshore pipelines and onsite use and can bevel at any degree of angle including precision ‘J preps’ for automatic welding. It is designed for long life and ease of use and requires no special operator training, all clamp to the pipe I.D., employ direct-drive bearing supported gears and use the EscoLock blade lock system with interchangeable cutter blades to bevel, face and bore simultaneously. A broad line of portable welding end prep tools for bevelling pipe ranging from 38 mm I.D. to 914 mm O.D. made of hard super alloys, offshore and in fabrication shops, is available with pneumatic, hydraulic and electric motors, depending upon model. They are suitable for bevelling stainless steel, super duplex and P-91 alloys. ESCO Tool Massachusetts - USA Tel: (508) 429-4441 Email: matt@escotool.com Website: www.escotool.com
Centrifugal PP monoblock pump The PCX M series Polypropylene (PP) monoblock pump is used for handling chemicals, loading and unloading tankers, acid pickling, etc. The casing, impeller and back plate are made of virgin moulded PP. The shaft is covered with high alumina ceramic sleeve and mechanical seal of teflon bellow type with GFT v/s ceramic seal faces. The pump eliminates the problem of pump and 78
Chemical World | April 2013
motor alignment generally faced in coupled type pumps. It also reduces chances of seal failure and provides long operating life. The pump comes with std. 415 V, 2900 RPM TEFC NFLP motor. The PCX M series pump is available in 1, 2, 3 and 5 HP models with capacity up to 40 m3/hr and maximum head up to 32 m. Taha Pumps & Valves Surendranagar – Gujarat Tel: 02752 – 240233 Mob: 09825599415, 09825829875 Email: tahapv@yahoo.co.in, info@tahapumps.com Website: www.tahapumps.com
Industrial plastic components A wide range of industrial plastic components is available in ABS, polycarbonate, EVA, polyacetal, nylon, HDPE, PP, HIPS, PVC and PET. Also offered are rings, closures, spacers, bushings, gears, lids, clamps, housings, handles, brackets, caps, connector brackets, electrical switch boxes, pumps and valve components, etc. A S Engineering Works Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-65277554, Mob: 09833617762 Email: moulds.plastic@gmail.com Website: www.asengineeringworks.com
Cooling tower The evaporative Fibreglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) cooling tower has a vertical induced draft counter flow design with uniform water distribution and optimal heat transfer. The tower casing is made of tough FRP and has sufficient structural strength to withstand high wind velocities and vibrations. The fill splits the air and water into several streams, increasing the time of contact. Automatic rotary sprinkler system is made of nylon 66 material, rotary head and sprinkler pipe distribute the hot water over the entire space of the filler. Sprinkler pipes are nonclogging, require low pressure to operate and assure uniform water flow with minimal operating pump head. The performance of cooling tower depends upon the water distribution over the fills. The water is distributed evenly through a wide spray angle without any dry pockets. Gem Equipments Ltd Coimbatore - Tamil Nadu Tel: 0422-2363800, Mob: 09366631697 Email: sales@gemindia.com Website: www.gemindia.com
PRODUCTS
PVC cable tray The rigid PVC perforated cable tray is an ideal replacement to MS tray. This PVC tray is not affected by any corrosive chemicals and is waterproof. It is used outside for prolonged periods as it is UV stabilised to resist ultraviolet rays of sun. It is available in width ranging from 50 mm to 300 mm, flange heights of 25 m and 50 mm and with a standard length of 2.9 m. The cable tray is lightweight and maintenance-free. It is joined by socketed jointing system, which means no coupler plate is required. Supreme Electroplast Industries Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-28873428, Mob: 09820306252 Email: supshitl@vsnl.com Website: www.supshitl.com
Reverse osmosis desalination system The PW series reverse osmosis desalination system is provided with the Aqua Pro 3 or 5-plunger high-pressure pump, titanium head for maximum corrosion resistance, balanced drive for lowest noise and pulsation,
ceramic plungers and nylon valves. The boost pump provides up to 50 psi of boost pressure to the filtration system. The system is equipped with easy-to-operate SS-316 high-pressure bypass valve, which controls the operating mode from cleaning/rinsing to water production and allows high pressure bypass for start-up and low pressure flushing without readjustment of regulating valve. Parker Hannif in India Pvt Ltd Navi Mumbai – Maharashtra Tel: 022-65137081 Email: parkerind@parker.com
