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Kerala Government’s Pragmatic Industrial Policy

N S Venkataraman
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Abstract

A refreshingly different outlook by the current Kerala government from what it was earlier is moving the state to economic and industrial stability. From the earlier union led unrests the Kerala Government is now endeavouring to change the scenario and implement many industrial and infrastructural projects.

Not long ago, industrial scene in Kerala was marked by labour unrest, confrontation, strike, violence, gheraos. The situation was so disturbing that some units like Gwalior Rayon in Mavoor had to be closed down and another important unit Benani Zinc in Ernakulam was permanently closed.

In such circumstances, the project promoters and investors were very apprehensive about setting up or investing in industrial projects in Kerala.  However, in recent years, there is not any big negative news   about industrial unrest in Kerala in similar fashion as it existed earlier and it is rare these days.  Certainly, the confidence level of investors in starting ventures in Kerala has visibly improved.

Many observers wonder as to what could be the reason for such an impressive transformation   for better in Kerala.

There is a view that around eight years back, marxist communist party and other communist party were in the opposition and CITU and other communist unions affiliated to these political parties often created unrest and indulged in prolonged strike for many reasons.  At that time, industrial relations were seen by these unions in terms of class conflict and they believed in need for struggle by the labour to get what they wanted.   With the marxists now being in power in Kerala for the past several years, this could also be the reason for the peace in the industrial front in the state.

However, there is also a more charitable view that the industrial climate in Kerala has improved, since industrial managements are now more accommodative and labour and unions have also realized that the working class lose more than what they gain by indulging in strikes and forcing closure of units.

In any case, it is now crystal clear that the ruling marxist party in Kerala has become more pragmatic in ensuring a peaceful industrial climate and in targeting to achieve industrial growth, realising that this is the only way to promote employment and improve the state’s economy.

This is a welcome sign and a few examples clearly prove this pragmatism.

LNG terminal in Kochi

LNG terminal of capacity 5 million ton per annum for importing natural gas was set up in Kochi with several crore of rupees of investment by a private company.

However, this project suffered enormously in the beginning with low-capacity utilization and incurring loss, as the gas pipeline project for transferring gas to the user industries could not be implemented due to protests and agitation against the pipeline project. The original plan was to use the gas in Kerala and also take the gas to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to the end user industries.

There was objection to the pipeline project in Tamil Nadu and the Tamil Nadu government totally failed to ensure implementation of the pipeline project in Tamil Nadu. Similarly, there were also initial protests in Kerala, which prevented the implementation of the pipeline project towards Karnataka.

However, the marxist government tackled this issue in a very pragmatic way by convincing the trade unions about the importance of this project and ensured the completion of the pipeline project to Karnataka from Kerala and thus saved the Kochi LNG terminal project from collapse. In short, what the Tamil Nadu government could not do, Kerala government did. The pipeline project was inaugurated by the Prime Minister sometime back.

Revival of Hindustan News Print Limited

When the central government had kept   Hindustan Newsprint Limited at Velloor in Kerala for sale along with other central public sector units (CPSUs), the marxist party ruled government took over the unit from central government in 2019 by paying Rs. 146 crore. After the takeover by the Kerala government, the company stopped production due to heavy losses.  After three years, the state government has now come with the revival plan of the acquired company and has commissioned the plant recently.  In the process, it has solved the labour issues amicably, ensuring peace that is necessary to revive the unit to achieve profitable operation.

This is a remarkable initiative of the state government, showing its pragmatic approach to industrial development in Kerala.

Vizhinjam Port

Rs. 17,500 crore Vizhinjam international sea port being built by Adani group
is facing issues now due to agitation against the project by a section of fishermen and the agitation actively supported and led by Christian missionaries.

The protest movement resulted in violence recently.

There is a general view earlier that marxist communists are firmly against the industrial groups such as Adani and Ambani, accusing them of being “capitalist dragons”.

However, marxist led Kerala government has changed its view on Adani group and entrusted this massive Vizhinjam project to Adani group for implementation.  Around a decade back, nobody could even visualize marxist communists entertaining Adani group to invest in Kerala.

This is a clear example to show the pragmatic policy of marxist led Kerala government towards the industrialization of the state.

Kerala government has clearly and emphatically highlighted the industrial and economic importance of the port project and explained how it would benefit Kerala immensely.  Kerala government has clearly and explicitly expressed its resolve firmly to implement this project and rejected the demand of the agitators.  Kerala government has not succumbed to the pressure from the “working class”.

What is particularly more significant is that when Adani group wanted that the central government forces should be sent to Vizhinjam port area to protect the engineers and workers and the project from the agitators, the Kerala government simply said that it would have no objection for central government forces to be deployed.  It did not make it a prestige issue.

Silverline Project

Kerala government proposes to implement 529.45-km railway line to link Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasaragod in the north, covering 11 districts through 11 stations within four hours, at a speed of 200 km per hour.

Several political parties in Kerala have opposed this project on various grounds. However, Kerala government has insisted that a holistic view of the project should be taken based on cost benefit analysis and pointed out several merits of the project and expressed its determination to implement the project.  Recently, Kerala government confirmed that the central government has given permission for this project.

Such approach of the marxist party in power in Kerala is a far cry from its earlier stand on various issues that upset several project schemes in the state.

Need for more similar pragmatism in the coming years

Kerala has enormous advantages in setting up industrial projects in several fields which need urgent attention from the government.

Just one example.

Kerala is the only producer of rutile grade titanium dioxide in India with the production level of around 30,000 ton per annum. Kerala has plentiful reserves of ilmenite, which is the raw material for producing titanium dioxide pigment. India imports more than two lakh tons per annum of titanium dioxide at present.

There is a glorious opportunity for Kerala government to exhibit its quality of pragmatism by setting up large titanium dioxide project in the state with international participation.  Obviously, to set up large titanium dioxide project of capacity not less than one lakh ton per annum, involving investment of around Rs. 1,000 crore, technical collaboration from well-established international companies is required.

In view of the strategic importance of the project, the prospective overseas collaborators are bound to ask for controlling equity participation in the project.  Kerala government should meet the demands of the overseas collaborators and quickly go ahead with implementation of the plans of this much needed project in Kerala.

