Chemical World - February 2013

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Industry Watch - Chemical World

February 2013

editorial

New Urea Investment Policy: Fertile prospects

T

here are some sectors where historically there has been heavy reliance on imports primarily due to lack of an encouraging investment policy and its cascading impact in stifling creation of further capacity in the country.

Case in point is urea. Since FY 2001, production of urea in India has been stagnant. So much so, from nil imports then, the nation’s dependence on imports has risen to 27 per cent in FY 2012. In terms of absolute figure, the subsidy burden on the government for imported urea stood at about ` 174 billion in 2011-12.

Against this backdrop, the government’s recent notification of the New Investment Policy 2012 (NIP-2012) is likely to be a watershed moment and usher in fresh investments into the urea sector. Here are some highlights of the policy. It benchmarks realisation of urea for new projects to import parity prices, subject to floating floor and ceiling prices, which are in turn linked to gas prices. According to reputed rating agency ICRA, the new policy is in line with the demand of the industry to do away with the gas price ceiling of $ 14/mmbtu, proposed in the earlier policy. Further, it provides downside risk protection through a cost-plus mechanism and upside benefit through import parity price-linked pricing mechanism for new projects.

With this clarity on gas price pass-through, ICRA expects at least 5-6 brownfield/greenfield projects to materialise in the near future. It adds that the policy may help creation of incremental capacities to the extent of 8-10 million metric tonne per annum over the next 5 years, which should improve the self-sufficiency of the country in urea, although it may not eliminate urea imports altogether.

Further, as the plants get commissioned over the next 3-4 years, improvement in domestic gas availability and betterment in RLNG infrastructure leading to RLNG tie-ups should enable long-term gas tie-ups for these new projects.

Editorial Advisory Board Pothen Paul

Former Chairman, Aker Powergas Pvt Ltd

All in all, this policy seems to have advantage points for various stakeholders. As far as the domestic urea industry is concerned, it provides a more transparent mechanism for managing the probability of high gas prices on account of structurally high RLNG prices in case of lack of domestic gas availability. The government should benefit as the country becomes self-sufficient in urea and therefore, ensure substantial savings from otherwise subsidy outflows. As subsidy receivables diminish, there should be an improvement in the working capital cycle for the urea producers, which should lead to a decline in the interest costs for these companies. Last but not the least, international prices of urea may see a correction as demand from India recedes.

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

February 2013 | Chemical World

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44 42

Insight & Outlook: Oil & Gas

26

Cover illustration: Chaitanya Dinesh Surpur

Special Focus: Green Chemistry Green chemistry.................................................................. 26 Process innovation............................................................... 28

Green manufacturing ......................................................... 30 Interface - Dr Swapan Kumar Ghosh, Director, Nova Surface-Care Centre Pvt Ltd.................................... 32

Roundtable........................................................................... 33

In Conversation With

Decontrolling prices of oil & gas........................................ 42

Fluctuating oil prices........................................................... 44 Shale gas.............................................................................. 46 Business restructuring......................................................... 48

Safety compliance................................................................ 50

Proactive planning and scheduling..................................... 52

Automation Trends

Case Study – Tata Chemicals: Data accessibility made easy with wireless solution ................................................. 54

Energy Management

Steve Stilliard, Vice President & Managing Director, Indian Subcontinent, Huntsman Corporation.............................. 22

Facility Visit: LANXESS India Pvt Ltd, Nagda plant Scoring high on sustainability................................................. 34

Regular Sections

Government’s initiatives for O&G industry....................... 40

Advanced control system: Empowering savings cost-effectively .................................................................... 56

Policies & Regulations

Budget expectations: Need to have a proper ‘feed’ for the industry.......................................................... 58

Strategy

Expansion plans : Strategising future growth with an eye on emerging markets ...................................... 60

Tips & Tricks

Editorial......................................................................... 5 News, Views & Analysis............................................... 10 Technology & Innovation............................................. 18 Technology Transfer..................................................... 20 Projects......................................................................... 64 Tenders......................................................................... 66 Event List..................................................................... 68 Book Review................................................................. 72 Products ....................................................................... 73 List of Products ........................................................... 82 List of Advertisers ....................................................... 83

Baghouse filter: Guidelines to make right choice of dust collectors for clean air.................................. 62

Event Report

Engineering Expo Indore 2013: Empowering SMEs, expanding market reach...................................................... 70

Highlights of Next Edition Special Focus: Safety & Maintenance Insight & Outlook: Fine Chemicals

Details on page no. 68

Note: ` stands for Indian rupee, $ stands for US dollar and £ stands for UK pound, unless mentioned otherwise February 2013 | Chemical World

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February 2013 | Chemical World

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News, Views & Analysis

SPECIALTY CHEMICALS

Exports Strategy

FIEO releases report on export competitiveness

Providing a boost to the exports from Gujarat and the country, at large, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), along with Industrial Extension Bureau (iNDEXTb) and Gujarat Government organised a day-long conclave on ‘Export Competitiveness of Gujarat - Vision 2020’. At the conclave, the FIEO report - ‘Export Competitiveness of Gujarat: Vision 2020’ - was released

by Narendra Modi, Chief Minister, Government of Gujarat. The study highlights the potential of exports for existing as well as new products including major markets, competitors in such markets, and non-tariff barriers putting obstacle on market access for such products. Rafeeque Ahmed, President, FIEO, said, “Gujarat has a monopoly in the petrochemical sector as it has all the facilities to support this sector’s growth. Thus, with the increasing demand for petrochemicals, the industry in Gujarat will only grow in future. Hence, the exports will increase considerably by 2020. Further, initiatives taken by the Government of Gujarat in all the sectors can be replicated by other states also so as to enable us in doubling our share in global trade by 2020.”

Avani Jain

Huntsman plans big for India

Huntsman Corporation recently capital expenditure of $ 10 million annually announced the creation of the new position and 13-15 per cent growth per annum in of Vice President and Managing Director, Indian market.”

Indian Subcontinent, and The new role was the appointment of Steve created to provide leadership Stilliard to this role. Stilliard for Huntsman’s rapidly was previously Vice President expanding presence in the - Asia-Pacific, Performance subcontinent. “We have Products Division, Huntsman identified three global trends Corporation. Speaking about – energy, infrastructure the investment plans in India, and consumerism – which Stilliard, said, “Global sales are fuelling the demand from Huntsman amount to for specialty chemicals Steve Stilliard $ 12 billion, of which India the world over. We are accounts for $ 500-million sales, or roughly developing solutions constantly to help 4-5 per cent. We plan to expand capacities our customers and end-consumers lead a and push sales in India to double revenues better quality of life,” he added.

Mahua Roy to $ 1 billion by 2018-19. We are looking at MARKET DEMAND

Acetic acid market benefits from surge in Asian chemical industry

Industrial growth in China and technological progress is driving the global chemicals industry, states a new report by GBI Research. Acetic acid is an important chemical with applications in several industries such as textiles, food processing and other industrial chemical processes. Acetic acid prices are mainly driven by the prices of feedstock & methanol, and demand for its derivatives, such as vinyl acetate monomer (VAM), purified terephthalic acid (PTA), etc. An increasing trend in acetate esters being used mainly as solvents for inks, paints and coatings has also been observed in the last few years.

Asia accounted for more than 60 per cent of global acetic acid demand in 2011, with China accounting for almost 40 per cent of that. The US had the second-largest acetic acid demand share after China in 2011, and a complete recovery in the US economy will boost the global growth of acetic acid in the future, states the report.

The global demand for acetic acid has been steadily increasing over the past decade, to reach 10,246,522 tonne in 2011, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.7 per cent in future years to reach 15,539,000 tonne in 2020.

Workplace Safety

Dräger eyes huge potential in safety equipment market in India

Dräger, an international leader in the field of medical and safety “Dräger has started its safety division for providing better and technology, is bullish about the chemical industry, along with other efficient after-sales service and be closer to the end-users in sectors, for growth in the area of safety products in India.

India. This will eventually support the business growth,” “The chemical plants are more safety-conscious now, and she added. Dräger products are widely accepted and this is due to increasing safety requirements for workers used as a standard in oil & gas industries, fire services, as part of governmental regulations. The increasing mining and other manufacturing industries. Kamann awareness is driving the demand for safety products in added, “In general, the demand for safety products is the Indian chemical industry,” stated Melanie Kamann, growing in the chemical industry. Furthermore, some Corporate Spokeswoman, Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA of the accidents in clean room applications in bulk – which provides respiratory protection, gas detection and drug chemical plants have created awareness among Melanie Kamann monitoring solutions to the chemical industry. the industry to adapt best safe practices and use safety To further bolster its business in India, the company recently equipment for their day to day work.”

Rakesh Rao launched its subsidiary, Dräger Safety India Pvt Ltd, in Mumbai.

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News, Views & Analysis

AU TOMATION Fair

Enviromental goals

LANXESS continues efforts towards sustainability

LANXESS has set up new sustainability goals. It plans the optimisation of the use of natural resources, making more efficient use of energy, minimising discharge of effluents, reducing fugitive emission release of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) during storage, handling and use, reducing carbon footprint and minimising outflow of greenhouse gases. “From the LANXESS point of view, safety is accorded the highest priority. We have defined ambitious targets for ourselves in order to continuously improve on our environmental and safety-related performance. We plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 10 per cent until 2015 and VOC emissions by 30 per cent.

We also aim to reduce specific energy consumption by 10 per cent until 2015.

When it comes to safety, we are looking at achieving zero man days lost due to incidents/injuries at our manufacturing sites,” said Namitesh Roychoudhary - Vice President, IEA & Capital Investment , LANXESS India Pvt Ltd. The most recent example in India is the new Waste Water Post Treatment (WWPT) plant that has been commissioned at its manufacturing site in Nagda, Madhya Pradesh. This plant will treat the discharge from the existing Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) in a manner that virtually no liquid effluent is discharged from the site.

Mahua Roy

Eminent experts discuss automation adoption in India

L-R: K Nandakumar – President, AIA, and U S Deshmukh, Group General Manager, ONGC

The India Automation Technology Fair (IATF) 2013, organised by Automation Industry Association (AIA) and Messe München International India (MMI India), was recently held in Mumbai.

The first day of the event witnessed various concurrent panel discussions and technical workshops by global majors such as Siemens, L&T, Rockwell, Emerson, Hitachi, Chemtrols, B&R Automation, Kuka Robotics, Mitsubishi, and many more. Present at the inauguration panel on ‘Innovation exchange: A spring board

for new solutions’ were Armin Wittmann, Exhibition Group Director, Automatica; K Nandakumar, President, AIA; B R Mehta, Sr Vice President, Reliance Industries; Raghavendra Rao, VicePresident, Frost & Sullivan; P Mahajan, Director (Technical), Engineers India Ltd; V P Raman, Divisional Director - Engineering, Mott McDonald; U S Deshmukh, Group General Manager, ONGC, and Ram Keswani, Chairman, VES Institute of Technology. The panel discussed that in India, levels of automation in most industries are far from their respective global norms.

Nandakumar said, “The primary aim of AIA will be to increase awareness levels when it comes to cutting-edge automation technologies and help Indian industry leverage these for better productivity, efficiency, quality and consistency. Less than one per cent of manufacturing GDP comes from automation and instrumentation, whereas in developed economies the percentage is more like 5 per cent. By 2020, India needs to go global and that is possible only with enhanced investment in automation.”

Appointment

Michelman broadens global business structure to fuel growth rate

Michelman has formed a new Engineered Wood Business Unit and has made four significant personnel changes to better align its resources with customer needs. This unit will be led by Steve Ruehrwein, who previously headed up Michelman’s Chemical Specialties BU. Peter Roggeman has been named as the new Business Unit Manager, Chemical Specialties. Michelman’s Flexible Packaging BU has seen significant growth, with particular success in the digital printing press market segment, where the company provides primers and overprint varnishes. Steve King, Sales Process Manager, Michelman, will shift focus to expanding the digital printing market.

INNOVATION

BASF’s innovative ‘We Create Chemistry’ world tour arrives in India Innovative ideas to solve global challenges are the focus of the marketplace of innovations in BASF’s ‘We Create Chemistry’ world tour, which made its South Asian debut at Mumbai. The tour, which kicked off in Germany in January 2012 and will continue until mid-2013, is designed to help the company’s stakeholders experience some of the company’s leading innovations for a sustainable future. The interactive exhibition features 20 world-class BASF innovations, 12

Chemical World | February 2013

ranging from organic solar cells to electro-mobility solutions to modern insulation materials and sustainable concrete technologies. “The exposition’s examples of BASF’s innovations in sustainability tangibly demonstrate how economic success, social responsibility and protecting the environment are interconnected as key elements of our strategy,” remarked Prasad Chandran, Chairman, BASF Companies in India & Head South Asia.

News, Views & Analysis

Automation contract

Honeywell awarded four contracts by Borouge

Honeywell has been awarded four major contracts worth a combined $ 40 million, over 18-month duration, for the Borouge petrochemical complex in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. Honeywell will be the main automation contractor for this project, providing Linde and other Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors involved in the project with integrated control and safety systems.

The installation of Honeywell Process Solutions’ control and safety systems, Experion Process Knowledge System C300, Safety Manager, and Advanced Process Control will allow for operational integration, improved production, increased safety and reliability, and maximum operability and profitability. The real-time information management system will provide Borouge 3 with business solutions that streamline, centralise and optimise operations, allowing for further profitability and productivity.

Borouge 3 is the latest expansion of Borouge’s polyolefins plant in Abu Dhabi and will manufacture ethylene, polyethylene, polypropylene, and low-density polyethylene, alongside associated butane, utilities and offsite facilities. Honeywell’s technologies have previously been implemented in the Borouge 1 project in 1999 and the Borouge 2 project in 2010.

Brand extension

BWF Envirotec extends its product portfolio

BWF Envirotec, which has been producing innovative filter media for industrial filtration for decades, is now extending the product portfolio with the new PM-Tec product line. It is offering new filter media specifically used in filtration of minute dust particles. The new product line represents the highest demands on a filter medium for industrial filtration. BWF Envirotec combines in

the new product line first-rate carrier media consisting of needlona needle felt or fibreglass fabric with a high-efficiency ePTFE membrane and the decades of experience in filter medium production.

The continuous in-house process chain, starting with the manufacture of needlona filter media, including the laminating process, to finishing of complete filter bags, guarantees high-quality standard of PM-Tec. It gives utmost priority to the latest state-of-the-art and ideal characteristics of the individual components in the PM-Tec product line. The membrane structure is characterised by optimum orientation and fineness of the fibrils, in addition to a uniform pore size.

Business Strategy

Sale of coatings business to boost DuPont’s investment plans

As part of its business strategy to focus on high-growth margin businesses, DuPont recently completed the sale of DuPont Performance Coatings (DPC) to alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group for $ 4.9 billion in cash. Nicholas C Fanandakis, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, DuPont, commented, “We intend to use a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the DPC business to buy back $ 1 billion of the company’s common stock during the first half of this year. Additionally, we anticipate using the remaining Nicholas Fanandakis portion of the DPC sale proceeds to further strengthen our balance sheet, which should give us flexibility to invest in future selective growth opportunities.”

Gregg M Schmidt, Spokesman, DuPont, added, “After a careful review, DuPont determined that DPC’s full growth potential will be best realised outside of DuPont and through a sale to The Carlyle Group. This transaction is consistent with DuPont’s vision to be the world’s most dynamic science company and long-term strategy of driving competitive advantages in agriculture and nutrition, advanced materials and biotechnology, which represent high-growth, high-margin opportunities.”

EPC Contract

Aker Solutions signs an agreement with Statoil for subsea production system Aker Solutions has signed a contract with Statoil for the supply of a subsea production system for the Aasta Hansteen field development project on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The scope of work within the subsea production system includes three template-manifold structures, 7 subsea trees, in addition to wellheads, controls, work over and tie-in systems. The contract also contains options related to Aasta Hansteen, which Statoil may exercise. “Aker Solutions is dedicated to supporting Statoil in optimising its assets and maximising production rates and gas 14

Chemical World | February 2013

recovery at Aasta Hansteen. We are honoured to be involved in this major deepwater project,” said Alan Brunnen, Head - Subsea Business, Aker Solutions.

Management, engineering and procurement will primarily be performed at Aker Solutions’ headquarters in Fornebu, Norway.

Fabrication of the subsea trees and workover systems will be completed at the Tranby manufacturing centre, outside Oslo. The production of the template-manifolds will be carried out at Aker Solutions’ facilities in Egersund and Sandnessjøen in Norway.

News, Views & Analysis

Value-addition

Invensys adds more value to its off-sites software suite

Invensys Operations Management has added more value to its off-sites software solution, including a new batch-tracking option for its Order and Movement Management module. According to the company, the newest version further enables accurate and detailed traceability of quality, composition, ownership and batch in movement. Additionally, its line management feature has been reworked to provide full line handling with similar detailed information about batches, ownership, composition and quality actually flowing in lines or line segments.

The blend optimisation system is enhanced to optimise blend plans for multi-blend header process environments.

Additionally, the tank information system has been improved to support redundant level measurements and to provide fully transparent synchronisation of TIS alarms with PLC or distributed control systems.

It offers a powerful DCS-independent off-sites and terminal operation solution that addresses inventory management and product blending – two of the key areas contributing to overall refinery performance improvements.

New Product

METTLER TOLEDO introduces ParticleTrackTM E25

METTLER TOLEDO launched its new inline particle system characterisation tool ParticleTrackTM E25. The fully electric ParticleTrack E25 measures aqueous particle and droplet systems for the chemical, food, consumer product, biotechnology, and mining industries. This probe-based technology eliminates sampling’s measurement variability for simpler, faster and more cost-effective system characterisation, as well as the more consistent and less expensive manufacturing outcomes it promotes. Based on traditional Focused Beam Reflectance Measurement (FBRM) technology yet requiring no air, gas supply, this robust FBRM probe allows real-time product-quality optimisation, greater formulation stability, and enhanced processing whether particle systems are being observed in 2-litre beakers, 20,000-litre vessels, or pipeline flow.

This versatility and ease-of-use is helping to put FBRM technology in the hands of labs and production environments in industries such as mining and consumer products, where FBRM has historically been considered a luxury.

APPOINTMENT

Ravichandran Purushothaman is now the President of Danfoss India

Danfoss Industries Pvt Ltd, one of the members who developed the new growth leaders in mechanical and electronic strategy for Danfoss India. Having been components & solutions, has announced with Danfoss since 2002, an important the appointment of aspect of Purushothaman’s role Ravichandran Purushothaman will be to establish support to as its President, effective the India market growth and February 2013. He will also ensure the company’s succeed Noel Ryan, who has continued growth expansion spearheaded Danfoss India in the country. for nearly two years. Ryan “I am honoured and moves as President of Danfoss excited to take over this Commercial Compressors and challenging position. India Ravichandran will be based out of France. is a top priority market Purushothaman Ravichandran is currently for Danfoss worldwide, as a key member of the Power Electronics it offers tremendous opportunities Global Management team and Senior domestically, as well as serves as a Director for Power Electronics Asiaglobal hub for worldwide markets,” said Pacific Region. He is among the key Purushothaman.

Innovative Products

Clariant showcases products for technical textiles at Technotex 2013

Clariant’s Textile Chemicals Business Unit lately showcased its innovative products, processes and effects at Technotex 2013 in Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. In its endeavour to promote sustainability, Clariant demonstrated its response to the challenge to make textile processes more sustainable with products, processes and know-how technology that address environmental concerns. It showcased Pekoflam ECO/SYN system, which is a fundamental breakthrough in durable fire retardant (FR) finishes and heralds a new generation in the production of FR protective textiles.

Clariant’s innovative, bi-component system of Pekoflam ECO and Pekoflam SYN, meets the needs of the textile industry for a more sustainable and high performance FR application. The other important products it showcased in the exhibition are Nuva N1811, Optif ix CLC liq, New Foron etc.

Commenting on the textile business P Rajasekaran, Head, Textile Chemicals Business, Clariant, India, said, “Our textile business is now exploring new avenues in the field of technical textiles. Our business is committed to supporting the development of the technical textile industry.”

EPC contract

ThyssenKrupp to supply two new plants to BAGFAS

ThyssenKrupp’s plant construction business has received an order from Bandirma Gübre Fabrikaları AŞ (BAGFAS) in Bandirma, Turkey, to supply a plant for the production of calcium ammonium nitrate fertiliser.

Under the roughly Euro 141 million contract, the new plant will be integrated into the existing facility on the southern coast of the Sea of Marmara, and is scheduled to start operation in early 2015.

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News, Views & Analysis

Market forecast

Biomass demand to increase to 3.7 billion tonne in 2030

Driven by aggressive biofuel mandates, rapid growth will cause strain on biomass by 2030, according to Lux Research. Using today’s technologies, an area the size of Russia would need to be cultivated to replace all of petroleum use for chemicals and fuels – feedstock innovation will be needed to keep growing biomass’ marketshare. “Today, biofuels and biochemicals need more than a billion metric tonne of material annually to replace a mere 3 per cent of total petroleum products,” said Kalib Kersh, Lux Research Analyst, and one of the lead authors of the report titled, ‘Finding feedstocks for the bio-based fuels and chemicals of today and 2030’.

“By 2030, this number will soar to 3.7 billion metric tonne, and meeting the growing challenge will require feedstock innovations such as crop modification, new value chain configurations, and agronomic technology improvements such as irrigation and biosensors,” he added.

According to the report, use of waste as a feedstock is rising. Municipal solid waste (MSW) and waste gases such as carbon dioxide and flue gas have potential as a feedstock.

Business strategy

Kemira strengthens global polymer product line

Kemira Oyj has reached two milestones in the execution of its long-term growth path. The company signed a licensing agreement with geographical exclusivity with Mitsui Chemicals, Inc, for acrylamide manufacturing technology, and has completed a substantial capacity expansion for three sites in North America, increasing its manufacturing capacity by 60 per cent.

This will strengthen Kemira’s polymer product line globally. The exclusive licensing agreement enables Kemira to produce high-quality acrylamide monomer.

Acrylamide is the key building block for polymers used in applications in the paper, oil, gas, and mining industries and in municipal water treatment.

Machine automation

Cognex launches new series of compact barcode

Cognex Corporation, a leading supplier of machine vision and industrial ID systems globally, launched a new series of compact barcode readers designed for 1-D-oriented barcode reading. Small in size the DataMan 50L measures just 23.5 mm x 27 mm x 43.5 mm and features an IP65-rated housing. It is ideal for mounting in tight spaces on production lines and in machinery. DataMan 50L is equipped with Hotbars, a proprietary image analysis technology that delivers the highest read rates in the industry.

