OCT 2014

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ChemTECH World Expo 201528-31, January 2015, Mumbai, India

Filtration & Separation

August 2013 • 3Chemical Engineering World

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ContentsCEW

4 • October 2014 Chemical Engineering World

NEWS ►Industry News / 6

Technology News / 26

NEWS FEATURES ►Prof Thorat from ICT to Receive 2012 VASVIK Award / 30

FEATURES ►

Recovering & Reusing Caustic using Membrane Filtration / 34

– Shanti Bhushan, GEA Process Engineering A/S

Industrial Gas Turbine Intake Filtration / 40

– Nitin Nageshwar, CEO, Yoku Consultants & Yoku Filters

Efficient Capacity Control in Reciprocating Compressor / 48

– Puneet Kumar, Associate Design Engineer, Fluor Daniel I Pvt Ltd

Process Intensification - A Perspective / 50

– Dr D M Mohunta, Commercial, Chemical and Development Company

InSitu Particle Characterisation / 58

– Benjamin Smith, Market Manager, Mettler Toledo

MARKET INSIGHTS ►BASF Inaugurates Chemical Complex in Dahej; First MDI Splitter to Boost

Value-adding Industries / 62

MARKETING INITIATIVE ►Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers Supports Corcon 2014 / 64

Suraj Limited / 66

KSB Odhav Service Station in a New Look / 66

PRODUCTS ► / 69

EVENTS ► / 73

PROJECT UPDATE ► /74

BACK OF BOOK ►Ad Index / 76

Book Shelf / 77

Interview/ 78

“Consumer Awareness Can Drive the Speciality Chemical Industry in India”

– Prakash Raman, Country Manager (India) and Managing Director, Solvay Speciality

India Pvt Ltd

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VOL. 49 | ISSUE NO.10 | OCTOBER 2014 | MUMBAI | ` 150

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Cover image courtesy: GEA Process Engineering

Industry NewsCEW


Naphtha-based Fertiliser Plants may Continue to Get Subsidy

Mumbai, India: Three naphtha-based fer t i l iser plants may continue to get subsidy unti l they get pipe gas connectivity since the Ministry of Chemicals and Fer ti l izer has moved a cabinet note. Since Mangalore Chemicals and Fer t i l izers, Southern Petrochemical Industr ies Corporat ion (SPIC) and Madras Fer t i l izers were not able to upgrade their plants to gas-based by the deadline set by the government, the subsidy was discontinued. The production at all three plants is shut. Responding to the query on the suspension of production Ananth Kumar, Fer til izer Minister said that the issue will be taken up in the next cabinet meeting and a cabinet note has been moved for extension of subsidy to these plants unti l they have gas pipeline connectivity.

KEPL Develops 1st Indigenous API Steam Turbine

Pune, India: KEPL, a pioneer and leader in the manufacturing of ‘API process pumps’ and API steam turbines, has announced the launch of India’s first indigenously-developed next generation API steam turbine ‘K-Tur’. KEPL is the first Indian company to develop the steam turbines in compliance with the American Petroleum Institute (API 611) specifications. ‘K-Tur’ is built on the breakthrough technology developed by an Indian company. Appreciating the ‘Make in India’ call, KEPL has developed K-Tur through its in-house capabilities and an intensive R&D programme. K-Tur machines will also have KEPL’s core value ‘Reliability’ and will have limited or no dependency on foreign technology. In addition to this, KEPL was awarded Gold Trophies at an event organised by the Pune Chapter of Quality Circle Forum of India (QCFI) at their 29th Annual Convention on Quality Concepts. KEPL teams from CMM Inspection, Pump Machine shop and Turbine Machine shop departments presented case studies on quality improvement in the manufacturing process and shared their success stories. KEPL participated in this event with the Kaizen theme ‘Quality in everything’ which is one of the prime values of the company.

Mumbai, India: Lanxess India Pvt Ltd has been acknowledged for its exceptional work in the area of water resource management. The company has been systematically pursuing an integrated water management strategy at its manufacturing site in Nagda, Madhya Pradesh and has been working towards ‘zero discharge’ goal which has been accomplished through the Waste Water Post Treatment Plant. The award for Water Resource Management in Chemical Industry was handed over to Namitesh Roy Choudhary, VP - Industrial and Environmental Affairs and Capital Investment and Subhat Kumar Jindal, GM, Head of Manufacturing, Nagda site, Lanxess India, in appreciation of the company’s perseverant effor ts towards meeting very high water resource management standards at its manufacturing site in Nagda. Ananth Kumar, Chemicals & Fertilizers Minister, Government of India and Padma Vibhushan Dr Anil Kakodkar, Former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of India, handed over the award to Roy Choudhury and Jindal, in the presence of other dignitaries from the chemical industry at a gala event. The Lanxess site at Nagda already had a full-fledged effluent treatment plant (ETP) and a state-of-the-ar t sewage treatment plant which treated sewage water from the colonies around and rendered it fit for use in the production processes. After a reverse osmosis step, this water was then used as boiler feed water. Taking another step towards sustainability, Lanxess evaluated how the entire treated waste water could be recycled. Thus was born the concept of the waste water post treatment plant (WWPT). This plant treats the discharge from the existing ETP in a manner that vir tually no liquid effluents are discharged from the site to Chambal r iver.

Lanxess India Gets ICC for Water Resource Management

Dubai: SABIC and the Integral Coach Factory have tied up for creating new modular seating which is durable and passenger fr iendly. SABIC’s LEXAN resin will be used for this seating which will offer added benefits such as passenger comfor t, easier maintenance and end-of-life recyclability. This resin has ensured the design can be easily maintained, is resistant to vandalism and weather. With its high flow, the resin allows the use of more efficient injection moulding system of manufacturing.

S A B I C t o S u p p l y L E X A N R e s i n t o Mumbai Railways

KSB to Launch Etanorm SYT Pump Series in India

Pune, India: In October 2014, KSB has launched their Etanorm SYT pump series in the Indian market. KSB’s latest generation of single-stage volute casing pumps has been specially developed for applications in modern heat transfer systems and hot water circulation. Etanorm SYT pump sets handle hot water as well as mineral oil based thermal fluids and synthetic thermal oils at temperatures of up to 3500 Celsius. They are par ticularly suited for the rough conditions experienced in heat transfer systems. The new pumps’ stable r ib design and reinforced bearings make them resistant to external forces.

The increasing use of highly efficient synthetic oils, has made new developments essential in pump technology. Etanorm SYT incorporates significant technical innovati ons, such as a new vent design through which gases can be reliably removed during operation. For very critical fluids a variant with double mechanical seal has been introduced. Customers may choose between carbon (standard) or SiC plain bearings. KSB’s Etanorm SYT pumps are hydraulically optimised and highly energy-efficient. The pumps are supplied with an impeller diameter individually matched to the duty point of the actual system.

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Industry NewsCEW


Blue Coat’s Adhesive Business Bought by Pidilite

Mumbai, India: Pidil i te Industr ies has acquired Blue Coat’s adhesive business for ` 263.57 crore. The statement issued by the company said that Ahmedabad-based adhesive business of Blue Coat which is involved in manufacture and sale of a range of adhesive and textile chemicals has been acquired by Pidilite for ` 263 crore cash consideration on a slump sale basis. Having a manufacturing facility in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, Bluecoat has so far marketed brands such as Bluecoat Plus, Bluecoat Marine, Bluecoat D3, Bluecoat Aqua, Bluecoat A1, Bluecoat Dual and Bluegrip 5000 to name a few. The statement added that these brands would continue to get support from Pidilite and would grow further.

Centre, MP Govt. Wants to Attract Investment in Fertiliser

New Delhi, India: The fer til izer ministry and Madhya Pradesh government are planning investments wor th ` 5,000 crore in the state by putt ing up a plastic park and a fer t i l iser plant. Apar t from that, a decision has been made about exploring the possibility of having a petrochemical investment region around MP’s Bina refinery which may come up to a few thousand crores in investment. Last month a meeting took place between Ananth Kumar, Fer ti l izer Minister and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to discuss the plan.

Kumar said that these proposals would be worked on through a joint working group of officials from both the state and Ministry of Fer til izers. Chouhan said that there is a need to have another fertiliser plant since there is tremendous growth in the agriculture sector in the state. He fur ther added that the plan is to increase the number of students of Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Techno logy (C IPETs) , wh i ch i s l ooked a f t e r by t he M i n i s t r y o f C h e m i c a l s a n d Fe r t i l i ze r s , i n B h o p a l u p t o 8,000 students.

ONGC’s Dahej Petchem Plant to be Commissioned by June’15

New Delhi, India: By June 2015, Oil and Natural Gas Corp’s (ONGC) mega petrochemical plant which has long been delayed would be commissioned at ` 27,122 crore which is 27 per cent higher. ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL) was set up in 2006 by ONGC for setting up the petrochemical complex in Dahej. The plant was slated to be commissioned at the end of 2012 but the delays have resulted in completion dates being revised twice. At present, pre-comissioning activities have began and the plant will be complete, mechanically by April 2015 with the commercial operations likely to start from June 2015. Equity of ` 1,669 crore has been provided by ONGC to OPaL which would produce polymers required in manufacturing packaging films, besides detergent bottles, margarine tubs, milk jugs, water pipes and garbage containers. The company will also produce chemicals required for making plastics. OPaL has plans of exporting the products to China, Singapore, Africa, Turkey, Vietnam, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Assam Gas Cracker Project to be Operational by June

New Delhi, India: Ananth Kumar, Fertilizer Minister has asked the stalk holders to ensure the project is operational after he reviewed the progress of Brahmaputra Crackers and Polymers Ltd’s (BPCL) Assam petrochemical project having a ` 10,000 crore investment. Having been approved by the government in April 2006, this project is called the Assam Gas Cracker Project located at Lepetkata, near Dibrugarh in Assam. In this project, 70 per cent equity is owned by GAIL while the remaining is shared by the Government of Assam, Oil India Ltd (OIL) and Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL). The project was to be completed by December 3013, post its approval. Taking the delays into account, Kumar has asked the concerned people to maintain the timelines so that as projected by November 2014, mechanical completion happens and by June 2015, the commissioning. In North-East region, this would be the first ever project in Assam. Natural gas provided by OIL and ONGC and naphtha supplied by NRL would be the feedstock for the project.

RCF Looking for Partners to Set-up Fertiliser Plant in Iran

Mumbai, India: Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd (RCF) is looking for opportunities overseas along with setting up a fertiliser plant in Iran through a joint venture. The company is looking for a local partner from Iran to build the USD 800 million urea plant, having a capacity of 1.27 MT. Iran has the second largest reserves of gas in the world. SBI Capital Markets (SBICAPS) will be selecting an Iranian partner.

RCF and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fer tilisers & Chemicals Ltd (GNFC) wish to tap into the gas offered by Iran at cheaper rates through this project so that farm nutrients can be produced and shipped to India. The project is likely to take off after sanctions against Iran have been lifted. RCF has a few plans in the pipeline viz, the additional ammonia urea project in Thal and a coal based fer tiliser project in Talcher.

Indian Plastic Exports to Reach USD 15 Billion

Mumbai, India: By FY 2019, India’s plastic exports could reach USD 15 billion from its current level of 8 billion. Higher export growth is expected in the years to come. In FY 2014, India’s plastic export stood at USD 7.9 billion and estimated to touch USD 9.5 billion in FY 2015. The The largest markets for plastic exports are European Union and US for processed plastics. Consumer items and houseware are two avenues to increase the plastic exports of India as there is a huge demand for these in the US.

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Industry NewsCEW


BPCL to Str ike Technology Deal for Kochi Petrochem Plant

GACL to Spend ` 3500 Crore on Expansion

Mumbai, India: Bharat Petroleum Corp (BPCL) will straightaway be buying the critical technology necessary for making speciality chemicals and the deal is expected to complete in the next few months since it could not rope in a technology partner for the ` 5000 crore petrochemical project in Kochi. The company wants to ensure India does not have to depend on specialty propylene derivatives based products like acrylic acid and acrylates used in plaints, coatings, plastics, inks, adhesives and textiles. The plant is located next to Kochi refinery and would have a capacity of 250 million tonne.

Earlier, buying the complete technology was not possible but now the situation has changed and many players are will ing to sell patented or protected technology. In August 2013, LG Chem backed out of the deal because of the adverse global environment for big investment. There are only five companies in the world which have the technology for producing specialty propylene derivatives. Presently, these derivatives are imported and no Indian refinery has the knowledge on producing them. This petrochem project is part of BPCL’s ` 16,500 crore expansion plan under which the company will be upgrading and increasing the capacity of the refinery to 15.5 million tonne from its present capacity of 9.5 million tonne by December 2015.

Ahmedabad, India: Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd (GACL) wi l l be spending ` 3500 crore for expansion which would involve setting up a new caustic soda plant in Bhavnagar as well as a power plant at Dahej. The company has plans to have a caustic soda plant in in the eastern par t of the country either by setting up a new plant or through acquisition. Pankaj Pujara, Head – Projects, said that the company will be executing its expansion plans very soon.

These plans include adding to the existing capacities of caustic soda by 1200 tonnes per day (TPD), chloromethane by 600 TPD, phosphoric acid by 300 TPD as well as caustic potash 120 TPD at its plant in Dahej. Along with the expansions, the company would also set up a coal-based power plant of 120 megawatt in Dahej.

The company wants have a new plant in Eastern India with a capacity of 300 TPD or acquire one with a similar manufacturing capacity unit located there. The growth potential of this segment is 3 to 4 per cent at present and may even go as high as the GDP growth rate thanks to the rise in the domestic economy. But, even now a large amount of caustic soda is stil l impor ted by India.

Indian Chemical Industry to Touch $ 190 Billion

New Delhi, India: By FY 2017-18, the Indian chemical industry is most likely to reach USD 190 billion as a result of the growth in the demand for chemicals from different industries their numerous sectors. Currently, the size of the industry is at USD 118 billion and accounts for 3 per cent of the global chemicals market, states a report recently released at India Chem International Conference 2014. The report by Tata Strategic Management Group (TSMG) and FICCI, titled ‘Spurting the Growth of the Indian Chemical Industry’ was released by Ananth Kumar, Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers.