If necessary, the Kerala government should not hesitate to give majority equity share to the overseas collaborators in the existing titanium dioxide unit Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd., where presently Kerala government own around 100 percent equity share. Many more investment opportunities exist in the state and the present pragmatic approach of the Kerala government give hope for future industrialisation of Kerala.

Chemingineering – Delta Hazop

Chemical Industry Digest
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Chemingineering – Delta Hazop

Delta Hazop is an effective tool for identifying and assessing significant risk in operating plants. It focuses on the subtle and creeping changes that inevitably accumulate in a process plant over the course of time, rather than only examining the design from a singular starting point.

Hazop Study is the most widely used tool for risk identification and assessment in the chemical process industry. It consists of a systematic and highly structured examination of P&I diagrams and other related documents. The brainstorming methodology uses a set of “Guide Words” to discover lacunae in the design and is helmed by an experienced study leader. Hazop Study is carried out during various stages in the lifecycle of a plant facility, and is often a mandatory requirement by the regulatory authorities. Hazop produces a comprehensive list of potentially hazardous scenarios and identifies safeguards to manage the risk.

Management of Change

After the plant has been successfully started up, various kinds of changes are implemented during the course of its lifetime. There could be hardware additions or modifications to improve the plant performance or efficiency. There could be changes in operating parameters with the same objective in mind. There could be modifications to produce a new grade of product. There could be changes to improve the plant reliability. Changes in operating staff are also very common. A good company will implement these changes through a “Management of Change” (MOC) protocol. MOC protocol examines the change holistically and addresses all the implications in the related areas. A robust MOC protocol is an important element of Process Safety Management. However, it is important to recognise that the number of changes in an operating plant can be so overwhelming that for the sake of production expediency, some changes do manage to elude the MOC net.

Creeping Changes

It is not possible to capture some kinds of changes in the MOC system. These are very subtle and happen very slowly during the lifetime of the plant. For example, due to regular wear and tear, a pump or compressor will start operating at a different points on the performance curve. Or the changes in the performance of a control valve due to hysteresis. We should recognise and accept that changes do occur in a process plant even without actively implementing them. These subtle and creeping changes, though infinitesimally small, will be cumulatively significant to make a difference.

Re-Do Hazop

It is a customary practice to repeat the Hazop after every five years. This is also legally mandated in many countries. This revalidation of Hazop, usually referred to as “Re-Do Hazop”, essentially addresses the changes that have happened in the previous years. The Re-Do Hazop requires the same level of planning and documentation as the first Hazop. As the team makes its way through the Guide Words, new findings are frequently checked against the original Hazop report. Often times, Re-Do Hazops are not done from scratch, but as a selective revision of the original Hazop. Experience has shown that repetition of the Hazop during the lifecycle of a plant gives diminishing returns. ExxonMobil has analysed the data from its Hazop for various refinery units over four cycles. The number of risks discovered in the 2nd Hazop cycle was 15-20% of that discovered in the initial Hazop. The risks uncovered in the Hazops further down the lifecycle fell precipitously, with the number of discoveries in the 4th cycle being 5-15% of that resulting from the 2nd cycle. The same structured “Guide Words”- led examination fails to identify many significant new issues. Having the previous Hazop report on the table probably induces a strong bias and thwarts new line of probing. The team could also be lulled into a sense of complacency and may approach the exercise more perfunctorily than they ought to. This is where Delta Hazop comes in.

Delta Hazop

Delta Hazop approaches risk assessment in an entirely different way from conventional Hazop. To begin with, the exercise does not use any Guide Words. Delta Hazop focuses on the evidence for what has changed. It also lays great emphasis on the creeping changes that have eluded the MOC system. Among the many items that would be reviewed during the Delta Hazop are: Management of Change documents, site-wide changes, staff level changes, regulatory changes, changes in industry or company standards, audit and inspection reports, near-miss reports and incident investigations. Whereas the conventional Hazop focuses on design aspects to identify hazards, Delta Hazop concentrates on plant operating data. For example, an increase in the number of alarms activated is a key concern. Recurrence of near-misses in same or similar areas provides another useful input for Delta Hazop. Demands on safety systems is yet another valuable set of data. By dwelling more on the fuzzy areas of plant operation, Delta Hazop improves the chances of identifying hazards that would evade a conventional Re-Do Hazop. It also improves the understanding of the risk level of these hazards.

Applicability

Delta Hazop has certain pre-requisites. It requires that at least one “Utilisation Stage” Hazop has been carried out before. “Utilisation Stage” Hazop is done after the plant has been put into operation, as opposed to “Development Stage” Hazop which happens before plant construction. The “Utilisation Stage” Hazop provides the baseline for Delta Hazop. Further, the “Utilisation Stage” Hazop should have been of high quality, carried out by a representative team having adequate experience. Any significant process safety incident since the last Hazop is viewed as an indicator of the potential weakness of the earlier Hazop, in which case a Delta Hazop will not be the appropriate technique. Also, all the concerns flagged in the original Hazop should have been closed.

Documents

The team members for a Delta Hazop are essentially the same as that for a conventional Hazop. However, they need to have very good operating experience of the unit under consideration and should be able to identify and analyse subtle and creeping changes. The study leader needs to spend much more time collecting various data and documents for Delta Hazop than in a conventional Hazop. Besides the standard documents required for carrying out a conventional Hazop, Delta Hazop requires some very specific change related information. Particularly important is to identify changes that have bypassed the MOC system. The changes in staffing levels including the competency matrix for different roles would be reviewed. The organisation’s capability to safely operate the plant and to respond to an emergency would be scrutinised. Often times, the regulations and standards would have changed compared to the time when the plant was designed and constructed. These changes would be reviewed to reassess the risk levels and see if anything can be done differently now.

Epilogue

Delta Hazop is emerging as an effective tool for risk identification and assessment in operating plants. It is not a substitute for traditional Hazop, but a complement.

Readers’ responses may be sent to:
k.sahasranaman@gmail.com or
chemindigest@gmail.com

Recycling Carbon: Creating New Supply Chains for Chemicals

Preeti Jain
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Recycling Carbon: Creating New Supply Chains for Chemicals

Abstract

Carbon neutrality across industries globally is the imperative today to address climate change.In this direction, recent COP27 deliberations once again underlined the necessity to mitigate emissions from carbon intensive sectors including chemicals. The chemical industry is one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels; and can play an important role in the energy transition with the aid of innovative technologies to ensure carbon neutral growth.