Hybrid stepping motor The PJPL series linear-type hybrid stepping motors enable linear motion of motor shaft with a combination of threaded shaft and inner threaded rotor. The motors do not require any outside mechanical parts, such as lead screw, wire or belt for linear motion. These motors are available in two sizes: 28 mm² and 42 mm². Nippon Pulse Motor Co Ltd Tokyo - Japan Tel: +81-3-38138841 Email: s-hagimoto@npm.co.jp
April 2013 | Chemical World
79
PRODUCTS
Air classifier This is a screenless machine for grading offline powder into distinct coarse and fine grades from 60 mesh down to 40 microns. The conventional vibrating screens have choking problems along with low capacity when used for fine powder separation. Also separation efficiency is reduced. The air classifier can be operated in closed circuit. Premium Vijimech Pvt Ltd Ahmedabad - Gujarat Tel: 079-40083450 Mob: 09712987467 Email: sales@vijimech.com
Cage mill flash dryer This system has capacity that ranges from 10 kg/hr to 5,000 kg/hr. Due to low residence time in the range of 0.5 to 2 seconds in the flash dryers, heat-sensitive products can be easily dried without degradation. The cage mill flash dryers are compact, requiring less maintenance and user-friendly. Raj Process Equipments & Systems (P) Ltd Pune - Maharashtra Tel: 020-4071001, Mob: 09766441144 Email: sales@rajprocessequipment.com
Wear plate and wear pad The wear plate and wear pad overcome the problems of wear in critical sliding surfaces of machinery. It is used in sugar mills, cement plants and other engineering applications. It is a modified bronze-sintered PFE material with inherent characteristics of self-lubrication, low friction and high load-bearing capacity. It can withstand high working pressure of 115 kg/cm² and temperature of –218°C to +260°C. It is fungus-resistant and not affected by weather/moisture and most chemicals. Rollon Bearings Pvt Ltd Bengaluru - Karnataka Tel: 080-22266928 Email: rollon@rollonbearings.com Website: www.rollonbearings.com
Simulator The simulator is an apparatus that provides (for testing purpose) conditions like those which are encountered in real operation or replica of real plant with real-time data. Realtime simulators are offered for refinery: VDU, CDU, FCCU with emulated TDC-3000 console, fertiliser: ammonia 80
Chemical World | April 2013
and urea plant simulation with emulated Yokogawa DCS console, power plant 210 MW on KWU and LMZ turbines. Triangle Simulation Pvt Ltd Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-24095682, Mob: 09969074960 Email: triangle_simulate@yahoo.com Website: www.trianglesimulation.com
Silicone grease Silicone grease is a single component modified silicone system. It does not harden, dry out or melt even after 1000 hours at 200°C, showing good di-electric and lubricating properties. It wets and adheres to dry surfaces of metals, ceramics, plastics etc, providing high surface resistivity under moisture condensing conditions. Anabond Ltd Chennai - Tamil Nadu Tel: 044-24402311/13, Mob: 09825688244 Email: marketing@anabond.com Website: www.anabond.com
Filter press The sparkler-type filter press (model BPSF–8) consists of stainless steel shell and top cover, which use bolts to give pressure-tight enclosure. The filter cartridge assembly inside the shell consists of several horizontally arranged disc-type filter plates with perforated supporting screens, filter media and interlocking cups. Bombay Pharma Equipments Pvt Ltd Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-28594877 Email: bombaypharma@vsnl.net Website: www.bombaypharma.com
Dust filtration system The Dustkiller DK 500 captures fine particulates before they settle down on precision equipment. Dust is sucked by the centrifugal blower through the inlets on the top. Capacity is 500 cm³/hr, input voltage is 230 V ±10 per cent,with low noise and wall mounting with fixtures. Powertech Pollution Controls Pvt Ltd Bengaluru - Karnataka Tel: 080-23452156 Email: powertech@airtelmail.in
PRODUCTS
Diesel and gasoline nozzles
Multi-titration system
The diesel and gasoline nozzles are designed for use on farm and consumer pumps. The lightweight tensalloy aluminium diesel nozzle provides high flow capacity required by truck stops and terminal operations. Microtouch valve provides smooth operation and exceptional flow control. Super tough nylon hose guard and hold-open clip and easy-to-change lockout style spout assembly are other important features. The lightweight diesel nozzle offers efficient refuelling.