The Indian chemical industry has more than 80,000 chemicals which makes it extremely diversified and makes up for 15 per cent of the manufacturing GDP. This makes it really critical for the economic development of the country. While announcing the findings, Manish Panchal, Practice Head – Chemicals, TSMG said that chemical industry is an indispensable part of the Indian economy and with the right efforts put in, it could reach USD 190 billion by FY 18. He states that ensuring the industry, government and regulatory bodies work hand-in-hand is important for realising the chemical industry’s true potential. Panchal added that in order to realise the true potential, industry, government and regulatory bodies need to work in tandem. The report also emphasised that the major growth drivers for the industry would be the low per capita consumption across industries and segments at present and the positive growth outlook for end use.

Foreign Firms Entering India Favourable for Indian Industry

Allahabad, India: Indian Farmers and Fer til isers Cooperative (IFFCO) said that well-known foreign companies setting up their manufacturing units in India would work in favour of the local companies as a result of the ensuing competition. This sentiment was shared by U S Awasthi, Managing Director and CEO, IFFCO.

He was answering a question about the likelihood of a foreign company entering the fertiliser sector as an initiative of the ‘Make in India’ campaign and its effect on IFFCO. Awasthi emphasised the urgency to have a new fer tiliser policy in place so that IFFCO could reach its target of 18 lakh tonnes this FY without loses being incurred. The company has given its recommendations to the government.

He fur ther added that their main recommendat ions was to increase the price of urea as more often il l-informed farmers use it in excess which is responsible for damage to soil as well as sub-optimal produce levels. This was highlighted by the RBI in its Economic Survey which pegs the number of excess use of urea at 50 lakh tonnes than what is required.

The size of the industry is at USD 118 billion and accounts for 3 per cent of the global chemicals market.

Industry NewsCEW


1st Bio-LNG Plant in Indonesia to be Developed by Wärtsilä

Simulis Pinch Launched by ProSim

Helsinki, Finland: Wär tsilä and two Indonesian par tners have signed a joint development agreement with the intention of creating the first ever bio-LNG plant in Indonesia. The co-signers of the agreement with Wär tsilä are PT Per tamina (Persero), a national energy company, and PT Godang Tua Jaya (GTJ), a waste util isation sector specialist company. Wär tsilä Oil & Gas Systems (WOGS) will conduct a feasibility study for the project to develop a mini bio-LNG plant with a capacity of 0.75 tons/hour, which corresponds to approximately 4 MW/hour in electrical production. The plant will process municipal solid waste into eco-friendly biogas which can be used as a renewable energy source for typical vehicle fuel. In addition to the feasibility study, WOGS will provide technological support and an economic assessment. This study represents a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) equivalent. If the project is deemed to be feasible then the par ties are expected to enter into an Execution Agreement. An outstanding example of Wär tsilä’s exper tise in this field is the Wärtsilä biogas liquefaction plant in Oslo, Norway. The plant treats 50,000 tons of garbage per year, which produces enough fuel to run 135 buses.

Toulouse, France: For the majority of industrial sites, energy is the major cost of operations after the raw materials, so improving the energy efficiency of processes represents a major objective. In this context, ProSim announces the launch of a new tool dedicated to improving energy efficiency – Simulis Pinch. This software can generate significant gains with a very shor t return on investment (at most a few months).

Dedicated to the d iagnosis and energy in tegrat ion of the processes, Simulis Pinch integrates the general principles of the Pinch method and is applicable to any industrial process where util it ies energy is consumed for heating or cooling the process f lu ids. Based on Pinch Technology, Simul is Pinch enables you to quickly f ind the most eff icient configuration fo r the p rocess, a l l ow ing the bes t compromise be tween investments and operating cost, to reach the objective of energy consumption reduction.

Simulis Pinch first allows you to do the energy diagnosis of a process. The diagnosis quickly indicates whether a better energy integration will significantly reduce the energy consumption of the industrial site or if the current energy integration is already eff ic ient. So the engineer understands, and can explain to management, why resources and t ime should be dedicated to improving the energy integration of the industrial site. The engineer can thus conduct a complete preliminary analysis on energy efficiency and verify that the util it ies production on site meets the real needs of the process.

ARM Cortex Device Support Extended to Tasking C Compiler

Sydney, Australia: Altium Limited released a new TASKING compiler suite for ARM, delivering support for many additional Cortex-M based microcontrollers including STMicroelectronics, Freescale, Atmel, Texas Instruments and many others. The enhanced version brings pin assignment functionality to the toolset, which is another step forward in helping engineers to speed up application development.

Alt ium suppor ts the ARM Cor tex-M development community through its TASKING VX-toolset for ARM, consisting of an Eclipse based IDE, C and C++ compiler, multi-core ready linker, simulator, in-circuit debugger, and TASKING’s award winning Software Platform, which enables the developer to complete the application in a fast and cost-efficient way with RTOS and a wide range of middleware components.

Re lease v5 .1 o f the too lse t adds suppor t fo r many new microcontroller var iants, such as the full Kinetis range from Freescale, the Tiva C series from Texas Instruments and the Cortex-M based variants from Atmel’s SMART series. Also, the support for existing vendors’ devices has been extended, such as the STMicroelectronics STM32 L0, Spansion’s FM0 and FM4, and Silicon Labs EFM32. The broadened device toolset support for the industry’s most popular Cortex-M microcontrollers enables developers to easily change semiconductor manufacturer and switch controller type, not being locked-in by vendor specific development tools.

H i g h B e n d i n g F o r c e M a c h i n e s f r o m Schwarze-Robitec

Cologne, Germany: Everyone who visited the Fair Booth C06 in Hall 11 at the EuroBLECH 2014 in Hanover could convince themse lves o f the advantages o f the new p la te bend ing machine ser ies PB f rom Schwarze-Robi tec. The machines designed according to the double-sided initial bending principle are a l ready equipped wi th e leven axes and h igh bending forces in the standard version. As the plates are completely clamped except for a small section, there are only minimal residual lengths.

The demand for thick plates of high-quality materials is huge. In par ticular in sectors such as the flourishing energy or offshore sector, plates of up to 200 mill imeters thickness are required. Due to its par ticular ly stable design of the top roller, dr ive side and safety chuck side, the plate bending machine series PB from Schwarze-Robitec has the necessary bending force to bend such solid plates. When employing these modern PB machines, there is only l itt le excess material. This is a significant cost saving when one thinks of the plate thicknesses.

Industry NewsCEW


Muttenz, Switzerland: Clar iant, a wor ld leader in specialty chemicals, will build a new production facility at its Tangerang site in Indonesia to support regional demands in the personal and home care industry. The overall investment of approximately CHF 17M (USD 17.86 million) in combined esterquat and methylquat production will add 12kt collective capacity for liquid and solid products used as key ingredients in consumer care products such as fabric softeners or hair conditioners. Start-up for the new facility is expected in 2015. Clariant is a well-established supplier to the global personal care and industrial home care markets. The new facility at Tangerang, Indonesia, will establish highly flexible, local manufacturing capabilities to support the region’s increasing preference for sustainable and safer ingredients. Clariant has been manufacturing a range of products for home care and personal care applications at Tangerang since 1990.

L i o n C o p o l y m e r w i l l B u y A s h l a n d ’ s Elastomer Business

CB&I Awarded Contract for Propylene Technology

Louisiana, USA: Ashland Inc and Lion Copolymer Holdings, LLC, announced that they have reached a definitive agreement under which Lion Copolymer will purchase Ashland’s elastomers business based in Por t Neches, Texas. The t ransact ion is expected to close by December 31, 2014, contingent on cer tain customary regulatory approvals and standard closing conditions. The elastomers business accounted for approximately 17 per cent of Ashland Performance Materials’ USD 1.6 bill ion in sales for the trailing 12 months ended June 30, 2014. This business, which pr imarily serves the Nor th American replacement t ire market, was acquired by Ashland as par t of the International Specialty Products transaction in August 2011. “This decision fits Ashland’s well-established strategy of divesting non-core assets and reinvesting in higher-margin, speciality chemical businesses where we see attractive growth oppor tunities,” said James J O’Brien, Chairman and CEO, Ashland.

Texas, USA: CB&I has been awarded a contract by Shenhua Ningx ia Coal Indust r y Group Co Ltd , fo r the l i cense and engineering design of a polypropylene unit to be built in Lingwu, Yinchuan City, Ningxia, People’s Republic of China. The unit will use CB&I’s Novolen technology to produce 600,000 metric tons per annum (MTA) of polypropylene. There are already two units utilising Novolen technology on site – each with cascade and parallel production lines. At the completion of this third unit, the capacity on site will be increased to 1.6 million MTA and the plant will be able to produce the full range of polypropylene grades.

Formosa Awards ThyssenKrupp a Planning Contract for PDH Plant

Essen, Germany: ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions is making its Steam Active Reforming (STAR) process available to Formosa Plast ics Corporat ion (FPC) for a propane dehydrogenat ion (PDH) plant in Texas, USA. The PDH plant is to be built at the petrochemical complex in Point Comfor t. The contract awarded to ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions includes licensing, basic engineering, detail engineering for the key equipment, delivery of the catalyst (STAR catalyst) and technical suppor t during the entire project execution.

Hans-Theo Kühr, CEO – Process Technologies business unit, ThyssenKrupp Indus t r ia l So lu t ions sa id , “Hav ing a l ready acquired several major fer til iser plant contracts for as a result of the shale gas boom in the USA, we are confident we can now profit from for thcoming investments in propane dehydrogenation plants. This contract is an impor tant step. With our engineering exper tise and technological capabilities, we help our customers make their production processes more efficient so as to gain an edge in their markets.”

D eve l o p e d by U h d e , t h e p r o m i s i n g S TA R p r o c e s s fo r dehydrogenat ion of l ight hydrocarbons has a broad range of applications. The propylene produced is one of the most impor tant base materials in the petrochemical industry. Among other things it is used to make polypropylene, a popular polymer used eg, in the production of food packaging, toys, and textiles such as carpets. The PDH plant in Point Comfor t will have a capacity of 5,45,000 tons per year of propylene and is par t of the Point Comfor t petrochemical complex expansion announced by FPC in February 2012.

C l a r i a n t t o I nv e s t i n H o m e a n d Pe rs o n a l Care Segments

Evonik to Increase Fumed Si l ica Capaci ty at Rheinfelden

Essen, Germany: Beginning in October 2014, Evonik Industries o f f i c i a l l y opened a new p roduc t i on l i ne t o manu fac tu re surface-treated fumed silica under the AEROSIL brand name. The new line will be located at Evonik’s Rheinfelden, Germany site, which will boost their global production capacity for these products by 25 per cent. AEROSIL specialty silica grades enhance the properties of high-performance adhesives, sealants and industrial resins, as well as varnishes and paints. The key driver behind the soaring demand for these products is the development of resource efficient products and technologies. Market trends, including the development of renewable energy sources and the automotive industry’s trend away from mechanical fasteners in favour of higher performance bonding will be supported by this expansion. Other significant applications using the specialty silica grades include defoamer, plastic and toner products. Among other qualities, fumed special silica grades made by Evonik optimise rheology, viscosity and thixotropy of liquid and gel-like formulations as well as suspension properties of pigments and fillers they contain.

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Foster Wheeler Gets EPC Contract from Pemex P e n s p e n C h o s e n f o r T A P I P i p e l i n e Feasibility Study

Zug, Switzer land: Fos ter Wheeler AG announced that a subsidiary of its Global Engineering and Construction Group has been awarded a contract by Pemex Refinación for an ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) project at the Salina Cruz refinery, Oaxaca, Mexico. Foster Wheeler’s scope of work, which also includes star t-up and testing, is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The initial release of work, relating to detailed design and the procurement of long-lead items, will be included in the company’s th i rd -quar te r 2014 book ings. The ba lance o f the agreed work-scope is expected to be released in 2015.

The investment in the Salina Cruz refinery, in excess of USD 500 million, is par t of a significant clean fuels program being implemented by Pemex as a result of the country’s recent Energy Reform. The objective of the program is to significantly reduce the sulfur content of diesel produced from 500 to 15 par ts per million. The ULSD project at the Salina Cruz refinery, which Foster Wheeler is executing in joint venture with Arendal of Mexico, is a complex upgrade which includes the major revamp of four diesel hydrodesulphurisation units, the installation of new units for hydrogen production, sulphur recovery and sour water str ipping, and significant upgrades to the uti l i t ies and offsites facilit ies.

Surrey, UK: Penspen has been awarded a contract by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to carry out a technical feasibility study for a proposed 1820km, 56-inch diameter pipeline from Turkmenistan’s giant Galkynysh Gas Field, to serve energy markets in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Penspen’s scope of work includes a review of the proposed route, confirmation of hydraul ics including compressor station size and location, provision of cost estimates and development of project execution strategy and schedule. Penspen has awarded a sub-contract to the Netherlands-based Royal HaskoningDHV an international engineering, consultancy and project management firm to undertake the important environmental and social safeguards components of the study. The Technical Feasibility Study is expected to take 6 months to complete, following which, Penspen and Haskoning will provide on-going support to ADB during the investor selection process. Peter O’ Sullivan, Chief Executive, Penspen, said, “We are proud to be involved in this major project, which will enable Turkmenistan to monetise a part of its vast natural gas reserves, by opening a southerly route to the energy-hungry markets of South Asia”.

Malmö, Sweden: Hexpol has signed an agreement to acquire the Vigar Rubber Compounding business within Grupo Vigar from the founders’ families. Vigar Rubber Compounding has more than 50 years’ experience of rubber compounding and is a well-known Rubber Compounder in the Spanish and German market today. Vigar Rubber Compounding, with manufacturing facilities in Rubi, Spain and Viersen, Germany, had a turnover of 57 MEUR in 2013 and has 134 employees.The acquired business has a positive EBITDA margin well below the Hexpol group and is expected to have an insignificant impact on earnings per share. The acquisition price is estimated to approximately 19 MEUR on a cash and debt free basis and is funded by a combination of cash and existing bank facilities.

Hexpol Acquires Rubber Processing Business of Vigar

Linde to Set-up New Air Seperation Unit

Munich, Germany: Linde Group is set to build a new air separation unit in the eastern German town of Eisenhüttenstadt, near Frankfurt an der Oder. Around Euro 85 million will be channelled into the plant, which will supply the ArcelorMittal Eisenhüttenstadt steelworks with oxygen and nitrogen. The two companies recently signed an agreement to this effect. The plant will also supply liquid gases to the regional market. By combining both gaseous and liquid production streams, the new plant will significantly increase the energy eff ic iency of oxygen generation at the integrated steelworks.