To achieve these ambitious climate goals, we need a systems-level solution drawing multiple sources of waste carbon and producing sustainable fuels & chemicals; today made from fossil carbon. A transition from oil refining to “carbon refining” is an opportunity for distributed sustainable production and industrial rebirth.

Carbon refineries can harness available high-volume, low-cost, carbon-rich resources like agricultural residues, landfill waste and industrial emissions to produce sustainable ethanol that could be sufficient to entirely displace many products made today from oil refining. LanzaTech;a leader in carbon capture and transformation is already working to make this vision a reality.

Globally, nations are developing strategies to replace chemical products with low carbon alternatives, this offers a tremendous opportunity to create new supply chains for renewable chemicals. Ethanol from waste carbon can be converted to ethylene (a key chemical building block) and further transformed into polymers, surfactants or polyester fiber. This creates a closed loop, circular carbon economy where carbon is reused rather than emitted and waste carbon is a valuable, sustainable raw material to make the things we use in our daily lives.

A vision at scale, the article will cover LanzaTech’s Commercial journey; CarbonSmart™consumer products and a way to enable a just energy transition. The UN Climate Change Conference(COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt,concluded with optimism as nations joined hands to support developing economies for ‘loss and damage’ caused by climate catastrophes. An incremental win from COP21, the developing economies will need more of such commitments to address climate challenges and accomplish the Just Energy Transition.’

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, concluded with optimism as nations joined hands to support developing economies for ‘loss and damage’ caused by climate catastrophe. An incremental win from COP21, the developing economies will need more of such commitments to address climate challenges and accomplish the ‘Just Energy Transition.’

According to IEA, despite all the interventions we are seeing today, the fossil carbon share will still stay above 60% by 2050 (from 80% today) in the energy mix[1].What is more alarming, this translates to just a 13% annual CO2 reduction by 2050,not enough to address climate change. With our focus always glued on the energy sector, chemicals, a significant consumer of fossil carbon,are often neglected in the climate debates.

Chemical production accounts for 12% of global oil demand[2]and is expected to increase significantly to meet rising polymers, material& fertilizers consumption.The chemical industry consumes about 50% of fossil carbon input as raw material or feedstock[3]. This,in turn, contributes to more than 900 MT of CO2 emissions annually just from the direct production of chemicals. The industry with a14% share of CO2 emission within the industry segment is classified as a carbon-intensive industry, thus requiring robust decarbonization efforts.

With our daily lives revolving around fossil carbon-derived fuels and products, it’s time we realize the detrimental impacts of continued fossil fuel use, especially on the environment and people. To achieve ourNet-Zeroobjectives and overcome climate despair, a large-scale, robust, rapid, and sustained effort must be made to re-tool our entire carbon economy.

Decarbonization is a requisite for the industry to attain carbon neutrality.The transition toward carbon neutrality will require the energy sector and energy-intensive industries like chemicals to invest in innovative technologies and create new value chains that enable a circular carbon economy where carbon is reused rather than wasted.

Directly recycling greenhouse carbon into everyday products through a process of biological gas fermentation is one of the most viable paths for a clean energy and sustainable materials future. Making low-carbon fuel (ethanol) and chemicals from waste carbon, such as industrial off-gases, agricultural residues, and municipal waste, to displace products made from petroleum is critical to overcoming the challenge of decarbonizing carbon-intensive industries.

The inherent flexibility of a biological process, like gas fermentation, allows a variety of waste streams to be readily available without adversely affecting food or land security. CO2, with the aid of Green H2 can further amplify this waste carbon feedstocks pool and be a game changer for energy security and GHG mitigation. Ethanol produced from waste has substantial emissions savings compared to fossil fuels and is competitive with plant-based ethanol without impacting land use or biodiversity. Carbon transformation technologies hold opportunities that can be applied across economic sectors, such as agriculture, industry, and waste management, as an essential strategy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and meet the nation’s energy, economic and environmental objectives.

The technology already exists at scale and is producing results with over 120 million liters of ethanol produced from steel mill emissions since 2018.

The world’s first refinery off-gas-to-sustainable ethanol plant in India is expected to come online by the end of 2022. Additional projects are also underway with other leading stakeholders in India to use agricultural residues for sustainable ethanol production.

Harnessing these multiple waste resources can produce more than 30 billion litres per year of sustainable ethanol that can help India to diversify its energy basket, produce SAF & chemicals, and harness domestic resources to address climate risks. Globally a market opportunity of over USD1.0 trillion, this innovative pathway can unleash investment in a sustainable supply-chain solution that will allow customers to meet sustainability goals and decarbonization mandates across the globe.

Globally, countries, including India, are developing strategies to decarbonize the chemical industry and replace petrochemical products with low-carbon alternatives. For the energy-intensive chemical industry, decarbonization of the primary chemical segment is often looked at as low-hanging fruit towards decarbonization, as it contributes to 65% of energy consumption in the chemical and petrochemical sectors. For example, ethylene, a building block for other chemicals, requires[4] around 20 EJ worth of energy carrier feedstocks annually. To put this in context, the world’s primary energy supply[5] is more than 600 EJ where crude oil and natural gas hold 34% and 23% share of supplies, respectively.

With limited decarbonization options, the chemical industry needs faster diffusion of innovative technologies, new feedstocks, and decentralized models built on the foundation of a circular economy.

Manufacturers, major brands, and consumers desire sustainable product. Gas fermentation technology enables this by utilizing waste carbon to make the building block, ethanol. This can be further transformed into biopolymers, surfactants, or polyester fiber and used by consumer brands to make packaging, perfume, detergent, and household product cleaners.

Estimates show that these products reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 70%compared to equivalent products derived from virgin fossil resources. This is critical when economies, including India, contemplate their low carbon growth trajectory and how to meet the increased demand for petrochemical products.

It is time to question where our carbon comes from.  We should all take steps to launch a new Carbon Economy in India. As business leaders, we can use carbon transformation to rethink how we procure, use and dispose of carbon. And as consumers, we can choose where our carbon comes from.