The automated multi-titration system is equipped with a comprehensive Windows-based titration operating system, and is capable of multiplexing. With a PC and user-friendly software, the system controls every aspect of titration analysis, from real-time runs to calculated results. The system performs a variety of specific titrations, such as pH, thermo titration, optical, conductometric and on-line titrations. It also includes four titration endpoint-sensing methods available with rapid multiplexing between thermometric, potentiometric, conductometric and chemiluminescence.
Dixon Asia Pacif ic Pvt Ltd Mumbai – Maharashtra Tel: 022-40931555 Email: salesindia@dixonvalve.com.au Website: www.dixonvalve.com.au
Multiflo Instruments Pvt Ltd Navi Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-27780880 Email: sales@multifloinstruments.com Website: www.multifloinstruments.com
Electronic dosing pump Energy saver Sensor-based energy saver automatically switches the air-conditioners On and Off when the temperature in the room is achieved. There is a 3-minute compressor protection time interlock between each On/Off operation. The existing air-conditioner has a crude non-sensitive thermostatic control, which senses the grill temperature to switch the air-conditioner On/Off, whereas the energy saver has a precision sensor, which can be placed, in any part of the room to switch the air-conditioner On and Off. This helps in maintaining the comfort temperature in most used part of the room. Gautam Enterprises Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-28750421 Email: gautament@vsnl.net Website: www.gautament.com
Laser particle size and shape analyser The laser particle size and shape analyser is available in wet and dry mode feeding. Lowcost particle sizers for small-scale industry and colleges, mid-range models for quality control, and top-of-the-line models for large-scale industry and research institutes are available. These analysers find applications in pharmaceuticals, cement, pesticides, battery material, graphite, petrochemicals, metallic powders, catalysts, etc. MeasureTest Corporation Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-22027982, Mob: 09869012701 Email: measuretest@yahoo.com Website: www.measuretest.com
The electronic dosing pump is available from 0-20 lph. It is compact in size and lightweight. The pump is diaphragm-type solenoid-operated pumps. The diaphragm is made of PTFE and backed by hyphalon. It can also be provided with automatic flow switches and level controllers. The pump is suitable for applications in water and wastewater treatment, fuel metering and other chemicals dosing in many process industries. Positive Metering Pumps (I) Pvt Ltd Nashik - Maharashtra Tel: 0253-2381993, Mob: 09326781757 Email: sales@positivemetering.com Website: www.positivemetering.com
Rotary dryer Rotary dryer is used for drying wet powders and cakes. It consists of a rotating drum with angle lifting blades, which lift the feed as the drum rotates and showers in the stream of hot air flowing through the drum. The capacity ranges from 100 kg/hr to 50,000 kg/hr and operating temperatures go up to 600°C. Raj Process Equipments And Systems Pvt Ltd Pune - Maharashtra Tel: 020-4071001, Mob: 09766441144 Email: sales@rajprocessequipment.com Website: www.rajprocessequipment.com The information published in this section is as per the details furnished by the respective manufacturer/distributor. In any case, it does not represent the views of Chemical World
April 2013 | Chemical World
81
LIST OF PRODUCTS
Sl. No.
Product
Pg. No.