PennTex Awards Gas Processing Plant Contract to Honeywell UOP

Des Plaines, USA: UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced that PennTex Midstream Partners LLC has selected UOP Russell to supply a gas processing plant to recover valuable natural gas liquids (NGLs) in nor thern Louisiana. The plant, which will process 200 MMSCFD of natural gas, will be in production in the first quar ter of 2015.

In addition, UOP Russell will serve as the project’s engineering, construct ion and procurement contractor. The UOP Russel l solution includes supply and installation of modular cryogenic, dehydration, acid gas removal, inlet/residue compression, control system, flare system and site electrical equipment, in addition to site util ity systems and buildings for office, control room, motor control center, and compressor requirements.

Based in Houston, Texas, PennTex is a full service, multiplatform company dedicated to creat ing a leading energy logis t ics business through strategic par tnerships with i ts customers. PennTex senior management has over 150 years of collective exper ience construct ing and operat ing midstream faci l i t ies across Nor th America. In March, PennTex announced a joint venture with producers in the Nor th Louisiana region, backed by a substantial equity commitment from investment firm NGP Energy Capital Management.

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Borealis to Set-up JV for Supplying Power to Finnish Petrochemical Complex

Rentech Nitrogen Partners to Reduce Production at AS Facility

Vienna, Austria: Boreal is, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers, has announced its intention to partner with Neste Oil and Veolia in a joint venture to modernise and operate the power plant in the Kilpilahti petrochemical cluster in Porvoo, Finland. Designed to meet demanding European emissions requirements, the power plant will supply Borealis’ integrated petrochemical complex in Porvoo with safe, reliable and sustainable energy.

Much of the existing power generation infrastructure dates back to 1971, and is nearing the end of its operating life. The joint venture, co-owned by Neste Oil (40 per cent), Veolia (40 per cent) and Borealis (20 per cent), will implement a modernisation programme between 2015 and 2017, with planning already underway. The result wil l be new generating facil it ies comprising three new steam boilers which will comply with the latest environmental regulations, including the European Commission’s (EC) Industrial Emissions Directive.

Neste Oil plans to transfer i ts exist ing power plants at the Porvoo site into the joint venture in spring 2015. Borealis and Neste Oil will source energy for their respective activities in the integrated petrochemical complex from the joint venture on a contractual basis and Veolia wil l take responsibil ity for the operations.

Los Angeles, USA: Rentech Nitrogen Partners, LP announced that it has begun to restructure operations at its Pasadena, Texas facility, in order to improve profitability in currently unfavourable market conditions. Rentech Nitrogen expects to complete the restructuring by the end of this year. Annualised cash savings at the Pasadena facility in 2015 are projected to be approximately USD 10 million.

The Partnership expects the restructuring to reduce operating and SG&A expenses by approximately USD 6 million, and annual maintenance capital expenditures by approximately USD 4 million, compared to the 2014 forecast. This should enable the Pasadena facil ity’s operations, including power generation, to generate positive EBITDA in 2015, based on the Par tnership’s current outlook for input costs and prices of ammonium sulfate (AS).

As par t of the restructuring, the Pasadena facility will reduce annual production of AS by approximately 25 percent, to 500,000 tons. Approximately 70 percent of the 500,000 tons wil l be targeted for the domestic market, with the remaining tons to be sold primarily in New Zealand and Australia, the international markets with the highest net prices. The plan eliminates typically low-margin sales to Brazil, other than modest amounts expected during peak seasons when higher margins may be achievable. The plan provides the option to increase AS production above the 500,000 ton rate for limited periods. The Partnership expects positive Adjusted EBITDA for the Pasadena facility for 2015, assuming average index prices for ammonia and sulfur of USD 550 per metric ton and USD 126 per long ton, along with a weighted average price for ammonium sulfate of approximately USD 218 per short ton.

Neste Jacobs to Make Investments re lated to Production

Po r vo o , F i n l a n d : Te c h n o l o g y, e n g i n e e r i n g a n d p r o j e c t management company Neste Jacobs has been chosen as the EPCM contractor to implement the new SDA (Solvent De-Asphalting) unit at Neste Oil’s Porvoo refinery. Neste Jacobs will provide Project Management, Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management services to the project. Costing Euro 200 million, SDA unit will improve Neste Oil’s production structure and ability to optimise its crude oil slate, and is due to be completed in 2017. In addit ion at Naantal i , Neste Oil plans simplifying the structure of the refinery and investing app rox ima te l y Eu ro 60 m i l l i on i n va r i ous u t i l i t y - r e l a ted enhancements. Neste Jacobs will provide Basic Engineering on these projects which are due to be completed in early 2015.

“This is, once again, a sign of Neste Oil’s trust towards Neste Jacobs’ abi l i ty to provide solut ions in uni ts which require excellent competences and include best available technologies. Naturally these projects are also a great add-on to our track record, when we are aiming to be the preferred solution provider for the hydrocarbon industry”, said Jarmo Suominen, Managing Director, Neste Jacobs.

Solvay Improves Energy Efficiency at Soda Ash Plant in Bulgariaat Rheinfelden

Brussels, Belgium: Solvay will bolster competitiveness of its world class soda ash factory in Devnya, Bulgaria, by improving its energy efficiency. The measure is part of the competitiveness breakthrough plan that Solvay’s Global Business Unit Soda Ash & Derivatives launched last year and which is on track to deliver its Euro 100 million cost-improvement target already by the end of 2015. The Devnya plant, Solvay’s biggest synthetic soda ash production plant in Europe, will be equipped with a new high-tech steam boiler, whose energy efficiency will reduce CO2 emissions and bolster the site’s environmental performance.

With the soda ash breakthrough competitiveness plan Solvay aims to re-affirm its position as one of the global leaders in the business, optimising its European synthetic soda ash production while at the same time reinforcing its trona assets in the United States.

Endura Chemical Press Ad_size: 210 mm (w) x 270 mm (h) Date: 02/09/14 OP CS job no: - Soho - 1079

Industry NewsCEW


Univation Technologies to be Dow Subsidiary Cabot and Westlandmore Increase Activated Carbon Capacity

Houston, USA: The Dow Chemical Company and ExxonMobil Chemical Company jointly announced the signing of a definitive agreement to restructure the ownership of Univation Technologies, LLC, currently a 50/50 joint venture between affiliates of Dow and ExxonMobil. This transaction will result in Univation Technologies becoming a whol ly-owned subsidiary of Dow al igned to i ts Performance Plastics operating segment.

Univation Technologies is the licensor of UNIPOL PE Process Technology and the leader in the development, manufacture and sales of PE catalysts for the UNIPOL PE Process. Univation Technologies will continue to license its UNIPOL PE Process Technology, including swing capabil i ty for l inear low density polyethylene and high density polyethylene. Additionally, Univation Technologies will continue to develop and supply all catalysts, including: UCAT Conventional, ACCLAIM Advanced Unimodal, XCAT Metallocene and PRODIGY Bimodal Catalysts.

Boston, USA: Cabot Corporat ion and Westmoreland Coal Company announced that they p lan to increase act ivated carbon manufactur ing capacity in Nor th Amer ica. The joint venture par tners plan to double the capacity of their Bienfait, Saskatchewan manufacturing facility to meet the future demand for mercury removal products for use in the coal-fired uti l i ty market. The jointly owned facility will produce an additional 35 million pounds of powdered activated carbon. The Bienfait plant will continue to be served from a co-located mine that is operated by Westmoreland. The additional capacity will be commissioned in 2016. The expansion will produce Cabot’s benchmark DARCO Hg family of mercury removal products. Cabot will be responsible for the marketing of these products as well as the technology package, while Westmoreland continues to be the operator of the plant.

Ferro to Acquire Italian Coatings Firm

Ube to Increase PCD Production

Cleveland, USA: Ferro Corporation announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with Milan, Italy-based Private Equity Funds’ Management Company Star Capital SGR S.p.A. and two minority owners and founders Gianfranco Padovani and Sergio Zannoni to acquire Casola Valsenio, Italy-based Vetriceramici S.p.A. for Euro 83 million (approximately USD 108 million) in cash. The transaction will be funded with excess cash and a draw on the Company’s existing revolving credit facil ity. The acquisition is expected to improve Ferro’s growth oppor tunities by enhancing its product por tfolio and improving its position in impor tant growth markets, including the United States, Mexico, Turkey, and Eastern Europe.

Texas, USA: Huntsman Corporat ion announced that i t has commenced preliminary engineering to expand production of Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate (MDI) by investment in a new, world scale MDI plant at its Geismar, Louisiana site. The 400,000 metric ton expansion will leverage the significant advantages of the Geismar site, with its access to US shale gas, strong logistics base and excellent integration. The new capacity is expected to come on-stream in 2018 and will enable Huntsman to fur ther support the growth of its customers worldwide. MDI capacity at the site is currently undergoing an expansion to 500ktes, which is due to come on-stream next year. Huntsman’s 760 acre Geismar site is the largest integrated MDI production facility in the Americas region. MDI based polyurethanes are used in an extensive range of applications and markets - including construction, automotive, coatings and footwear - and provide key benefits of energy efficient insulation, comfort and well-being. In addition to its Geismar facility, Huntsman Polyurethanes operates world scale MDI facilities at its sites in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Shanghai, China.

Huntsman to Increase MDI Capacity

Nippon Shokubai to Expand SAP Production

Osaka, Japan: Nippon Shokubai Co, Ltd, expands Superabsorbent Polymers Production (SAP) capacity to meet its strong growth in global demand. Global demand for SAP has been increasing at from 6 to 7 per cent annual reflecting the growth of diaper, which is major application of SAP. To satisfy this strong demand quickly, Nippon Shokubai has decided to build a new SAP plant with an annual capacity of 50,000MT/Y at Himeji plant. Nippon Shokubai will apply our latest technology to this new SAP facility for improving productivity. After validation of this technology in Himeji plant, this technology would be applied to future SAP facilities for supplying high quality and cost competitive SAP to all over the world.

Tokyo, Japan: Ube Industr ies Ltd today announced that i ts Thai subsidiary, Ube Fine Chemicals (Asia) Co, Ltd, will open a production facility for polycarbonate diol (PCD) to meet r ising global demand. The new facility is designed to manufacture 3,000 tonnes of PCD annually and is scheduled to star t production in October 2015. The completion of the new production facility in Thai land wi l l br ing the UBE Group’s annual product ion capacity up to 11,000 tonnes, including 2,000 tonnes in Japan, 6,000 tonnes in Spain, and the 3,000 tonnes in Thailand. Since the UBE Group itself manufactures the principal components used to make PCD-1,6-hexanediol and dimethyl carboxylate (DMC)-its PCD is highly cost competitive. The Group will also focus on developing new grades of PCD that meet the needs of users and on providing customer support, by pursuing enhanced global technical cooperation among its operations in Japan, Spain, and Thailand.

Technology NewsCEW


Highl ighting How Entangled Polymers Flow and Soften

Jülich, Germany: When a basically sturdy material becomes soft and spongy, one usually suspects that it has been damaged in some way. But this is not always the case, especially when it comes to complex fluids and biological cells. By looking at the microscopic building blocks – known as ‘filaments’ – of biopolymer networks, researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany and the FOM Institute AMOLF in the Netherlands, revealed that such materials soften by undergoing a transition from an entangled spaghetti of filaments to aligned layers of bow-shaped filaments that slide past each other. This finding may explain how other biological as well as man-made filaments flow, which could aid, among other things, the search for renewable alternatives to replace oil-based polymers. In collaboration between Prof Pavlik Lettinga’s group in Jülich and Prof Gijsje Koenderink’s group at AMOLF, researchers were able to appreciate the full 3D-shape of the filaments while the system is in flow, providing a wealth of information not previously available. They found that filaments have an irregular configuration and are intricately entwined with each other while at rest, but that they form hairpin-like structures and detach themselves completely from one another when in flow. The filaments can then freely slide over each other, which causes the dramatic shear-thinning of semiflexible polymer solutions. To know more about the research log on to http://www.fz-juelich.de/

Optimise the Energy Mix, Balance Renewable Energy Costs

New York, USA: Increasing rel iance on renewable energies is the way to achieve greater CO2 emission sustainability and energy independence. As such energies are yet only available intermittently and energy cannot be stored easily, most countries aim to combine several energy sources. In a new study in EPJ Plus, French scientists have come up with an open source simulation method to calculate the actual cost of relying on a combination of electricity sources. Bernard Bonin from the Atomic Energy Research Centre CEA Saclay, France, and colleagues demonstrate that cost is not directly proportional to the demand level. Although recognised as crude by its creator, this method can be tailored to account for the public’s interest—and not solely economic performance—when opt imising the energy mix. The authors consider wind, solar, hydraulic, nuclear, coal and gas as potential energy sources. In their model, the energy demand and avai labi l i ty are cast as random var iables. The authors simulated the behaviour of the mix for a large number of tests of such variables, using so-called Monte-Carlo simulations. For a given mix, they found the energy cost of the mix presents a minimum as a function of the installed power. This means that if it is too large, the fixed costs dominate the total and become overwhelming. In contrast, if it is too small, expensive energy sources need to be frequently solicited. Read more on http://www.springer.com/

C a p t u r e C a r b o n E n e r g y E f f i c i e n t l y a n d Cost Effectively

Laussane, Switzerland: Carbon capture is a process by which waste carbon dioxide (CO2) released by factories and power plants is collected and stored away, in order to reduce global carbon emissions. There are two major ways of carbon capture today, one using powder-like solid materials which ‘stick’ to CO2, and one using liquids that absorb it. Despite their potential environmental and energy benefi ts, current carbon capture strategies are prohibitive because of engineering demands, cost and overall energy-efficiency. Collaborating scientists from EPFL, UC Berkeley and Beijing have combined carbon-capturing solids and liquids to develop a ‘slurry’ that offers the best of both worlds – as a liquid it is relatively simple to implement on a large scale, while it maintains the lower costs and energy efficiency of a solid carbon-capturing material. The most common approach to carbon capture uses liquid amine solutions, which can absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. An alternative to liquids is to use solid materials known as ‘metal-organic frameworks’ (MOFs). But despite its lower cost, as this method involves transporting solids it is very demanding in terms of engineering. Berend Smit, Director of the Energy Center, EPFL, is a lead author on a breakthrough carbon-capture innovation that uses a mixture of solid and liquid in solution called ‘slurry’. The solid part of the slurry is a MOF called ZIF-8, which is suspended in a 2-methylimidazole glycol liquid mixture. To read more log on to http://actu.epfl.ch/news/

Atlanta, USA: At its most basic level, foam is a bunch of bubbles squished together. Liquid foams, a state of matter that arises from tiny gas bubbles dispersed in a liquid, are familiar in everyday life, from beer to bathwater. They also are important in commercial products and processes, including pharmaceutical formulation, oil production, food processing, cleaning products, cosmetics, or hair and skin care products. Lightweight dry foams for the construction of buildings, automobiles and airplanes are key materials in the push for sustainability and energy efficiency. Making lightweight foam has one big challenge, however, keeping the foam stable. A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a new type of foam – called capillary foam – that solves many of the problems faced by traditional foams. The new research shows for the first time that the combined presence of particles and a small amount of oil in water-based foams can lead to exceptional foam stability when neither the particles nor the oil can stabilize the foams alone. “It’s very difficult to stabilize foams, and we want foams that are stable for months or years. We’ve developed a way to make foams that is much easier and more broadly applicable that what is traditionally used,” said Sven Behrens, Study Co-author and Professor, School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Tech. Log onto http://www.research.gatech.edu/news/ to read more about the study.