In the quest for innovative technologies, we must ensure they benefit rural communities and traditional manufacturing centers. A new circular carbon model that includes waste carbon from wastes such as agricultural residues will support a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient economy.

To heal and repair the world takes time. And with innovation, strong partnerships,and the support of government leaders, we are ready to make the transition and celebrate a post-pollution future.

[1]IEA World Energy Outlook 2022

[2] https://www.iea.org/reports/the-future-of-petrochemicals

[3] https://www.iea.org/fuels-and-technologies/chemicals

[4]Mckinsey Decarbonization of industrial sectors: the next frontier Report

[5] https://unstats.un.org/unsd/energystats/pubs/documents/2022pb-web.pdf

Chemical Industry In Tamil Nadu at the Cross Roads

N S Venkataraman
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When good investment opportunities in chemical industry exist, which are known in a region and which are yet to be exploited, it can be said that the chemical industry in the region is at the cross roads.  However, when there are good investment opportunities   in chemical industry but which are ignored and focus shifted to some other sector, it can be said that the scenario amounts to poor strategy.

The Tamil Nadu government has now fixed a target for achieving one trillion-dollar economy in the state by 2030.  This is a bold and forward-looking initiative and certainly this target is achievable, even though the year 2030 is only seven years away.

 With the target of achieving one trillion-dollar size economy, it is necessary to give due role and importance for the growth of the chemical industry, since several chemical products are feed inputs for several other industrial sector such as automobile, electronics, textile and so on. Growth of such chemical industry can promote chain of developments in number of other sectors.

In Tamil Nadu, the ground reality is that very few major chemical projects have been set up in the state in the last several years. On the other hand, well established and large chemical and research projects have been closed down or have been given up.

There are number of such cases. A few examples are given below:

Sterlite Copper

Sterlite Copper project in Tuticorin, which was working for several years with good capacity utilization has now been closed down due to counterproductive environmental activism, though several investigative studies on the functioning of the project by credible agencies have asserted that Sterlite Copper Project has not been causing pollution in Tuticorin region.  The Green Tribunal have also ruled in favour of Sterlite Copper.   Subsequent to the closure, the employees of Sterlite Copper and section of general public in Tuticorin region have appealed to Government of Tamil Nadu repeatedly to restart the Sterlite Copper plant.  Sadly, Tamil Nadu government is not responding to such appeals.

 Due to the closure of Sterlite Copper, India has now become an importer of copper, while India was exporting copper when Sterlite Copper unit was in operation. Copper is a vital metal needed in several sector and international price of copper has now skyrocketed.  The closure of Sterlite Copper in Tamil Nadu has really brought a bad name to Tamil Nadu that it is not an investor friendly state for chemical industry.

Natural gas pipeline project from Kochi

The proposed natural gas pipeline project from Kochi to Tamil Nadu has also been shelved now for no valid reasons, as some poorly informed protestors carried out agitation against the pipeline project without understanding it’s significance. The natural gas pipeline from Kochi to Tamil Nadu could have resulted in an investment of ₹15000 crore, which is now not to be.

LNG terminal at Ennore

LNG terminal has been commissioned at Ennore with capacity of 5 million tons per annum. However, the capacity of the LNG terminal is very much underutilized, as downstream projects based on LNG have not been adequately set up in Tamil Nadu to utilize the natural gas, which only indicates the lack of forward planning.  Commissioning the LNG terminal without facilities for utilizing the LNG fully is similar to the act of putting the cart before the horse.

Titanium dioxide project in Tuticorin

Tamil Nadu has large deposits of ilmenite ore in Tuticorin region and the earlier proposal to set up a large titanium dioxide project in Tuticorin based on ilmenite ore by Tata group had to be shelved, due to counterproductive agitation and protest. Presently, India imports more than two lakh ton of titanium dioxide every year, whereas the raw material for production of titanium dioxide namely ilmenite ore deposit is adequately available in the state.

Tapioca based products

Around 80% of the tapioca cultivation in India is carried out in Tamil Nadu. Tapioca provides excellent investment opportunities, for production of derivative products such as tapioca starch and several starch-based products such as L-Lysine, Mannitol, Citric acid and others, which are not presently produced in India and imported to meet the Indian requirement.  There is potential investment opportunity of around ₹1,000 crore for setting up tapioca-based complex in the state, which has not received attention so far.

Neutrino project

Neutrino project in Theni district in Tamil Nadu has been hanging in balance for several years now, as protestors are blocking the project. This is a research project of   great importance and several credible agencies   and scientific research institutions have clearly said that there would be no particular environmental issue due to the operation of neutrino project.  One of the knowledgeable persons who wanted the neutrino project to be set up at the earliest was Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam. But all these views have fallen on deaf years.

Crude oil exploration project

Crude oil exploration project in delta region has also been blocked due to protests. While there are several lakhs of acres of agricultural land in delta region, a few thousand acres allotted for crude oil exploration would not have made any difference to the economy of the delta region, particularly when the interests of the affected persons would be suitably taken care of by the government.  But this project has also been blocked, ignoring the findings of the cost benefit analysis.

Magnesite project

Tamil Nadu has large deposits of magnesite ore in Salem and nearby region, which are one of the highest deposits in India. This industry is now in stagnation stage. By processing the magnesite ore, dead burnt magnesite (DBM) was produced earlier to meet the requirement of refractory industry all over India. As DBM production has considerably tapered now, India has to import large quantities of DBM. This has happened, since no attention has been paid to set up magnesite ore beneficiation plants in the state.

Nagarjuna Petrochemical project

Nagarjuna Petrochemical complex in Cuddalore, which is a large project became a non-starter and went into insolvency.  Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation has an equity share in the project; however small it may be.   A Kolkata based group has purchased the unit in auction. It remains to be seen how and when this project would fructify, as revamping of the project is still in preliminary stage.

PCPIR Project

Government of India proposed to implement Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Regions (PCPIR) in Cuddalore and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu.  However, this project scheme has been shelved due to agitation and protest against the project by some environmental activists, who could not appreciate the significant industrial and economic growth that would happen in the region, which would far outweigh any issue in this scheme.

Salt project

Tamil Nadu is a large salt producing region in the country after Gujarat. This traditional industry in Tamil Nadu has not been modernised to improve the quality of the salt and optimise the process parameters and   penetrate the export market. This task has been carried out remarkably well in Gujarat state. On the other hand, some of the land area where salt was cultivated in Tamil Nadu has been diverted to some infra structure project.