Acoustic enclosure ................................ BC Air classifier................................................. 80 Air operated double diaphragm pump........ 72 Air operated pump ...................................... 72 Aluma coat .................................................. 29 Amino acid analyser .................................... 84 Atomic absorption spectrophotometer........ 84 Automatic amino acid analyser ................... 73 Automatic and contained discharge ............ 35 Ball check valve ........................................3 Ball valve ............................................... 13, 79 Ball valve - teflon lined ................................. 4 Bellow and dip-pipe ...................................... 4 Bend ............................................................ 79 Booster system ............................................ 72 BPT tubing ................................................. 72 Butterfly valve ....................................... 13, 79 Butterfly valves - teflon lined........................ 4 Cage mill flash dryer ............................... 80 Cake pressing .............................................. 35 Centrifugal PP monoblock pump ............... 78 Check valve ................................................. 13 Check valve - teflon lined ............................. 4 Chemical and pharmaceutical ..................... 77 Chemical pump ........................................... 73 COD analyser ............................................. 59 Continuous or batch filtration .................... 35 Cooling tower ............................................. 78 Diaphragm valve ..................................... 79 Diesel and gasoline nozzle .......................... 81 Digital magnahelic gauge ............................ 77 Digital test gauge ........................................ 74 Dry van pump ............................................BC Dryer ........................................................ BIC Dust filtration system.................................. 80 E/P positioner ........................................ 73 Electronic dosing pump .............................. 81 End cap ....................................................... 79 Energy saver ................................................ 81 Evaporator ................................................ BIC Exhibition - Plastivision 2013 ...................... 8 Expansion bellow .......................................... 3 Facemask respirator ................................ 77 Filter cock ................................................... 79 Filter press ................................................... 80 Flash dryer................................................ BIC Flow indicator ............................................. 79
Sl. No.
Product
Pg. No.
Foged steel valve ......................................... 13 Foot valve .................................................... 79 Gas chromatograph................................. 84 Gate valve .................................................... 13 Globe valve .................................................. 13 Hastelloy ................................................ 13 Hollow fibre ultrafiltration module ............ 74 Hybrid stepping motor ............................... 79 Hydrogen gas detection system .................. 78 Impeller.................................................. 79 Industrial machinery plant and equipment ..... 77 Industrial plastic component ....................... 78 Internal gear pump...................................... 73 Large diameter welded pipe ..................... 77 Laser particle size analyser .......................... 84 Laser particle size and shape analyser ......... 81 Limit switch ................................................ 73 Lined ball valve ............................................. 3 Lined valve .................................................. 13 Lined valve and pipe fitting .......................... 4 Long neck pipe end .................................... 79 Modular system pump............................. 47 Monel .......................................................... 13 Monoblock pump ........................................ 73 Multi-stage cake washing ........................... 35 Multi-titration system ................................. 81 Nickel aluminium bronze ........................ 13 Non-metallic pump ..................................... 73 Non-return valve ..................................... 4, 79 P/P positioner ........................................ 73 PFA lined ball valve ...................................... 3 PFA lined plug valve..................................... 3 PFA lined product ........................................ 3 Pipe bevelling tool....................................... 78 Piping system from polypropylene ................ 6 Plug valve .................................................... 13 Pole ring ...................................................... 79 Polypropylene process pump ....................... 73 Pressure and vacuum filtration.................... 35 Production HPCl ........................................ 84 PTFE lined ball check valve ......................... 3 PTFE lined fitting ........................................ 3 PTFE lined pipe ........................................... 3 PTFE lined product ...................................... 3 PTFE lined spool pipe.................................. 3 PTFE lined valve and pipe fitting ................ 4 Pump ....................................................73, BC
Sl. No.
Product
Pg. No.