N ew F o a m M a k i n g M e t h o d c o u l d L e a d t o Sustainable Material

Technology NewsCEW


U s i n g N a t u r a l G a s W i l l H a rd ly E f f e c t o n CO2 Emissions

Irvine, USA: Abundant supplies of natural gas will do little to reduce harmful US emissions causing climate change, according to researchers at UC Irvine, Stanford University, and the nonprofit organization Near Zero. They found that inexpensive gas boosts electricity consumption and hinders expansion of cleaner energy sources, such as wind and solar. The study results are based on modelling the effect of high and low gas supplies on the US power sector. Coal-fired plants, the nation’s largest source of power, also produce vast quantities of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas polluting the Earth’s atmosphere. Recently proposed rules by the US Environmental Protection Agency rely heavily on the substitution of natural gas for coal to lower carbon emissions by 2030. “In our results, abundant natural gas does not significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions. This is true even if no methane leaks during production and shipping,” said lead author Christine Shearer, a postdoctoral scholar in Earth system science at UC Irvine. Previous studies have focused on the risk of natural gas – composed primarily of methane – leaking into the atmosphere from wells and pipelines. But the new work shows that even if no methane escapes, the overall climate benefits of gas are likely to be small because its use delays the widespread construction of low-carbon energy facilities, such as solar arrays. Analysing a range of climate policies, the researchers found that high gas usage could actually boost cumulative emissions between 2013 and 2055 by 5 percent – and, at most, trim them by 9 percent. She and her co-authors conclude that greater use of gas is a poor strategy for clearing the atmosphere. Read more on http://news.uci.edu/

New Method to Synthesise Nanoparticles

Washington DC, USA: Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Materials Science and Technology Division have developed a novel one-step process using, for the first time in these types of syntheses, potassium superoxide (KO2) to rapidly form oxide nanoparticles from simple salt solutions in water. “Typically, the synthesis of oxide nanoparticles involves the slow reaction of a weak oxidizing agent, such as hydrogen peroxide, with dilute solutions of metal salts or complexes in both aqueous and non-aqueous solvent systems,” said Dr Thomas Sutto, NRL research chemist. “The rapid exothermic reaction of potassium superoxide with the salt solutions results in the formation of insoluble oxide or hydroxide nanoparticulates.” An important advantage of this method is the capability of creating bulk quantities of materials. NRL has demonstrated that large quantities (over 10 grams) of oxide nanoparticles can be prepared in a single step, which is approximately four orders of magnitude higher yield than many other methods. The metal concentrations, usually in the millimolar (mM) amount, need to be low in order to prevent aggregation of the nanoparticles into larger clusters that could significantly limit the amount of material that can be prepared at any one time. Log on to http://www.nrl.navy.mil/

Reducing the Cloud Computing Carbon Cost

Milton Keyes, England: Cloud computing involves displacing data storage and processing from the user’s computer on to remote servers. It can provide users with more storage space and computing power that they can then access from anywhere in the world rather than having to connect to a single desktop or other computer with its finite resources. However, some observers have raised concerns about the increased energy demands of sustaining distributed servers and having them up and running continuously, where an individual user’s laptop might be shut down when it is not in use or the resources utilisation of the server is less than the lower threshold, for instance. Now, writing in the International Journal of Information Technology, Communications and Convergence, researchers at the University of Oran in Algeria, have investigated how cloud computing systems might be optimised for energy use and to reduce their carbon footprint. Jouhra Dad and Ghalem Belalem in the Department of Computer Science at Oran explain how they have developed an algorithm to control the vir tual machines running on computers in a cloud environment so that energy use of the core central processing units (CPUs) and memory capacity (RAM as opposed to hard disk storage space) can be reduced as far as possible with affecting performance overall. Read the complete press release on http://www.eurekalert.org/

Singapore: Switching the polarity of a magnet using an electric field (magnetoelectric memory [MEM] effect), can be a working pr inciple of the next-generat ion technology for informat ion processing and storage. Multiferroic mater ials are promising candidates for the MEM effect, due to the coexistence of electric and magnetic orders. On the other hand, the coexistence of spontaneous electric and magnetic polarisations is rare in known materials, which hinders the application potential of the MEM effect. This ar ticle briefly reviews a new family of multiferroic mater ia ls—hexagonal rare ear th fe r r i tes—that have been demonstrated ferroelectr ic and ferromagnetic simultaneously by experiments. Both the ferroeletricity and ferromagnetism in hexagonal ferrites originate indirectly from structural distor tions, resulting in so-called improper ferroelectric and ferromagnetic orders. Naturally, structural distor tions may mediate the coupling between the electric and magnetic polarisations in hexagonal rare earth ferrites, causing the MEM effect, as predicted by theory. The possible MEM effect in rare ear th hexagonal ferr ites is particularly useful for information storage and processing because the non-volatile nature of the magnetic polarisation avoids the energy cost of constant memory refreshing and a constant flow of current. The polarity of magnets are used to store information, for example, in the hard disk of computers. The information is modified by ‘writing’ the polarity using a magnetic field, which requires a flow of current that costs significant amount of energy. To read more log on to http://www.eurekalert.org/

Energy-efficient Information Storage with New Family of Materials

30 • October 2014 October 2014 • PBChemical Engineering World Chemical Engineering World

News FeaturesCEW

Prof Thorat from ICT to Receive 2012 VASVIK Award

I ndia has a huge manufacturing potential, but unfortunately it is not being utilised in the best possible

manner, believes Professor Thorat, who has been named for 2012 VASVIK Award for his contribution in the field of Chemical Engineering, in particular Drying Technology and for the development of appropriate technologies such as solar assisted drying, valorisation of farm products including marine fish.

While commenting on the achievement, Thorat expressed that India needs appropriate technologies to solve variety of problem that are faced in everyday life. Food and Pharmaceutical sectors are the ones that need to be strengthened if we want to see the real progress of India on the technology front.

In a candid interaction with CEW, Thorat further emphasised the need to strengthen Infrastructure and Research.

“At many places, we have excellent infrastructure, but unfortunately we are not able to utilise the technology to its potential,” says Thorat, who has also been a part of State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) of Ministry of Environment and Forest, Govt of Maharashtra. While sharing his experience as a committee member, Thorat reveals, “Once we decided to evaluate the performance of some of the Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) – about 27 of them – in various denoted industrial areas, and to our surprise, we found that majority of them were non-functional. We were shocked.” He expresses his concerns over the quality of water that is being discharged in the rivers and canals and its negative

impact on the marine life in the rivers and ocean. Thorat strongly feels that all the CETPs can be made functional if we have a collaborative approach from the industry associations, regulatory bodies and most importantly, from the individual companies. Thorat also highlighted the need to have stricter regulations.

“To treat water is not a herculean task. If BASF can treat 385 MLD of effluent every day in an industrial city in Germany, why can’t we do that in our MIDCs,” he questions.

According to Thorat, if a company can understand what goes into their waste, they can make changes in the process and thus attain the goal of sustainable development in the long run. He suggested having a dedicated team of experts who can advise industries on making CETPs functional.

Huge Scope in Specialty Chemical ManufacturingThorat talks broadly about expanding India’s manufacturing capabilities in the

field of specialty chemicals. He says that India is abundant with qualified professionals who can do wonders through research and development in this area, but we need to encourage them to stay in India and work. “India produces about 15 lakh engineers every year, but unfortunately only 10 to 15 per cent are employable; the number of deployable students is lesser than that. Most of them go abroad to pursue the research. Very few of the employable students choose to work in India. This number has to go up,” Thorat laments.

He also asserts that the government has taken the initiatives and fast-tracked the procedure of awarding fellowships to research students. “The process has become simpler now and students are getting attracted to the world of research and development,” he adds.

Infrastructure is the second thing that needs to be strengthened. “We must have dedicated zones for producing speciality chemicals. The Government of India did announce building Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Regions (PCPIRs) but as the fact remains, only one of them in Dahej, Gujarat is functioning up to some extent. India’s contribution to speciality chemicals is more than its contribution to bulk chemical. And if we have special chemical manufacturing zone, we can surely contribute more… We must manufacture phenol and melamine in India itself and build world capacity to feed the raw material to manufacture these speciality and performance chemicals,” he states.

Thorat again cites the example of Germany and explains that

VASVIK (Vividhlaxi Audyogik Samshodhan Vikas Kendra) Apex Committee has approved the name of Professor B N Thorat, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, jointly with Dr R B N Prasad, Head and Chief Scientist, Lipid Science & Technology, ICT as the winners of the 2012 VASVIK award in the category of Chemicals Sciences & Technology. The award will be presented at a public function in Mumbai in December 2014.

Professor B N Thorat


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the western country, despite the unavailability of raw material and energy, manufactures a huge amount of speciality chemicals.

‘Precision and Perfection’: The Missing ElementsAccording to Thorat, in India equipment manufacturers are missing two things: Precision and Perfection. He believes the concept of QBD – Quality by Design has not yet matured.

“Without design, you cannot achieve precision and perfection. This philosophy has to be imbibed in equipment manufacture in India. In order to improve the quality of their products, some manufacturers/end users are ready to buy equipment, which are five to ten times costlier, from foreign countries. But if you want everyone to use quality equipment, you need to manufacture them within the country. These will certainly not be as expensive as the imported equipment and thus more companies will be able to install them in their manufacturing units,” he explains.

Pharma and speciality chemicals are the two areas that need high-end equipment to maintain the product quality. Thorat explains that pharmaceuticals are manufactured in small quantity. There can be variations from batch to batch. And in order to minimise the variations, standardisation has to be done properly. Equipment performance matters a lot and no company compromises on that. These equipment are not available in India. They are imported.

So, there are a lot of opportunities to improve the quality of our locally manufactured products for crystallisation, filtration, drying, milling and granulation.

WFCFD: Taking the LeadThorat is Founder President of The World Forum for Crystallization Filtration and Drying (WFCFD). While commenting on the contribution of the forum, he reveals that the forum has played a crucial role in bringing the industry and academia together to promote the manufacturing sector in India.

“Today, drying equipment manufacturers in India are able to do business of about rupees eight to ten thousand crores every year, and I strongly feel that a forum like ours has contributed to a great extent in the growth,” he reveals. “The basic philosophy of WFCFD is to bring three nodal agencies Industry, academia and equipment manufacturers together to propel the growth of manufacturing industry within the country. Unless experts from these three areas come together and understand the need of end-users, we are not going to succeed,” Thorat continues.

According to Thorat, about two thousand equipment manufacturers are in touch with WFCFD. He lays emphasis on having more such forum which can take responsibility to innovate in different areas ie, crystallisation, granulation, milling and conventional filtration.

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Recovering and reusing of caustic in process industries is a crucial process which can not only help organisations reduce process cost, but also allow them ‘to go clean and green’ This article explains how Membrane Filtration Technology can be used to attain the objective.

Recovering & Reusing Caustic using Membrane Filtration

Technical Article

Caustic is one of the most common cleaning agents used across various industries. It is also

used as an integral process chemical in many industries. Often, it has been found that contaminated caustic effluent is discharged after use. Reuse of the caustic after purification not only minimise the cleaning and process cost but also show that there is increasing effort by the industries to go clean and green. Tightening regulation for effluent discharge has also led to the growing consciousness for purification before discharge or for reuse.

Membrane filtration is a unit operation that is being increasingly used for numerous applications in different industries. Amongst the four categories into which the membrane filtration has been divided into, the microfiltration

(MF) process separates using the most open membranes followed by ultrafiltration (UF), then nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) operates using the tightest membrane. MF and UF are primarily size based separation processes such that the solutes bigger in size are retained by these membranes and the smaller solutes permeate through these membranes. NF and RO also separate largely on the principle of size but these membranes also possess charge. NF and RO membranes used by water industries are mainly made up of cellulose acetate materials and therefore possess neutral charge. However, the NF and RO membranes used by the process industries are primarily called “Thin Film Composite” and these membranes possess negative charge and therefore, affect the separation of charged and ionic components.

Figure 1a: Ceramic Inorganic Tubular Membrane Filtration System ( Designed and manufactured by GEA Filtration)Figure 1b: Ceramic Inorganic Module and Membrane (Picture Courtesy of GEA Westfalia Separator)

Spiral-wound, flat sheet, hollow fiber and tubular are the most common configurations in which different membranes are available. Tubular membrane because of the wide channels finds its use for the separation of streams containing suspended and precipitated solids. Spiral-wound membrane is made by folding few layers of flat sheet membranes and therefore, possesses a high density of membrane area making it the most economical. Spiral membranes have narrow channel spacer and can be used only for streams free of suspended solids.