Suspension of production in some units

Several prospective chemical units have been closed down in the past years in medium and small-scale sector. Such projects include South India Viscose in   Mettupalayam; Indag Products in Cuddalore; Trichy Distilleries and Chemicals in Trichy; Tamil Nadu Explosives in Vellore; several fire cracker units in Sivakasi region   and so on. The products produced by all the above units have high level of relevance to the country’s needs and they have been left high and dry for whatever reasons.

Where do Tamil Nadu chemical industries go from here?

One large project that has been announced recently is the petroleum refinery project in Nagapattinam. One only hopes that this important project would be commissioned as per schedule, though the work is in the preliminary stage at present. There are also two or three medium scale projects announced such as hydrogen peroxide unit and a few expansions by some units to increase the capacity marginally.

The status of traditional industries such as leather and textile processing   remain largely at the same level without much of significant modernization. The pharma units in Tamil Nadu are also largely stagnating and whatever proposals made are few and far between. While focused industrial parks such as for medicinal herbs have been announced, the progress appears to be slow and disappointing.

The most important chemical industry centres in Tamil Nadu are located in Manali, Cuddalore, Ranipet and Tuticorin. New projects are not being allowed in Ranipet, due to some environmental hazard caused in the area several years back by a basic chrome sulphate project.  This issue of ground water contamination is yet to be sorted out by initiating necessary measures.

Other than a very few chemical projects mentioned above, with no other massive chemical project being proposed in Tamil Nadu now, one can say that Tamil Nadu is a net loser due to lack of focus for setting up chemical projects and the negative and counterproductive attitude of some environmental and political groups against chemical projects in the state.

Of course, there have been good progress in other sectors such as automobile, auto component, auto tyres, electronic products and information technology. However, the lack of progress in chemical industry is conspicuous.

While periodical meetings take place in Tamil Nadu with participation of ministers, bureaucrats and top industrialists to discuss the prospects of chemical industries in the state, most of such meetings and conferences really end up as talk show, which is unfortunate.

Chemical Industries in Tamil Nadu have as much potential as chemical industries in Gujarat and elsewhere due to the coastal belt, trained manpower and other advantages. Tamil Nadu stands far behind Gujarat in the development of Chemical industries. Obviously, the chemical project promoters including the promotional organisations in Tamil Nadu have a lot to learn from Gujarat.

Chemical Industry Digest – November 2022

Chemical Industry Digest
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Chemical Industry Digest – November 2022

Chemingineering – A Novel Batch Reactor
– K Sahasranaman, Independent Consultant
Batch reactors play a crucial role in the chemical industry, which however has remained the same over the years. It is considered as a workhorse, which mixes various ingredients to create a new product with beneficial properties. In the article our columnist explains how a disruptive development has emerged in a novel batch reactor which offers significant improvements in heat transfer.

How Pilot Plant Can Optimize the Reactors
– Rajeev Hallur, Vasant Jagtap-Patil, Nitin Birajdar, Xytel India Pvt Ltd
Reactor is the heart of a chemical process. Productivity depends very much on the operations of a reactor. Therefore optimizing a reactor is very important. This article explains with a few case studies how pilot plants help in optimizing.

Catalysts – Chemical Process Plants’ Backbone 
– S. Raghava Chari, Industry Consultant
Rigorous operating parameters of a reaction such as pressure, temperature, etc can be
significantly reduced by the use of catalysts. Catalysts also make many reactions possible – which otherwise are difficult. Both capex and opex get reduced through the use of catalysts – which therefore have become ubiquitous in the chemical industry. There are several other advantages too. A refresher on catalysts.

Management of FAT Sludge in a Dairy in Circular Economy Mode
– Harshal Parbat, Ttahir Naqqash, Harshvardhan Ttanksale, Dr. Ramesh Daryapurkar
The sludge from dairies poses huge problems of bad odour apart from challenges of disposal. This article is a case study on how the problem was successfully addressed
by setting up an innovative sludge management plant incorporating a thermophilic continuous stirred tank reactor.

Advantages of Anti-Static Glass Lined Reactors 
– Gurpreet Chadha
Build up of electrostatic charges in a reactor leads to many problems. This problem is addressed by the use of reactors lined with Pfaudler Anti-Static Glass, details of which are outlined in the article.

High Efficiency Gas-Induction Impeller
– Devang Bhojani, Mayur Gandhi
This article highlights the advantages of GMM Pfaudler’s multistage high efficiency gas-induction impellers.

Chemingineering – A Novel Batch Reactor

K Sahasranaman
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Chemingineering – A Novel Batch Reactor

Batch reactor, the workhorse of the specialty chemicals industry, has remained the same in the last two centuries. But a major disruptor has recently emerged. We take a peek at this novel reactor which offers significant improvements in heat transfer.

Continuous processes have many advantages over batch processes. They are more energy efficient and also utilise resources more efficiently because of significantly lower downtimes. They are also safer because of lower work-in-process inventory. Yet, batch processes dominate the chemical industry, especially in the specialty chemicals segment. Batch processes are ideal for manufacturing multiple products on a campaign basis. Batch processes offer better product quality and improved traceability, which are important for approvals from regulatory bodies. Batch processes are very versatile and widely used for manufacturing small volume, high value products.

Batch Reactor

The batch reactor is at the heart of specialty chemicals industry. It is the workhorse which cooks various ingredients together to miraculously conjure up a new product with beneficial properties. Modern chemical industry is at least 200 years old, but the humble batch reactor has hardly changed from the early days. It continues to be a cylindrical vessel with an agitator to stir the contents and equipped with a jacket or coil to supply or remove heat during the course of the chemical reaction. Many new products have been developed over the course of the last two centuries, but the batch reactor has essentially remained the same.