“This product is ideal for customers who want to improve read rates, especially if they have barcodes printed on reflective or pliable surfaces or damaged barcodes,” says Carl Gerst, Business Unit Manager, ID Products, Cognex. He added, “Our technology has successfully replaced laser scanners in complex barcode reading applications, like multi-sided scanning, for years. DataMan 50L is premium technology designed for 1-D-oriented barcode reading, and it delivers read rates that can surpass 99 per cent.”

Business performance

WACKER records lower sales in 2012

Wacker Chemie AG generated lower sales and earnings in 2012 than in the previous year. The Munich-based chemical group achieved total sales of Euro 4.63 billion in 2012 compared to Euro 4.91 billion in 2011, almost 6 per cent below the previousyear figure. The decline was mainly due to lower prices for polysilicon and semiconductor wafers. Altogether, price effects reduced 2012’s consolidated sales by Euro 700 million, or by over 14 per cent. The chemical divisions, in contrast, actually increased their sales performance by 5 per cent overall, with higher volumes and positive exchange-rate effects offsetting the impact of price competition.

Rudolf Staudigl, CEO, WACKER, commented, “We are pleased with our chemical divisions’ performance last year, especially in polymer products. But it could not fully offset the decline in polysilicon prices.”

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In addition, Kemira has completed a two-year, multi-million Euro capacity expansion project at its polymer production plants in North America. This has resulted in a 60 per cent increase in manufacturing capacity at the company’s Mobile, Alabama; Columbus, Georgia; and Longview, Washington production sites. Randy Owens, President, Kemira Oil & Mining, stated, “We are excited about these steps that will support the growth of our business. With the new manufacturing technology, we are able to reduce the environmental impact of our operations, while also meeting the challenging needs of our customers to improve efficiency, productivity and water management.”

Green chemistry

New horizons in green chemistry to be highlighted at Ruia College

Ramnarain Ruia College, one of the prestigious colleges for higher science education in Mumbai, will be hosting a seminar on green chemistry on the occasion of National Science Day on February 28 and March 03, 2013. The seminar will cover upcoming areas of industrial research such as microwave chemistry and green solvents. Distinguished speakers include Dr Giorgio Marini, Technical Specialist, CEM International, Germany; Dr Deepak Satoskar, Manager-R&D, Johnson Matthey Chemicals Pvt Ltd; Dr Prabodh Chobe, Senior General Manager, BASF; and leading scientists Dr Amol Kulkarni, Associate Professor, NCL Pune; Dr Deepa Khushalani, Associate Professor, TIFR Mumbai, etc.

Prof Mugesh G Mugesh, IPC Department, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award, will be delivering the keynote address.

Technology & Innovation

Netherlocks introduces portable pneumatic valve actuator Netherlocks, a leading supplier of safety and valve control systems, has come out with Netherlocks Power Wrench portable pneumatic valve actuator that facilitates operation of manual valves for process industry employees while contributing to safe working conditions. It is capable of opening and closing any size, type or number of manually operated valves, making it a cost-effective alternative to multiple actuators. Power Wrench connects to valves by a bolt-on universal drive plate, allowing a single Power Wrench to operate multiple valves, and plates can be installed on all necessary valves. Then the operator can simply and quickly attach the Power Wrench as and when needed.

Even the drive plates do not interfere with normal manual operation.

Air-powered (4-7 bar), it is also safe for use in applications where explosive and/or flammable liquids or gases are present. The integrated safety lever and variable throttle valve configuration enforces two-handed operation of the Power Wrench, making sure the operator has full control over the device at all times. The device weighs only 10.2 kg and can effect up to 515 Nm of torque, meaning even the toughest manual valves can now be turned quickly and easily without unnecessary strain on the operator.

Double rupture disc assembly prevents environmental contamination Elfab Ltd, a leading manufacturer of rupture discs, explosion vents and associated detection systems, has further developed its existing pressure-relief assembly range, adding a design specifically to prevent environmental contamination in severe process conditions. The doubledisc assembly comprises primary and secondary bursting discs that are both reverse and forward acting, plus a pressure gauge or switch to monitor the space between the discs. The new design opens Elfab’s product range up to a wider mix of customers and process specifications, particularly in the oil & gas, and chemical industries.

The double-disc assembly aims to help the increasing number of companies facing the pressures of zero emissions and other environmental concerns. In the event of chemical attack causing pinholing of the primary disc, the secondary disc prevents pollution of the environment, while the intermediate pressure sensor alerts process managers and maintenance teams to the need to replace the disc that has operated.

Transmitter from Sensorex measures three critical process parameters Sensorex’s CX-3000 transmitter monitors changes in process fluids, displaying conductivity, resistivity or salinity, along with temperature, for process control in water, chemical, electronics, food production, environmental and wastewater applications.

It measures one of three critical process parameters conductivity, resistivity or salinity. A simple push button interface enables user-programming on-site for desired monitoring, with a password protection option for added security. The CX-3000’s dual output design, with a dedicated (0)4 – 20mA output for temperature measurement, eliminates the need for a separate temperature transmitter. Its large backlit LCD screen displays selected parameter and temperature simultaneously.

Conductivity is measured over an extended range of 0.000 uS/cm – 200 mS/cm for extreme applications. The resistivity measurement range extends from 0.00 – 20.00 M-Ohm/cm; salinity measurements cover from 0.0-70.0 ppt.

ISaGRAF 6 provides more flexibility to OEMs and automation vendors ISaGRAF has launched ISaGRAF 6 that leverages the powerful Microsoft Visual Studio Shell and offers an unprecedented environment for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and automation vendors to create differentiated products for their markets. Based on an open plug-in technology designed specifically for industrial automation needs, the ISaGRAF 6 Workbench is a modular and flexible environment that allows users to add or remove components. Every component in the Workbench was developed with and interacts through

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ISaGRAF’s new Microsoft .NET Framework-based technology called the Automation Collaborative Platform (ACP). ISaGRAF 6 contains numerous plug-ins. The core of the product includes a Ladder Diagram editor, a Function Block Diagram (FBD) editor, a Structured Text editor, a Tag Database editor (Dictionary), an integrated HMI (ISaVIEW), plus several other auxiliary plug-ins. The ISaGRAF ACP provides the ability to add or remove the various plug-ins to meet specific automation product requirements.

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

An Iranian firm is willing to offer activated carbon from coconut shells.

Areas of application Food processing, pharmaceuticals, etc Forms of transfer Technology licensing

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

Phosphate esters

An Indian firm is offering technology for manufacturing phosphate esters like tributyl phosphate.

Areas of application Specialty chemicals Forms of transfer Joint venture

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

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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 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

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

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

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

Silica gel

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

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 February 2013 | Chemical World

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In Conversation With Steve Stilliard

We are betting big on the textile effects division in India …says Steve Stilliard, Vice President & Managing Director, Indian Subcontinent, Huntsman Corporation. He has been instrumental in building a successful $ 500-million business in the Asia-Pacific region with a manufacturing footprint including Singapore and India in addition to the existing Australian operations. In an interaction with Mahua Roy, he discusses Huntsman’s big plans for India.

What are the broad areas of Huntsman’s business in India?

Photo: Joshua Navalkar

Huntsman in India is operating majorly in four divisions. One is textile chemicals in Gujarat. Also surfactants & performance chemicals is present in Gujarat via our acquisition of Laffans. Then in Chennai, there is advanced materials; our epoxy resins business is a part of that. Our polyurethane (PU) business is present in Pune. We have actively invested in manufacturing at all four major divisions of Huntsman in India. Another segment of Huntsman comprises TiO2 pigments. It is mainly imported in India from Malaysia. Global sales from Huntsman amount to $ 12 billion, of which India accounts for $ 500-million sales, or roughly 4-5 per cent. We plan to expand capacities and push sales in India to double revenues

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Steve Stilliard

to $ 1 billion by 2018-19. We are looking at capital expenditure of $ 10 million annually and 13-15 per cent growth per annum in Indian market.

tailor-made to help businesses make real savings. We would like to promote cold water wash and develop effective solutions so that fewer chemicals are required.

What mega trends are the big drivers for Huntsman?

Globally, which segment are you betting big on?

We have identified three global trends energy, infrastructure and consumerism - which are fuelling the demand for specialty chemicals the world over. We are developing solutions constantly to help our customers and end-consumers lead a better quality of life. Our textile effects division is fuelled by the rise in consumerism. The consumer demand for improved quality and better value in apparel and home furnishings that are attractive, durable and long-lasting is on the rise. Consumerism is also driving our surfactants business. We are working with our customers to develop better formulations of Home and Personal Care (HPC) products.

When it comes to energy, Huntsman supplies specialised products for wind power. We also have presence in the gas treating business in India for the cleaning of gas streams. We have used it for treating of gas streams for our amine set up at Ankleshwar plant.

What are the latest solutions developed for the textile industry?

Promoting optimum use of water is the major focus of our technical R&D. We believe that will give us a technical edge.

Our product AVITERA SE continues to make strides in contributing to economic and environmental sustainability. This dye is a ground-breaking technology that helps textile mills increase production output significantly, reduce water & energy consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 50 per cent since the dyeing and washing-off process never exceed 60°C. High solubility also allows AVITERA SE dyes to be applied at ultra-short ratios and ensure much lower processing costs. In addition, its outstanding compatibility and low sensitivity to dyeing parameters gives excellent lab-to-bulk and bulk-to-bulk reproducibility, thereby minimising reprocessing.

We will continue to deliver relevant products and innovative solutions that are

One of the internationally attractive segment for Huntsman is PU. Insulation is going to be an important need for the industry and consumers, fuelled by the need for cooling solutions and cold chain. It is a huge market showing optimistic growth trends.

Also, Huntsman has pioneered the PU footwear business in the early 90s, and has become a sizeable industry by teaming up with the industry’s winners.

The PU division is taking a leading role in educating the Indian PU footwear industry, setting and driving the quality standards for the industry through industry associations, conferences and institution associations. The company has largely focussed on everyday shoes of choice for ordinary Indian people, to help deliver solutions for environmental challenges, modern design trends and workplace requirements.

How has the acquisition of Laffans in early 2011 helped you?

The purpose behind this acquisition was to gain a foothold in India for our performance chemicals range, which we were previously importing. By this we are now able to leverage each other’s capabilities and resources for surfactants and amines manufacturing in India. The planned technology transfer includes specialty non-ionic surfactants, glycol ethers and amines for a wide range of markets, including agrochemicals, household and personal care.

What are your future plans for inorganic growth?

We are looking actively towards acquisitions in India. We are looking at sustainable companies that are scalable potentially, whether or not they fit into our product line, or can add geography or technology. However, geography is not as attractive as technology.

What motivates you?

I plan to learn something new every day. I try to keep an open mind.

What is one business etiquette you always follow?

Shake hands.

What are Huntsman’s plans to promote research in India?

We are confident about developing a sustainability culture into our operations globally, and also in India. We are betting big on the textile effects division in India.

This country has an immensely talented pool of scientists, thus putting India on the forefront of the textile industry. We plan to invest in significant technical capability and R&D with regard to textile effects, in India. We will be paying more attention to environment-friendly measures and safety.

We are also emphasising on improving the quality of agricultural productivity.

Having worked with leaders in the field such as Sygenta, Bayer Crop Science, we are positive about our growth in the agrochemical market. We are confident about delivering solutions such as emulsifiers, adjuvants and wetting agents to improve efficacy of agrochemicals and increase productivity per hectare.

Huntsman already has a major unified technical centre in India. We are working towards establishing a local corporate HQ in Mumbai and plan to move in by the end of this year. Currently, there are four different offices in Mumbai and few laboratories. This new HQ will see consolidation of all properties.

Email: mahua.roy@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

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Special Focus

Green Chemistry Green chemistry Growing sustainably with clean technologies............................................................................................26 Process innovation The catalyst for creating a safe ecosystem.................................................................................................28 Green manufacturing Balancing economics and ecology in dye processing.................................................................................30 Interface - Dr Swapan Kumar Ghosh, Director, Nova Surface-Care Centre Pvt Ltd “Sensitising the industry to the needs of sustainability requires a mindset change�.................................32 Roundtable Are chemical companies proactive in practising green chemistry?............................................................33

February 2013 | Chemical World

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Special Focus Green chemistry

Mahua Roy

B

arely three months into induction as India’s 13th President, Pranab Mukherjee made a statement last October emphasising the crucial role of green chemistry. He called on the Indian chemical industry to promote sustainable development by investing in green technologies, adding that the industry must ensure

scale and many production-scales green chemical plants not expected to be run at full capacity for several more years. However, most green chemical companies are targeting large, existing chemical markets. Thus, adoption of these products is limited by market development issues than by the ability to feed present markets at required levels of cost and performance,” opines Prof Vilas G Gaikar, Bharat Petroleum Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Head, Department of Chemical Engineering,

Growing sustainably with clean technologies

Being green is not always easy. In an economy where green symbolises money, sustainability is a tough anthem to preach and practise. R&D efforts are now being directed towards cost-effectiveness of sustainable solutions, thereby expecting seamless adoption in the chemical industry. increased adherence to safety and international health & environmental standards. Coming from the President, this statement reinforces the country’s seriousness towards environmental goals.

Opening up opportunities

Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT).

Conversion into a profit centre

It is impossible to miss the underlying communication that accompanies new technology launches for the chemical industry.

In some or the other way, every technology, or service, or product is promoting greenness. So much so, that green chemistry is becoming an industry in itself. According to Industrial Green Chemistry World, green chemistry represents a market opportunity that currently stands at $ 8 billion (2011). It is expected to grow tremendously to reach $ 98.5 billion by 2020. A combination of efforts by enthusiastic researchers, forward thinking companies and conscientious consumers is responsible for this paradigm shift in attitude. Traditionally regarded as an industry contributing heavily to pollution, the chemical industry today is leading the change towards bringing a cleaner, greener, brighter future.

‘Gre’engineering growth

The chemical industry is expected to touch revenues worth $ 5.3 trillion by 2020. The scope of adoption of green chemicals & technologies is thus huge. Experts believe that green chemistry will drive future growth of the chemical industry.

“Green chemistry markets are currently nascent, with many technologies still at laboratory or pilot 26

Chemical World | February 2013

Sustainability is largely viewed as a cost centre by companies. Greening of any given process, or adopting a green technology is always a tradeoff among benefits, feasibility and cost, and a sustainable solution is not always the winner. The industry’s adoption of green chemistry has so far been focussed mainly on incremental improvements in existing processes. But it is a gradual change that the industry is witnessing and many companies are coming forward to even pay a premium to adopt a greener technology.

“The profits in all businesses including those in chemical industry are sustainable in the long run only when associated with stakeholder value combined with enterprise value. Chemical corporations oriented towards a range of stakeholders have been more successful than those focussed primarily on economic-based values. Increasingly the chemical industry is committed to Responsible Care, which advocates greater good and believes that the industry needs to earn its social license to operate every day. Unsustainable business practices will ultimately fail,” states Sanjay Choudhary, Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, Tata Chemicals Ltd.

Illustration: Chaitanya Dinesh Surpur

Green chemistry

Most green chemical companies are targeting large, existing chemical markets. Thus, adoption of these products is limited by market development issues than by the ability to feed present markets at required levels of cost and performance.

Prof Vilas G Gaikar

Bharat Petroleum Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Head - Department of Chemical Engineering, ICT

The red signals

New and innovative technologies developed in the laboratories rarely find their way out of the research unit. Market entry for green technology faces several layers of barriers, beginning with financial constraints. High financing costs that come with green technology bear some amount of uncertainty that requires more extensive research. Large initial capital investments in the early R&D stages can cause a temporary increase in the cost of green technology systems. This subsequently affects the consumer as well.

In these times of economic instability, most companies may thus not be ready to accept green technology as part of their main agenda.

The integration of green chemistry into manufacturing processing thus has not been a seamless transformation.

There are several roadblocks that limit the adoption of green technologies.

Primarily, it is the cost-conscious attitude of the Indian industry. “India is a pricesensitive market and sometimes, being

Increasingly the chemical industry is committed to Responsible Care, which advocates greater good and believes that the industry needs to earn its social license to operate every day. Unsustainable business practices will ultimately fail.

Sanjay Choudhary

Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, Tata Chemicals Ltd

environment-friendly is not a top priority for the customer. For some products, we also face competition from cheap Chinese imports, which may not have the same quality standards,” says Namitesh Roychoudhary, Vice President - IEA & Capital Investment, LANXESS India Pvt Ltd. An impatient pressure for short-term financial returns is the biggest challenge for green technology to take off. Thus, what is needed most importantly is the visualisation of long-term benefits.

Gradual change of attitude

Green has innumerable shades and thus numerous levels of adoption. The question arising is what exactly does sustainability mean to a company. As Choudhary explains, “The challenge in adopting sustainable solutions is how to create stakeholder value, which is a moving target. The challenge is to understand what level of performance they care about. This requires appreciative dialogue and ongoing conversation with the stakeholders. The stakeholders look at the sustainability performance from constantly shifting reference states. The businesses tend to communicate the past performance, which is perceived as status quo, whereas the stakeholders tend to compare a company to its industry peers & other evolving norms and the effort to exceed the norms. The stakeholders promote adoption of state-of-the-art technologies and this is what is perceived as true value creation. The challenges for evolving sustainability solutions will demand innovations to meet these ‘Zero-State’ expectations.”

A slow change is also a change. The exemplary actions of large corporations are driving sustainability mantras into the strategic goals of the industry altogether. “The compliance with norms is getting more stringent, and the entry of multinational companies in India, among other factors, is raising the bar for quality across the value chain. The endconsumer is also getting more conscious about better quality, higher safety and

The end-consumer is also getting more conscious about better quality, higher safety and being environmentfriendly. Companies have now begun to realise that in order to be a long term, reliable player, sustainable solutions are the need of the hour.

Namitesh Roychoudhary

Vice President - IEA & Capital Investment, LANXESS India Pvt Ltd

being environment-friendly. Companies have now begun to realise that in order to be a long term, reliable player, sustainable solutions are the need of the hour,” says Roychoudhary.

Preparing for the future

However, the fundamental barrier to the wider adoption of green chemistry is mindset. A complete makeover of principles is required and this can be seeded during the developmental stage of chemists. “Chemists get trained rigorously in chemistry, but are not given enough exposure on green engineering, product design, or lifecycle analysis. Safety is usually limited to wearing safety goggles, gloves and lab coats. Safety has to be dealt in an entirely new way, intrinsically as part of chemistry. Process redesign is what is needed as of today. Academicians have a huge responsibility to inculcate this,” adds Prof Gaikar.

But conclusively, the industry as a whole has to come together to promote the greater good of sustainability. “The industry needs to collaborate to develop common vision and collective response to the expectations of the stakeholders.

Advocacy and learning are critical to the success of a shared understanding and transparency in communication.

There would be top down mandates by the regulators, which will need bottom architecture to respond. Awareness, understanding and mentoring will be necessary to achieve the sustainable solutions,” summarises Choudhary.

Email: mahua.roy@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

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Special Focus Process innovation

The time has come, when chemistry will be revolutionised. Messy lab coats will soon be a thing of the past, while safety goggles might become redundant. Explosions in labs may be something absolutely unheard of. The new generation of chemists will experience chemistry in a whole new, safe way.

Mahua Roy

T

he chemical industry and research stalwarts have a huge responsibility before them. The onus of creating a safe ecosystem for the upcoming generation of scientists lies with the current generation. Developing processes and strategies that promote greenness and creating an altogether new mindset that inherently thinks ‘green’ is the way forward to a sustainable future. “We believe that what is good for business is good for the society. Safety, environmental protection, social responsibility, quality and commercial efficiency are all key corporate goals. Innovative products & technologies coupled with experience and

Efforts are directed towards the efficiency of green solvents, which can replace the corrosive and widely used chlorinated ones. Devising methods to counter complete elimination of the need for catalysts containing precious or toxic metals is also a priority area.

Jouni Ahtinen

Key Account Manager, Industrial Biotechnology, VTT Technical Research Centre

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know-how are crucial factors in boosting a company’s added value in the context of sustainable development and thus making a substantial contribution to society. In real terms, this means providing the best possible customer solutions, protecting the environment and helping to improve people’s quality of life,” states Namitesh Roychoudhary - Vice President, IEA & Capital Investment, LANXESS.

Process redesign

What is driving the change in attitude of chemical majors is the cognizance of responsibility towards the society and the environment. The long-term benefits of sustainable solutions are being identified and embraced. “All our operations are focussed on achieving reduced levels of materials, energy & water consumption, emissions & pollutants using the stateof-the-art technologies with revamps and retrofits in the existing facilities.

The innovative approaches of energy and water pinch are being adopted to drive the refinements. The Six Sigma approaches are being adopted to drive significant improvement. The challenge for the chemical industry is to respond to the ‘Zero-State’ and ‘Zero Harm’ expectations of the stakeholders,” explains Sanjay Choudhary, Chief Technology and Sustainability Officer, Tata Chemicals Ltd.

There are several open challenges before the industry and research houses world over are striving to address those.

The chemical industry is showing its responsible side by developing a green outlook for future. “Efforts are directed towards the efficiency of green solvents, which can replace the corrosive and widely used chlorinated ones. Devising methods to counter complete elimination of the need for catalysts containing precious or toxic metals is also a priority area,” says Jouni Ahtinen, Key Account Manager, Industrial Biotechnology, VTT Technical Research Centre, Finland.

Revolutionising the way chemistry works

Enzyme technology is being given more emphasis in chemical manufacturing.

Use of renewable raw materials is driving changes in manufacturing technologies.

“Instead of starting out with a relatively simple hydrocarbon extracted from oil, and then adding side groups to the molecule to give it the desired properties, chemists have to start with the incredibly complex mixture of biomolecules typical of most renewable feedstocks, and get to what they want by snipping off pieces in a controlled manner,” explains Ahtinen.

Biotechnological processing offers a whole new possibility for the chemical industry to improve environmentfriendliness of different processes.

“Bioprocessing does not require toxic catalysts and it reduces fossil fuel consumption. It is also interesting with regard to the economic point of view.

Raw materials are comparatively cheaper, since the preferred raw materials are plant-based wastes or an industrial stream. Process conditions are typically in ambient temperatures without expensive additives. Especially the rising oil price is continuously making bioprocessing more interesting,” adds Ahtinen.

Smaller strides to sustainability

In 2002, chemical giant BASF introduced an industrial-scale process that uses ambient-temperature ionic liquids to

Process innovation

remove acid by-products from reaction mixtures. This common manufacturing step had previously been quite cumbersome. But BASF’s green initiative into process redesign created a powerful impact in the industry. “Chemical manufacturing plants are being designed to maximise energy efficiency. Waste heat from one process is the warm-up for the feedstock for the next step. Such forward thinking nature of the chemical industry is a welcome step towards green chemistry developmental measures,” says Ahtinen.