Tubular membranes can be made of inorganic or organic materials. Inorganic tubular membranes made up of titania, zirconia or alpha-alumina are robust membranes capable of handling extremes of pH and temperature. These properties of the inorganic tubular membranes make them useful for purification of variety of effluent streams. The cleaning of these membranes is also eased because of the

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high temperature and pH that can be used during CIP (clean-in-place). However, while several MF and UF membranes of different molecular weight cut-offs have been successfully cast into the inorganic tubular modules, the same is not true for the NF and RO membranes. As a result, the use of the inorganic tubular membranes is stil l primarily restricted to the MF and UF operations. A picture of a ceramic inorganic tubular plant is shown in Figure 1a and that of a ceramic module and membranes are displayed in Figure 1b. (on previous page)

Spiral membranes used in the process industries are normally available as either normal membrane or specialised membrane. The former work in the pH range of 3-10 during production and 2-11 during CIP. 50 degree°C is the maximum temperature that can be handled by the normal membranes. On the other hand, the specialised membranes can work in extremes of pH (0-14) and also at temperature as high as 70 degree C. Because of specialised chemistry, the latter is very expensive as compared to the normal membranes. Nevertheless, the specialised membranes are stil l very cheap as compared to the tubular inorganic membranes. Picture of a spiral fi ltration system can be viewed in Figure

Figure 2a: Spiral Membrane Filtration System (Designed and manufactured by GEA Filtration)Figure 2b: Spiral Membrane(Picture Courtesy of GEA Filtration)

2a and that of a spiral membrane in Figure 2b.

We know that caustic permeates through all the MF, UF, NF and RO membranes. If the effluent caustic stream contains suspended solids, the first step often employs using the inorganic tubular MF or UF membranes for the rejection of those materials. Sometimes, the MF/UF permeate is clean enough to be reused as process caustic. However, a number of times this permeate requires further cleaning using NF spiral membranes. The caustic present in the NF permeate is normally pure enough to be reused as process and primary cleaning caustic for a number of applications.

Spiral NF step can be directly inserted for the concentration of the caustic effluent if the stream is free of suspended solids. Irrespective of whether the NF is used alone or after MF/UF, the NF spiral membranes that are used for caustic applications are specialized NF membranes. For some applications, caustic purified by membrane filtration is concentrated by evaporators to generate concentrated caustic for proper reuse.

In the paper industry, caustic is used in a number of steps during the manufacturing

of the sheets of Kraft pulp. One of the most important steps is the bleaching process in which the cellulose fibers are washed and bleached using caustic, chlorine dioxide, hydrogen peroxide and oxygen to produce a white product which can be used to make end products such as towels, tissue, high quality printing, writing and book papers. After the end of the bleaching process, the waste stream which contains about 8-10 per cent caustic is sent to the waste treatment facility for further treatment before discharge. With the introduction of special NF (in some cases special spiral UF) membranes, the caustic in the waste stream can be purified and then concentrated by evaporators before being reused again in the bleaching process.

During the manufacturing of the rayon using the rayon-viscose process, cellulose pulp is immersed in 17-20 per cent aqueous caustic in order to swell the cellulosic fibers and to convert cellulose to alkali cellulose. This step is called steeping. The swollen alkali cellulose is then pressed to a wet weight and the caustic is discharged. As stated in the above paragraph, we can use specialised NF membrane to purify the caustic and then recycle it for the steeping step.

Caustic also finds its use in the mercerisation of textiles, particularly


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Author’s DetailsShanti Bhushan

Department - GEA FiltrationGEA Process Engineering A/S

Email:[email protected]

cotton to improve fiber strength, shrinkage resistance, luster and dye affinity resulting into a high quality fiber. Caustic rearranges the cellulose molecules in the fiber to effect these changes. A 25 per cent caustic strength is used for the mercerisation bath of the cotton fibers. After the reaction is over, the cotton is washed with warm water thereby discharging the caustic. The contaminated stream containing about 6 per cent caustic can be purified using the specialised NF membranes and then evaporated to 25 per cent caustic before reused for the mercerisation process.

One of the steps in the process of purification of cane sugar is the decolorisation of the sugar using the anion exchange resin. The decolorisation happens due to the adsorption of the high molecular weight colorants on the resin. Alkaline sodium chloride is then used to elute the color molecules. The spent brine is a highly saline waste stream full of colored organic matter

and consequently possessing high COD value. Specialised NF membranes have been used to purify this stream by retaining the color molecules and permeating the sodium chloride and caustic. The purified stream is then recycled for further decolorisation of cane sugar (Figure 3).

In the citrus juice industry, caustic is used for peeling of the fruits and also for cleaning of the several process equipments such as evaporators. By using tubular inorganic MF membranes, the caustic can be purified to the extent that it can be reused for primary cleaning of the equipment. The concentrate of the MF can be used for the peeling process. Thus MF process leads to zero discharge of the caustic effluent. If the MF permeate does not generate pure enough caustic for reuse, then specialised NF is used on MF permeate to produce caustic that is acceptable for reuse in the process. For example, in the tomato processing industries the caustic

Figure 3: Cane Sugar Process (Picture Adapted from- Hinkova et al. Reference: Hinkova A, Bubnik Z, Kadlec P, Pridal J. 2002. Potentials of Separation Membranes in the Sugar Industry. Separation and Purification Technology 26: 101-110)

is first purified by MF and then treated by special NF to generate caustic which is then concentrated by the evaporators and sent for reuse. Alternatively, the effluent is also treated directly by the specialised NF membranes if it is devoid of suspended solids.

Last but not the least, caustic is simply used as primary cleaning chemical in a number of industries for the cleaning of equipments and process lines and piping. One such example is use of caustic for cleaning of evaporators across various industries. Another example is using caustic for bottle washing in the beverage industry. Depending upon the presence of suspended solids or not, such cleaning caustic effluent can also be recovered and reused using MF, NF or a combination of both.

In conclusion, membrane filtration has a substantial role to play in the purification of caustic used in the process industries. Recovery and reuse of caustic by purification can not only reduce the cost of buying fresh caustic but it can also minimise the cost of further treatment before discharge. Presently only a small percentage of the used caustic is purified and reused. Mostly, the used caustic is discharged and drained causing environmental problems. Ignorance on the part of the industries about purification is one of the primary reasons for discharge. Another reason is relaxed regulation in many parts of the world which ultimately does not help in enforcing a sense of green technology. However, we have seen that in the recent years, there has been a growing effort by people and industries to keep their environment clean and with this hope we sense that it is the right time to increase further awareness in whatever way we all can do. The present article has been written with this outlook.

The contaminated stream containing about 6 per cent caustic can be pu r i f i ed us ing the spec i a l i s ed NF membranes and then evaporated to 25 per cent caustic before reused for the mercerisation process.

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There is a need to have secure and continuous energy supply including unscheduled demand for the process industries. Also, energy in any form which is getting wasted needs to be identified and mechanism to be developed to recover the same. There are a number of other new and emerging technologies that are able to produce energy from waste. One such example is Industrial Gas Turbine which is portability, occupy less space and can be put into operation within few minutes. These can operate under various operating environments and it is often necessary to treat the air which they consume.

This article discusses about the problems associated with Industrial Gas Turbine Intake Filtration such as amount of air intake, its mechanical properties, its chemical composition, etc. and its solution.

Industrial Gas Turbine Intake Filtration

Technical Article

The basic operation of the Industrial Gas Turbine is similar to that of the steam power plant except that

air is used instead of water. The output of the Industrial Gas Turbine is to drive the shaft coupled to the Gas Turbine such as Electric generator, compressor, pumps shafts, absorption chiller etc, or utilising the exhaust gases which are at high temperature and high velocity. The economics needs to be worked out while designing the Industrial Gas Turbine System because Gas turbines are not the most economical generators when run on fuel. Another significant advantage is their ability to be turned on and off within minutes, supplying power during

peak, or unscheduled, demand and are used as peaking power plants, They are normally used to backup coal, nuclear, thermal natural gas (steam), combined cycle, geothermal, wind, and other types of power plants when electricity demand peaks.

Combined cycle power plants usually operate by first using a gas burning engine such as a gas turbine to generate electricity, and then use the heat radiated by the gas turbine to boil water into steam. The steam is then passed through the steam turbine which also generates electricity. Gas burning engines generate mechanical, electrical, and heat energy.

Mechanical energy is produced by turning the turbine blades. That mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy by an alternating current generator. (Figure 1)

Filtration System for Gas TurbinesThe main function of the air filtration system for the Gas Turbine Operation is to protect gas turbine from dust present in the air which can lead to foreign object entering the engine, erosion, corrosion, fouling, etc. Addressing above issues will increase the operational life and performance of gas turbines. Industrial Gas Turbines can have a single stage or multiple stage filtrations system. Each stage is selected based on the requirement.

Some of the important degradation factors are:Erosion: Both the axial compressor and the hot-path parts can be affected by erosion from hard, abrasive particles, such as sand and mineral dusts. Erosion occurs when solid or liquid particles of small size (10 to 15 microns) hit the rotating or stationary surfaces of the gas turbine. The particles starts eroding the blade surface and remove tiny particles of metal which eventually lead to changes in the geometry of the surface and dynamic instability. This causes deviation in direction of air flow path. There are filters available in the market which can capture 10 – 15 micron particles. As Erosion is a non-reversible process, the blade needs replacement which is a very costly process.Figure 1: Industrial Gas Turbine

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Dust-concentration

Region Units Villages Industrial Marine/Offshore Desert Excessive Rainy

Particle Concentration

mg/m3 0.02-0.2 0.02-0.5 0.01-0.3 0.01-700 0.02-10

Particle Size Micron 0.01-10 0.05-10 0.01-7 0.1-50 0.01-30

Possible Damages Erosion, Fouling

Fouling, Corrosion

Erosion, Corrosion

Erosion, Corrosion

Fouling, Corrosion

Fouling: Fouling is caused by the adherence of particles to airfoils and annulus surfaces. Particles that cause fouling are typically in the range below 2 to 10 μm. Fouling can be controlled by an appropriate air filtration system and often reversed to some degree by washing of components which is somewhat a cumbersome task. The adherence is impacted by oil or water mists. The result is a build-up of material that causes increased surface roughness and to some degree changes the shape of the airfoil. Fouling in turn causes a decrease in the performance of the gas turbine. Industrial filters can remove the majority of particles that cause fouling.

Corrosion: Corrosion occurs because of chemically reactive particles’ adherence to surfaces of the gas turbine. Cold corrosion occurs in the compressor section and is due to wet deposits of salts, acid, and aggressive gases such as chlorine and sulfides. Corrosion in the combustor and turbine sections is called “hot corrosion” or high temperature corrosion. Corrosion is a nonreversible degradation mechanism. Corroded components must be replaced in order to regain the original gas turbine performance.

Gas Turbine Operating ConditionsThe selection of the inlet filtration system should be primarily dependent on the environment where it operates. This includes the contaminants in the environment from surrounding such as desert, coastal area, rural area, industrial, etc. Several different common environments with their typical contaminants are mentioned below:

Industrial Area: Many gas turbines are installed in heavy industrial areas. The most prevalent contaminant in industrial

areas is contaminants from exhaust stacks. These can be in the form of particles, gases, and aerosols. Many of the particles emitted by the exhaust stack are in the submicron size range. These size particles are difficult to filter and can collect on compressor blades and cause fouling. The gases emitted in the exhaust can contain corrosive chemicals such as SO

x, which contains sulfur. Sulfur is one of the corrosive components that can lead to hot corrosion in the turbine section. Aerosols also present a challenge. These are typically of the submicron size and difficult to filter. Many of these aerosols are sticky, and when they are not removed by the filters, they stick to compressor blades, nozzles, and other surfaces.

Desert: Large amount of dust is present in this region. Sand storms are common and can quickly load filters to their maximum dust holding capacity. The filtration systems in deserts are usually solely designed for dust removal. In some coastal areas, apart from sand dust, dense fog and high humidity is also present. The moisture can collect on the surface of cartridge filters on self-cleaning systems and cause the dirt to form a cake on the filter which can significantly reduce the effectiveness of filtration and pulse cleaning.

Marine or Offshore: Gas turbines operating near or on the ocean are classified as being in a coastal, marine, or offshore environment. The primary contaminant that is a concern in the coastal, marine, and offshore environments is salt. Salt can lead to fouling and corrosion. Salt is prevalent in these environments due to the sea water.

Excessive Rain: Tropical areas are characterised by hot climate, high humidity, monsoons, high winds, and insect swarms.

Due to the extensive vegetation, there is not much erosion concern. It is considered a low-dust environment. The area has little seasonal variation with the exceptions of periods of intense rainfall. The main contaminants in this area are water from rain, insects, and salt (if the location is near a shoreline). Dust is minimal, since the overgrown vegetation protects the ground dust from winds. Pollen can be an issue.

Villages: The rural countryside is a diverse environment. Depending upon where the gas turbine is located in this environment, it can be subjected to hot, dry climate, rain, snow, and fog throughout the year. The environment is non-erosive with low dust concentrations.

Cities: Large cities can experience all the types of gas turbine degradation: corrosion, erosion, and fouling. Contaminants from many different sources ensure the requirement of a multi-staged filtration system.

Components of FiltersIn order to protect the gas turbine from the variety of contaminants present in the ambient air, several filtration components are used such as:

Weather Protection: Weather hoods, louvers, trash screens, and insect screens are used on the majority of filtration systems due to negligible pressure loss. They are simplistic weather protection systems used for filtration. They are part of the filtration system and provide assistance in removal of large objects or contaminants carried with the air flow. Weather hoods are placed at the entrance of the filtration system to minimising rain and snow (if any) penetration. This is recommended in the region where there is heavy rainfall

Table 1

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or snowfall (such as Kashmir). After the weather hood is a series of turning vanes called weather louvers, which redirect the air so that it must turn. After the weather hood or louver is a trash or insect screen. Trash screens capture large pieces of paper, cardboard, bags, and other objects. The screens also deflect birds, leaves, and insects. These screens will have a finer grid than trash screens. (Figure 2)

Cyclones: Inertial separation takes advantage of the physical principles of momentum, gravity, centrifugal forces, and impingement, and the physical difference between phases to cause particles to be moved out of the gas stream in such a way that they can be carried off or drained. One of the examples of such separation technique is Cyclone. It is useful in a very dusty environment such as desert area of Rajasthan.

Coalescers: In environments with high concentration of liquid moisture in the air, coalescers are required in order to remove the liquid moisture. The coalescer works by catching the small water droplets in its fibers. As the particles are captured, they combine with other particles to make larger water droplets. Coalescers are designed to allow the droplets to drain down.