Heat Transfer

One of the perennial challenges in a batch reactor is heat transfer. Many reactions are exothermic and the heat needs to be removed as rapidly as possible. Inadequate dissipation of heat results in a temperature increase with serious consequences. It will lead to the formation of undesirable side products and this not only reduces the yield, but also increases the purification cost. A more serious consequence is the possibility of a runaway reaction which comes with the accompanying risk of loss of containment and explosion. Heat transfer coefficients in jackets and limpet coils are poor and the geometry of the reactor limits the heat transfer area that can be provided. The problem is more acute in glass-lined reactors, because of the additional resistance of the reactor wall to heat transfer. The reactor contents have to be heated up to the reaction temperature and finally cooled after the reaction has concluded. The heat transfer area controls the time required for heating and cooling and eventually the overall batch time. A longer batch time means higher capital investment.

Multipurpose Batch Plant

The specialty chemicals industry uses a multipurpose batch plant to manufacture several chemicals. At any point of time, different sets of reactors and other equipment are engaged in production of different chemicals. The batch cycles of these processes are also different and dictated by the chemistry that is unique to the particular process. The reactors and other equipment are not optimised for any particular process and thus there is a high degree of flexibility. The same set of equipment can be used to manufacture a different product at another time to cater to the market demands. Standardisation, rather than optimisation, is the key principle of multipurpose batch plants. The different processes in a multipurpose batch plant operate independent of each other, but they share a common infrastructure that provides the requisite heating and cooling. The heating / cooling infrastructure is not optimised with a view to confer a high level of flexibility to the overall plant. It usually has margins to cater to the introduction of new product lines. Inefficiencies are thus inbuilt by design into batch plants. Energy management is usually given short shrift by the specialty chemicals business because the processes are comparatively less energy intensive as compared to those in commodity sectors. But this is rapidly changing as focus sharpens on reducing the carbon footprint. There is a need for innovative solutions.

Novel Design

An engineering company from Scotland, Process Technology Strategic Consultancy (PTSC) has developed a novel batch reactor that seeks to address the heat transfer problem head on. The design employs a slew of proprietary features to boost the heat flux to 4 times more than what can be realised in a standard glass lined reactor. The key element in this design is the baffle into which heat transfer facilities are incorporated. Internal channels are provided within the baffles through which a thermic fluid is circulated. The thermic fluid removes the “Delta T” restriction between the heating/cooling media and the process fluid and further increases the heat flux. The design uses a proprietary Thermal Control Unit (TCU) for managing the heat transfer with precise control of temperature. The significantly higher heat flux would improve productivity of the reactor by substantially reducing the heating and cooling times and thereby the batch cycle. The precise temperature control during operation and the rapid cooling is also expected to confer salutary benefits on product quality.

Testing

PTSC has carried out extensive testing of the novel reactor. The tests were carried out in a facility constructed by Kobelco Eco Solutions, Japan and included an equivalently sized conventional reactor so that comparisons could be drawn up. The reported outcomes are more than encouraging. The heating and cooling rates achieved in the novel reactor are 4 times more than what was realised in the conventional design. The product temperature was brought down by 5 degrees C in 300 seconds against 810 seconds in a conventional reactor. The primary energy consumption in the new design was half of that required for the conventional design. The results demonstrate increase in both productivity and energy efficiency.

Patent

Scientists from the University of Aberdeen and Glasgow Caledonian University have collaborated in the scale up and development of this reactor which has the objective of improving the energy efficiency. The development took a little more than 4 years and involved extensive thermodynamic and mixing modelling. The design has already received a patent in USA. Patents have been filed in Europe, China, Japan and India. The company’s management says that the results of the large scale testing have exceeded their expectations and they believe the reactor has the potential to be a major disruptor in the chemical industry.

Epilogue

Information about the PTSC reactor has been gathered from published sources. Some additional has been obtained through private correspondence with the management of PTSC. The information presented here is to generate general awareness without any conflict of interest.

Readers’ responses may be sent to:
k.sahasranaman@gmail.com or
chemindigest@gmail.com

4 Ways Technology Is Impacting the Chemical Industry

Holly Shaw
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4 Ways Technology Is Impacting the Chemical Industry

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cloud computing, information sharing, advanced analytics, data analytics, and other technological innovations can transform the landscape of the chemical industry. Technology streamlines the industry’s issues and difficulties that results in improved processes, manufacturing efficiency, productivity, cost savings, more clients and increased customer satisfaction.

Introduction

The global gross domestic product (GDP) of the chemical industry will grow by 3.2% in 2023. Digital technology is a significant factor driving this growth. It is why chemical production companies invest in and incorporate technology like automation, digital sales platform, and chemical safety software in their processes.

Technology impacts the chemical industry resulting in the following:

  • Improved Process, Manufacturing Efficiency, and Productivity
  • Cost Savings
  • Streamlined issues and difficulties
  • More Clients and Increased Customer Satisfaction

The four ways technology is impacting the chemical industry are made possible when companies integrate additive manufacturing, advanced materials, artificial intelligence, automation, cloud data storage, information sharing, Internet of Things (IoT), “Yield, Energy, and Throughput” analysis, machine learning, data analytics, and advanced maintenance analytics with their marketing processes.

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), cloud computing and information sharing, advanced analytics, and data analytics are detailed below.

1. Improved Process, Manufacturing Efficiency, and Productivity

Companies in the chemical industry that utilize AI improved their process and manufacturing efficiency and increased their productivity.

AI and Productivity

Artificial intelligence refers to machines and processes which can carry out human tasks requiring cognition. They can solve problems and run programs and services to make people’s lives comfortable. Examples of AI are voice assistants in cars, Alexa (Amazon), Siri (Apple), Cortana (Microsoft), and Google Assistant.

With the help of AI, discovering new treatment formulas and ingredients is a breeze. It helps find and recognize molecules, generates formulas, and identifies the precise amount and proportion of chemicals. It helps evaluate and create chemical combinations, and determine their effectiveness in their intended purpose.

The chemical industry can speed up data extraction, supply chain planning, and quality testing through automation. AI also accelerates the research and development (R&D) processes to create new products.

ML and Productivity

Machine learning is a subcategory of and a pathway to AI. It uses algorithms to learn insights, automatically recognize data patterns, and make sound decisions by applying that learning.

ML supervises the manufacturing equipment and regulates the applications. Since it predicts equipment failure, it can also forecast the equipment’s required maintenance, thus, cutting manufacturing time and enhancing production.

Drug design is a complex process, but ML self-organizing maps, multilayer perception, and other technology. Thus, the drug design process becomes effortless.