Renewable chemicals represent another major sector wherein innovations in industrial biotechnology processes and feedstocks continue to spur growth. This success was attained by way of white biotechnology, bio-based succinic acid - a building block that can be used to manufacture products such as polymers and resins. Use of renewable raw materials in production of chemicals is attracting immense interest, given its potential in reducing the chemical industry’s impact on human health and environment.

A key focus area today is thus to replace costly chemical production processes with cheaper, bioproduction processes with interestingly new chemistries. Since the main aim globally is to reduce the dependence of the industry on crude oil and other non-renewable feedstocks, enzyme technology is the future pathway for processing.

Corporate agenda

Chemical majors are enthusing sustainable goals in their future agenda. It is inevitable that a sense of accomplishment is achieved when a cleaner environment is delivered to society.

This aids in the promotion of the company as a responsible one, thereby building the trust factor among consumers at large.

“Optimising use of natural resources, making more efficient use of energy, minimising discharge of effluents, reducing fugitive emission release of volatile organic compounds during storage, handling & use, reducing carbon footprint and minimising outflow of greenhouse gases are key focus areas for sustainable manufacturing,” adds Roychoudhary.

According to Choudhary, chemical industry needs to continuously scout for methods and technologies to reduce waste and energy use. Strategies need to be then planned to evaluate the efforts and outcomes of these technology adoptions. The leadership has to take active involvement. He adds, “At Tata Chemicals, the engagement with environmental sustainability has resulted in several process innovation and breakthroughs such as process integration in all the operations with efficient cogeneration with fuel flexibility. One of the achievements that make us proud include eliminating dependence on freshwater by adopting innovative desalination systems at the Mithapur operations such as reverse osmosis, waste heat desalination, etc. Mithapur operations installed the first large-scale circulating fluidised bed boiler with complete SOx capture.”

Email: mahua.roy@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

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Special Focus Green manufacturing

The future of the dyestuff industry in India is bright, with the companies adopting various steps and undertaking R&D initiatives to reduce their impact on the environment.

Bhupendra C Patel

Managing Director Jemby Chem Ltd

following the enforcement of strict pollution control regulations.

At present, the dyestuff industry is faring well in the country. However, one thing that can strongly impact its growth is stringent environmental regulations. Today, there is increased focus on environment-friendliness, and at the same time, the industry

Balancing economics and ecology in dye processing The rising environmental concerns are raising an alarm among chemical manufacturers and the dyestuff industry is not aloof from this scenario. Thus, it has become imperative for dye manufacturers to adopt a sustainable approach to production for ensuring a green future.

Avani Jain

T

he dyes and dyestuff sector has forward and backward linkages with many industries such as textiles, leather, paper, printing inks and food processing. In fact, the textiles and leather processing industries consume over 85 per cent of total dyes manufactured. The sector enjoys the benefits of a large market, availability of key inputs and technology, and competitiveness in the export market.

The global market for dyes is forecast to reach 9.9 million tonne and $ 26.53 billion by 2017, driven by the growth in key end-use industries. Additionally, demand in the market is rising and the industry is witnessing stringent 30

Chemical World | February 2013

& rigorous quality and environmental standards. Increasing consumer preference for environment-friendly products, which in turn is driving the consumption of high-performance dyes and organic pigments, is expected to provide stimulus to the pigments and dyes market.

is ensuring better customer focus through technical ser vices and marketing capabilities, in order to face global competition. Bhupendra C Patel, Managing Director, Jemby Chem Ltd, notes, “The future of the dyestuff industry in India is bright, with the companies adopting various

Indian scenario

This project (for reuse, recycle and recovery of by-product from spent acid) is and will be a lifeline for the chemical industry, especially the dye and dye intermediates segment.

India’s share in the world market is estimated at around 5-6 per cent. Indian dyestuff industry witnessed significant growth in the past decade due to government concessions in the form of tax and excise concessions to smallsized establishments. In addition, the industry witnessed export opportunities, subsequent to the shutting down of several facilities in the US and Europe,

J P Patel

General Manager Novel Spent Acid Management

Green manufacturing

steps and undertaking R&D initiatives to reduce their impact on the environment.”

Strategies adopted

Addressing the environmental concerns and aiming to attain a green future, the dye manufacturing companies have adopted various steps to reduce wastage and energy & water consumption. Bhupendra Patel notes, “We are undertaking R&D activities constantly for every batch so as to improve the yield. We are even taking up R&D in the environment sector as well and adopting various steps so as to become environment-friendly. Technological upgradation is necessary for a greener future, so we are doing that as well. After 1994, when various environmental issues surfaced on the scene, the production process was changed so as to get maximum yield, reduce raw material consumption resulting in less effluent discharge. Thus, tray drying was replaced by spray drying and even green chemistry was applied.

Hence, quality production increased and effluent generation was reduced to a large extent. ” He adds, “As a company, we also believe in the implementation of 3Rs – reduce, reuse and recycle – in case of effective utilisation of water. We have adopted green chemistry to ensure that 80 per cent of water is reused after distillation.”

Future colours

The dye manufacturers not only perform the primary effluent treatment at their respective plants but also undertake further secondary and tertiary treatment, and send the effluents to CETPs. An example of this is Novel Spent Acid Management Company.

It is a community project for reuse, recycle and recovery of by-product from spent acid generated during the manufacture of dyes and dye intermediates as well as other chemicals where sulfuric acid or oleum are used as raw materials. The individual industries find it difficult to store, handle or treat it effectively. Therefore, this facility was established.

Elaborates J P Patel, General Manager, Novel Spent Acid Management, “This project is and will be a lifeline for the chemical industry, especially the dye and dye intermediates segment. Earlier, we had to go to the companies and explain this concept, but now, they are coming to us and becoming a member of this project.

Further, chemical companies including dye manufacturers from not only Gujarat but outside the state are also showing interest in it.

Thus, awareness is increasing and this is a positive sign for the growth of the dye manufacturing and chemical industry.”

To achieve global standards, the industry needs to take efforts in critical areas so as to adopt aggressive growth, and focus on exports, R&D, marketing alliances, upgradation of manufacturing facility, contract manufacturing with companies having established markets, etc. Also, the manufacturers in the segment need to formulate good strategies for dealing with environmental issues so as to prosper.

Thus, the industry is likely to see the emergence of many new sustainable dyeing technologies with the help of good technical expertise and R&D achievements.

Email: avani.jain@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

31

Special focus Interface - Dr Swapan Kumar Ghosh

What are the problems faced by the chemical industry for which sustainable solutions need to be devised?

Our view on sustainability is to be able to find a solution to a given problem, which can be implemented over a long and sustained period with the optimum use of available resources, and with little or no negative impact on the environment. The over-dependence on crude-based products in our industry needs to be reduced. Talking of the coatings and related industries that we at Nova Surface-Care Centre (NSCC) engage with, one of the larger challenges

materials, it is not the most obvious choice to adopt sustainability as a core component. We have often found a rather short-term vision prevalent in many industry players in this context. Lack of government regulations is another grey area in many segments, which leads to a dichotomy in adoption of practices that are sustainable, since many of these basic aspects then become voluntary in adoption rather than mandatory, resulting in a skewed playing field. Stringent government policies that provide a levelplaying field to all and also mandate certain compliances essential to the wellbeing of our natural world are needed

this discipline. It is viewed as an expense rather than an investment. The problem is even more pronounced in the small- and medium-scale sector. This is probably one of the reasons for adequate value realisation and commoditisation of products in these sectors. Our idea was to harness the best of ideas and the sharpest of minds in this industry, and provide a platform to offer quality R&D services to the industry.

How can NSCC help create a cleaner chemical industry?

All technologies that are developed by us do have an underlying element

Sensitising the industry to the needs of sustainability requires a mindset change …opines Dr Swapan Kumar Ghosh, Director, Nova Surface-Care Centre Pvt Ltd. Having dedicated his career to research in the coatings sector, he conceptualised this venture to develop technology-driven solutions for the market. In conversation with Mahua Roy, he talks in detail about how sustainability can be made an achievable target for the chemical industry. is to find water-based alternatives to solutions that are currently using solvent-borne technologies. These are far more desirable in terms of environment, health and safety issues, right from the manufacturing to the application stage and even from an end-user point of view. Replacement for materials such as lead and alkyl-phenol-ethoxylates is also a key issue our industry needs to implement.

What are the challenges faced by the chemical industry to adopt sustainable solutions?

Sensitising the industry to the needs of sustainability requires a mindset change.

For an industry driven by cost pressures and an over-reliance on certain key raw 32

Chemical World | February 2013

today. Industry bodies need to become more serious and committed to the cause of sustainability. Several consumer awareness campaigns must be undertaken to educate consumers about the same, and also potentially justify any enhanced costs that are bound to accompany such sustainable practices in the short term.

What was the ideology behind the setting up of NSCC?

NSCC was born a little over a year ago with the fundamental objective of being an autonomous research partner to the coatings, inks, packaging, construction and adhesives-sealants industries.

Research in India in these segments is highly ignored and less than one per cent of turnover is contributed towards

of sustainability associated with them.

While undertaking any technology programme at our end, the choice of technology or solution is chosen to ensure optimum energy conservation during the manufacture and application phase, longer-lasting solutions, environment-friendly raw materials and end-products. However, since we are not a part of the supply chain and do not manufacture anything on a large scale, our influence is limited to being service-oriented and advisory in nature.

While we are committed to providing sustainable solutions to the industries we serve, the onus on its adoption and implementation lies with the chemical industry.

Email: mahua.roy@network18publishing.com

Roundtable Special Focus

Are chemical companies proactive in practising green chemistry?

Practising green chemistry is a necessity today and no more an option. The past two decades saw research activities focussed on the development of green technologies. As of today, commercialisation is being witnessed and the chemical industry in India is slowly adopting these measures. Talking to industry experts, Mahua Roy looks into the issue to gain more insights.

Amrendra Mishra Managing Director, Remmers India

K Nandakumar Founder and Managing Director, Chemtrols Group

Anjan Ray Commercial Director – Renewable Energy & Chemicals, UOP – A Honeywell Company

We have certainly seen a significant escalation in interest in green technologies over the last decade.

Consumers are now opening up towards paying a premium for green products and services, and governments are also more willing to subsidise green investments to motivate producers. A decade ago, the interest in greener methods of production was primarily and purely academic, but now we are seeing more semi-commercial and commercial demonstrations of green technologies.

Of all the upcoming technologies, those that hold the most potential are the ones that create real, drop-in replacements, which can seamlessly fit into the existing infrastructure.

Gaining technology acceptance not only requires us to have an excellent technology offering but also bring together parties from both upstream and downstream of the supply chain to ensure that a viable project is in store.

One of the biggest challenges faced by the chemical industry is regarding efficient use of resources. This factor has to be taken into utmost consideration, if we are to ensure that people can live with the limited resources offered by our planet. We are, therefore, addressing this issue in our production facilities. We constantly review our processes with a view to cutting costs, safeguarding their competitiveness and reducing their environmental impact.

Today, it is more than necessary that all of us as individuals and organisations realise that the onus is on us to work towards creating a cleaner and greener future. This results in the need to improve efficiencies in operations, resource conservation and implementation of strategies to optimise consumption and minimise the loss of raw materials & other resources. The chemical industry is thus investing in technologies to ensure green production.

With increasing energy cost, going green makes good economic sense, and this is what is being witnessed in the chemical industry in India.

The change in perception in this industry can be seen from the upcoming investments. Both energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects are attracting significant investments. So is water conservation and effluent management. There has also been significant progress in the regulatory framework, both in terms of mandates and incentives.

I believe that those who invest in cutting-edge green technologies today, especially those that minimise lifecycle carbon footprint and water usage, will reap significant medium-term benefits.

However, the adoption of green technologies is happening rather slowly. Once people see the benefits gained by the early risk takers, they will follow suit just in order to stay competitive.

Editorial take

There is still a long way to go for the chemical industry when it comes to total adoption of green technologies. However, a perceptible change is seen with more and more companies looking at green chemistry and sustainable strategies. The government is being supportive in aiding this transformation.

February 2013 | Chemical World

33

Facility Visit LANXESS India Pvt Ltd, Nagda plant

1

Scoring high on sustainability One does not too often come across a chemical manufacturing site that not only applies global best practices in its operations but also pursues sustainability as its core philosophy in line with the local ecosystem. The Nagda site of LANXESS has the rare distinction to have both these virtues.

Manas R Bastia

H

ere’s a chemical company that takes its responsibility to the present and future generations seriously. The Nagda facility of LANXESS recycles water and reuses it in the production processes and thereby improves the overall water balance in this Central Indian region, which is short of water, especially in the summer months. This is one of its many holistic solutions for the economy and ecology through appropriate actions and a shared mission: sustainability.

The plant, products and applications

A drive of about two hour from Indore airport, LANXESS Advanced Industrial Intermediates (AII) business unit manufactures specialty chemicals at Nagda.

The AII business unit is the largest of its 14 business units in India accounting for more than a third of the sales of LANXESS in India. The operations at Nagda are not only

2

34

Chemical World | February 2013

important for the business unit’s Indian operations but also form an important pillar for the business line – benzyl products and inorganic acids of the AII business unit.

This site serves customers across application segments such as agrochemicals, coatings, pharmaceuticals, flavours & fragrances, dyestuff etc in India and around the world.

Nearly half of the company’s sales from the site come from exports.

Armed with the strength of about 341 employees (as on November 20, 2012), this site manufactures about 3,00,000 metric tonne of advanced industrial intermediates each year. Recently, LANXESS has expanded the thionyl chloride asset at Nagda. This site has a full-fledged Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) and a state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant, which treats sewage water from the nearby colonies and renders it fit for use in the production processes. The company has zeroed in on a concept for the wastewater post-treatment that involves a Reverse Osmosis (RO) process followed by an evaporation step.

Sustainability at the core

LANXESS is a leader in specialty chemicals operating in all important global markets and is a leading supplier of performance polymers, advanced intermediates and performance chemicals products. In its activities around the world, the company adheres to the principle of sustainable development. Neelanjan Banerjee, Head - Business Unit AII India and Senior Executive Director, LANXESS India Pvt Ltd, says, “Health, safety, environmental protection and quality are the imperatives of the LANXESS worldwide Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) management system and we believe in maintaining the same high standards at all our operations globally. At Nagda ever since the acquisition, we have invested heavily in the existing assets to significantly improve the HSEQ standards on the site to get them to meet our same high standards that we have worldwide.”

The Nagda site has a full-fledged Waste Water Post Treatment (WWPT)

LANXESS India Pvt Ltd, Nagda plant

plant and sewage treatment plant.

The treated sewage water is used for the make-up water of cooling towers and an RO unit further processes the sewage water for using it as boiler feedwater.

The site also efficiently recycles steam condensate. Further, it has comprehensive air pollution control equipment and ensures responsible disposal of solid and liquid waste.

The Nagda site has a co-generation plant, which is fuelled by biomass (soya and mustard husk). It meets virtually all the steam and power requirements of the AII plant and makes the site almost independent of external electricity supply. By utilising a renewable source of energy, LANXESS is poised to significantly reduce its carbon footprint by 70,000 metric tonne of coal per year and thus reduce annual CO2 emissions by about 95,000 tonne. The combustion of biomass as a fuel is carbon neutral for the environment.

The target of LANXESS at Nagda site is as follows: 10 per cent reduction in CO2 by 2015, 30 per cent reduction in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) by 2015 and 20 per cent reduction in energy usage by 2015. This is in line with LANXESS’ global HSE commitment over and above the local regulation.

Incinerator plant

This has been recently constructed using the most modern technology available for safe disposal of distillation residue that is generated from the production processes at the plant, which was so far being sent to an approved common incineration facility. In the incinerator, necessary legal requirements of the Central Pollution Control Board have been complied with, by burning the wastes at very high but controlled temperatures inside the twin chamber incinerator with a high residence time. The flue gas leaving the incinerator is fed to a waste heat boiler, which in turn generates steam that can be used for the production process.

Effluent treatment plant

Process wastewater from all the production plants is fed to this existing but revamped and modernised ETP. This plant biologically treats these wastewater streams to comply with environmental norms. Prior to installation of the WWPT facility, this treated wastewater from the ETP was discharged into river.

New RO plant

This is part of the new WWPT facility.

Earlier, all wastewater streams were sent to the ETP. Consequent to a detailed analysis followed by lab trials and pilot runs using water samples from different sources, the influents to the RO process were separated into three categories namely – treated effluent from process, effluent from cooling tower blow down and reject from existing RO plant.

There are two RO units in this plant. The first RO unit is fed with the cooling tower blowdown and existing RO reject.

The permeate from this RO unit is reused in the Photo 1: Panoramic view of the Nagda site production processes. The Photo 2: Post-treatment reverse osmosis plant reject from this unit is Photo 3: Evaporation plant blended with the treated Photo courtesy: LANXESS India Pvt Ltd wastewater from the

3

We believe in engaging actively with the society around our operations.

Many successful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives carried out in the region have been hugely appreciated and we will continue our engagement in the area surrounding our operations.

Neelanjan Banerjee

Head - Business Unit AII India and Senior Executive Director, LANXESS India Pvt Ltd

On the operations front, we continuously aim at improving efficiencies by looking at energy conservation initiatives.

Sustainable development will always be an important part of doing business and we will continuously look at implementing such initiatives in future.

Bappa Bandyopadhyay

Vice President - Manufacturing, Nagda site

ETP and fed to the second RO unit. The permeate from the second RO unit is again used in the production processes. The reject from this unit is fed to the evaporation unit of the new WWPT facility.

Evaporator plant

Reject from the new WWPT RO plant is fed to the evaporator. The recovered water from the evaporator is used back in the production processes.

As a member of the leading sustainable indices Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) World and F TSE4Good, LANXESS’ goal is to bring in line economic, ecological and social aspects within its corporate strategy. It is therefore important that it not only makes worldclass products at the Nagda plant but also sets successful examples of sustainable development. “Our vision is to actively participate in ensuring that tomorrow’s world is safer and more livable for everyone,” concludes Banerjee.

Email: manas@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

35

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Insight & Outlook

Oil & Gas Government’s initiatives for O&G industry Intentions right, implementation a concern........................................................................................... 40 Decontrolling prices of oil & gas Fuel for thought for marketing of petroleum products.......................................................................... 42 Fluctuating oil prices Hedging, the way forward for profitability in chemical sector!.............................................................. 44 Shale gas Can US gas revolution change the face of global chemical industry? .................................................. 46 Business restructuring Strategic alternatives must to create value for shareholders................................................................... 48 Safety compliance Exploring key parameters for assured results.......................................................................................... 50 Proactive planning and scheduling Delivering a competitive edge to chemical companies........................................................................... 52

February 2013 | Chemical World

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Insight & Outlook Government’s initiatives for O&G industry

Contribution of various sources in Indian energy basket (in percentage)

52%

51% Coal Oil

Gas

Hydro

32%

Nuclear

25% 20% 10% 5% 2009

2025

2009

2025

2009

2025

2009

2%

1%

2%

2025

2009

2025

Source: India Energy Book 2012

Prasenjit Chakraborty

I

ncrease in oil & gas production needs to be examined in the context of domestic reserve resources and overseas strategic reserves. With respect to the domestic situation, the public as well as private sector companies are working towards optimising oil & gas production from the available reserves. The current activities are directed at maximising returns while aiming to replace production through discovery and exploitation of additional reserves.

Some of the strategies being adopted for this include cluster development of marginal fields – where marginal fields that may not be efficiently produced on a standalone basis are produced as a cluster, thereby sharing the facilities and other costs related to the production – enhanced oil recovery, improved oil recovery schemes aimed at minimising the decline in the field through more modern production methods and production of heavy oil where heated facilities are required to 40

Chemical World | February 2013

transport the oil from the wellhead to the processing facilities.

“Additionally, development is underway in deep-water assets on both the east and west coast of India as also development of unconventional sources of oil & gas through Coal Bed Methane (CBM), underground coal gasification and shale oil & gas. On the domestic front, the government is playing a key role in providing the regulatory and structural framework to enable exploitation of oil & gas resources within the country.

The movement from nominated blocks to public sector companies to NELP rounds with open bidding and the move now to Open Acreage Access proves the government’s intent to promote increased domestic oil & gas production,” says Kalpana Jain, Senior Director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd.

Way to go

In the case of capturing strategic reserves, although companies like OVL, BPCL, HPCL and OIL have managed to acquire some oil & gas assets globally, India still has to go a long way when

With growing energy requirements, the government has taken steps to provide momentum to oil & gas exploration activities in India. The introduction of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) has been one of the major decisions taken in this direction as it raised the prospects for boosting exploration activity in India. In addition, acquisition of overseas oil & gas assets by public and private sector companies is expected to augment the oil & gas capacity in the country. compared to the Chinese companies that have extensive global coverage across new and upcoming discoveries across Africa, South East Asia, the Far East, South America and Russia. “The strategy for acquisition of global assets in the oil & gas sector requires some review to strategically link bilateral funding and assistance with the ability to develop oil & gas resources as well. Hence, the acquisition of strategic reserves globally is not only a corporate, commercial play by Indian oil & gas companies, but closely linked to foreign policy and external bilateral relations between India and countries having significant oil & gas resources,” points out Jain.

The efforts by the government and the Indian oil & gas sector as a whole in being able to increase oil & gas production are critical as Indian imports of hydrocarbons have increased from 70 per cent to close to 80-85 per cent in recent times. The high level of imports, considering volatility in crude prices, has a huge impact on balance of payments, levels of inflation and value of currency.

Government’s initiatives for O&G industry

According to India Energy Book 2012, with growing economy, there will be more energy consumption in the country, which will result in increased share of natural gas in India’s energy basket. With a targeted GDP growth rate of over 9 per cent, India’s energy demand is expected to grow at 5.2 per cent. Currently, India is the world’s fifth-largest energy consumer accounting for about 4.1 per cent of the world’s total annual energy consumption and moving fast enough to become the third-largest consumer by 2025 after the US and China. The current per capita energy consumption of India is 0.5 tonne of oil equivalent (TOE) as compared to the world average of 1.9 TOE, and this indicates a high potential for energy consumption.

Per capita consumption of India is expected to reach 1.22 TOE by 2030.

China and India are two Asian nations expected to show the highest energy consumption growth rate in coming years, owing to rapid urbanisation and consequent high demand. With the massive rate of urbanisation, the demand for energy has grown manifold in the past few years and will continue to grow in future.