Activated Carbon: Activated Carbon is used to remove odor, fumes, and smoke from the stream. Activated carbon’s highly porous nature and large surface area make it an ideal adsorbent for removing trace contaminants from gaseous streams. For some inorganic contaminants encountered in gas processing operations, removal can be enhanced by impregnation of the activated carbon to promote both physical adsorption and chemisorption.

Anti-Icing Protection: Anti-icing protection is used in climates with freezing weather such as Kashmir. Freezing climates with rain or snow can cause icing of inlet components, which can result in physical damage to inlet ducts or to the gas turbine compressor. Heaters, compressor bleed air, or self-cleaning filters are often used in the inlet system.

Prefilters: The air has a mixture of large and small particles. If a one-stage high

efficiency filter is used, the build-up of large and small solid particles can quickly lead to increased pressure loss and filter loading. Prefilters are used to increase the life of the downstream high efficiency filter by capturing the larger solid particles. Therefore, the high efficiency filter only has to remove the smaller particles from the air stream which increases the filter life. Bag filters are also commonly used for prefilters.

High-Efficiency Filters: High-efficiency filters use a special filter medium of fiberglass or treated paper to achieve good collection efficiency for all particles, including those as smaller than 1 micron. As discussed above, there are filters for removing larger solid particles, which prevent erosion and FOD (Foreign Object Damage). Smaller particles which lead to corrosion, fouling, and cooling passage plugging, are removed with high efficiency filters. There are many different constructions of high efficiency type filters: rectangular, cylindrical or cartridge, and bag filters. The rectangular or square high efficiency filters are constructed by folding a continuous sheet of media into closely spaced pleats in a rectangular or square rigid frame. This type of filter elements needs replacement when the maximum allowable pressure loss is reached. (Figure 2)

Cartridge filters are also made up of closely spaced pleats, but they are in a circular fashion. Air flows radially into the cartridge. Cartridge filters used in self-cleaning systems require a more robust structural design in order to protect the filter fiber media during the reverse air pulses. The more common structural support is a wire cage around the pleated media on the inside and outside of the filter. (Figure 4)

Self-Cleaning Filters: All of the filters with fiber-type media are required to be replaced once they reach the end of their usable life. In some environments such as desert region in Rajasthan, the amount of contaminants can be excessive and the filter elements would have to be replaced frequently to meet the filtration demand. To address such issues, Self-cleaning Filters are utilised for gas turbine inlet air filtration. The self-cleaning system operates primarily with surface-loaded

Figure 2: Intake Filter

Figure 3: Panel Filter

Figure 4: Cartridge Filter

high-efficiency cartridge filters. The surface loading allows for easy removal of the dust, which has accumulated with reverse pulses of air. The pressure loss across each filter is continuously monitored. Once the pressure loss reaches a certain level, the filter is cleaned with air pulses. To avoid disturbing the flow and to limit the need for compressed air, the system typically only pulses some percent of the elements at a given time. With this type of cleaning, the filter can be brought back to near the original condition. (Figure 5)

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Multi-Staged Filtration: Any gas turbine application typically needs more than one type of filter, and there are no “universal filters” that will serve all needs. Therefore, two-stage or three-stage filtration systems are used. In these designs, a prefilter or weather louver can be used first to remove erosive contaminants, rain, and snow. The second may be a low-to-medium-performance filter selected for the type of finer-sized particles present or a coalescer to remove liquids or activated carbon filter. The third filter is usually a high-performance filter to remove smaller particles from the air.

References:1. Technology Review of Modern Gas Turbine Inlet Filtration Systems by

Melissa Wilcox, Rainer Kurz and Klaus Brun2. Gas Turbine Inlet Air Treatment – R.L. Loud, A. A. Slaterpryce – GE

Power Generation

Author’s DetailsNitin Nageshwar

CEOYoKu Consultants & YoKu Filters

Email: [email protected]

Figure 5: Self Cleaning Arrangement

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This article delves on the basic differences and advantages of all the capacity control system in reciprocating compressors enabling the customers to use optimum reciprocating capacity control system for speed, energy savings and accuracy.

Efficient Capacity Control in Reciprocating Compressor

Compressor capacity control is the method by which the quantity of gas supplied by the compressor

is regulated to provide, as efficiently as possible, only that amount of air or gas required at a particular instant. The ideal governing arrangement would be to obtain such infinite control that the compressor capacity would be exactly equal to the fluctuating demand of the plant at all times.

It is of paramount importance that the control system should be such that the compressor power is almost proportional to the quantity of the gas delivered.

IntroductionCompressors, as a part of process plants, refr igeration plants, oi l & gas refinery faci l i t ies, etc are required to have regulated output for different plant condit ions. For the eff icient solution of the capacity control problem, certain

Technical Article

points must be taken in to consideration at the planning stage of compressor plant so that maximum saving in power consumption is achieved with minimum init ial cost and without impairing the safe running of the compressor plant.

Capacity regulation can be divided into three basic modes:1. Stepped Control2. Step less Control3. Composite Control

These will be examined from point of view of the plant requirement, efficiency, and construction and control systems so as to enable their efficient use for a particular application.

Stepped Capacity ControlIn this method, the capacity is regulated in steps. For example, three steps control means that the compressors can deliver

100 per cent, 50 per cent & 0 per cent of i ts capacity. Because of i ts simplicity and rel iabil i ty in use, this method is the most common choice.

Stop-Start Control: Start/stop is the most efficient control mode for small compressors. The compressors in this process shut itself down when the demand is low & automatically restarts on an increase of air requirement. This is advantageous in case where demand for compressed gas fluctuates widely, particularly, when there are sudden large demands followed by periods of very small demand or no demand at all. This method provides completely no loss capacity control and thus almost 100 per cent energy is saved. This system can also be used in large installation when there are several units working in parallel. When an increase in output is required, one or more unit is brought into operation. (The article continues on page number 54)

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Suction Valve

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Unloader PressureVent Line

3-Way Solenoid Valve

Unloader PressureSupply

LOADED UNLOADED

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Suction ValveUnloaders

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Unloader PressureVent Line


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Process Intensification - A PerspectiveProcess intensification is a word coined by Professor Colin Ramshaw of University of Newcastle. The concept is perhaps about two decades old. It could be defined as any chemical engineering development that leads to a substantially smaller, cleaner, and more energy-efficient process technology is process intensification. In this article, Dr D M Mohunta, Commercial, Chemical and Development Company, takes stock of some of the new developments.

Forward Focus

Dr D M MohuntaCommercial, Chemical and

Development Company

At the core of this concept is creativity and innovation, creativity is the capability or act of conceiving

something original or unusual, innovation is the implementation of something new. Creativity is not measurable whereas innovation is measurable. There can be many metrics of measurement. An invention’s uniqueness can always be tested.

In other words process intensification consists of the development of novel apparatuses and techniques or combinations, as compared to the present practice, to bring dramatic improvements in manufacturing and processing, substantially decreasing equipment size/production-capacity ratio, energy consumption, or waste production, thus optimising capital, energy, reducing environmental impact and enhancing safety.

The potential benefits of process intensification awakened the European industry and resulted in European Union and Dutch Government creating a European Roadmap for Process Intensification (Creative Energy, 2008) in four major industrial sectors, namely petrochemicals and bulk chemicals (PETCHEM), speciality chemicals and

pharmaceuticals (FINEPHARM), food ingredients (INFOOD), and consumer food (CONFOOD). It answers all the why’s of process intensification.

Some 72 typical equipment types and processing methods were identified, and as a first step 47 technologies were reviewed in detail. It is a monument to the coordinated strategy among industry, universities and the EU for moving forward on an initiative that is vital to the future competitiveness of Europe. Some 66 individuals from industries, public organisations, gave detailed inputs for the report.

Another EU initiative has been F3 Factory, defined as Flexible, Fast, Future factory, and a euro 30 million project that was successfully concluded in 2013. A major coordinated effort between industry and academia involving, 25 partners from 9 European Member States and, successful demonstration of 7 industrial processes

F3 Factory Plant concept is to develop new modular, standardised, continuous production technology with fast integration of novel (PI) technologies. There would be back bone of services such as supply of util it ies, process fluids,


CEWFeatures

raw materials and process control system. To this backbone will be connected process equipment container (PEC) and within each PEC will be process equipment assemblies. The PECs are mobile and easily transportable (typical ISO container size), the PECs can be docked to a generic backbone facility. Whereas the PEAs and their internal intensified process equipment are generally specific to a given production application, the PECs are standardised and are characterised by speed and ease of docking and replacement with robust standardised connections to the backbone.

The F3 factory concept takes advantage of process intensification by combining a modular container based approach with a plug and play philosophy for both flexible multi product production and flexible scale-up by replicating for dedicated single-product production. A modular continuous-flow production system would be composed of several clearly identified continuous-flow process units, each process unit more or less independent of the other.

The cases were: 1. Acrylic acid-based copolymer 2. Homo-polymerisation of acrylic acid

and copolymerisation of acrylic acid with second monomer with different copolymerisation parameters

Table 2a: Oxidation of Ethanol to Acetic Acid

Table 1: Quantified potential of intensification

Table 2b: Rearrangement of cumene hydroperoxide in a traditional tubular reactor and micro reactor

3. Partial oxidation, epoxidation and hydroformylation

4. Detergent production intensification of two key reactions stages (SO2

oxidation and sulphonation) using novel reaction technology

5. Reaction of glycerol with propylene to produce acrolien and from it acrylic acid & acrylates

6. Intermediate, five stage reaction steps with intermediate isolation

7. Highly viscous polymer processing without the use of solvent

The 7 cases showed a quantified potential of intensification (See table 1)

Are such initiatives possible in India? I would say virtually impossible but readers can correct me.

Few Recent DevelopmentsSome of the hardware inventions that have been spawned by the emphasis on process intensification are HIGEE column, spinning disc reactor, oscillating flow reactor, loop reactors, spinning tube in tube reactor, heat exchange reactor, static mixing catalysts, micro channel reactors, micro channel heat exchangers, etc. Modeling of such novel

systems, like spin disc reactor and others has matured, but in many cases stil l lags behind the mechanical developments.

Another development has been the imposition of external fields, sonic, ultrasound, microwave, gravitational, etc on the process.

It should be noted that when one moves from batch to continuous the scale of flows reduces considerably thus a product of 5000 TPY will be only 600-700 kg/hr flows, as chemical plants go it is very small. Thus the pipelines sizes, equipment sizes reduce considerably, so does the need for util it ies. The processing time changes from minutes to seconds and hours to minutes. There are other demands like continuous monitoring, requiring very sophisticated analytical instrumentation.

Some examples of medium sized plants that are possible are shown in table 2

Organic Nitration Many nitration processes that were almost impossible to carry out in conventional equipment have been carried out successfully in microreactors.

Many decades ago Eastman Chemicals was operating a nitrobenzene plant that did not use mixed acid. One day there was an explosion in the plant and then operations were discontinued. The root cause of the explosion was found but it was difficult to ensure safe conditions

It should be noted than when one moves from batch to continuous the scale of flows reduces considerably thus a product of 5000 TPY will be only 600-700 kg/hr flows, as chemical plants go it is very small.

Technology Commercial

Process steps

-30% Time-to-Market

-50%

Foot print -50% Opex -20%

Solvent reduction

-100% Capex -40%

Capacity +20% Logistics -30%

Space time yield

100 fold

Energy consumption

-30%

Parameter Micro Reactor

Continuous Stirred Tank

Residence time

3 s 1760 s

Pressure 3-5 bar atmospheric

Conversion >99% 30-95% (oscillating)

Selectivity >99% >99%

Reaction volume

3 cm3 2900 cm3

Throughput 4300 cm3 h-1

5930 cm3 h-1

Space-time yield

500 h-1 0.7-2.0 h-1

Microreactor Tubular Reactor

Yield 0.5% higher than thetraditional process

High-boiling substance

0.12 wt % 0.21 wt %

Process recycle ratio

2 17


CEW Features

and it was given up. At that time work was being done in an Indian University and this was also halted. With the advent of microreactors and mixers, perhaps the process could be revived.

Hydrogen PeroxideMore than a decade back Sulzer had changed the process of hydrogen peroxide distil lation. A Norwegian company had intensified the process of manufacturing hydrogen peroxide which used static mixers extensively to combine oxidation and extraction, etc.

The present situation is that a catalytic process has been commercialised, that directly converts hydrogen and oxygen to hydrogen peroxide and further a portable peroxide plant is in advanced stage of development thus making the earlier PI efforts obsolete. However, PI would stil l be used in parts of process.

PolymerisationBatch or semi-batch polymerisation and copolymerisation have been, in many instances, converted to continuous polymerisation. Specially configured reactors easily meet requirements of emulsion polymerisation process, namely good mixing, relatively long reaction times, limited residence time distribution, and high final conversion. The productivity is much higher than batch process.

Copolymerisation of styrene and acrylates, production of vinyl acetate with ethylene (EVA), PVA, uniform seed latex, etc. are examples.

Another type of compact of continuous reactor for production volumes has been used for grafting reactions of Acrylic Acid, Methacrylic Acid, Maleic Anhydride to Polyolefin’s; EP Rubber Vinylsiloxane grafting to SEBS Block Copolymer; Polyethylene (silane cross linking), etc.

Indian IndustryPerhaps one of the early attempts (1945) at what is now called PI was the reactive distil lation column for production of DOP

by Othmer. It is doubtful whether any Indian company adopted it. In spite of the antiquity and the rapid developments in last couple of decades, Indian industry does not seem to have embraced PI enthusiastically.

As Bernard Shaw said, “You see things as they are and say why but I dream of things that never were and say why not”, it implies taking a risk, a journey into uncharted territory with few signboards and many heuristic moves.

Something most Indian managements are averse to. Most Indian companies will take business risk but rarely technological risk. Thus in the words of Professor D M Newitt, an industry that always demands cast iron guarantees will be condemned to obsolescent technology.

Over arcing in the mind is the thought, if it does not work, or does not achieve the goal. There are other mindsets “we have been doing this way for decades, so why change” or “if there are no problems why change” or “what will happen to the existing investment”. Therefore, in words of Professor Ramshaw, “A major cultural change is required on behalf of chemists, engineers and managers and it is this, rather than technical difficulty which represents the main obstacle to progress”.

Many Indian pharma companies do use micro reactors and few others have taken to PI seriously, but the record is patchy. Given the pulls and pushes Indian companies take inordinately long time to make decisions to move forward, usually year or more. What the management and the technical personnel require is a will to overcome problems that inevitable arise in any new development and avoid blame games.