Data Analytics and Productivity

Every company processes large amounts of data that enhances productivity. It is where data analytics comes in. The right computing tool processes big data that involves millions of data points. Data analytics keeps the chemical company’s effectiveness and the efficiency of its processes at a maximum level.

2. Cost Savings

The chemical industry enjoys cost savings with the use of technology. ML, cloud storage, and information sharing alone already do the trick.

ML and Savings

ML helps with workforce management. The applications of ML predict workloads and determine the effectiveness of the company’s departments. It would then be the employer’s choice which employees get to stay or leave. However, it might not come to this stage. The results of ML applications can be utilized to determine other income-generating aspects of the company where employees can be transferred for more worthwhile tasks.ML also enhances R&D efficiency and costs. It helps out in material development and generates new business models that spell out more savings.

Cloud Computing, Information Sharing, and Cost Savings

Cloud computing has a low cost. Since your company shares with others on a cloud service, you spend less on software and hardware licenses. Your service provider handles chemical security software, maintenance, updates, and support. You won’t bother your workforce to do these tasks.

As a chemical supplier, your company can adopt cloud marketing and pricing applications for excellent operations, accelerated new product innovations, meeting clients’ demands, risk management, and faster service delivery.

With cloud data storage, management, processing, and sharing, chemical companies can also gain competitive advantages as you can receive real-time information on your sales, costs, and inventories.

3. Streamlined Issues and Difficulties

Streamlining challenges is a part of company productivity and success. Technology impacts the chemical industry by facilitating these issues and difficulties.

Technology and Chemical Industry Challenges

Human forecasting has errors at times. If your chemical company has issues determining how much raw materials are left and are needed for production and wants to avoid overstocking, AI and ML can streamline these for you. They can even forecast future prices of materials. You can therefore adjust your production process to reduce losses.

Advanced analytics helps prevent problems through its predictive maintenance systems. The “Yield, Energy, and Throughput” (YET) analysis also guarantees the efficiency of production units while in operation, maximizing their yields and throughput with reduced energy consumption.

Production according to the norms of authorities and product inconsistencies are not significant issues with data analytics because you can immediately determine and adjust your production process and solve the issues.

AI can provide quality assurance and prevent accidents in your products. Only a tiny amount of a wrong substance can affect a whole batch of chemical products. ML and AI learn from this circumstance and prevent this from occurring in the future. Using their learning algorithms, they even evaluate and categorize production lines through chemical compound classification and toxicity prediction.

4. More Clients and Increased Customer Satisfaction

Technology brings more satisfied clients to the chemical industry. Cloud computing, information sharing, and data analytics are some reasons.

Chemical companies use automation processes to scale and source administrative activities. These activities promote transparency on the chemical products, management teams, and other chemical business aspects.

With e-commerce platforms and sales automation, chemical company services are customized according to customer needs and interests. These platforms and processes provide efficient market strategy implementation that satisfies customer needs and demands and gains an edge against your competitors in the market.

Embrace Technology

What are you waiting for? Technology is a beneficial temptation for the chemical industry. Give in to this temptation and embrace technology.

Chemical Industry Digest – October 2022

Chemical Industry Digest
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Chemical Industry Digest – October 2022

Chemingineering – Sense Out of Sensors
– K Sahasranaman, Consultant – Process Engineering and Safety
Sensors have gone far beyond measuring and monitoring basic process parameters. They are playing a crucial in predicting plant health. Sensors are helping to improve the efficiency, reliability, safety and security of chemical plants. In this article, our columnist talks about different sensors and their advantages including on biosensors and soft  sensors.

HART, Fieldbus and Smart Transmitters Benefit You
– S. Raghava Chari, Industry Consultant
HART (Highway Addressable Remote Transducer) and Fieldbus are standard instrumentation protocols adapted across the globe for sending and receiving digital information across smart devices, control and monitoring systems. These protocols make for ease of communication between diversive instruments of different makes. The benefits of each protocols are highlighted.

Industrial Autonomy – A Panacea for the Chemical Industry
– Kohinoor Ghosh, Yokogawa India
Latest digital technologies are changing the face of the chemical industry. The transitioning phase is still an ongoing process. The article mentions that the industry is leapfrogging
from automation to autonomous systems which will take plant operations,
plant safety, productivity and efficiency to new paradigms.

Alarm Management – Operator’s Perspective
– Debopam Chaudhuri, Pranay Veer Singh, Venkata Sravan Kumar, Fluor Daniel India Pvt Ltd
Safety is of paramount importance in the chemical industry and process alarms play a key role in safe operation of plants. Alarm management systems are widely used as companies shift to automated operations. In the article, the authors emphasise the importance of
proper configuration and definitions of alarms from the process operator’s perspective.

Specialty Dynamic Restraints 
– Sukhjinder Singh Dargan, Mrinmoy Ghosh Choudhury
Piping system vibrations take place due to many reasons. Presented here is the use of dynamic restraints to effectively mitigate piping system vibrations. Four types of frequently used dynamic restraints i.e., Sway Braces, Snubbers, Rigid Struts and Viscous Dampers are covered.

DRISHTI — An Insight for Soul Enrichment

Chemical Industry Digest
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DRISHTI — An Insight for Soul Enrichment

Author: Dr. Shree Manish Maladkar
Pages: 256  Price: Rs 399
Publishers: Notion Press
ISBN: 979-8-88629-924-3

Despite the tremendous advances made in science & technology including medical sciences, many of its bordering on what could be termed miraculous and stunning, the fact remains that when it comes to the core philosophical aspects of the human being, and many mysteries continue to befuddle the human mind.

Drishti, Dr. Manish MaladkarFor instance what is the human mind? Where does it reside in the human body? What is the soul? How can we understand these mysteries? For which, first we need to understand ourselves, discover us in the first place. Discovering the self has been and is an eternal quest of the ‘thinking’ human being. Continuously we are seeking. And the Seeker here who has crystallised this eternal quest is Dr. Shree Manish Maladkar (MBBS, MD-Bom, MCCP- USA), the President – Medical of a leading pharmaceutical company.