Stepping on the gas

Last decade witnessed tremendous growth in Indian gas sector, and gas has slowly emerged as a primary source of energy for India along with coal and oil. The demand for natural gas has sharply increased in the last two decades. In India, natural gas was first discovered off the west coast in 1970s, and today, it constitutes 10 per cent of India’s total energy consumption. As per BP statistical review 2010, the share of natural gas is expected to reach 20 per cent by 2025 from current 10 per cent. As per the global consulting firm McKinsey, by 2015 Indian gas market is likely to be as large as Japan, which is currently the largest consumer of LNG in Asia region.

With the demand for clean fuel increasing, the Government of India is taking policy initiatives to increase domestic production of natural gas by exploring vigorously for unconventional

or alternative hydrocarbon resources such as CBM, shale gas/oil, and gas hydrates.

While the government has formulated CBM policy way back in 2001 and awarded many CBM blocks to private companies as well as PSUs, it is in the process of framing a policy for exploration & exploitation of shale oil and gas in India. “India imports 83 per cent of its crude oil needs, and in the search for energy security, state oil companies are pursuing acquisitions in hydrocarbon resources overseas. Public sector oil firms have acquired assets in more than 20 countries. The government has circulated a draft shale oil & shale gas policy and a final document is expected soon,” observes Lalit Kumar Gupta, MD & CEO, Essar Oil Ltd.

The steps in right direction

In order to meet the growing energy demand, the government has taken initiatives to boost investment in oil & gas sector of India. With the objective of providing a level-playing field to private and public sector enterprises to compete on equal terms for exploration acreage, NELP was introduced by the Government of India to enhance exploration activity in the country. “NELP has encouraged further explorations for oil and gas reserves in India. Furthermore, in smalland medium-sized oil fields, 100 per cent FDI is permitted via competitive bidding,” says Amol Kotwal, Associate Director, Energy & Power Systems Practice, Frost & Sullivan.

Other measures are also being taken to substantially accelerate exploratory activities for enhancing domestic oil & gas production within the country. These are improving the recovery factor from existing major fields by implementing Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), and Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) schemes.

Besides, initiatives are being taken to explore new areas, especially in deep waters and difficult frontier areas, and the deeper layers of already producing fields.

“Indian Government has abolished the Administrated Pricing Policy to implement market determined prices of petroleum products. Apart from this,

The acquisition of strategic reser ves globally is not only a corporate, commercial play by Indian oil & gas companies, but closely linked to foreign policy and external bilateral relations between India and countries having significant oil & gas resources.

Kalpana Jain

Senior Director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd

100 per cent FDI is allowed in refinery, petroleum products & pipeline, natural gas and infrastructure related to the marketing of petroleum products in India,” says Kotwal.

In order to further boost investment in the oil & gas sector, in May 2012, the Indian Government appointed a panel headed by C Rangarajan, Chairman, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, to suggest changes in existing oil & gas exploration contracts with energy firms in order to minimise monitoring of expenditure, fix system to determine domestically produced natural gas price and modify existing profit-sharing mechanism. The Rangarajan panel has suggested moving to a production-linked payment regime where explorers may be asked to bid for a percentage of output they would share with the government. The firm offering the maximum would win a block or area.

India has significant potential to discover new oil & gas basins, with recent large-scale oil & gas discoveries in the Krishna Godavari and Rajasthan basins having amply demonstrated this potential. The US Energy Information Administration estimated that India held 38 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves. With government policy framework on shale gas exploration expected in the next 18-24 months, India can look forward to commercial production of shale gas in the next five years or by 2017.

Email: prasenjit.chakraborty@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

41

Insight & Outlook Decontrolling prices of oil & gas

Fuel for thought for marketing of petroleum products

Decontrolling of oil prices will help reduce the cash flow pressures, which will improve profitability of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). Besides, Exploration and Production (E&P) companies will be able to get rid of subsidy burden that will ultimately help them to channelise their funds for more E&P activities.

Prasenjit Chakraborty

S

tate-owned OMCs such as Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) currently sell diesel at a loss. As per recent information from Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell, while the current cost of diesel is ` 47.15 per litre, the selling price of diesel leads to a loss of ` 9.28 per litre for the OMCs. Losses or under-recovery of these OMCs and 42

Chemical World | February 2013

the upstream oil companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Oil India Lt (OIL) and GAIL India are offset through subsidy payment by government. “Based on information available from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), underrecoveries from diesel increased from ` 9,279 crore in FY2009-10 to ` 81,192 crore in FY2011-12 (a huge 775 per cent increase over a two-year timeframe).

With the current fiscal deficit, the government’s finances are in doldrums; hence subsidy payments to the OMCs

are getting delayed leading to working capital stress,” points out Amol Kotwal, Associate Director, Energy & Power Systems Practice, Frost & Sullivan.

Decontrolling diesel prices and effecting the proposed hike of ` 3 to ` 4.50 at one go or ` 1 per month with effect from April 2013 over the next 10 months is expected to have the following impact: o Diesel price rise of ` 1 per month with effect from April 2013 over a 10-month period would substantially reduce under-recovery on diesel (60-65 per cent of the estimated

Decontrolling prices of oil & gas

total under-recovery of approximately ` 1,30,000 crore in FY2013-14) if the crude price and exchange rate remain at the current levels o Reduce the cash flow pressures with improved profitability for OMCs due to substantial reduction in diesel under-recovery o Absolving government from providing subsidy to the OMCs, thereby improving government finances According to Lalit Kumar Gupta, Managing Director & CEO, Essar Oil Ltd, the announcement of a partial deregulation of retail price of diesel by allowing PSU oil companies to raise prices is a welcome move. “The need of the hour is to have a complete deregulation of fuel prices and allow market forces to set the benchmarks in tandem with global oil prices,” he points out.

Private oil marketing companies have invested substantially in setting up their retail outlets, but due to lack of levelplaying field, these assets were under utilised. Once price parity is reached between retail and market prices, it will not only benefit consumers by providing them choice, but also help in demand management of diesel. “It will also be good for the economy, since a ballooning subsidy bill was threatening to derail the overall fiscal discipline,” observes Gupta.

Essar Oil has a retail network of over 1,400 outlets nationwide with almost 200 more under various stages of completion.

With full implementation of diesel deregulation, the network will prove to

Free pricing policy would lead to lowering of under-recovery by OMCs and effectively reduce the subsidy burden of E&P companies such as ONGC, OIL etc. Reduction in subsidy burden of E&P companies would enable them to channelise funds for more E&P activities.

Amol Kotwal

Associate Director, Energy & Power Systems Practice, Frost & Sullivan

be a value booster for the company. The pricing reforms will improve the cash flows of the OMCs, to some extent, as earnings will be substituted with cash profits instead of oil bonds. “Industry experts say this move will open up the sector to new investments. Also, with competition, the ultimate winner is the end-customer,” says Gupta.

Will exploration & production of oil get a boost?

According to Kotwal, ONGC contributed a chunk of subsidy burden in FY2011-12 (approximately 81 per cent of the total subsidy burden of ` 550 billion borne by upstream companies). Over the last seven years, ONGC’s capital expenditure (` 1,754 billion) has been more or less equivalent to total subsidy burden (` 1,696 billion) to off-set underrecovery of OMCs. “Free pricing policy would lead to lowering of under-recovery

by OMCs and effectively reduce the subsidy burden of E&P companies such as ONGC, OIL etc. Reduction in subsidy burden of E&P companies would enable them to channelise funds for more E&P activities,” he points out.

Market-related prices can provide an incentive to help produce the vast domestic resources. For instance, India’s largest private firm Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has put on hold investments in the country’s oil & gas exploration citing lack of clarity on gas pricing policies from the government. “Also, oil & gas exploration comes with a geology risk like what happened in D6, but it is difficult when policy risks are added to it. It impacts investment decisions,” opines Gupta.

Investment in E&P

Despite the high fuel-subsidy burden and volatile crude prices, upstream state-owned Indian companies have been well-equipped to invest in exploration activities. “Upstream oil company ONGC leads the pack, with an investment outlay of ` 1,63,956 crore for the 12th Five-year Plan. During the Plan period, the company would

The announcement of a partial deregulation of retail price of diesel is a welcome move. The need of the hour is to have a complete deregulation of fuel prices and allow market forces to set the benchmarks in tandem with global oil prices.

Lalit Kumar Gupta

Managing Director & CEO, Essar Oil Ltd

focus on core exploration and oil & gas production, in India and abroad. Oil India plans to invest ` 19,000 crore in the 12th Plan, which would primarily go towards exploration, development, capital equipment and foreign acquisitions,” says Gupta. Even private firms are stepping up investments. RIL has firmed up plans to invest ` 1,00,000 crore over the next five years. Vedanta Group company, Cairn India, would invest about ` 11,000 crore in exploration and development, and Essar Oil is planning to invest about ` 3,000 crore in its Raniganj Coal Bed Methane (CBM) gas project.

Regulatory issues

According to India Ratings & Research (2013 Outlook: Indian Oil & Gas), like the downstream sector, others in the industry also face several regulatory issues. On the upstream side, there is an urgent need to have clarity on production sharing contracts so that issues such as capex approvals, royalty and taxation matters do not cause delays in decision-making. Pricing of natural gas, including CBM, also needs policy clarity to expedite gas production in the country.

After shale gas production converted the US from being a gas importer to a gas exporter, studies are underway to gauge the prospects of shale gas in India.

The government is also working on a policy for exploration and production of shale gas in India. This policy will have to address the above issues in a manner so as to enable swift development of the sector in India.

Email: prasenjit.chakraborty@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

43

Insight & Outlook Fluctuating oil prices

Specialty chemicals

And as the dynamics in the basic chemical sector fluctuates, specialty chemicals continue an inevitable march towards commoditisation in most parts of the world. Even few years ago, gross margins for specialty chemical products including additives, pigments, and personal care items were extremely attractive. This brought in many companies in the arena of specialty chemicals. But today the margin on such chemicals is not so attractive, though it is still better than that of commodity chemicals. “The fluctuation in oil prices has definitely affected the chemical sector, especially the commodity chemicals segment. It is because such companies are

Hedging, the way forward for profitability in chemical sector!

Fluctuating oil prices have chain effects on the chemical industry. First, it impacts feedstock planning, which obviously gets reflected in the production cycle. Second, capacity remains under utilised due to price volatility. Once capacity remains under utilised, it results in dearth of finished products, pressure on debt servicing, etc.

Prasenjit Chakraborty

W

hile a lot of products in the chemical industry depend on hydrocarbons as their basic feedstock, chemicals in turn are the primary feedstock for a number of basic industries from yarn to plastics and a secondary feedstock for industries ranging from automotive to electrical works. “Considering that the end-products are directly sold to the consumers who are price-sensitive, any volatility in the oil prices would make it increasingly difficult for the chemical industry to plan feedstock orders, and manufacturing & business cycle with any level of certainty. This uncertainty thus has backward and forward linkages resulting in capacity under utilisation, shortage of finished products, pricing pressures on finished products, pressure on debt servicing and working capital difficulties.

The impact of the volatility in oil prices is 44

Chemical World | February 2013

further compounded by the depreciation in the rupee,” points out Kalpana Jain, Senior Director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd. Meanwhile, some petrochemicals segments are facing far different set of conditions. Higher-end oil-based chemicals – essentially, the propylene polymers – are fast losing their attractiveness as the price of oil continues to be high and volatile. And as the tilt towards natural gas exacerbates, the demand for propylene feedstock is likely to continue to spiral downwards. The riskiness of this chemical sector was a big reason that Dow Chemical sold its polypropylene unit recently to Braskem - the biggest petrochemical company in Brazil. With this deal, Braskem became the biggest polypropylene producer in the US and Dow exited an uncertain sector while generating cash to pay down debt and fund growth in other areas. There might be much more industry consolidation of this type in the immediate future.

not in a position to pass on the cost to the consumers. But for specialty chemicals, which are value-added products, the scope to pass on the cost to consumers is there,” points out Arvind Mahajan, Head, Energy & Renewables, KPMG India.

Of late, the specialty chemical market has seen too many players, which make the segment fiercely competitive. The competition ultimately has affected the margin. As a result, players are compelled to move into lower margin applications in hopes of expanding and creating new markets for their products. In many cases, the specialty chemical company suddenly finds itself in a race towards the bottom. Further, the sector is weakened by improvements in downstream design and manufacturing processes that allow customers to eschew specialty chemicals in favour of more standardised feedstocks for their products.

With all these challenges, a long and costly price war – or, in this context, commoditisation – is the unavoidable

Fluctuating oil prices

result. To overcome these bottlenecks in the specialties niche, diversify portfolios, and enhance scale and breadth of existing businesses, companies are turning to acquisitions to swell their specialty offerings relatively quickly without the enormous upfront R&D costs that ultimately demand a long-term commitment to the product in order to realise a satisfactory return.

Hedging to rescue

The Rupee depreciation has resulted in more expensive import of feedstock, while at the same time providing cheaper exports of finished product in Dollar terms. “About 80-85 per cent of the feedstock is imported. At the same time, the cost of manufacturing products has significantly risen due to the depreciation of the Rupee. Thus, the Indian chemical industry would need to look towards export markets to earn in Dollars, thereby limiting the impact of Rupee depreciation on the business cycle,” opines Jain.

However, with the need to focus on the

international export market comes the issue of type of products in demand and the expected quality of these products; in both cases these are significantly different from market to market.

Although there are many hedging strategies using plain vanilla futures and options structures or more esoteric derivative instruments that can be used to minimise the impact of crude oil on the business cycle, identification and adoption of any strategy would be highly dependent on the specific business condition of each company, the underlying asset of the hedge and its impact on the business cycle.

“As we are aware, any hedging strategy is aimed at minimising any loss rather than aiming for an upside,” says Jain.

Gas, a viable alternative?

In order to protect the industry against fluctuating oil prices, petroleum companies could consider gas as an alternative feedstock. “Petroleum companies could consider gas as an alternative to protect

against fluctuating oil prices only to a limited extent. Oil is still the major feed for most chemical segments, while some petrochemicals areas could work on a direct gas feed, others would require substantial modifications in the process units and manufacturing technology to adapt to gas feed, while still others would have no option,” Jain points out.

Furthermore, globally, gas pricing is competitive only in surplus countries such as the US, Qatar, etc; while in other countries, it is dependent on the method of sourcing gas through LNG imports, which is substantially higher and fluctuates on the basis of demand-supply scenario and transportation & regasification costs. As LNG regasification terminals are costly propositions, not all countries could afford such facilities. In India, all the Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) facilities are focussed on the west coast, although plans are underway to develop facilities on the east coast as well.

Email: prasenjit.chakraborty@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

45

Insight & Outlook Shale gas

Rakesh Rao

T

he discovery of shale gas in the US has changed the chemical manufacturing landscape in last few years. For chemical companies, shale gas availability has led to reduction in the costs of both raw materials and energy. According to a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, the price of US natural gas has declined from $ 12.50 per million British Thermal Unit (MMBTU) in 2008 to approximately $ 3 per MMBTU in 2012, and prices are expected to decline further, at least in the short term, as a result of excess inventory.

grid in the US Gulf, there has been renewed interest in crackers. For the first time, we are seeing crude and gas prices delinking. That is probably not good news for Europe, which mostly has naphtha-based crackers since lowcost gas is not available,” opines Vipul Shah, Chairman, CEO and President, Dow Chemical International Pvt Ltd (Dow India).

A boon to chemical manufacturers

To take advantage of the shale gas discoveries, there has been an increase in investment in the US ethylene industry in the recent past. According to some

published a report analysing the impact of shale gas on the US petrochemical industry.

Since all the investment decisions in the US ethylene industry are longterm in nature, the real impact of these investments will start reflecting from 2016 onwards when the planned plants will come on-stream. Overall, the US ethylene capacity is likely to increase by around 8 Million Tonne Per Annum (MMTPA) to reach 35 MMTPA by 2017.

Pant observes, “The investment in the US ethylene industry is likely to increase in the future as more companies are contemplating investment in new

Ethylene production capacity (in MMTPA)

Can US gas revolution change the face of global chemical industry?

US ethylene capacity 35.048*

27.089

2000

* Estimated

26.137

2012 Year

2017 Source: GlobalData

Thanks to availability of low-cost, abundant supply of shale gas, the US, which was one of the most expensive places to manufacture ethylene five years ago, is now in a better position compared to naphtha-based petrochemicals industries of Europe & Asia-Pacific and second only to Middle East in terms of production economy.

“Shale gas find has revived the US chemical industry. With gas being available at $ 2-3 per MMBTU in the 46

Chemical World | February 2013

The shale gas revolution has revived the US chemical industry. While it has proved to be a boon to products based on ethylene, it may affect supply and demand of other petrochemicals. At the same time, as the US emerges as low-cost producing site for ethylene-dependent downstream products, it has the potential to alter the entire supply chain dynamics of the global chemical industry, including India. experts, the US chemical industry has invested about $ 15 billion in ethylene production, increasing capacity by 33 per cent. “Envisaging a plentiful ethane supply in the future, petrochemical companies are either investing in new ethane crackers or are expanding capacity of the existing crackers.

Companies such as Chevron Phillips, ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical, Sasol Ltd and Formosa Plastics Corporation have already announced their new ethane crackers in the US. Other companies such as LyondellBasell, INEOS Olefins & Polymers and Westlake Chemical are expanding capacity of their existing crackers,” states Ashok Pant, Senior Analyst - Petrochemicals, GlobalData, the market research firm that recently

ethane crackers. Presently, the cost of ethane in the US is around 20-30 cents/gallon and even a moderate increase in cost of ethane will not reduce the competitiveness of the ethylene producers. This will continue to position the US as an advantageous location for new investment.”

Advantage ethylene value chain

The increase in natural gas production has resulted in manifold rise in the availability of Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs), with volumes from natural gas separation plants expected to increase more than 40 per cent over the next five years, reaching more than 3.1 Million Barrels Per Day (MMBD)

Shale gas

in 2016, according to PwC. Ethane, a hydrocarbon almost exclusively used in petrochemical production, is a major component of NGLs and is cracked to produce ethylene. As the chemicals industry in the US ramps up its ethylene capacity and corresponding downstream ethylene derivative products, the impact could flow through the value chain into other manufacturing sectors and, ultimately, to finished products.

While manufacturers of ethylenebased products will reap rich dividends from the shale gas boom, the impact on other petrochemicals namely propylene and butadiene may be reverse (that is negative). Hence, the ongoing shale revolution is likely to reduce propylene and butadiene supply in the US. “Propylene and butadiene are by-products produced during ethylene production from steam crackers. However, their yield varies significantly with the feedstocks. Ethane gives the highest quantities of ethylene as final product but produces negligible quantities of other by-products such as propylene and butadiene. Naphtha, on the other hand, yields significant quantities of by-products. The US basic petrochemical industry is already dominated by ethane feedstock, and additional ethane usage will further reduce the propylene and butadiene production,” opines Pant.

Envisaging a situation in which increasing use of ethane feedstock will create a shortage in propylene and butadiene supply; producers have decided to rely on on-purpose technologies. All four planned propylene plants in the US are based on on-purpose technologies, and although it will take some time before they become major sources of propylene, their use is nonetheless expected to increase in the future.

“Propane dehydrogenation is currently the most sought-after technology of all on-purpose technologies, and will account for 100 per cent of the new propylene capacity expected to come on-stream between 2015 and 2018,” adds Pant.

Impact on other regions

While companies in the US are exploiting shale gas technologies to reduce their natural gas and NGL costs, other regions are not as favoured. The shale gas development has resulted in higher supply and lower cost of ethane feedstock in the US; however, the global ethylene prices have been largely unaffected. Pant states, “Lower ethane cost has driven the profit margins of the US ethylene producers and they are now in more competitive position compared to naphtha-based petrochemicals producers elsewhere in the world. As the shale gas-based ethylene production will increase in the future, the US exports of ethylene will also increase. This will allow the US petrochemical exporters to price their product more competitively in the exports markets.”

The US is likely to witness a surge in the production of ethane-based products from 2016 onwards. According to GlobalData forecast, local demand for ethylene in the US market will also increase as many downstream ethylene derivative plants are scheduled to come on-stream in the next five years.

However, the demand growth will not be able to match the production growth after 2016 and ethylene exports are expected to increase substantially from 2017 onwards. “Yes, it is true that current ethane production is much more than the demand from the petrochemical plants causing ethane prices to decline. Due to this, ethane rejection in the natural gas (LNG) has increased in the recent past as there is no incentive to fractionate ethane and sell it as petrochemicals feedstock. As the domestic US market will not be able to consume all of ethylene produced in the country, the producer will have to turn towards the demand rich Asian markets to export surplus ethylene,” adds Pant.

India, a major import destination

In the US, several multinational oil & gas companies are investing in building the infrastructure to export LNG. In

The shale gas development in the US has created opportunities for the Indian petroleum companies to invest in the US. In the recent past, Indian petroleum companies have invested to buy stakes in various shale gas assets in the US. Ashok Pant

Senior Analyst - Petrochemicals, GlobalData

addition, companies are in the early stages of negotiating long-term supply agreements with foreign entities for LNG. Some of the leading Indian companies, such as Reliance Industries, GAIL India and ONGC, have invested in shale gas assets in the US. “The shale gas development in the US has created opportunities for the Indian petroleum companies to invest in the US. In the recent past, Indian petroleum companies, such as Indian Oil Corporation, Reliance Industries Ltd and Gail, have invested to buy stakes in various shale gas assets in the US,” says Pant.

But, how much of this gas reaches Indian shore is not yet clear since the US allows gas exports to only those countries, with which it has signed a free trade agreement (FTA).

At the same time, there is growing controversy with regard to amount of gas to be exported out of the US. While on one hand, a group of chemical manufacturers have joined a new trade group called America’s Energy Advantage (AEA) calling for a limited export of gas, on the other, some of the leading oil & gas companies are against putting any control on gas trade.

However, with the US expected to be the leading exporter of oil & gas by 2017, experts believe that India will be one of the largest markets for it. With low US ethane prices linked to natural gas, some manufacturers might explore the option of using NGL tankers and infrastructure to ship ethane. Who knows, even these tankers may land up on the Indian shores.

Email: rakesh.rao@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

47

Insight & Outlook Business restructuring

Dr Mosongo Moukwa

S

herwin Williams, the US-based company offering paint solutions, recently bought Comex, a leading Mexican paints company in a $ 2.3-billion cash deal. This will be the largest acquisition in the company’s history. The rationale for the deal is multiple. It includes improvement in scale of operations, R&D transfer opportunities, and the iconic portfolio of Comex brands sold in Mexico and Canada. Akzo Nobel is selling its US decorative paints business to PPG. The acquired business, which adds Glidden and other brands sold to

specialty chemicals for personal care and pharmaceutical applications. Cytec acquired Umeco, a maker of composite materials, and this helped the company increase earnings to $ 43 million, a 65.4 per cent jump from the 2011 third quarter.