As Edison said “remember nothing that’s any good works by itself. You’ve got to make the damn thing work! ….. I failed my way to success.”

(This article was carried in May ’14 issue)

Many decades ago Eastman Chemicals was operating a nitrobenzene plant that did not use mixed acid. One day there was an explosion in the plant and then operations were discontinued. The root cause of the explosion was found, but it was difficult to ensure safe conditions and it was given up. At that time work was being done in an Indian University and this was also halted. With the advent of microreactors and mixers, perhaps the process could be revived.

CEW Features


Since large compressors can seldom be started other than off-load, bringing in compressor does has some difficulties and these also possess limitation on this use.

Suction Valve Unloader Control: In this system, the valve lifting device keeps the suction valves open during the compression stroke. By keeping these valves open by means of valve lifter, the cylinder capacity is zero during this stage. And when the valve lifter withdraws, suction valve again comes to normal position and capacity rises to maximum. (See figure 1)

This method is generally used in all process industries.

From the point of view of efficiency, the power reduction is almost directly proportional to the capacity reduction. If two double acting cylinders are available, capacity regulation of 100 per cent, 75 per cent, 50 per cent, 25 per cent & 0 per centcan be achieved.

Fixed Volume Clearance Pocket Control: A FVCP is used to add additional clearance volume to the head end of a cylinder. The clearance pocket, when open, increases the cylinder clearance volume, which causes the compressor capacity to decrease. An indicator card taken from a cylinder end with a 50 per cent capacity reduction (see figure 2) shows this effect more clearly. From the point of view of efficiency, the power reduction is almost directly proportional to the capacity reduction if allowance is made for losses due to throttling through the valves. (See figure 2)

Stepless Capacity ControlThis method allows the continuous regulation of the capacity of the compressor. The following methods of Stepless Capacity Control are widely used.

Speed Control: It is the simplest method of controlling the capacity of the compressor. If the speed of the driver can be varied, this will give an excellent

means of loss free capacity control of compressor. The diesel engines, gas engines, seam engine, steam turbine and gas turbine are best suited to speed control.

It must be noted that while in reciprocating compressors, the torque is independent of the speed (process condition constant), these are generally not true for those prime movers whose speed can be varied. This limits these prime movers to not allow speed reduction of more than

70 per cent, thus imposing the range of continuous capacity variation between 100 per cent to 70 per cent only.

Reverse Flow Control: Stepless capacity control by Reverse flow through suction valves is one of the most efficient means of capacity control while operating the Compressor with a constant speed driver in this method, Capacity control is achieved by unloading device, fitted to each suction valve, which delays the closing of the suction valve in a

Figure 2: The effect of adding clearance for capacity control purpose

CEW Features


controlled way during compression stroke. Thus gas already fil led in the cylinder will flow back into the suction piping. The amount being proportional to the length of the compression stroke during which the suction valves remain open. With the help of this method, it becomes possible to vary the compressor capacity continuously. From the point of view of efficiency, the power reduction is almost directly proportional to the capacity reduction apart from the losses due to the flow of gas in both the directions through the suction valves.

The only problem with this system was that of actuating the inlet valves, since that must match the speed of the compressors. And it has been overcome by Hoerbiger_Hydrocom. This utilises the principle that a dynamic pressure builds up in front of a body placed in flow of gas, directly proportional to the square of gas velocity. The disc of the suction valve acts like this body.

With the help of Hydrocom, we can achieve regulation to any desired capacity between 30 per cent and 100 per cent of total load, and in some special cases capacity reduction down to 15 per cent also.

How HydroCOM works: At full load gas is compressed during the entire compression stroke. At part load HydroCOM holds the suction valve open at the start of the compression stroke and automatically closes the valve when the desired volume of gas is in the cylinder is reached. Only the gas required is compressed to discharge pressure. (See figure 3)

By-Pass Control: Stepless control by using a by-pass from discharge to suction is one of the most common and easy means of start-up and stepless capacity control. This control is based on the principle of connecting the discharge side of the compressor with the suction side via a throttle valve.

However, by-pass control is a 100 per cent loss system. This method involves wastage of power and as such should be used

preferably in combination with other means of stepped control, such as, valve unloaders and clearance pockets.

By-pass Control may also involve a by-pass cooler to ensure that suction temperature does not go beyond acceptable limits.

Composite Capacity ControlIt is clear from the preceding that each type of control method has got its limitations. Therefore, best results are achieved by combining two or more methods so that each type of control can be used most effectively to get maximum advantage from the point of view of reliability, absorbed power reduction, simplicity in operation and initial installation costs. Of course, now-days, with ever increasing energy costs, initial extra investments are not of much relevance as they are paid back by energy savings in the very first year of compressor operation. Some of the combinations in practice are:

1. Valve unloaders with reverse flow control along with fixed or continuous clearance pocket control.

2. Valve unloaders with start-stop control along with the reverse flow control.

3. Valve unloaders with speed control.4. Valve unloaders with fixed or continuous clearance pocket

along with By-pass control.

References:1. Compressors: Selection & Sizing, 3rd edition (2005), Royce Brown,

Elsevier

2. Compressor and Modern Process Application (P. Hentz)

3. Reciprocating Compressors-Operation & maintenance-Heinz P.

Bloch

Figure 3: Reverse flow control

Author’s DetailsPuneet Kumar

Associate Design Engineer II, Mechanical Fluor Daniel India Pvt Ltd


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60 • October 2014 October 2014 • 61Chemical Engineering World Chemical Engineering World

FeaturesCEW

Preventing this type of action - which, as noted, can reduce dewatering effectiveness - is a primary benefit of implementing inline particle characterisation technology. In the following example, when ParticleTrack statistics and PVM images are combined to track a batch flocculation process, they identify four stages of an MFT shear progression curve (Figure 2). These are:(A) Incoming steady-state MFT dispersion

and poor water release;(B)Polymer dosage followed by flocculation;(C)Floc breakdown and maximum

dewatering; and (D)Floc shear and dispersion reverting to

MFT and less water release.

Adjustment of dosage and shear in this instance, using the kind of robust data gained via in situ monitoring, can provide the critical data necessary to enhance dewatering performance. The following real-world examples show how important inline monitoring is to optimise flocculation and dewatering.

Choosing Polymer and DosageCSIRO and Suncor Energy researchers showed that particle size distribution can help determine correct polymers for the nature of incoming tailings to maximise dewatering. They also determined that ideal dosage levels correspond with incoming solid content, and that correct shear allows

particle size distribution to be optimised to further maximise dewatering and water recycle. However, their research also showed that variability in particle-to-polymer ratio can result in under- or overdosing the tailing system, resulting in high retention of fine solids or low-porosity flocculated solids. Likewise, insufficient or excessive shear produces a particle size distribution with reduced permeability, resulting in less-than-ideal dewatering. Data gained from in-process particle size characterisation enabled the tracking of entire dynamic particle systems. Appropriate decisions can then be made to avoid these undesirable states in the future.

Predictive Data-based on HydrodynamicsIn the second example, researchers at CSIRO Australia proved that using FBRM technology to follow flocculation in turbulent pipe flow (quantifying aggregate growth kinetics and breakage) helped determine average chord length measurement over time. In turn, this average chord length was used to describe the inline particle size distribution based on aggregation efficiency and breakage rates. Dewatering performance, therefore, can be predicted based on corresponding particle size, flow rate,and hydrodynamics. CSIRO showed that varying the slurry flow rate for a fixed polymer dosage greatly affects the extent of aggregation and degree of breakage over longer times. By measuring the real-time particle dimension over a range of conditions, a population balance model can be applied using hydrodynamic modeling output. This type of modeling would allow optimisation of operating conditions in pipes, channels, or thickener feed wells. Corresponding settling rates were found to diminish at longer reaction times (Figure 3), which is attributed to flocculate deactivation preventing additional growth at longer reaction times, and a corresponding reduction in dewatering performance.

CSIRO also showed that a complex mechanism between solids concentration and flocculation efficiency exists. Therefore, for a fixed dosage, a maximum relationship exists between flocculant particle size and solids concentration. CSIRO also used in-process particle characterisation tools to show that measuring particle size, shape, surface area and surface chemistry can

Figure 1: Inline ParticleTrack distributions measuring flocculation over time

Figure 2: PVM images and ParticleTrack trends measuing four stages of flocculation and dispersion

Time (min)

Counts/sec, < 20µmCounts/sec, 150-300µmMean Sqr Wt

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60 • October 2014 October 2014 • 61Chemical Engineering World Chemical Engineering World

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accelerate or slow growth kinetics and reduce the strength of the aggregated structure.

Enhancing Separations PerformanceWithout inline particle measurement, conclusions such as the ones described above could not be drawn effectively. However, these conclusions have been shown to significantly enhance separations performance, process throughput, and process stability, making investment in appropriate inline monitoring technology not only worthwhile, but likely able to pay for itself in enhanced productivity, better safety, and less unnecessary dosage in very little time, depending on processing volume. Using in situ monitoring, hydrometallurgical processing gravity thickeners or oil sands MFT streams can be measured at standard operating concentrations, temperatures and pressures without sampling or sample dilution in the field. As the incoming stream varies in both concentration and mineral makeup, real time particle size, shape, and count measurements enable a controlled response on the part of engineers and scientists seeking to understand how the particle system responds to changing process parameters.

Ongoing OptimisationThis real-time feedback on particle size distribution behavior allows engineers and scientists to track the rate and degree of change to particles and particle structures as they actually exist in process. Statistics such as mean or number of particles measured in a specific size class are trended over time, allowing troubleshooting of unexpected process changes and incoming slurry variability. The real-time optimisation of polymer additive type, dosage, and shear that this feedback enables allows scientists and engineers to ensure consistency in solid-liquid separations relative to the target distribution on an ongoing basis.

(This article was carried in July’13 issue)

Author’s Details Benjamin Smith Market Manager

METTLER TOLEDOEmail: [email protected]

Figure 3: ParticleTrack is applied to predict conditions for the optimum setting rates and reaction time after flocculant additions

Mea

n ch

ord

Leng

th (

µm, s

q W

t)

Setti

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ate

(m h

-1)

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Market InsightsCEW


BASF Inaugurates Chemical Complex in Dahej;

First MDI Splitter to Boost Value-adding Industries

BASF has begun production at their chemical complex in Dahej, India, which is its single largest

investment of ` 1000 crore in the country. The complex was jointly inaugurated by Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat; Saurabhbhai Patel, Minister of Finance, Energy and Petrochemicals, Government of Gujarat and Michael Heinz, Member of the Board of Directors, BASF SE on October 7, 2014. Primarily focusing on care chemicals and polymer dispersions, the complex is an integrated hub for polyurethane manufacturing and production facilit ies. This site has BASF’s first sulfation plant in India and targets customers in the FMCG sector.

Taking into account the changing global scenario with increasing population, constraints on the resources available, as well as the changing demographics and improving quality of life, Dr Raman Ramachandran, Chairman, BASF Companies in India & Head - South Asia shared that BASF’s vision is to provide a powerful solution to these environmental challenges through chemistry as an enabler so as to meet the demand in a sustainable way.

When asked about ‘Make in India’, Heinz said that BASF’s philosophy is to be close to customers; produce in the market for the market. So, through the polymer dispersion plant, BASF has expanded its production footprint to serve the northern and western Indian market. It will cater to customers in the paper and board, architectural coatings, construction, adhesives and fibre bonding sectors. This integrated hub would be producing Elastollan TPU, Cellasto and Polyurethane Systems. This will address the demands of industries in the footwear,

automotive, construction, appliances and furniture segments.

Currently, BASF has an equation close to 50-50 percentage with respect to their upstream and downstream business. The company plans to penetrate into the downstream business as much as 70 per cent, stated Heinz. He further added, “As part of our investment plans of more than Euro 10 billion in Asia Pacific between 2013 and 2020, we want to strengthen our production platform in India. With our new Dahej site, we are enhancing our position as supplier with local production and can even better ‘create chemistry’ with our customers advanced technologies and the commitment of our team in India, we will both contribute to and benefit from India’s huge potential.” At the Dahej chemical complex, there are six different business units and the production of polyurethane has already begun while the TPU plant is to be commissioned.

Talking about Intellectual Property (IP), Heinz said that the company would take

all measures necessary to protect their rights. Ramachandran clarified that there are no IP disputes in India and BASF plans to invest 1.8 billion in R&D as it is an important area for the company. Elaborating further, Ramachandran said that about 25 per cent of the R&D spends will happen in Asia-Pacific by 2020. BASF has an R&D centre in Mumbai.

Sharing a future vision, Ramachandran sees great potential in the coatings and dispersions segment as it is likely to see double digit growth rate since the government has put an impetus on enhancing the infrastructure in the country. The business is expected to double by 2025. Also, India’s share in the company’s global business stands at 2 per cent which is expected to increase in the years to come. Heinz concluded that the sentiment is ‘to grow above the market’.

(Read Ramachandran’s interview on cewindia.com/interview.html)

- Girija Dalvi

Gujarat Chief Minister, Smt Anandiben Patel (center) along with Michael Heinz, Member of the Board of Executive Directors (to her right) and Dr Raman Ramachandran, Chairman, BASF Companies in India & Head - South Asia (extreme right) unveiling the plaque announcing the inauguration. Also present in the picture are several state dignitaries who attended the inauguration.

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Very often chemical plants are shut down or portions of chemical manufacturing stopped or rendered dysfunctional due to various corroded parts that

unexpectedly fail. Not only does this cause loss of direct revenue but an indirect, perhaps heavier cost of productivity.

Other economic and social consequences of corrosion include: 1. Contamination of materials 2. Loss of valuable product 3. Failure of equipment 4. Loss of efficiency 5. Contamination of the end product 6. The added cost of preventive maintenance 7. Overdesigning to allow for corrosion8. Health when products leak out of containers that have

been corroded causing health concerns. 9. Sudden failure of equipment or a piece of machinery can

cause physical harm to individuals and cause situations like a fire or an explosion.

Sometimes chemical plant shutdowns are caused because of change in operating procedures and usually involve direct chemical attack.

In the chemical industry, heat and high temperatures which are prevalent in chemical plants usually aids in worsening corrosion. The annual tonnage of stainless steel purchased by the chemical industry today is many times greater than the amount that was purchased ten years ago.