Pump for chemical equipment .................... 11 PVC cable tray ............................................ 79 PVDF pipe .................................................. 74 PVDF pump ............................................... 73 Reducer .................................................. 79 Reverse osmosis desalination system........... 79 Roots blower ..............................................BC Rotary atomiser ........................................ BIC Rotary dryer ................................................ 81 Rotary gear pump........................................ 73 Sampling valve teflon-lined .......................4 Scoop ........................................................... 79 Seamless pipe .............................................. 77 Self priming mud pump.............................. 73 Self-priming sewage pump ......................... 73 Showel ......................................................... 79 Silicone grease ............................................. 80 Simulator ..................................................... 80 Slipon flange ............................................... 79 Spade ........................................................... 79 Spin flash dryer ........................................ BIC Spool pipe ..................................................... 3 Spray dryer ............................................... BIC Stainless steel pipe....................................... 77 Strainer .......................................................... 4 Super duplex................................................ 13 Tee ....................................................... 79 Teflon lined valve and pipe fitting ............... 4 Tefzel HHS isotactic PP material ................ 6 Test tool ...................................................... 74 Thermoplastic valve ...................................... 6 Titanium ..................................................... 13 Trade show.................................................. 60 Tube ............................................................ 77 ‘U’ tube ................................................... 77 Vacuum booster pump .......................... BC Vacuum or hot gas drying........................... 35 Vacuum system ..........................................BC Valve ........................................................ 3, 79 Valve positioner........................................... 73 Vertical glandless pump .............................. 73 Washer ................................................... 79 Wastewater treatment system ..................... 77 Wear plate and wear pad ............................ 80 Welded pipe ................................................ 77 Wind turbine.............................................FIC ‘Y’ type strainer ....................................... 79
BC - Back Cover, BIC - Back Inside Cover, FIC - Front Inside Cover
Looking For A Specific Product? Searching and sourcing products were never so easy. Just type CW (space) Product Name and send it to 51818
eg. CW Pump and send it to 51818 82
Chemical al World | April 2013
LIST OF ADVERTISERS
Advertiser’s Name & Contact Details
Pg No
All India Plastics Mfrs Association
8
Advertiser’s Name & Contact Details
Pg No
Dip-Flon Engineering Co.
3
T: +91-22-28217324
T: +91-79-25624003
E: pvi13@plastivision.org
E: dipflon@satyam.net.in
W: www.plastivision.org
W: www.dipflon.com
Advertiser’s Name & Contact Details
Parth Poly Valve Pvt Ltd
Pg No
79
T: +91-79-22200198 E: sales@parthvalves.com W: www.parthvalves.com
Analytical Technologies Limited
84
Everest Blower Systems
BC Pentair Water India Pvt Ltd
11
T: +91-265-2253620
T: +91-11-45457777
E: info@ais-india.com
E: info@everestblowers.com
T: +91-120-4199444
W: www.ais-india.com
W: www.everestblowers.com
E: marketing.india@pentair.com
Anup Engineering
77
Flucon Automation
73
T: +91-2646-250025
T: +91-79-65722609
E: sales@megamachineryindia.com
E: sales@fluconautomationinc.com
W: www.megamachineryindia.com
W: www.fluconautomationinc.com
BASF India Ltd
FIC
T: +91-2827-287658
E: contact-us-india@basf.com
E: valve@gmengg.com
W: www.basf.com
W: www.gmengg.com
BHS-Sonthofen (India) Pvt Ltd
35
Shachi Engg Pvt Ltd
G M Engineering
T: +91-22-66618000
13
T: +91-79-25833040
E: info@bhs-sonthofen.in
E: hitech@ptfeindia.com
W: www.bhs-sonthofen.in
W: www.ptfeindia.com
BIC
T: +91-20-66546900 E: shachi_engineering@vsnl.com W: www.shachiengg.com Suraj Limited
77
T: +91-79-27540720
Hi-Tech Applicator
T: +91-40-23315341/45
W: www.pentair.com
4
E: suraj@surajgroup.com W: www.surajgroup.com
Chemical & Process World
60
Uniphos Envirotronic Pvt Ltd
Jyoti Ceramic Industries Pvt Ltd
29
T: +91-22-30034650
T: +91-253-2350120
E: cpw@network18publishing.com
E: info@jyoticeramics.com
59
T: +91-22-6123500 E: singhrv@uniphos.com W: www.uniphos-she.com
W: www.jyoticeramics.com UNP Polyvalves India Pvt Ltd Dev Engineers
73
LAN Marketing Pvt Ltd
6
47 T: +91-265-2649248
T: +91-79-26403839
T: +91-09920780721
E: info@devpumps.com
E: jai@lanengg.com
W: www.devpumps.com
W: www.maag.com Not applicable
Our consistent advertisers
E: mktg@polyvalve.com W: www.polyvalve.com BC - Back Cover, BIC - Back Inside Cover, FIC - Front Inside Cover April 2013 | Chemical World
83