The industry restructuring has been occurring for a number of years without really yielding substantial returns to investors. Typically, the chemical indices have followed the trend of the broader financial market. As the financial markets declined, chemical shares also declined.

Investors generally feel that chemical shares have not created the kind of value that investors want (Figure 1). Most

Finding value by growing from current assets

Divesting unwanted assets and reinvesting in proven growth businesses offer little potential for substantially shifting the portfolio mix because most of the companies own large assets. Moreover, large new technology bets offer only a long-term payback. There is still huge opportunity to extract maximum value from existing assets.

Insights from portfolio value creation offer hope. Most corporate portfolios may be performing well below their optimum potential. Significant value exists in plain sight, if one knows where to look. Most chemical companies, including specialty

Strategic alternatives must to create value for shareholders Figure 1: Market performance

Walmart stores, had revenues of about $ 1.5 billion in 2011. PPG expects to achieve significantly improved net operating earnings of about $ 160 million for the acquired business over a three-year period. PPG has a market capitalisation of $ 17.5 billion while Sherwin Williams has a market capitalisation of $ 15.2 billion.

Some movement is also observed on the raw materials front. Ashland acquired International Specialty Products in early 2011, increasing its focus on

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restructuring have merely consisted of changes in asset ownership, and most industry sectors are now fully mature.

Traditional strategies have outlived their usefulness. Getting out of cyclicals, divesting unattractive businesses, and investing to build scale have run its course.

The chemical industry in its current modus operandi simply does not provide significant near-term opportunities for organic volume growth, particularly in developed countries.

A number of mergers and acquisitions in the paints and coatings industry and the chemical industry at large are taking place the world over. Indeed, nearly every company is buying and/or selling assets, restructuring its portfolio of businesses, and adopting new ownership structures. While these changes indicate some dynamism in the industry, the question remains as to whether they are creating value for shareholders. companies, possess extensive assets that are tied to mature businesses. When there are no attractive assets to buy, or there is no one to whom to sell unattractive assets, there is no walking away from the problem. The sooner companies accept and even embrace their existing business as an opportunity, rather than as a burden, the sooner they can increase shareholder value. Making the most of existing assets requires developing strategy and approaching risk differently.

Business restructuring

Many chemical companies try to engineer much of the risk out of their strategies. They evaluate historic performance of markets, focus investments in areas with proven growth, and use backward-looking value delivery metrics such as Economic Value Added (EVA).

These strategies and metrics worked well enough when growth rates were high, the past was a reasonable predictor of the future, and risks were limited to missing the timing of plant investment by a year or so.

In today’s context, a number of external forces are at play, financial, economical, and regulatory, creating a new level of uncertainty and altering the industry.

Economic growth has downshifted into a much lower gear nearly everywhere. Europe is struggling to keep its head above water.

North America is stagnating and even the hard-charging economies of the BRIC nations have slowed down. Sustained high oil prices have had significant effects on the entire chemical industry. Discontinuities have emerged along the hydrocarbon and petrochemical chains, further altering the chemical industry. These changes should provide the industry with a lot of opportunities for innovation, growth and value creation.

Companies must create real strategic choices in order to unleash the full potential of their assets in today’s environment. They must deal with risks, uncertainties and competitive understanding in new ways.

Although effective approaches for dealing with risks are new to the chemical industry, they have been useful in other industries that face large investments and high uncertainties, such as upstream oil and gas, power generation and services, electronics, and pharmaceuticals, to name a few. An expanded focus on strategic choices and quantified risks is a worthwhile approach, given the enormous potential for capturing much more value.

The portfolio frontier

The inability to produce real strategic alternatives has serious consequences.

Indeed, the continual focus on safe performance targets and the failure to deal effectively with risk almost guarantee that

Figure 2: Efficient portfolio

innovative alternatives will not surface from business units. Usually, the top management is presented with what passes for the best alternative, and it then creates an overall portfolio of business by adding up the best strategies from each unit. The challenge is really to find the unique combinations of strategies across business units that optimise the return versus investment across the entire portfolio. In other words, it means to find the portfolio’s efficient frontier (Figure 2). Portfolios that lie significantly within the efficient frontier provide less than the optimal return for a given investment. Once senior managers analyse corporate portfolio alternatives, they are in a position to make trade-offs among the best alternatives.

To avoid leaving value on the table, they must identify compelling and significantly different alternatives, if they are to learn about the opportunity space rather than prove a hypothesis.

Looking at strategy differently

Opportunities can be found even in the most volatile environment. Periodic golden opportunities are interspersed among many smaller chances. The trick is to keep in the information flow, talk through alternative scenarios, and keep discussing possible opportunities for the management team to identify the most attractive one. The flow of information must be in real-time to keep abreast of the fluid state of affairs and to spot emerging opportunities and threats

early enough to act on them. Executives must work through possible scenarios to assess how the process might evolve and what it might mean for the industry or for their particular business.

Chemical companies can create significant value for their stakeholders. This will require that they first reconsider their perspective on strategic developments in the industry and rethink the requirements for strategic success. Traditional strategic approaches may be outdated. New approaches must explicitly quantify risk in order to focus on what drives value and what can be done about it. Companies must resist the culture that generally embraces a strategy, which avoids bold choices among the various business units’ strategies. They must resist approaches that promote static, last-year-plus-ten-per cent investment, driven more by political trade-offs than by value-based leadership.

Finally, they must forcefully articulate the choices and benefits of the new strategy in a way that investors recognise.

Dr Mosongo Moukwa is Vice President (Technology), Asian Paints Ltd, Mumbai. He was Vice President (Global Technology), Reichhold, North Carolina. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, the Commercial Development and Management Association and the Licensing Executive Society.

Email: mosongo.moukwa@asianpaints.com February 2013 | Chemical World

49

Insight & Outlook Safety compliance

Exploring key parameters for assured results There are set visions, missions, compliance strategy, etc to ensure safety (of personnel, assets and environment) in any occupation or business enterprise. However, being largely abstract in nature, the measurement of safety has become a matter of debate when it comes to efforts being taken towards its effective governance. Here is an attempt to rediscover the most tangible measurement concepts already available to ensure that results bear testimony to the success rate of the safety movement.

K N K Murthy

A

t times, an initiative to execute a safety relevant attribute invites healthy or even heated debates from the measurement-oriented approach due to the projected uncertainties about the positive return from such exercises. The reason could be quite rational, especially when such a drive calls for additional investment in terms of finance and time besides the need for support, motivational efforts or even behavioural correction/change among concerned stakeholders. All these issues can definitely be handled once the initiator comes out with measurable inputs through his or her proposal, strategy or execution plan.

To begin with, let us analyse the attributes (preferably in a chronological order) that can facilitate the measurement process bearing in mind that just one or two attributing evidences cannot be truly representative of the whole system when it comes to total loss control. Unfortunately, this has been the experience all along whenever the data on accident or injuryfree records steal the limelight during the safety management review/appraisal in many organisations. Accident and injury being highly subjective (in view of various probability factors), this type of approach leads to the overlooking of various other system elements, which are significantly 50

Chemical World | February 2013

contributory in the overall run up to the total loss control concept. Following attribute-wise coverage and corresponding compliance strategy can help review/ improve the existing systems/procedures in any organisation or recommend for the establishment of a new system.

Incidentally most of these elements have been duly covered in the Indian Standard No. 14489 on ‘Code of Practice on Occupational Health & Safety Audit’.

The narration has been kept indicative, and depending on the nature & size of the organisation more (or even less number of aspects) attributes can be considered to ensure that the study is comprehensive, adequate and focussed. Given below is a pointer-wise description of some of the attributes along with their measurable feature (A) and expected contribution from stakeholders (B).

Company safety policy: A

Intent and commitment from top management to not only integrate safety with productivity but extend utmost significance to it among other priorities along with the infrastructure and systems put in place to execute the policy in letter and spirit.

B Total co-ordination, support, participation and involvement in all safety relevant initiatives when it comes to their specific role as employees and internal or external service providers (contractors,

vendors, transporters, nearby society etc, as the case may be).

Organisational set-up: A

Setting up a functional and administrative control system to carry out both line and staff functions respectively towards safety promotion and development.

B Carrying out their assigned functions effectively (shop-level employees/ supervisors fulfilling line functions at the workplaces and managers/top executives/ safety professionals executing facilitation efforts centrally).

Training and building up of competency level: A

Establishment of a learning centre with required infrastructure engaged in an organisation/ execution of different types of training programmes as per need.

B Regular and active participation by both the trainers (faculties) and participants.

This must be followed up by way of monitoring of the programme execution, collection of feedback, evaluation of knowledge enhancement among trainees and submission of exception reports to higher management.

‘Control of work’ system: A

Formulation of safe code of conduct, operating procedures, permit-to-work practices etc.

Safety compliance

B Strict compliance by the agencies/ personnel carrying out the assigned jobs followed by periodic auditing, review and communication to higher management aimed at further improvement of system and higher enforcement standards.

Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (HIRA): A

Execution of specific studies on HIRA relevant to the company’s needs along with rating and appraisal of precautionary measures.

B Identifying/listing of all types of equipment/machinery/activities for risk assessment/rating followed by periodical review/revision ensuring gradual reduction of rating as part of continual improvement strategy.

Inspections/surveys/audits: A

Establishment of system followed by training of authorised personnel/agencies/ groups to execute the inspection/survey audit functions.

B Regular compliance of the system followed by closure of observations through action plan.

Machine and material handling:

A Formulation of handling philosophy (manual and mechanised) covering all safety aspects.

B Strict compliance on the choice of appropriately safe handling equipment, its regular upkeep/maintenance followed by safe operation by skilled personnel guided by supervision from competent officials.

Occupational health surveillance of personnel: A

Establishment of occupational health centre, pre-placement & periodical medical examination of personnel.

B Planning/scheduling of the medical examination, enhancing awareness among the target group and ensuring adequate coverage of all the employees followed by maintenance of health records, offering feedback to concerned personnel requiring additional care or medical treatment by experts.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): A

Study of activity-based need for PPE compliance followed by establishing a system of selection of item, procurement and distribution.

B Development of PPE culture through role modelling and assertiveness by supervisors/managers followed by strict compliance by all concerned at shop level.

Compliance of safety relevant statutory provisions: A

Establishment of a system for regular inspection, testing and certification by competent personnel duly accredited by the concerned statutory authorities.

B Listing of all equipment, machinery and activities to be included, offering them for examination, checking, testing certification, getting duly involved in the activities and execution of any preventive, corrective, improvement recommendations from the inspection agency.

Consumer and public safety: A

Establishment of a policy addressing the safety concerns of the re-processor or end-user.

B Understanding the instructions/ safeguards including emergency response measures (by way of getting themselves trained) and adopting them.

On-site & off-site emergency preparedness and response: A

Formulation of appropriate plan, training, competency build-up through regular drills including mock-up exercises.

B Understanding about the inevitability of such occurrences and getting actively involved in the response strategy by way of doing the assigned roles during the simulated exercises, which will safeguard against any panic-driven approach or action in case of a real-life situation.

Safety performance records: A

Reporting of all accidents, documentation and compilation of performance data.

B Striving for improvement trend by crossing more milestones and benchmarking with the best.

Accident reporting, recording, investigation, analysis and retrieval:

A Formulation of a reporting system, record-keeping followed by establishing a procedure to investigate and analyse the root causes of the incidents and making them readily available for discussions, deliberations during all available forums including employer-employee joint participative meetings.

B Learning not to repeat the incidents by ensuring that all required preventive measures (administrative and technical) based on the investigation are diligently adopted.

Leading from the front

Taking cue from the element wise coverage as mentioned above (which is purely indicative), the management of any type of establishment can take a lead in exploring the specific measurement parameters as applicable and reap maximum benefits out of them so that safety assurance is improved, if not guaranteed. Distribution of responsibility matrix among all concerned with respect to their direct or indirect involvement in the compliance strategy along with interlinking of their own contribution in the annual performance evaluation shall go a long way in effective safety governance.

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 February 2013 | Chemical World

51

Insight & Outlook Proactive planning and scheduling

Delivering a competitive edge to chemical companies

Industry leaders within chemical companies face significant challenges today amid market volatility and growing competition. Success across the supply chain relies upon having an effective integrated strategy between planning and scheduling in order to remain profitable and for meeting customer demand. Investment in technology is a vital step to ensure flexible and measurable supply planning and modelling, and to overcome asset constraints within a chemical supply network.

Sunil Chaudhari

A

ll chemical supply chains – from the simplest to the most intricate – constantly look to achieve streamlined operational efficiency. In doing so, they face a range of issues. Most chemical companies have a wide array of products with different manufacturing methods.

Each will have different bills of materials, product grades and specifications that must be represented and managed as part of the manufacturing process.

A key area where chemical supply chain companies often struggle is having sufficient agility to be able to react quickly to sudden shifts in the business or market environment. In part, this is about being made aware of quickly when a change has happened or if an incident has occurred to be able to respond immediately.

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While these unexpected events can come in many different forms, most typically fall into three distinct categories. The first is around operational offsets. Typically, this is when there is an equipment failure – when a system or application stops working, for example, bringing production to a halt.

The second category is an environmental disaster – flooding, tsunami, hurricanes – that could potentially disrupt the supply chain and logistics supply in particular.

The third key area is unexpected customer orders where chemical companies need to weigh the pros and cons of disrupting the rest of their production operations in order to accommodate the opportunity to fulfill a lucrative project with a tier-1 customer.

Key role of forecasting and planning

For companies across the chemical supply chain, success in meeting these

challenges will largely rely on their ability to deliver efficient business processes and seamless integration between business functions. Most chemical companies generate forecasts of what they believe they are likely to sell over a 12-18 month timeframe – typically in monthly time schedules. That information then gets fed to the planning function. In a perfect world, these companies would like to always fulfill the demand and meet their forecasts. The planning model brings them back to reality as it creates an optimal production plan based on the assets that they have, the number of locations and corresponding capacity and the most cost-effective way to store and transport material.

Planning in this context is typically a part of Sales and Operational Planning (S&OP) – the process of aligning demand and supply to drive a business outcome.

Businesses across the chemical supply chain need to look at how they can most profitably meet customer demand while at the same time help to drive operational agility. The planning function needs to consider high-level transport and logistics issues. With the flexibility built in today’s chemical supply chain, decision-makers often have the luxury of being able to choose from several different options with regard to plant location. They may need to take into account transportation times and costs, for example, before deciding on whether to have a manufacturing base in Europe, China or the US. Competing effectively in today’s process industries requires a fundamental shift from supply push to demand pull (essentially manufacturing to demand, which delivers improved margins and higher levels of customer satisfaction).

The importance of visibility

Visibility is important to planning.

Planners need to have an excellent overview of what is happening not just in a single plant, but across a multiple network of plants. Having a high level of awareness across the supply chain balanced with the needs of the business will help at a regional and global level. For chemical

Proactive planning and scheduling

companies, it is crucial that they are clear about the problems within individual plants and make them transparent to others within their organisation.

In this context, being able to proactively look ahead is vital. Planners need to ask themselves – will they have raw material capability five months from now and do they need to order now to avoid any problem? Another key area of focus should be around inventory storage.

Ideally, planners will be looking to ensure that products are manufactured just in time to be shipped, so as not only to drive agility, but also to avoid the product using up limited storage space for an extended period. At the same time, planners must find ways in which they can improve the business process by delivering a framework for cost reduction and service improvement while reducing effort in the planning development. They also need to be focussed on improving user productivity by facilitating quick analysis and decision-making through clear, visible and understandable reporting.

The link to scheduling

The long-term plan for the chemical supply chain needs to integrate with the overall budget and business strategy.

While planning works to a 12-18 month time horizon, it is important to schedule works to a much tighter timeframe – typically three months at the longest.

In an ideal scenario, schedulers should work to the inventory target guidelines provided by the planners, but they will also need to react to immediate needs and changes in the plant and be agile enough to spot opportunities and act fast for the benefit of the plant.

At the beginning of each shift, or possibly just nightly, schedulers will receive an updated snapshot of information that specifies what has been produced, the actual inventory positions and whether there are new orders. Once the model has been updated with the latest information, the scheduler will generally adjust it to resolve inventory problems, avoid late shipments and bring in ad hoc production opportunities. The schedule keeps track

of all of those changes and maps them back to the system of record, typically the ERP. In practical operational terms, there are a host of challenges associated with scheduling across the chemical supply chain. While schedulers typically have intimate knowledge of their business and manufacturing process, they need help in balancing several competing constraints that must be considered when developing the best schedule. It is crucial that schedulers have technology at their disposal that enables them to visualise potential schedule conflicts and provide guidance on how to analyse and resolve them as quickly as possible.

The other big issue is that while many companies are successful at achieving tightly coupled integration between scheduling and the ERP system, data integration between scheduling and planning remains generally poor in some organisations. According to a market study of the specialty chemicals industry conducted in 2011, information passed between the planning and scheduling functions is largely manual and underutilised. This is largely the result of silo business processes, which create disconnect between supply chain planning and schedule execution. The value of integration is to align business processes, providing the ability to evaluate multiple scenarios for constrained production lines to optimise assets and maximise earning potential.

Finding a solution

In overcoming these issues, companies across the chemical supply chain should above all look for solutions that enable them to develop integrated, optimised plans and schedules with the agility to respond to market opportunities as they arise. To deliver competitive edge in this area, they need to increase operational efficiency and the best way to achieve that is through solutions that support improved planning and scheduling of the production and distribution process.

Ease-of-use is also important here. The simple, straightforward user interfaces offered by supply chain solutions,

for example, provide fast access to information that can expedite profitable responses to unexpected market demands and opportunities, which is becoming a necessity in an increasingly competitive marketplace. For schedulers, in particular, who may have little formal supply chain training, software ease-of-use is invaluable not just in enabling users to carry out their work effectively and in helping the company to become more agile, but also in ensuring that the software tools can help to make more informed decisions rather than using traditional spreadsheets.

Remaining competitive

Supply chain leaders in the process industries are constantly seeking ways to drive better business results from their supply chain processes. High forecast error due to market volatility and large infrequent orders are just a few of the barriers to improve supply chain performance. Good visibility and supply agility will enable improved insights into the most profitable options for shaping demand. Crucially, supply planning must enable and connect to scheduling at the operating level.

Better alignment of processes and equipment from the plant floor through to executive decision-making levels will also provide the ability to distribute, visualise and analyse information more intelligently.

Chemical and process manufacturers must increase the alignment of their supply planning and scheduling practices to maximise opportunities in the market. The transition to a demand-driven business model is an essential foundation from which process manufacturers can launch a more transaction-oriented and astute approach to their business. The short-term prize is profit and optimisation; the longterm reward is market competitiveness and commercial sustainability across the supply chain.

Sunil Chaudhari is the Country Manager - South Asia at AspenTech. For details, contact Alroy Kenny on email: alroy@gri.co.in February 2013 | Chemical World

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Automation Trends Case Study – Tata Chemicals

Data accessibility made easy with wireless solution

Courtesy: Honeywell International

Faced with data integrity issues due to signal transmission problems at its Mithapur cement plant, Tata Chemicals turned to Honeywell for a wireless solution. Tata implemented Honeywell’s OneWireless solution, which enabled it to gain improved data accessibility and reliability, and cut the costs of expensive instrumentation cables.

T

An operator handling OneWireless solution

ata Chemicals Ltd, a leading manufacturer of inorganic chemicals, fertilisers and food additives in India, operates the largest and most integrated inorganic chemicals complex at Mithapur in Gujarat. Mithapur has four main product groups: soda ash, chloro-caustic group, marine chemicals & salt, and cement. The company is a pioneer and market leader in the branded, iodised salt segment. It is also among the largest producers of synthetic soda ash in the world.

Challenges faced

Tata was facing data accessibility challenges in the cement plant control room tapping signals from remote process control areas and other distant locations, including the gas scrubber. The long distance made maintenance and troubleshooting of the signal tougher for engineers. Tata needed a wireless solution to extend its control network securely to remote locations that would also provide seamless communication with existing control applications.

Benefits of the solution o Improved safety and compliance o Decreased installation, operational and maintenance costs o Control network can securely access remote locations o Increased reliability and improved production efficiency through more accurate data enabling better decision-making o Reduced maintenance requirements compared to wired transmitter alternative

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The solution

Tata considered several vendors for a wireless solution and ultimately chose Honeywell’s OneWireless because of its robust features, as well as Honeywell’s proven track record with other solutions at the company’s chemical plants, including Honeywell’s Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS) and field instruments.

Honeywell’s OneWireless network is an industrial wireless mesh network that extends the process control network into the field to deliver applications that improve plant efficiency, reliability and safety. The wireless mesh network is formed with industrial wireless nodes, called multinodes that self-discover to create an industrial mesh network within seconds.

“Tata Chemicals has been continuously raising the bar in technological competence and gaining recognition as an innovator.

Honeywell has proven to be a vital partner in supporting this endeavour and helping us to embrace technology to continuously improve performance,” says Chetan Joshi, Deputy Manager, Instrumentation, Tata Chemicals, Mithapur.

The implementation of OneWireless solution at the cement plant included wireless transmitters, gateway with switched-mode power supply (SMPS) and Lantronix converter. It also included serial interface card and FTA communication assembly for communication with the control system. Since implementing the OneWireless solution, data is accessible and accurate due to the signal’s reliability. Tata can now reliably tap transmitter signals from remote locations and bypass the entire looping of signals. The streamlined process saves money by eliminating the need for costly instrumentation cable. Maintenance and troubleshooting are simplified, saving labour expense. “The OneWireless system is working well. We have gained many benefits by going wireless and the challenges we experienced tapping long-distance signals have been eliminated,” concludes Joshi.

Courtesy: Honeywell International Inc For details, contact Tanuja Singh on email: tanuja.singh@honeywell.com

Energy Management Advanced control system

Rakesh Rao

in some cases – in industries using the technology. Automation firms play a leading role here.”

O

ver the past decade, the objective of chemical Monitoring savings manufacturers has remained same: to produce Today’s process automation solutions can help companies to chemical products from raw materials most substantially reduce energy consumption. This can easily save an economically. To achieve this goal, manufacturers energy-intensive company in chemical industry several million have to continuously deal with changing economic circumstances. dollars a year on electricity, gas, steam and compressed air.

Success of any chemical business depends on adaptation to these For example, Dr Prasad says, the chemical industry heats, cools, changed economic scenarios and also adoption of recent technologies gasifies or comminutes huge quantities of material. Energy accounts such as industrial automation that drive benefits. In view of rising for approximately 20 energy needs and prices, per cent of the production energy management has costs of complex chemical become a focus area for facilities. Automation firms chemical industry, which uses offer intelligent applications varied forms of energy (feed, and solutions for process fuel, power, etc) in terms of automation, which can be cost-effectiveness. used to provide the vital “Several initiatives information for successful have been undertaken at energy management by manufacturing level to reduce the companies. “The the overall energy index.