Delving into the Mind

One may ask how does a person of science or in particular medical science get into metaphysics, transcendental thinking and philosophy, esoteric matters of spirit and soul? But why should there be a dichotomy between the two? Well experienced doctors know that healing starts with the mind. Medicine and other physical treatments only complement the mind. So those doctors, who try to master the mind are well placed to cure. And Dr Maladkar who has spent most of his life in self-discovery, in seeking awareness to fundamental questions of human existence and who ardently believes in Light, Divinity and Divine Consciousness is best placed to share his profound in- sights with readers through his book – Drishti. Dr Maladkar is a multifaceted personality, a philosopher-doctor and a thought leader, who regularly writes on spirituality as well as on some of the great dilemmas challenging the human mind – which confront us in our day to day lives. He poses these dilemmas as a Seeker and provides well thought out answers.

Growing the Divinity in Us

What is Drishti? It originates from Sanskrit, meaning the Divine Vision. We have to pursue and develop this Divine Vision in us, says the author, so that it manifests in us. As he says in the Prologue, “When you develop the Vision you can experience Divinity in the fragrance of the flowers, in the beautiful scents of people, in the laughter of children that is nothing short of celestial music, in the eyes of newborns and in the eyes of poor people, when you help them. Divinity can be felt in the breeze of the wind, in the light of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars and most importantly, in the silence of your mind.”

Unless we dedicate some part of our time to grow the awareness of the Divine in us, to enrich our soul, we may not be able to transform and transcend. One has to go beyond oneself. And this is possible only through ‘Drishti’. Dr Maladkar’s vision through this book is to enable each of us to realise that “We are Divine Spirits with a human experience”.

Takeaways from the BookDr. Manish Maladkar

This book enlightens us on: discovering the Light within us; how we can learn from nature; how we can be truly happy; how we can expand the vistas of our mind and discover the true purpose of our lives; how faith works when we have strong beliefs and our intentions are good; the importance of meditation; the importance of not just acquiring knowledge, but acting on it, and not just action, but right action; realizing our real self that it is nothing but an expression of love; how to keep the mind empty for that inner silence and peace to override the material world; the power of thought; the universal principle that Light is “God and God is Light and how to spread this Light”; on how to illuminate oneself and achieve the highest potential that each one is capable of; how to overcome fear and other negatives that pull us down and how each one of us can just be our true self.

This book is also a very motivational, goading readers to fully utilise our God given aptitudes and talents. It is not only transcendental, but also transformational. It is the distilled essence of Dr Maladkar’s research into the soul for which he has been very eclectic quoting from Jesus to Zen Buddhists to Buddha himself to Lord Krishna to Swami Vivekananda to Confucius to so many sages and even great leaders like Winston Churchill and others. The book will definitely stimulate and stir readers guiding them towards a life of awareness and being a better human being.

A unique feature of his book is that the title of every chapter of the 20 chapters is a great quotation: for instance Chapter 1 is “We all have a beautiful light within. We just sometimes forget it is there” – by John Holland and similarly every other chapter.

This thought provoking book is not for mere reading. It needs regular rereading for our continued journey of self discovery. It is recommended as a constant companion and will lead readers, based on to what extent each one practices the wisdom presented in the book, to discover our true selves, give us the right directions in life, face the challenges in life squarely, realise peace, happiness, love and illuminate our minds. It is in essence the pathway for realisation of God in each of us with this Drishti – the Divine Vision.

Good Growth Potential for Indian Chemical Industry

Snigdha Gupta, Market Research Analyst, Ken Research
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Good Growth Potential for Indian Chemical Industry

India has seen impressive growth in chemical exports, largely due to specialty chemicals market which has doubled in terms of market penetration. Also, strong tailwinds in exports due to a shift in the global supply chain driven by the China+1 policy of vendors and demand recovery in domestic end-user segments helped the growth.

Exports of chemicals from India have seen a growth of 106 percent in 2021-22. In comparison to 2013–14, when India’s chemical exports were US$ 14 billion, the country has now reached a new high of US$ 29 billion in 2021–22. The increase in shipments of organic, inorganic, agrochemical, dyes and dye intermediates, and specialty chemicals have contributed to the expansion in chemical exports. India leads in dye production worldwide and exports 16 percent to 18 percent of all dyestuffs. It is exported to over 90 plus countries. India is also said to be the fourth largest producer of agrochemicals in the world and it also manufactures more than 50 percent technical-grade pesticides.

This export boom has been accomplished despite logistical difficulties including high freight costs, lack of containers, etc. Small and medium exporters from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh have benefited from an increase in exports of chemical products. Through the introduction of new compounds, technological advancements, product profile changes, and improvements in quality, the industry has evolved over time to become a modern chemical industry that is prepared to compete on a global scale. India has wide potential for significant growth as global companies are willing to de-risk their supply chains which are dependent on China.

End-use Sectors Driving Growth

According to Ken Research, the Indian chemical industry accounted for $178 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $300 billion by 2025 registering a CAGR of 9.3 percent. The increased demand for chemicals is expected to expand by 9% per annum by 2025. The development of the Indian chemical market witnessed an increase in demand from end-user industries like food processing, personal care, and home care.

India’s proximity with the Middle East helps it in benefitting from economies of scale as they have abundant petrochemical feedstock. Bhagwant Khuba, the Union Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers stated that the chemicals and petrochemicals sector is growing steadily and will play a significant role in achieving India’s aim of reaching the target of a $5 trillion economy. Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals plans to introduce Production Linked Incentives (PLI) for the sector as India strives to become an epicenter for chemical and petrochemical manufacture on a global scale.

The chemical and petro-chemical sector is expanding as a result of the PLI cheme in important end-use industries. India has a significant need for chemical and petrochemical products, which finds applications in many important end-use sectors like pharmaceuticals, telecommunication and networking equipment, automobiles, electronics, mobiles, medical devices, and textiles. The government is also promoting these segments through PLI schemes with an incentive outlay of USD 25 billion. This will increase the nation’s need for chemicals and petrochemicals. Large-scale investment will be drawn to the sector as a result of the sector’s phenomenal demand growth and the simplification of customs duties. This additional manufacturing will significantly assist the entire chemical value chain. There will be visible growth from the originating point to the ending point. Without a question, one of the main forces shaping our future will be digital technology. Today’s chemical companies are exploring technologies that drive efficiency, quality, and cost function, which clearly indicates that the latest technologies can be introduced in the domestic market by joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions in the coming years.

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