In most of the chemical plants, the main purpose of having measurement & analytical Manufacturing technologies a utility operation is to provide steam to the process equipment and the computer have evolved to make the units with power generation normally being the secondary programs show not only processes more energy efficient and also develop objective. As chemical industry realises the importance how a facility works: they processes that are selfof saving power, automation players are designing energy also simulate different sustaining on energy needs,” management solutions to unlock savings potential operating conditions. This says Ulhas Deshpande, Sales throughout the energy generation process and help plants makes it possible to find the appropriate strategy Head, Advanced Solutions, deliver steam and energy at the lowest possible cost. for an optimal operation Honeywell Process Solutions. of the facility in terms of Industrial automation, energy consumption. The which allows any chemical software used for this can learn; it can process to be monitored real time, runs shorten response times, predict trends under close control and optimises the and optimise maintenance intervals,” process based on the available degree of he adds. freedom that plays an important role In a chemical plant, where energy in reducing the energy requirements is mainly used to provide steam to of any chemical process besides process units, the focus nowadays is on taking into account Greenhouse Gas producing and consuming the process (GHG) regulations. steam most economically. Deshpande Dr A S Prasad, Director opines, “Optimisation on steam Solution Group, Emerson Process production can be achieved by Management (India) Pvt Ltd, selectively loading steam producers elaborates, “Process automation based on individual efficiencies, can contribute in many ways to thereby reducing the overall production higher energy efficiency in industrial cost. Usage of steam in process units production facilities. Its equipment can be done optimally by enabling a close and systems, which ensure intelligent loop control between steam flow and process measurement and control of production governing parameters.” processes, can make a big contribution towards Experts believe that the optimisation of greater energy efficiency. This can result in average the facility has to be undertaken jointly by the energy savings of 10-15 per cent – up to 70 per cent

Empowering savings costeffectively

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Advanced control system

chemical manufacturer and automation solution provider. Positive Return on Investment (RoI) calculations show that investment and process automation solutions can be amortised quickly.

Deshpande adds, “Honeywell’s experience has shown that up to 12-25 per cent energy reduction is achievable by implementing a comprehensive energy management solution with attractive RoI. It has been able to respond to the challenges of the industry by developing innovative control; monitoring and optimisation solutions that help industries meet their commitments to customers, shareholders and the environment. With Honeywell’s approach, an integrated, modular suite of Advanced Energy Solution (AES) applications bring advanced control and optimisation into electricity generation, as well as process steam and heat production.”

Integrated solution for complex challenges

To optimise energy usage, globally (especially in developed countries), chemical plants are using integrated energy management solutions. Dr Prasad explains, “The concept of integrated, sustainable energy management recognises that we cannot depend on a single energy source, but that, instead, we need to use a mixture of energy sources. These energy sources have to be reliable, less damaging to the environment, and most importantly, sustainable. So, instead of moving only towards ‘clean coal technology’ or ‘100 per cent nuclear power’, we need to incorporate other alternative energy resources. Within

Since energy management and optimisation solutions thrive when the economy is down, companies in India are trying to improve the bottom line by putting across more advanced control and real-time optimisation solutions.

Ulhas Deshpande

Sales Head, Advanced Solutions, Honeywell Process Solutions

Integrated Energy Management (IEM), there is also this idea of ‘micro power’.

Micro power is a concept that suggests we should move away from large-scale power plants to more local distribution power systems.”

IEM includes process integration, which is defined as improvement opportunities realised in processes, their operations and interactions that maximise the use of energy and raw materials.

Process simulation computer software helps simplify and achieve process integration for many routine and special goals including energy savings, reduced environmental emissions, batch process optimisation, cost reduction and waste minimisation.

“Since energy production and usage across chemical plants are highly interactive, often with competing substrategies, it makes sense to use an integrated energy management approach as this will result in higher returns,” observes Deshpande.

In India, adoption of integrated energy management solutions among chemical manufacturers is gaining popularity, though it still has a long way to go. Dr Prasad says, “India has also started following the same trend by using integrated energy management solution with the help of various automation contractors.”

Serving energy-saving needs

Greater market volatility is a more important change than the decline in global demand. A huge increase in market volatility began in 2008 and persists to some degree. This volatility is felt in the market for products and energy supplies.

The price and availability of energy has bounced between extremes. Future markets indicate an expectation that energy and material prices will again rise. Deshpande says, “Since energy management and optimisation solutions thrive when the economy is down, companies in India are trying to improve the bottom line by putting across more advanced control and real-time optimisation solutions.”

Due to unreliable public energy supply in India, the focus is on producing in-house

In full control

Advanced control system helps chemical manufacturers to:

o Develop more energy and costefficient chemical separations, especially effective alternatives to distillation o Explore biotechnology and other emerging technological solutions. R&D needs in these areas include reducing production costs, increasing stability, and discovering catalysts with greater specificity o Better understand the mechanisms of friction, lubrication, and wear of interacting surfaces (tribology) that leads to one-third of the loss of the world’s energy resources in present use

Source: Emerson Process Management

energy most economically and then using it optimally. He adds, “This has increased the dependence on industrial automation techniques such as Distributed Control System (DCS) architecture, including field instruments, Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA), plant historians and other advanced control functions such as simulation software and advanced process control & optimisation applications, which help in real-time observation, control and optimisation of process units.”

As companies in India are realising the importance of energy savings, automation players are witnessing a steady rise in demand for their energy management solutions in the chemical industry.

“Demand for energy management solutions among the chemical and oil & gas companies in India is rising as maximising production volumes and keeping capital & operating costs under control are crucial issues facing businesses in these sectors.

Above all, downtime is expensive and must be avoided at all cost. This means that the reliability of the production process and equipment is absolutely critical,” observes Dr Prasad.

Email: rakesh.rao@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

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POLICIES & REGULATIONS Budget expectations

Prasenjit Chakraborty

W

ith Asia’s growing contribution to the global c hemic al industry, India is emerging as one of the focus destinations for chemical companies worldwide. And with the current size of approximately $ 108 billion, the Indian chemical industry accounts for 3 per cent of the global chemical industry. In such a scenario, a lot depends on the policy support from the government.

o Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme and Status Holder Incentive Scheme (SHIS) to be extended for the policy period up to 2014 o To promote growth of bio-pesticides, special incentives need to be announced o Total number of countries under Focus Market Scheme (FMS) should be increased o Current foreign trade policy has prescribed 15 per cent value-addition

a raw material or an intermediate product, and the finished good is necessary for making fresh investment in manufacturing,” points out Satish W Wagh, Chairman, CHEMEXCIL. Investments in manufacturing and employment generation need to be encouraged through zero duty import regime for raw materials and basic intermediates. “The revenue loss through such import duty reduction can be neutralised by raising import duties on finished goods, especially for capital goods not made in India. This would

Need to have a proper ‘feed’ for the industry Feedstock plays an important role towards the growth of the chemical industry in India. However, duty for feedstock varies from sector to sector within the industry. Such anomaly is a stumbling block for the overall growth of the industry. The industry wants basic Customs Duty on all feedstock for petrochemicals, including naphtha, to be at zero level. And on export front, it is imperative to make correction on inverted duty structure on a priority basis.

How to boost exports

W i th the U n ion Bu dge t 2013-2014 round the corner, chemical manufacturers and associations are seeking industr y-friend ly Budget from the Union Government.

Some of the proposals that CHEMEXCIL has submitted to the government to address export-related issues in the ensuing Union Budget are as follows:

What the industry wants

o Uniform duty structure essential for all types of feedstock

o More focus should be on inverted duty structure

o Customs Duty should be on reasonable level

o Glycerine imports should be stopped

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for advance licence scheme, which should be waived off as certain lowvalue products cannot satisfy this condition, but their exports can fetch more foreign exchange to the country o Inclusion of halogen chemical products under FMS/Focus Product Scheme (FPS) o Urea and Muriate of Potash (MOP) should be allowed to be imported against advance licence directly and not through any government channel CHEMEXCIL strongly feels that to boost exports, correction of inverted duty structure should be done on top priority.

Inverted duty structure on oleochemicals and crude napthalene needs to be addressed. And glycerine imports should be stopped. “The phenomenon of inverted duty structure needs to be done away with completely in this year’s Budget.

Inverted duties act as a disincentive for manufacturing and value-addition in the country. A minimum spread of 5 per cent between the duty on an input, whether

also help in lowering the current account deficit as well as the trade imbalance with China. Such duty rationalisation in favour of manufacturing is essential and is by no means protectionist,” he says.

Feedstock, a key growth area

On domestic front, Indian Chemical Council (ICC) believes that customs duty prevailing in the sector needs to be kept at reasonable levels with duty on products aligned with global industry providing sufficient duty spread between feedstock and outputs to ensure reasonable return on domestic investment. Chemical industry in India uses a variety of feedstock, both organic and inorganic. Organic feedstock is mainly derived from refinery sources.

The inorganic sector depends mainly on local sourcing wherein chlor-alkali segment plays a significant part. Naphtha is the major feedstock for chemical and petrochemical industry. It is derived from refinery and forms the basic feedstock for a wide variety of building blocks

Budget expectations

and intermediates for polymers and chemicals. Main products obtained from naphtha are building blocks like ethylene and propylene used for production of polymers and a wide variety of chemicals.

Basic rate of Customs Duty on naphtha is at 5 per cent. However, a specific exemption exists for use of naphtha for Haldia Petrochemicals for production of petrochemicals. Naphtha is also used for fertiliser production and power generation. For these usages, Customs Duty is exempted. This duty anomaly needs to be corrected for all petrochemical production preferably in line with other usages of naphtha.

ICC is strongly in favour that the government should bring down basic Customs Duty on all types of feedstock for petrochemicals, including naphtha at zero level.

Apart from this, reformate is processed naphtha and is an output from the refinery. This is the primary feedstock

for a variety of aromatic products. This is the feedstock for polyester industry with paraxylene being first in the chain that goes in for production of PTA required to produce polyester. Polyester is the predominant synthetic fibre used for production of a variety of textile products and for production of films and bottles for packaging industry. Polyester fibre supplements and complements natural fibres such as cotton and wool for textile industry. What is important here is that basic Customs Duty on reformate is 10 per cent whereas duty on paraxylene is zero per cent. This results in a severe duty inversion that needs to be corrected.

Here also, ICC wants that the basic Customs Duty on reformate be pegged at zero per cent to remove the inverted duty structure.

Besides, ICC’s wishlist regarding income tax include: Scientific research expenditure – weighted deductions: Chemical

and pharmaceutical industry depends heavily on research and innovation.

Many companies incur huge expenditure to remain competitive and this needs fiscal incentive. ICC wants that weighted deductions under section 35(2AB) may be extended to expenditure incurred outside the approved R&D facilities.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR): It is becoming a major imperative for the chemical industry to improve its health, safety and environment record.

Many companies are adopting global initiatives such as ‘Responsible Care’ that addresses societal concern.

The above activities are not only desirable for chemical companies but also the communities at large. It is desirable that expenditure incurred for such activities may be provided with tax break as applicable to R&D expenditure.

Email: prasenjit.chakraborty@ network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

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Strategy Expansion plans

Mahua Roy

additions and intense M&A activity. “The region holds an edge due to the low cost of hydrocarbon feedstock as a result of its widespread access to crude oil reserves,” says Deepak Mahurkar, Associate Director – Oil & Gas Practice, PwC India.

And of course, India, where the government has sought to encourage the development of the chemical industry, announcing plans for 14 special economic zones devoted to the sector. The government is also planning six large-scale petroleum, chemicals, and petrochemical complexes with the aim of attracting total investment of $ 280 billion.

Several key

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hemical company executives say they expect 38 per cent of their global revenues to come from emerging markets by 2017, as per a survey by Global Industry Analysts Inc (GIA). The global chemicals industry is expected to reach $ 5.5 trillion by 2015, as per a comprehensive report by GIA. And when it comes to the microscopic details, the top five emerging countries contributed around $ 1.109 trillion to the global chemicals industry in 2010, with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.2 per cent between 2006 and 2010.

By 2015, this figure is poised to reach $ 1.999 trillion.

“Growing interdependence of economies due to increasing

The whole world is increasingly focussing on emerging economies due to the opportunities yet to be explored in these locations. Hence, even the chemical industry has been investing heavily in assets and application centres in the emerging nations. And this trend is here to stay. international trade is resulting in a chemical industry that is highly globalised in terms of production and supply. However, the fact remains that the concentration of growth rests in the emerging countries. Several European and American companies are increasingly setting up or transferring production bases to low-cost locations,” says Kalpana Jain, Senior Director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India. The market value of the chemicals sold in the Brazil, India, China, Middle East (BICME) regions is expected to increase from 34 per cent of the global marketshare in 2010 to 42 per cent by 2015.

Mergers and acquisitions environment

Between 2000 and 2011, 63 M&A deals were executed in China with an average value of $ 23 million. In India, this figure 60

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was $ 16.2 million, with 31 deals signed.

Already, M&As in BICME countries have increased from 5 per cent of deal value and 17 per cent of deal volume in 2007 to 30 per cent of deal value and 28 per cent of deal volume in 2010. “While chemical companies from emerging markets focussed on transformational M&A transactions, established players have opted for transactions that facilitate portfolio optimisation. China is emerging as a major player in the global chemical industry, primarily due to supportive government policies,” adds Jain.

The country is becoming a favoured destination for global and regional chemical majors due to its manufacturing capabilities and low labour costs. The Middle East, which is another potential growth region, is presently witnessing enormous investments, new capacity

chemical end-markets in the West are continuing a shift to the East.

For example, the textile industry has been firmly based in the East for many years, and now suppliers from the West are being acquired. In 2010, the German company Dystar, one of the world’s largest producers of dyes, was bought by Kiri Dyes & Chemicals from India.

KPMG’s study ‘The future of the European chemicals industry’ states that Reliance could become the world’s third-largest chemical producer by 2015 – after SABIC and BASF, and way ahead of Exxon Mobil, Sinopec and Sinochem. Tata Chemicals is another player to watch out for, which has made strategic acquisitions to become the world’s second-largest producer of soda ash.

Expansion plans

Special effects

The key driver for this transformational strategy is the quest for new technology.

“Many chemical companies in emerging markets lack the technological and operational expertise required to fully capitalise on the growing demand in their markets, particularly at the specialty end of the chemical value chain,” adds Jain. When it comes to specialty and fine chemicals, the potential revenues from the BRIC and Mexico (BRICM) nations are significant – approximately $ 127 billion, as of 2010. A macro trend observed postrecession was the increasing emphasis of American, Japanese and European companies on specialty chemicals rather than the bulk/commodity chemicals segment, as part of efforts to compete with low-cost manufacturers by moving up the value chain. “With ample access to raw materials, chemicals producers in the Middle East and Asia can manufacture their products cheaper than anywhere else in the world. In fact, in the next

five years, 80 per cent of new ethylene capacity will occur in developing markets,” says Mahurkar.

Dow Chemical Co, for example, has accelerated its transformational strategy by recognising that petrochemical arms of national oil companies were benefiting from cost advantages because of their stable energy and raw material costs.

Thus, Dow started investing heavily in specialty chemicals businesses and divested non-strategic assets. This resulted in a portfolio shift towards higher value-added products. It has formed joint ventures with several large petrochemical producers to gain access to feedstock supplies in the South Asia without investing heavily in assets.

Other large chemicals producers have adopted similar diversification strategies, including BASF and Huntsman Corp.

In the past decade, Huntsman has grown its business in the Asia-Pacific region to more than 20 per cent from 5 per cent.

BASF expects emerging economies to

account for 60 per cent of global chemical production by 2020. Similarly, DuPont is planning a TiO2 facility in China.

Specialty chemical player Clariant’s 22 per cent revenues come from Asia.

The specialty chemicals segment is expected to report substantial growth in the near future as well. “Factors such as the emergence of new end-use applications, the expanding scope of various applications, and an emphasis on innovations for producing safe & efficient chemicals favour growth for this sector. R&D in this segment has led to innovation of material chemistry to create solutions that can substitute for expensive materials,” adds Mahurkar.

The cost reduction thus achieved has increased the affordability, and thereby the consumption of these products. As a result of this increasing R&D drive, it can be expected that M&A activity will accelerate in the emerging countries over the coming years.

Email: mahua.roy@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

61

Tips & Tricks Baghouse filter

Guidelines to make right choice of dust collectors for clean air Baghouses, also called fabric dust collectors or fabric filters, are air pollution control devices – made of engineered fabric filter tubes, envelopes or cartridges – used for dust capturing, separation or filtering process.

Right selection of baghouse and its filter media is critical for improving efficiency of a chemical plant.

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ompared to other types of air pollution control equipment, baghouses are incredibly versatile and can be engineered for almost any dust producing application by varying size and bag types. They are extremely efficient when properly maintained and are also rugged enough to handle rough applications. Often customers find it difficult to determine exactly what kind of filter media they require for their specific dust collection system.

Given below are some of the important factors to be considered by the user while selecting the type of baghouses and their filters.

1

Baghouses consist of filter media (bags) suspended inside a housing or casing. Fans on the outside of the housing blow the dirty or polluted air through the filters, capturing the suspended particulate matter and solids on the bags and pushing clean air through the outlet. While filtering, a baghouse bag allows the formation of a layer of particulate matter on its surface, called a dust cake. The dust cake accumulation on the surface of the bags is often referred to as the ‘filter or filtering cake’. It is believed that if the user manages the dust cake performance, then one can control the baghouse performance.

2

The differential pressure, or pressure drop, is a measure of the resistance to gas flow in the system. Baghouses with higher pressure drops require higher powered fans to move air through the system, resulting in increased energy costs. The 62

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total differential pressure is the sum of individual pressure drops due to the fabric, particulate layer (dust cake), and baghouse structure.

3

The bag material or fabric media is an important part of baghouse design and selection, as it determines the life and effectiveness of the filter bag. Fabric filter media must be compatible both physically and chemically with the gas stream and system conditions. Selection of the correct bag material incorporates factors such as particle size; operating temperature of the baghouse; compatibility with gas stream chemistry; electrostatic nature of the particles; air-to-cloth ratio; fabric’s permeability to allow air to pass; fabric’s flexibility to allow rippling or stretching, and fabric cost.

4

Selecting the correct filter media is an important and sometimes difficult process. Filter bag performance is directly related to how well it can tolerate the environment in which it is being used. It is also important to know how efficiently it can remove the dust particles from its fabric. The selection criterion eliminates materials based on temperature and chemical characteristics. The first cut is usually made based on temperature. Then the chemical characteristics of the gas stream are considered to further refine the search.

5

Bags can consist of one or a number of diff eren t materials. In addition to the material type, whether the fabric or material is

woven will affect what systems the bag is suitable for. Non-woven materials consist of randomly placed fibres supported and attached to a woven backing. This strong construction is required for high energy cleaning techniques such as pulse jets and aggressive shakers. The bag made of woven materials – which have fibres wound in uniform, repeating patterns – is used for low energy cleaning methods such as reverse air and lowerintensity shakers.

6

The most i m p o r t a n t performance specifications to consider when selecting a baghouse are the airflow rating and the minimum particle size. Airflow or volumetric flow rate is the acceptable flow rate or range of flow rates of the gas stream through the baghouse, measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM). An increase in gas flow rates causes an increase in operating pressure drop and air-to-cloth ratio. These increases require the baghouse to work more strenuously, resulting in more frequent cleanings and high particle velocity, two factors that shorten bag life. Minimum particle size indicates the minimum diameter of particulate matter that the baghouse is capable of filtering, measured in micrometers. This rating effectively defines the filtering capability of the baghouse, which should be able to sufficiently meet the needs of the system.

References:

o Globalspec Inc o Dust Collector Experts o Neundorfer, Inc o Baghouse.com Email: rakesh.rao@network18publishing.com

Projects

New projects and expansion activities are the barometers of industrial growth. These also present business opportunities to service providers like consultants, contractors, plant & equipment suppliers and others down the value chain. This feature will keep you updated with vital information regarding new projects and capacity expansions being planned by companies in the chemical and allied industries.

Aluminium chloride

Jayshree Chemicals Ltd

Project type New facility Project news Jayshree Chemicals plans to set up an anhydrous aluminium chloride unit with a capacity of 9,125 tonne per annum (TPA) at Ganjam in Odisha.

Project location Ganjam, Odisha Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Jayashree Chemicals Ltd 31, Chowringhee Road, Kolkata 700 016 West Bengal Tel: 033-22656271 Fax: 033-22263257 Email: jcl@jayshreechemicals.com ---------------------------------------Ammonia

Project news Metrochem Api Pvt Ltd is planning to set up a new chemical plant at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

The project involves manufacturing of aliskiren fumarate.

Project location Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Metrochem Api Pvt Ltd 302 Bhanu Enclave Sunder Nagar, Erragadda Hyderabad 500 038 Andhra Pradesh Tel: 040-23700421, 23813969 Fax: 040-23705088 Email: contact@metroapi.com ---------------------------------------Aromatic hydrocarbons

Project news I G Petro Chemicals Ltd is planning to set up a chemical plant at Raigad (Kulaba) in Maharashtra. The project involves manufacturing of benzoic acid.

Project location Raigad (Kulaba), Maharashtra Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: I G Petro Chemicals Ltd 401/402 Raheja Centre Free Press Journal Marg 214, Nariman Point Mumbai 400 021 Tel: 022-30286100 Fax: 022-22040747 Email: igpetro@vsnl.com ---------------------------------------Benzyl (cis, endo)

Aarti Industries Ltd

Matix Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd

Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing

Contact details: Matix Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd Poonam Chambers, B Wing, 5th Floor Dr Annie Besant Road, Worli Mumbai 400 018 Tel: 022-61167000 Fax: 022-61167011 Email: info@matixgroup.com ---------------------------------------Aliskiren fumarate

Contact details: Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing 87, Unter der Eichen 87, 12205, Berlin Deutschland, Germany Tel: +(49) +41-328898601 Fax: +(49) +41-328896971 ---------------------------------------Benzoic acid

Contact details: Aarti Industries Ltd Udyog Kshetra, 2nd Floor Mulund-Goregaon Link Road Mulund (West), Mumbai 400 080 Tel: 022-67976666/6697 Fax: 022-25653234/3185 Email: info@aartigroup.com ---------------------------------------Camphene

Project type New facility

Project type New facility

Project type New facility Project news Matix Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd is planning to set up an ammonia plant at Burdwan in West Bengal.

Project location Burdwan, West Bengal Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning

Metrochem Api Pvt Ltd Project type New facility 64

Chemical World | February 2013

Project type New facility Project news Federal Institute for Material Research and Testing is planning to come out with a new plant to produce pure oxygenatedpolycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Project location Germany Project cost Euro 2,86,000 Implementation stage Planning

I G Petro Chemicals Ltd

Project type New facility Project news Aarti Industries Ltd is planning to set up a new chemical plant at Valsad in Gujarat.

The plant will manufacture benzyl (cis, endo)-octahydro cyclopenta (B) pyrrole2(S) carboxylate hydrochloride.

Project location Valsad, Gujarat Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning

Dujodwala Products Ltd

Projects

Project news Dujodwala Products Ltd is planning to set up a chemical plant at Raigad (Kulaba) in Maharashtra. The plant will manufacture camphene.

Project location Raigad (Kulaba), Maharashtra Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Dujodwala Products Ltd No 812, 212, Tulsiani Chambers Nariman Point Mumbai 400 021 Tel: 022-22824089 Fax: 022-22841284 Email: admin@dujodwala.com ---------------------------------------Dichloro-nitro benzene

Aarti Industries Ltd

Project type New facility Project news Aarti Industries Ltd is planning to set up a chemical plant at Valsad in Gujarat.

The plant will manufacture 2,5/3, 4 dichloro-nitro benzene.

Project location Valsad, Gujarat Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Aarti Industries Limited Udyog Kshetra, 2nd Floor Mulund-Goregaon Link Road Mulund (West) Mumbai 400080 Tel: 022-67976666/6697 Fax: 022-25653234 Email: info@aartigroup.com ---------------------------------------DASDA

Deepak Nitrite Ltd Project type New facility

Project news Deepak Nitrite Ltd is planning to set up a new chemicals project at Bharuch in Gujarat. The project involves manufacturing of di-amino stilbene disulphate acid business (DASDA).

Project location Bharuch, Gujarat Project cost Not available Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Deepak Nitrite Ltd Aaditya-I, National Highway no 8 Chhani Road Vadodara 390 024 Gujarat Tel: 0265-2765200 Fax: 0265-2340506 Email: investor@deepaknitrite.com ---------------------------------------Fertiliser

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd

Project type New facility Project news Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd (IFFCO) is planning to set up a chemical plant at Kutch in Gujarat. The plant will involve in manufacturing of urea ammonium phosphate 20-20-0.

Project location Kutch, Gujarat Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Indian Farmers Fertiliser Co-operative Ltd IFFCO Sadan, C-1 District Centre Saket Place New Delhi 110017 Tel: 011-42592626, 26542625 Fax: 011-42592650 Email: kcahuja@iffco.in

Haloperidol decanoate BP

RPG Life Sciences Ltd

Project type New facility Project news RPG Life Sciences Ltd is planning to set up a chemical plant at Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra. The plant will manufacture haloperidol decanoate BP. Project location Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: RPG Life Sciences Ltd 25, MIDC Land, Thane Belapur Road Navi Mumbai 400705 Tel: 022-67955555/5398 Fax: 022-27672646 Email: sachin.raole@rpgls.com ---------------------------------------Single super phosphate

Madhya Bharat Agro Products Ltd

Project type New facility Project news Madhya Bharat Agro Products Ltd is planning to set up a chemicals project at Sagar in Madhya Pradesh. The project involves manufacturing of Single Super Phosphate (SSP).

Project location Sagar, Madhya Pradesh Project cost Not known Implementation stage Planning Contact details: Madhya Bharat Agro Products Ltd (Unit-II,) Banda Industrial Area Village - Sorai, Teh – Banda Dist-Sagar 470335 Madhya Pradesh Tel: 01482-237104 Fax: 01482-239638 Email: sales@mbapl.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

February 2013 | Chemical World

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Tenders

Latest Popular Tenders brought to you by www.tendersinfo.com Nitrogen compressor

Org : LLP EMIR-Oil TRN : 14437517 Desc : Provision of nitrogen compressor BOD : February 20, 2013 Loc : Kazakhstan BT : ICB _______________________________________________

SF6 gas dew point meter

Org : Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company TRN : 14277444 Desc : Design and supply of pressure vessels to store hydrogen and nitrogen BOD : February 26, 2013 Loc : Jordan BT : ICB _______________________________________________

Org : Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd TRN : 14425664 Desc : Supply & commissioning of SF6 gas dew point meter BOD : February 20, 2013 Loc : Patna, Bihar BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

Dosing pumps

Org : Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd TRN : 14425472 Desc : Supply & commissioning of high precision SF6 gas leak detector along with accessories BOD : February 21, 2013 Loc : Patna, Bihar BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

Org : Ordnance Factory Board TRN : 13916891 Desc : Design, manufacturing, supply, installation and successful commissioning of tungsten powder manufacturing plant on turnkey basis for manufacturing of 99.9 per cent pure tungsten powder BOD : February 28, 2013 Loc : Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

SF6 gas leak detector

SF6 gas evacuation and processing plant

Org : Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd TRN : 14429690 Desc : Supply & commissioning of SF6 gas evacuation and processing plant BOD : February 21, 2013 Loc : Patna, Bihar BT : Domestic (NCB) _______________________________________________

Open path hydrogen gas detector

Org : GAIL (India) Ltd TRN : 14523170 Desc : Procurement of open path hydrogen gas detector BOD : February 22, 2013 Loc : Auraiya, Uttar Pradesh BT : Domestic (NCB) _______________________________________________

Flocculant dosing pump

Org : Hindustan Copper Ltd TRN : 14373867 Desc : Procurement of flocculant dosing pump BOD : February 22, 2013 Loc : Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan BT : Domestic

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Pressure vessels

Chemical World | February 2013

Org : Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd TRN : 14470551 Desc : Procurement of dosing pumps BOD : February 27, 2013 Loc : Sivasagar, Assam BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

Tungsten powder manufacturing plant

Vacuum insulated evaporators

Org : Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) TRN : 14482709 Desc : Supply, installation of vacuum insulated evaporators (VIES) BOD : March 01, 2013 Loc : Mumbai, Maharashtra BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

Chlorine scrubber system

Org : Water Supplies Department TRN : 14500938 Desc : Replacement of chlorine scrubber system at silver mine bay water treatment works BOD : March 01, 2013 Loc : Hong Kong BT : ICB _______________________________________________

Mercury analyser (digital)

Org : Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Project TRN : 14356023

Tenders

Latest Popular Tenders brought to you by www.tendersinfo.com Desc : Procurement of mercury analyser (digital) BOD : March 02, 2013 Loc : Bhubaneswar, Odisha BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

Dissolved oxygen analyser

Org : Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd TRN : 14465946 Desc : Supply of dissolved oxygen analyser BOD : March 02, 2013 Loc : Kota, Rajasthan BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

Nitrogen gas generation plant

Org : Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) TRN : 14359336 Desc : Provision of nitrogen gas generation plant BOD : March 02, 2013 Loc : Bengaluru, Karnataka BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

Analyser

Org : Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Project TRN : 14359817 Desc : Procurement of TKN analyser automatic with aluminium block digester and total organic carbon (TOC) analyser BOD : March 02, 2013 Loc : Bhubaneswar, Odisha BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

Gas distribution system

Org : Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Project TRN : 14359797 Desc : Procurement of gas distribution system BOD : March 02, 2013 Loc : Bhubaneswar, Odisha BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

Glue mixer

Org : Euros Polska SP Z OO TRN : 14486807

Desc : Delivery of a brand new glue mixer BOD : March 04, 2013 Loc : Poland BT : ICB _______________________________________________

Composting - technological equipment

Org : Obec Tešedíkovo TRN : 14448084 Desc : Provision of composting - technological equipment BOD : March 04, 2013 Loc : Slovakia BT : ICB _______________________________________________

Liquid nitrogen plant

Org : The European Joint Undertaking for Iter And The Development of Fusion Energy TRN : 12773064 Desc : Supply of the liquid nitrogen plant and auxiliary systems BOD : March 04, 2013 Loc : Spain BT : ICB _______________________________________________

Denitration plant

Org : Department of Atomic Energy TRN : 14126162 Desc : Engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) of denitration plant BOD : March 05, 2013 Loc : Mumbai, Maharashtra BT : Domestic _______________________________________________

Smart H2S gas detection system

Org : Department of Atomic Energy TRN : 14058599 Desc : Design, supply, installation and commissioning and guarantee of (8 DEG angle) smart H2S gas detection system sensors on the perimeter of HWPM, 1.6 km radius of circle, PLC and SCADA system in CCRAS BOD : March 12, 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

February 2013 | Chemical World

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Event List

National Aurangabad Maharashtra, Feb 22-25, 2013

The trade exposition on chemical plant, equipment and process industry; June 07-10, 2013; 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

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

EverythingAboutWater Expo 2013

Khar (West) Mumbai 400 052 Tel: 022-26000556/0555 Fax: 022-26000556 Email: nidhi.verma@eliteplus.co.in

For details contact: EA Water Pvt Ltd A1/152, Neb Sarai IGNOU Road, New Delhi 110 068 Tel: 011-43100568 Fax: 011-43100599 Email: enquiry@eawater.com

Poly India

An international exhibition and conference on water & wastewater management; February 28-March 2, 2013; at Chennai Trade Centre, Nandambakkam, Chennai

ChemProTech 2013

An international event on chemical processing technology and equipment to be held concurrently with fine and specialty chemicals trade fair, Chemspec; April 11-12, 2013; at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai For details contact: Krunal Goda Koelnmesse YA Tradefair Pvt Ltd 1102, 11th Floor, DLH Park S V Road, Near MTNL Office Goregoan(W), Mumbai 400062 Tel: 022-28715207 Fax: 022-28715222 Email: k.goda@koelnmesse-india.com

Vinyl India 2013

International conference for PVC and chlor alkali industries; April 11-12, 2013; at Hotel Grand Hyatt, Mumbai For details contact: Nidhi Verma ElitePlus Business Services Pvt Ltd 61, Radheya, 14th Road, Plot 359, 68

Chemical World | February 2013

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: 011-23738760/23738770 Fax: 011-23320714 Email: ficci@ficci.com

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, Fax: 0124-4381162 Email: siddharth@interads.in

Natural Gas Vehicle India

For details: Network 18 Publishing

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

The exhibition will provide a platform for buyers and sellers from various segments of related industry to meet, interact & do business; October 29-31, 2013; at Bombay Exhibition Centre (BEC), Mumbai

For details contact: Allworld Exhibitions 12th Floor, Westminster Tower 3 Albert London, The UK Tel: +(44)-(20)-78402100 Fax: +(44)-(20)-78402111 Email: exhibit@oesallworld.com

analytica Anacon India 2013

International trade fair for laborator y technolog y, analysis, biotechnolog y and diagnostics; November 12-14, 2013; at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai 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

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, 23112122 Fax: 040-23112124 Email:pr@hitex.co.in

Event List

International

China International Agrochemical & Corp Protection Exhibition

An exhibition focussing on latest developments in agrochemicals and crop protection technology; February 26-28, 2013; at Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), Shanghai, China 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

Middle East Coatings Show

An exhibition and conference on coatings and surface treatment; February 26-28, 2013; at Cairo International Convention Center, Cairo, Egypt For details contact: Coatings Group Westgate House, 120/130, Station Road Surrey, Redhill, England, The UK Tel: +(44)-(1737)-855225 Fax: +(44)-(1737)-855034 Email: kezchen@quartzltd.com

Chemicals International Expo Thailand

An exhibition focussing on latest developments in the areas of fine & specialty chemicals; March 19-20, 2013; at Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC), Bangkok, Thailand For details contact: Chemical Business Association No 889, 5th Floor, Thai CC Tower South Sathorn Road, Yannawa, Sathorn Bangkok, Thailand Tel: +(66)-(2)-6739970 Email: cba@cba.or.th

Fluid & Process

An exhibition showcasing latest innovations in pumps, valves, pipes and automation for the process industry;

March 19-21, 2013; at Expo Center Norte, Sao Paulo, Brazil For details contact: Reed Exhibitions Brasil Rua Luigi Galvani 70 - 11 Sao Paulo, Brazil Tel: +(55)-(11)-55057272 Fax: +(55)-(11)-5505872 Email: info@reedexpo.com.br

Expo Coating Moscow

An exhibition dedicated on coating and surface treatment; March 26-28, 2013; at Olympiysky Sports Complex 16, Moscow, Russia For details contact: Saint Petersburg, 24-A Yakubovicha Street, 3rd Floor Belye Nochi, Russia Tel: +(7)-(812)-3806002, 3806000 Fax: +(7)-(812)-3806001 Email: ndt@primexpo.ru

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, Kuwait 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

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

Chemspec Europe 2013

An event dedicated to the fine and specialty chemicals industry; June 05-06, 2013, at MOC, Munich, Germany For details contact: Quartz Business Media Ltd Quartz House, 20 Clarendon Road Redhill, Surrey The UK Tel: + 44 - 1737-855000 Email: johnlane@quartzltd.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

Sulphur International Conference and Exhibition

An exhibition and conference focussing on sulfur, its production and various uses; November 04-07, 2013; at Estrel Hotel & Convention Center Berlin, Germany For details contact: CRU 31 Mount Pleasant London, The UK Tel: +(44)-(20)-79032000 Fax: +(44)-(20)-78370976 Email: conferences@crugroup.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 February 2013 | Chemical World

69

Event report Engineering Expo Indore 2013

Indore January 11–14, 2013 Labhganga Convention Centre

Empowering SMEs, expanding market reach The manufacturing and allied sectors in and around Indore are experiencing a surge in business and investment like never before. Amid such promising prospects and tremendous untapped potential, Engineering Expo Indore 2013 emerged as a catalyst and added to the growth momentum of Madhya Pradesh. A report...

(L-R): Omprakash Gupta, President, MPEMCA; Dinesh Patidar, Chairman & MD, Shakti Pumps (I) Ltd; Krishna Murari Moghe, Mayor, Indore; Amit Goyal, Chairman, FIEO; Ajay Sahai, Director General and CEO, FIEO, and Sudhanva Jategaonkar, Associate Vice President, Network 18 Publishing

Pallavi Mukhopadhyay

A

s one of the emerging cities of India, Indore offers potentially lower costs, necessary and inexpensive infrastructure as well as a suitable business environment for companies. Moreover, there is immense scope for innovative ideas to be nurtured in this region. Indore is a land of opportunities for small and large 70

Chemical World | February 2013

businesses alike. Today, Indore has opened its doors to both Indian and international investors. A hotspot for manufacturing units, the city has unleashed its mammoth potential of hosting new industries and tapping opportunities that await India.

A recent study by Cushman & Wakefield stated that Indore is one of the top 10 emerging cities of India for long-term business investment across industries. Madhya Pradesh houses

more than five original equipment manufacturers and more than 100 auto component manufacturing facilities.

Their market size is approximately $ 306 million. Additionally, IT major Infosys is investing ` 600 crore in its proposed unit in Indore. Tata Consultancy Services is also investing ` 410 crore in the city. With the country’s first operational greenfield special economic zone spanning 1,038 hectare set up in Indore, an influx of investor and business opportunities will be seen along with an increase in job opportunities.

Boosting growth

Given the current spate of investments across an array of industries in and around Indore, as well as those in the pipeline for the near future, this central part of India is poised for major industrial growth. In this context, Engineering Expo Indore 2013, which took place on January 11–14, 2013, at the Labhganga Convention Centre, emerged as a catalyst for boosting the growth momentum of Madhya Pradesh. The Expo was spread across more than 10,500 sqm and showcased more than 8,000 products by over 208 exhibitors in 30 diverse industry categories.

With an outlook to augment business opportunities of the manufacturing and machine tools industry in and around Indore, the Expo saw business deals worth ` 72 crore and an order book with big business deals for the exhibitors, thus benchmarking itself with top class trade shows.

Inaugural ceremony

The 5th edition of Engineering Expo Indore was successfully organised by Network 18 Publishing in association with Madhya Pradesh Electric Merchants and Contractors Association (MPEMCA) and Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO). Amid promising prospects for a fast-emerging Madhya Pradesh, the Expo came alive with the lighting of the inaugural lamp in the presence of esteemed dignitaries comprising Krishna

Engineering Expo Indore 2013

Murari Moghe, Mayor, Indore; Dinesh Patidar, Chairman & MD, Shakti Pumps (I) Ltd; Omprakash Gupta, President, MPEMCA; Amit Goyal, Chairman, FIEO; Ajay Sahai, Director General & CEO, FIEO and Sudhanva Jategaonkar, Associate Vice President, Network 18 Publishing.

In his inaugural speech, Moghe said, “I am pleased that Engineering Expo is being organised in Indore. We will benefit from the large business platform offered by the Expo. Business owners are getting a great opportunity to promote their brands and products through this Expo, which can contribute to the progress of not only the state but also the country and thus propel economic growth.”

While appreciating the contribution of Engineering Expo to the industries of the region, Patidar said, “This Expo has given a good platform to exhibitors. The industry, as a whole, and local customers are benefitted by it. I sincerely hope everybody’s business is boosted through this initiative. Today, the business fraternity in Indore needs to engage in continuous learning and development to keep up with the innovative and changing concepts of business processes and practices.”

Gupta encouraged the audience to leverage the Expo in furthering their business growth. He added, “Engineering Expo will help in increasing technical knowledge within the business community. I urge everyone to have a good time and take advantage of the Expo. This is a great chance for exhibitors to display a wide array of products and a golden opportunity for the industry to learn about the latest technologies available in the market.”

Addressing a packed audience, Goyal observed, “Madhya Pradesh is a progressive state, and small & medium enterprises comprise 80 per cent of the business. I thank Network 18 for taking this initiative to help the manufacturing fraternity gain more mileage and engage in knowledge sharing. I wish all the participants the very best and hope for the exhibition to be a grand success.”

Sahai highlighted the role of this Expo and the importance of value addition in innovation for the manufacturing fraternity of the country. He observed, “Indore has been seeing healthy annual growth and has a competitive edge due to the availability of manpower.

Engineering Expo has been a trendsetter for the domestic as well as the export market. Innovation and R&D will be the growth drivers for the manufacturing sector in India, and the country promises great potential in this direction.”

Jategaonkar delivered the vote of thanks on behalf of the organisers and said, “I thank all our partners and participants who have helped us bring Engineering Expo to its current position of an insightful and engaging business forum. This Expo is intended for the overall benefit of the engineering and manufacturing industry, and we have plans to further strengthen its offerings in the years to come.”

An empowering experience

Engineering Expo Indore 2013 empowered visitors with the latest technologies and strategic industry insights. Being a transmission line (cables, energy metres, isolators) supplier, Deepak Lalwani, Proprietor, Deepak Traders, has been attending the Expo for the last three years. “I come to the Engineering Expo as I get an opportunity to learn about the latest technology, interact with the exhibitors and see new machinery.

Responses from the exhibitors are great.

I think this is an excellent platform for buying and sharing,” explained Lalwani.

Another visitor, Suneel Arora, Proprietor, Pooja Electronics, said, “The Expo has been a knowledge sharing experience.

Such Expos are good for a city like Indore as it enables the industry to become familiar with the latest technology. I am having a great experience here.”

The exhibitors at the Expo varied from companies focussed on green initiatives to those involved in providing identity and security solutions.

Among the exhibitors, Nimesh Doshi, Owner, Asiatic Traders, said, “We are

Highlights of this edition Pan India participation by 208 exhibitors Spread across more than

10,500 sqm

12,019 business visitors visited from across India Business transacted worth

` 72 crore

More than 11,272 business leads generated 8,000+ products displayed from different industries More than 75,000 kg machinery moved in for display distributors of machine tools and are working towards green energy. We have launched solar panels in this edition of Engineering Expo. The Expo has been a success as all the stalls have 100 per cent occupancy.”

Sharing similar sentiments, Govind Agrawal, CEO, Anaxee Technologies Pvt Ltd, stated, “We deal in biometrics, identity management, fingerprint technology, face & iris recognition and metal detectors. The latest technologies we have launched at this Expo are new Adhaar authentication systems and JustLook face recognition systems. We are customising our Android-based applications for our clients and giving discounts to visitors who book here.”

An exhibitors’ directory comprising the listing of all the exhibitors at the Expo and their vital details was also unveiled. This wealth of information took the participants of the Expo a step closer in their quest to stay competitive in business. Engineering Expo attracted more than 12,000 visitors and buyers from in and around the city. With a huge display of some of the latest machinery, tools and technology, the Expo catered to the diverse requirements of the manufacturing industry. The next edition of Engineering Expo will be held in Aurangabad from February 22–25, 2013.

Email: pallavi.mukhopadhyay@network18publishing.com

February 2013 | Chemical World

71

Book Review

Practical instrumental analysis Author: Sergio Petrozzi Price: ` 11,520

This book conveys a comprehensive overview of important analytical methods.

It will enable the reader to learn the working techniques that the analytical chemists use to develop methods and conduct validation. The book presents almost sixteen in-depth experiments in analytical chemistry laboratory courses.

These consist of chromatographic procedures, atom spectrometric methods, sensors and special methods such as field flow fractionation, flow injection analysis and N-determination.

The carefully chosen combination of theoretical description of the methods of analysis and the detailed instructions given are what differentiates this book.

It is complemented with tips for effective literature and database research on the topics of organisation and the practical workflow of experiments in the analytical laboratory.

This book is an indispensable workbook for students, academicians in the area of chemistry, biotechnology, and food & environmental technology. It is also an essential practical guide for analytical chemists working in industry, covering all the common methods used in industrial analytical labs.

Solvent extraction: Classical and novel approaches Solvent extraction forms an integral part of chemical production. The main challenge in modern solvent extraction separation is that most techniques are mainly empirical, specific and particular for narrow fields of practice.

Some even require a large degree of experimentation. This concise book provides a complete overview of both solvent extraction separation techniques and the novel and unified competitive complexation & solvation theory. The techniques presented in the book provide a key for preliminary quantitative prediction of suitable extraction systems without experimentation, thus saving researchers time and resources.

This book effectively presents examples of applications in multiple disciplines such as chemical, biochemical, radiochemical, pharmaceutical and analytical separation. This book is an excellent guide to students and teachers in analytical chemistry and also industry experts operating in this field.

Author: Vladimir S Kislik Price: ` 3,160

Reviewer: Nita Mehta, Associate Professor, Chemical Engg Dept, Thadomal Shahani Engg 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

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Chemical World | February 2013

Products This section provides information about the national and international products available in the market

AAS and ICP standard solution

The new line of certified standards is dedicated to ICP and AAS. This inorganic ICP standard features extended expiration dates and is a reasonably priced alternative to others available today. Specific element standards for ICP analysis are available, which correspond to QC verification, interference checks and instrument control and diagnostics. Single element standards are available in 1000 Âľg/ml in 100 or 500 ml bottles, packed in aluminium bag with COA. The standard solution for AAS is prepared in HDPE bottles. It is traceable to primary certified reference materials (NIST, BCR).

The accuracy of the concentrations is guaranteed to +/- 0.2%

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

from the nominal concentration. Its shelf-life is 36 months from the date of production, closed bottle.

Loba Chemie Pvt Ltd Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-66636663 Email: info@lobachemie.com Website: www.lobachemie.com

Vibro shifter

Vibro shifter is known for its sturdy construction, corrosion resistant and durable features. It is highly result-oriented and offers best results in the usage. It is energy-efficient, has a long functional life and excellent performance. The vibro shifter is used for sieving and screening of chemicals, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

Shefa Industries Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022 – 25942473 Email: shefaindustries@yahoo.co.in Website: www.indiamart.com/shefaindustries

February 2013 | Chemical World

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Products

Water saver nozzle

ct Self-sustainability: One must look for a produ tough that has the potential to sustain itself in ct’s times. This will help determine the produ ing its capability when the market boosts, reduc risk factor.

Dwaipayan Mandal (Managing Director) Divine Automation Pvt Ltd

Total water hardness test strip

Water hardness test strip is used for quick and easy determination of water hardness. The convenient dip and read procedure and the clear colour changing from green to red ensures reliable results within seconds. The water hardness depends mainly on the amount of calcium and magnesium salts within the water. The total sum of these salts determines the actual water hardness. The strips are used in a wide variety of industries and applications. Hard water may cause calcification and can thus damage machinery, appliances, pipes or heating units. In many industries, water hardness is an important parameter in process control and has to be monitored constantly.

Some examples of industries include the textile industry, dyeing factories, large-scale laundries, water works, fish-farming and aquaculture. The water hardness test strips come in a wide variety of different gradations and packaging options catering to very specific or unique requests. These are the ideal choice to quickly, easily and reliably determine water hardness.

Loba Chemie Pvt Ltd Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-66636663 Email: info@lobachemie.com, vic@lobachemie.com Website: www.lobachemie.com 74

Chemical World | February 2013

The cleaning gun/water saver nozzle is suitable for hot or cold water cip and cleaning jobs with options of two spray actions-cone and jet spray. A hose suitable for working temperature of 164oC and working pressure of 20 bar for the nozzle is available. Hose length of up to 40 mtr can be fitted with the nozzle and is supplied along with it for efficient working. It is highly efficient in saving water while performing cleaning jobs in food, pharmaceutical, dairy and milk plants, breweries, chemical, meat and poultry processing industries, big kitchens, canteens, mess, etc.

Vijay Engineering Corporation Delhi Tel: 011-23215170, 09873426193 Email: sachin@vechoses.com Website: www.vechoses.com

Handy marker

Handy marker is a handoperated coder that can be used to mark or code on corrugated cartons, plywood, wooden crates, paper bags, cement, fertiliser bags, leather, cloth, HDPE woven sacks, etc. This handy marker is a light-weight and reliable option for continuous and prolonged use and is also extremely sturdy.

The handy marker is easy to operate, durable, economical and is used in a variety of applications in secondary packaging. It is available in various sizes and has the spring-return arrangement.

The handy marker has a long print life and allows uninterrupted marking without need for frequent re-inking. It is used to mark batch no, product name, date of manufacture, expiry date, gross weight, destinations, shipping mark, handling instructions and other statutory markings. This coder can also be used for marking on metal/plastic drums and other non-porous surfaces by using specially developed PIC coding inks.

Pic-Code Systems Vadodara – Gujarat Tel: 0265-2290926 Email: arora@piccode.com, arora12345@gmail.com Website: www.piccode.com

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Subscription Department, Network18 Media & Investments Ltd, A Wing, Ruby House, JK Sawant Marg, Dadar (West), Mumbai 400 028. customercare@network18publishing.com

Products

Food and pharma formulations

A wide gamut of chemicals procured from renowned importers, distributors and exporters across the globe comprising premium grade construction chemicals, flavour and fragrance chemicals, fine chemicals, specialty chemicals, electroplating, metal surface chemicals, electronic chemicals, pharmaceuticals formulation chemicals, drugs intermediates, food chemicals/ingredient/ additive and industrial chemicals. Some of the salient features of this chemical range include purity, exact formulation, flexible concentration, pH value, stability under various conditions, etc.

Alliance India Mumbai – Maharashtra Tel: 022 – 28659196, 28013855 Email: alliance.india@mtnl.net.in Website: www.allianceindia.co

Digital flow meter

The paddle wheel insertiontype digital flow meter is a unique 2-in-1 combination, wherein the rotameter measures flow rate vertically. The water meter counts total horizontally and measures both the aspects.

It is economical and used to match up with international standards. No external power supply is required.

MTS Engineers Pvt Ltd Ahmedabad - Gujarat Tel: 079-26400063 Mob: 09879495924 Email: sales@mtsengrs.com, Website: www.mtsengrs.com

Block and pipe covering

Block and pipe covering is made from hydrated calcium silicate reinforced with mineral fibres. The material has low thermal conductivity and is not affected by waterwettings. Standard size is 1000 x 500/900 x 600 and thickness is 25, 40, 50, 65, 75, 100 and 125 mm.

Hyderabad Industries Ltd Hyderabad - Andhra Pradesh Tel: 040-3099900 Email: ak@hil.in Website: www.hil.in February 2013 | Chemical World

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Products

in continuous steel casting, mould cooling and other high heat transfer service systems. It works at low dose rate leading to cost- effective operations. The Biotech SPL 6000 dosage varies as a function of feedwater quality. before One must consider the cost of the product d purchasing so as to secure definite and assure time. of period a returns over

Manisha Kadam (Assistant Manager) Ashok Industry

Stainless steel seamless and welded pipe

Stainless steel seamless and welded pipe, tube, ‘U’ tube and large diameter welded pipe in various sizes, grades and specifications as per customer requirements are available. The material used is all austenitic, ferritic, duplex and super duplex stainless steel and as per ASTM, ASME, DIN, NFA and JIS Standard. The size for welded pipes ranges from 6.0 mm OD to 1016 mm OD and for seamless pipes from 6.0 mm OD to 323.9 mm OD. The pipe is available in lengths of up to 20 mtr long having thickness ranging from 0.6 mm to 25 mm. It is used in heat exchangers, heating elements, surface condensers, evaporators, digesters, instrumentation tubing and fluid piping. It finds applications in refinery, petrochemical, food, pharmaceutical, fertiliser, oil and gas, breweries, sugar, ship building and other industries.

Suraj Ltd Ahmedabad –Gujarat Tel: 079 - 27540720/21 Email: suraj@surajgroup.com Website: www.surajgroup.com

Corrosion inhibitor

The corrosion inhibitor Biotech SPL 6000 is specially formulated to protect the closed circuit cooling system from corrosion. It is a molybdite ‐ nitrite‐based corrosion inhibitor specially designed for use in closed re-circulating cooling water systems under high heat transfer conditions. It helps provide an economical complete program for control of corrosion on ferrous and yellow metals, effective corrosion protection for steel and most other metals 78

Chemical World | February 2013

Ultima Chemicals Mumbai – Maharashtra Tel: 022-28702390 Email: marketing@ultimachem.com Website: www.ultimachem.com

Valve positioning sensor

The valve positioning sensor F31K2 does valve position sensing for hard outdoor use. It is especially designed for use in harsh environments. The new sensor series F31K2 opens solutions for valve position sensors on actuators with inductive double sensors. It can be easily mounted, has high impermeability and is extremely robust with a high U/V-, temperature and salt water resistance that can handle any outdoor situation. Its use in explosion-proof areas distinguishes the F31K2, especially for applications in the chemical, petrochemical, oil and gas industry. It is an ideal choice for requirements of process automation.

Pepperl+Fuchs Gurgaon - Haryana Tel: 0124 - 3894000 Email: fa-info@in.pepperl-fuchs.com Website: www.pepperl-fuchs.in

Hand tool

Hand tool is used for operating on innumerable nuts/bolts and pipes. The tool is time-saving, user-friendly and can replace heaps of conventional tools. It has two spanners, which cover a size of 6 mm to 41 mm and can operate on more than 100 sizes of nuts/bolts. In the same way, the pipe wrenches can operate on various pipe sizes up to 2 inches (ø 60mm). All these tools are designed to operate in a slip-free manner. The tools are protected

by Intellectual Property Rights.

Solsons Exports Pvt Ltd Ahmedabad - Gujarat Tel: 09925152422 Email: solsons@solsons.com Website: www.solsons.com

Products

Centrifugal pump

The pump has all contact parts, including casing and impellers, of corrosion-resistant silica epoxy construction. It is fitted with externally-mounted teflon bellowceramic mechanical seals. Impeller shaft is cast integral with shaft and hence there is no chance of joint getting corroded. Heavy bearings are provided on the drive shaft.

Resicast Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-26501971 Mob: 09820883985 Email: kfresi@rediffmail.com

Turbine blower

Turbine blower is designed to suck or to compress gases/non-explosive air mixtures.

It is absolutely oil free with air flow capacities that ranges from 42 to 1100 m3/ hr with maximum vacuum up to 500 mbar and maximum pressure is up to 550 mbar.

It is light-weight due to Al construction and have 100 per cent oil-free non-pulsating continuous air flow. The blower requires practically zero maintenance and have silencers on both suction as well as discharge ports. It finds applications in areas such as pneumatic conveying systems, industrial vacuum cleaners, printing and paper handling, air pollution monitoring equipment and dental suction equipment.

Shree Siddhi Vinayak Industries Thane - Maharashtra Tel: 0250-28458372 Email: response@minivacpumps.com Website: www. minivacpumps.com

Linear hybrid stepping motor

The PJPL series linear-type hybrid stepping motor enables linear motion of motor shaft with a combination of threaded shaft and inner threaded rotor. The motor does not require any outside mechanical parts, such as lead screw, wire or belt for linear motion. This motor is 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, Website: www.nipponpulse.com February 2013 | Chemical World

79

Products

Tube expander

Hot water system

Airxpa Engineers Mumbai – Maharashtra Tel: 022-25966053, 67993503 Email: sales@airxpa.com, airxpa_engineers@vsnl.net Website: www.airxpa.com

HRS Process Systems Pvt Ltd Pune – Maharashtra Tel: 020 – 25663581, Mob: 09096699998 Email: info@hrsasia.co.in, mails@mindmatterscorp.com Website: www.hrsasia.co.in

Tube expander forms a perfect mechanical seal between the tube and the tube sheet. The tube expander produces a smooth, unrigged surface in heat exchangers and condenser, oil and air cooler, pre-heaters, super heaters, radiators, boilers, economisers, juice heaters, evaporators, etc. It is designed for long service, and features an adjustable ball bearing thrust collar to eliminate frictional heat. Rolls have gradually tapered noses to eliminate sharp offsets in the rolled tubes and ensure uniform tube tightness throughout the thickness of the tube sheet. Adjustable tube expanders are available with 6.3-102 mm OD tubes of various sheet thickness and fixed roller length tube expanders with 20-102 mm OD tubes and 26-95 effective expansion. The device can be used manually, with electric or with a hydraulic tube expansion equipment.

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Chemical World | February 2013

Hot water system is the most versatile and compact hot water generation system. It provides highly efficient solution to instantaneous hot water generation using energy-efficient heat exchangers that ensure less energy consumption. It has a preassembled skid for ease of installation and requires up to 75 per cent less space for installation when compared to conventional hot water tank heating systems. It can also be installed with storage (buffer) vessel for semi-instantaneous applications and in conjunction with solar-based hot water systems. The hot water system not only heats the water to a desired temperature using low pressure steam but also maintains the required temperature of water with better temperature control using automation and control. Application areas include pharmaceutical industries where single fluid heating and cooling systems are used, food manufacturing, HVAC, hospitals, hotels, textiles and breweries.

Products

r One must identify the product that best suits his/he . organisation with regard to the cost and quality

Suhas Kulkarni (Product Manager Marketing) Kohler India Corp Pvt Ltd

Twin screw pump

This pump consists of one set of shafts – one driving and one driven with two screws mounted and keyed onto each shaft. Liquid entering the pump is divided into two parts, each part going to the outer end of screws. The pump holds a given volume of fluid, moving axially as the screws rotate.

UT Pumps & Systems Pvt Ltd Mumbai - Maharashtra Tel: 022-32992488 Email: info@utpsl.in

Airless paint spraying pump

This pump is suitable where better paint finish, gloss of paint and aesthetic results of the machine are prime requirements.

It gives high output of paint and thus save time, manpower, paint & cost by giving high efficiency. It is also possible to spray high build paints for anti-corrosive painting with airless pump.

Synco Industries Ltd Jodhpur - Rajasthan Tel: 0291-2741571, Mob: 09829022258 Email: synco_2000@yahoo.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

February 2013 | Chemical World

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List of Products

Sl. No.

Product

Pg. No.

A1 tool trolley.......................................... 80 AAS and ICP standard solution.................. 73 Acoustic enclosure......................................FIC Agitator............................................... 81, BIC Airless paint spraying pump........................ 81 Amino acid analyser..................................... 84 Analytical instrumentation..........................BC Angle slurry valve......................................... 17 Atomic absorption spectrophotometer......... 84 Automatic and contained discharge............. 29 Ball valve................................................. 13 Bellow and dip-pipe....................................... 4 Blender......................................................... 81 Block and pipe covering............................... 77 Blow down valve.......................................... 17 Blower.......................................................... 59 Butterfly valve........................................ 13, 17 Cake pressing.......................................... 29 Centrifugal pump................................... 79, 80 Check valve............................................ 13, 17 Chemical and pharmaceutical...................... 79 Column and chemistries.............................BC Continuous or batch filtration..................... 29 Corrosion inhibitor...................................... 78 Diaphragm.............................................. 81 Diaphragm valve.......................................... 17 Digital flow meter........................................ 77 Display panel................................................ 80 Distillation column...................................... 81 Dry van pump............................................FIC E/P positioner......................................... 77 Elbow - buttweld type................................. 77 Empower - chromatography data software....BC End cap........................................................ 77 Energy solution............................................ 63 Engineering design...................................... 63 Evaporator................................................. BIC Exhauster...................................................... 59 Flanged end piston valve.......................... 80 Flushbottom valve........................................ 17 Food and pharma formulations................... 77 Foot valve..................................................... 77 Forged steel valve................................... 13, 17 FRP battery stand........................................ 45 FRP cable tray.............................................. 45 FRP canopy.................................................. 45 FRP grating.................................................. 45 FRP handrail and fencing............................ 45 FRP ladder................................................... 45 FRP luminaries............................................ 45 FRP piping................................................... 55 FRP poles and mast..................................... 45 FRP storage tank......................................... 45 FRP structural profile.................................. 45

Sl. No.

Product

Pg. No.

Gas chromatography................................ 84 Gate valve............................................... 13, 17 Gear operated pinch valve........................... 80 Globe valve............................................. 13, 17 Hand tool................................................ 78 Handy maker................................................ 74 Hast alloy..................................................... 13 Heat exchanger............................... 8, 81, BIC Hope ball valve - flange end........................ 77 Hot water system......................................... 80 HPLC.........................................................BC Hybrid stepping motor................................ 79 Industrial machinery plants and equipment..... 79 Industrial pinch valve............................................80 Industrial piston valve...........................................80 Infomedia Yellow Pages............................... 24 Informatic....................................................BC Knife edge gate valve................................ 17 Large diameter welded pipe...................... 79 Laser particle size analyser........................... 84 Limit switch................................................. 77 Lined valve................................................... 13 Lined valve and pipe fitting........................... 4 Long neck pipe end..................................... 77 Machine shop cabinet.............................. 80 Mechanical vacuum booster......................... 59 Modular system pump................................. 61 Monel........................................................... 13 Multi-stage cake washing............................ 29 Nickel aluminium bronze......................... 13 Non-return valve...................................... 4, 77 Oil meter................................................. 31 Open body pinch valve................................ 80 P/P positioner......................................... 77 Pinch valve................................................... 80 Piping system from polypropylene................. 6 Plug valve..................................................... 13 Pneumatic and hydraulic accessory.............. 19 Pneumatic control valve............................... 17 Pneumatic pinch valve................................. 80 Pollution control equipment..................... BIC Polypropylene chemical pump..................... 80 PP butterfly valve - flange end.................... 77 PP diaphragm valve - flange end ............... 77 PP diaphragm valve - screwed end.............. 77 Pressure and vacuum filtration..................... 29 Pressure vessel.............................................. 81 Production HPCL....................................... 84 PTFE lined valve......................................... 17 PTFE lined valve and pipe fitting................. 4 Pump..........................................................FIC Pump for chemical equipment..................... 11 Roots blower........................................ FIC Rotary air lock valve..................................... 17

Sl. No.

Product

Pg. No.

Rubber lined pump...................................... 80 Sampling valve-teflon-lined.......................4 Screw ended ball valve ................................ 77 Screwed end piston valve............................. 80 Seamless pipe............................................... 79 Sight glass.................................................... 17 Silicone FBD gasket.................................... 73 Silicone rubber braided hose........................ 73 Silicone rubber compound........................... 73 Silicone rubber corona teater sleeve............. 73 Silicone rubber extruded gasket and profile.73 Silicone rubber moulding............................. 73 Silicone rubber sheet.................................... 73 Silicone rubber sponge................................. 73 Silicone rubber tubing.................................. 73 Single gas monitor....................................... 31 Socket........................................................... 77 Spray dryer................................................ BIC Stainless steel pipe....................................... 79 Stainless steel seamless and welded pipe..... 78 Storage tank................................................. 81 Strainer........................................................... 4 Super duplex................................................. 13 Teflon-lined ball valve ..............................4 Teflon-lined butterfly valve............................ 4 Teflon-lined check valve................................ 4 Teflon-lined valve and pipe fitting................ 4 Tefzel HHS isotactic PP material................. 6 Thermoplastic valve....................................... 6 Three-piece design ball valve....................... 77 Titanium...................................................... 13 Tool cabinet................................................. 80 Total water hardness test strip..................... 74 Trade show................................................... 36 Tri-lobe roots blower................................... 59 Tube............................................................. 79 Turbine blower............................................. 79 Tube expander..............................................80 Twin-lobe roots blower................................ 59 Twin screw pump........................................ 81 ‘U’ tube.................................................... 79 UPLC..........................................................BC Vacuum booster pump.......................... FIC Vacuum or hot gas drying........................... 29 Vacuum system..........................................FIC Valve positioner............................................ 77 Valve positioning sensor.............................. 78 VMC tool trolley......................................... 80 Vibro shifter................................................. 73 Water saver nozzle................................... 74 Welded pipe................................................. 79 Work station................................................ 80

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Chemical World | February 2013

List of Advertisers Advertiser’s Name & Contact Details

Pg No

Acme Air Equipment Co Pvt Ltd

59

Advertiser’s Name & Contact Details

Pg No

Flosteer Engineers Pvt Ltd

17

T: +91-79-65435676

T: +91-79-25831985

Aeron Composite Pvt Ltd

45

Analytical Technologies Limited

E: sales@fluconautomationinc.com

E: sales@rajprocessequipment.com

W: www.fluconautomationinc.com

W: www.aeroncomposite.com 84

G M Engineering

13

T: +91-2827-287658

Hi-Tech Applicator

W: www.ais-india.com

W: www.megamachineryindia.com Bhavya Polymers

HRS Process Systems Ltd

8

T: +91-20-66047894

Jyoti Ceramic Industries Pvt Ltd

BHS-Sonthofen (India) Pvt. Ltd.

61

T: +91-09920780721

W: www.bhs-sonthofen.in Chemical & Process World T: +91-22-30034650 E: cpw@network18publishing.com 55

T: +91-22-67230600

Marvex Polytech Pvt Ltd

77

T: +91-79-22901027

24

T: +1800-200-1010

E: mcc@network18publishing.com

Everest Blowers

FIC

T: +91-11-45457777

W: www.yellowpages.co.in Pentair Water India Pvt Ltd

E: info@everestblowers.com W: www.everestblowers.com Not applicable

T: +91-120-4199444

11

E: marketing.india@pentair.com W: www.pentair.com

Our consistent advertisers

T: +91-22-6123500

31

UNP Polyvalves India Pvt Ltd

T: +91-265-2649248

6

W: www.polyvalve.com

Network18 Yellow Pages

W: www.cppiping.com

Uniphos Envirotronic Pvt Ltd

E: mktg@polyvalve.com

W: www.marvex.co.in

E: salescbg@cppiping.com

T: +91-79-27540720

79

W: www.uniphos-she.com

W: www.maag.com

E: info@marvex.co.in

Chemical Process Piping Pvt Ltd.

Suraj Limited

E: singhrv@uniphos.com

E: jai@lanengg.com

36

T: +91-20-24488005

81

W: www.surajgroup.com

W: www.jyoticeramics.com Lan Marketing Pvt Ltd

E: info@bhs-sonthofen.in

Shende Sales Corporation

E: suraj@surajgroup.com

E: info@jyoticeramics.com

29

T: +91-40-23315341 / 45

3

T: +91-253-2350120

W: www.bhavyapolymers.com

T: +91-22-23422238

19

W: www.shendesales.com

W: www.hrsasia.co.in

E: bhavyapolymers@yahoo.co.in

Samson Extrusion Ind Pvt Ltd

E: shende@shendesales.com

E: info@hrsasia.co.in

T: +91-2762-224114

T: +91-20-66300305

81

W: www.samson-grp.com

W: www.ptfeindia.com

73

Samarth Engineers

E: samson7@vsnl.com

E: hitech@ptfeindia.com

T: +91-2646-250025 E: sales@megamachineryindia.com

4

T: +91-79-25833040

79

Anup Engineering

W: www.rajprocessequipment.com

W: www.samarthengineers.com

W: www.gmengg.com

E: info@ais-india.com

T: +91-20-40710010

E: sanjayraut21@hotmail.com

E: valve@gmengg.com

T: +91-265-2253620

T: +91-20-22953511

Raj Process Eqpts & Systems(P) Ltd BIC

T: +91-79-65722609

E: info@aeroncomposite.com

63

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Flucon Automation

T: +91-79-65258500

Perennial Technologies Pvt Ltd

W: www.powerrental.co.in

W: www.flosteer.com

W: www.airequipments.com

Pg No

E: sales@perennial.co.in

E: sales@flosteer.com

E: info@airequipments.com

Advertiser’s Name & Contact Details

Vertex engineering works

T: +91-79-25622027

80

E: vertexvalve@gmail.com W: www.vertexvalves.com

Waters (India) Private Limited T: +91-80-28371900

BC

E: waters_india@waters.com W: www.waters.com

BC - Back Cover, BIC - Back Inside Cover, FIC - Front Inside Cover February 2013 | Chemical World

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