Employing suitable chemical interventions such as chemical cleaning use of polymeric materials either as surface coatings or as material of construction, control of organic material in plant water systems etc, have helped in improving the performance, availability and reliability of the plant components. Preliminary testing, development of present corrosion test methods and an innovation in the prevention methods, together is a combined effort needed to combat corrosion effectively.

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mitigation plans and how to maintain the corroded and new plants among others is organising CORCON '14, a conference to be held this year in Mumbai between the 12th to the 15th of November.

The Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and the minister himself Mr Ananth Kumar is lending his full support to CORCON and the efforts involved in tackling the problem of corrosion by being there in person CORCON Conferences are recognised for providing an excellent platform for exchange of information and gaining knowledge on all matters concerning corrosion in the chemical industry among others; establishment of business and personal relationships; acquiring knowledge / information regarding existing and upcoming products and technologies.

Chemical Engineering World | 67 | MAY 2011 www.cewindia.com

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SURAJ LIMITED an ISO-9001, 14001, BS OHSAS 18001 Certified Company are Manufacturers and Exporters of Stainless Steel Seamless & Welded Pipes, Tubes & ‘U’ Tubes and Large Diameter

Welded Pipes in various sizes, grades & specifications as per customer requirements. Suraj has strong presence in global market and serving more than 70 countries such as EU, Gulf, South East, US & Latin America.

Materials: All Austenitic, Ferritic, Duplex & Super Duplex Stainless Steel Specification: As per ASTM, ASME, DIN, NFA, JIS StandardSize Range : Welded: 6.0 mm OD – 1016 mm OD Seamless:6.0 mm OD – 323.9 mm ODThickness: Welded: 0.6 mm – 25 mm Seamless: 0.8 mm – 25 mm Pipe Length: Upto 12 mtr longTube Length: Upto 30 mtr long Specialization: Heat Exchangers, Heating Elements, Surface Condensers, Evaporators Digestors, Instrumentation Tubing and Fluid Piping

SURAJ LIMITED“Suraj House”, Opp. Usmanpura Garden, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad – 380 014 ,Gujarat – INDIA Phone: +91 79 2754 0720/21; Fax: +91 79 2754 0722 Email: [email protected]; Webpage: www.surajgroup.com

Application : Refinery, Petro-chemical, Food, Pharma, Fertil izer, Oil & Gas, Breweries, Sugar, Ship Building.

Suraj also holds certificates for quality in accordance with AD2000 MERKBLATT W0 and Pressure Equipment Directives [PED] 97/23/EC from TUV Nord and offer material under all national & international Third party Inspection. SURAJ also have their own lab to examine various tests such as Hydro test, Eddy Current, PMI, IGC, UT, RT, Spectro analysis, Mechanical properties and many others as per customer requirements.

Suraj Limited

KSB Odhav Service Station in a New Look

F acing the new technology challenges is only possible if we keep ourselves updated with the latest techniques. And hence it was decided by KSB Management to revamp the

existing service station facility at Odhav, near Ahmedabad. On 7 th October 2014, Mr. Dinesh Khanna, Director (Sales & Marketing) inaugurated the newly augmented service station at Odhav, which would take care of after sales service for western part of India, with greater aplomb.

Mr. Godwin Sequeira, DGM (West Zone), Mr. Manohar Paranjape, DGM (After Sales) & Mr. Prashant Kumar, Sr. Manager (Baroda) were present for the function.

The new service station having a built up area of about 5500 sq. ft., is well equipped with the modern infrastructural; material handling and testing facilit ies, that will not only take care of service and repair of submersible pumpsets and standard industrial pumps, but also repair engineered pumps like 'HDA, HG etc. Big size KRT pumps can also be easily serviced with availability of new facilities. Sufficiently big storage area allows

KSB Pumps LimitedMr. Manohar Paranjpe, DGM (After Market)Phone +91 20 2710 1261 Email: [email protected]

stocking of spare parts required to service pumps. This all will ensure even faster and efficient after sales service of KSB Pumps, Valves and Systems in Western India.

Apart from the one in Odhav, KSB has its own service stations in NOIDA, Chennai & Raipur apart from 5 manufacturing plants. And to backup the wide spread sales network, more than 110 authorized service centers, which are expected to grow in numbers in the coming days; are also present across India.

After all, KSB in India believes in planting a smile on our customers face ...time and again!

Mr. Dinesh Khanna, Director (Sales & Marketing) inaugurated the

newly augmented service station at Odhav on October 7, 2014



Process Intensifi cation

Smaller | Cleaner | Energy Effi cient

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ChemTECH World Expo 201528-31 January 2015, Mumbai,India

EPC SPECIAL


CEWProducts

Sliding Vane Pumps

Blackmer is pleased to announce that its XL, TX and SGL Series Sliding Vane Pumps provide numerous design and energy efficiency advantages that are ideal for operators in the shale oil industry. Oil produced from tight shale formations is much lighter than traditional crude oil because of its lower viscosity and levels of impurities. This light composition requires that shale oil be handled and transferred by pumps that have been

specifically designed to efficiently handle liquids of lower viscosities and with lesser particulate levels. Additionally, because shale oil production is a continuous process industry, operators cannot afford downtime, which quickly leads to lost productivity and profitability. Therefore, the pumping technology utilized for this operation must offer trouble-free operation. Other features that make Blackmer pumps ideal for use in shale oil applications include excellent self-priming and dry-run capabilities, leak-free mechanical-seal and ball-bearing construction, symmetrical bearing support for even loading and long wear life and an adjustable relief valve that protects against excessive pressures. Blackmer pumps are also equipped with replaceable liners and end discs, and can be rebuilt for like-new performance.

For details contact:Dover India Pvt Ltd – PSG40 Poonamallee By-pass, Senneerkuppam, Chennai 600 056Tel: 044-26271020, 25271023E-mail: [email protected]

or Circle Readers’ Service Card 1


Bag Vessel Assemblies

Bag vessel assembly keeps the filter system on stream by reducing bag filter change time. The single large acme thread closure ensures quick opening and positive sealing. Bag vessel assemblies are light and portable. The bag vessel’s economical price allows to install a preferred duplex system for totally uninterrupted flow rates. It is made of light weight corrosion-resistant polypropylene to give all the strength without bulk. It has fixed-head mounting and is compact enough to attach to any machine.

Unfiltered fluid enters the housing and is distributed evenly around the filter bags. Filtration takes place from inside to outside. Solids are collected on the inside of filter bag for easy removal. The filtered fluid then exits through the outlet pipe.

For details contact:Filter Concept Pvt Ltd 302 Aalin, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 14 Tel: 079-27541602 E-mail: [email protected]


ProductsCEW

Shanbhag & Associates offers M Pumps (a unit of the Mischiatti Group of Italy) an ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified company manufacturing to API 610 and 685 as well as non-API pump standards, seal-less magnetic driven pumps. These pumps are offered in centrifugal, peripheral, sliding vane, self-priming, centre-line mounted, inline and vertical pump versions. M Pumps manufactures these pumps in metallic, non metallic and lined constructions. Typical applications are in oil and gas, chemical, pharmaceutical, industrial refrigeration, offshore platform, electronic and galvanising and nuclear plant areas amongst others. To safeguard the pumps the company also offer dry-running protection, temperature monitors on rear casing and ATEX certification as options for many models as optional features.

M Pumps seal-less mag-drive pumps are available in 26 designs with over 350 basic models. The wide range of pumps will allow them to meet your exact process requirements. The pumps are ideal for transfer of hazardous, corrosive, toxic liquids without leakage into environment.Contact them with liquid details and your pump requirements. Their national sales and service network will application-engineer your pump requirements. Shanbhag & Associates provides ready stock of pumps spares and accessories from their godown.

For details contact: Shanbhag & Associates- B-50 Nandbhuvan Indl Estate, Mahakali Caves Road, Andheri (E), Mumbai 400 093 Tel: 022-28346604, 28340071, 28218008 Fax: 91-022-28388334 E-mail: [email protected]

Seal-less Magnetic Driven Pumps



FRP Filters

EPP Composites Pvt Ltd offer different types of filters for various applications in industries like pharma, dyes and intermediates, fer tilizers, chemicals, food processing and petrochemicals.EPP offers Nutsche filters, disc filters and cartridge filters. Nutsche filter is one of the simplest batch type filter. It is a dish end type of tank with filter plate fitted or bolted inside with flanges having cloth as filter media. Filter plate is perforated to pass the filtrate. The

slurry fed into the filter vessel is separated into filtrate and the residue in the form of cake on the filter cloth which can be removed manually. The filter can be offered up to operating vacuum of 720 mm of Hg.

For details contact:EPP Composites Pvt LtdPlot No: 2624, Kranti Gate Main Road GIDC Lodhika Indl Estate Kalawad Road, Metoda, Gujarat 360 021 Tel: 02827-287059, 287060, 287061 Fax: 91-02827-287063 E-mail: [email protected]

Turbine Blowers/Exhausters

Indovac offers turbine blowers/exhausters a tailor-made solution for desired specifications. It transforms flow energy into pressure energy. The features are compact and vertical shaft design integral silencer and suction mask, free of wear and tear maintenance by non-contact operation. The pumping medium is not contaminated. Available

in capacity 40-1,000 m3/hr, vacuum up to 300-500 mbar, single and double stage in suction operation and pressure up to 400-500 mbar in pressure mode. It finds application in plastic industry, air pollution monitoring equipment, aeration, pneumatic conveying, industrial vacuum cleaners, vacuum packing, waste water treatment, reprographics, etc.

For details contact:Indovac Pumps & Engg Co21 Anand Raj Indl Estate, Sonapur Lane, B/h Asian PaintsOff LBS Marg, Bhandup (W), Mumbai 400 078Tel: 022-25664917, 25664937Telefax: 91-022-25664917E-mail: [email protected]



CEWProducts

Industrial Hose Pump

Verderflex offers the Verderflex Dura 55 designed to deliver over 20% more flow. It expands the Dura range’s flow rates from <1 l/hr to 15.3 m³/hr at pressures up to 16 bar. it can reduce life cycle costs, maximise plant uptime and incorporate special design features for arduous heavy duty applications. It solves pumping problems associated with dry running liquid streams, shear sensitive polymers, high viscosity sludge and pastes, variable speed dosing,

abrasive solids in suspension and off-gassing fluids. It is ideal for use in biogas production, chemical manufacturing, industrial processing and water treatment, etc. It has a unique, patent pending por t flange that totally encloses the hose. This unique flange design also includes an innovative quar ter turn lock system, halving hose change times to maximise plant uptime. The Verderflex Dura 55 heavy duty design guards against blockages and chokes with its advanced stalled rotor protection technology, including visible slippage indicators.

For details contact:Verder India Pumps Pvt LtdPlot 3b + 3par t 11, D-1 Block, MIDC Block, Chinchwad, Pune 411 019E-mail: [email protected]



Circulating Pumps for Heat Transfer Systems

KSB offers their Etanorm SYT Pump Series to the Indian market. KSB’s latest generation of single-stage volute casing pumps has been specially developed for applications in modern heat transfer systems and hot water circulation. Etanorm SYT pump sets handle hot water as well as mineral oil based thermal fluids and synthetic thermal oils at tempera¬tures of up to 350oC. They are particularly suited

to the rough conditions experienced in heat transfer systems. The new pumps’ stable rib design and reinforced bearings make them resistant to external forces. Especially the increasing use of highly efficient synthetic oils has been calling for new developments in pump technology. Etanorm SYT incorporates significant technical innovations, such as a new vent design through which gases can be reliably removed during operation. For very critical fluids a variant with double mechanical seal has been introduced. Customers may choose between carbon (standard) or SiC plain bearings. KSB’s Etanorm SYT pumps are hydraulically optimised and highly energy-efficient. The pumps are supplied with an impeller dia individually matched to the duty point of the actual system. By selecting the best impeller dia and pump size from the large range on offer, an ideal combination can be found for the majority of duty points.

For details contact:KSB Pumps LtdMumbai-Pune Road, Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra 411 018Tel: 020-2710 1241 E-mail: [email protected]


ProductsCEW

ZIP offers some C/F, H/F and turned process industrial fasteners items as per IS, BS, JIS, DIN and ISO Standard reference. Threads: BSW, BSF, UNC, UNF, BSP, BSPT, NPT, No size - 4 to 12 No NC/NF threads and self-tapping 2 to 14 No dia threads. Components

made as per party requirement say, MS 4.6 gr, HTS En-8, 8.8, En-19, 10.9, En-24, 12.9, brass copper SS-202, 304, 316 and 410. Finished components: natural finish, self-colour, blackened, bright zinc-silver and blue shades, yellow zinc, olive green, cadmium nickel, nickel chrome. These items are used at machine tool industries, engineering industries, automobile industries, textiles, electrical and electronics and other industries.

For details contact:Zenith Industrial Products E-122 Ansa Indl Estate, Saki Vihar Road, Saki NakaAndheri (E), Mumbai 400 072Tel: 022-28470806, 66923987 | Fax: 91-022-28470705 E-mail: [email protected] / [email protected]

Shanbhag & Associates offers DESMI internal gear pumps used in Indian industry. DESMI pumps are marketed and distributed by subsidiaries, sales agencies and distributors in more than 40 countries. DESMI has worked with customers to develop new innovations in pump technology. Whether it is solving individual application problems or developing new industry leading ideas, they are always looking for ways of doing things better. The ROTAN internal gear pump provides favorable flow conditions, as the direction of the liquid flow is only changed slightly through the pump. This means that superior self-priming capability and gentle liquid handling are achieved, and also that highly viscous liquids can

be pumped. ROTAN pump offers the following additional advantages: pumping in either direction; easy maintenance and inspection based on modular design; sturdy and uncomplicated construction with only two rotating parts and one shaft seal; comprehensive choice of configurations available as standard; genuine back pull-out design; and end clearance axial adjustment. ROTAN pumps can be supplied in accordance with the ATEX Directive for use in potentially explosive environments. DESMI, ROTAN offers pumps in CI, SS, CS and ductile iron MoC along with different sizes, bearing materials and sealing options. ROTAN pumps are offered with pressure relief valve and heating jackets on front and rear cover. For hazardous, toxic or corrosive liquids DESMI magnetic drive gear pumps are also available in CI, WCB and SS 316. DESMI provides best pumping solutions for chocolate, speciality chemicals, asphalt and bitumen, sugar and molasses, isocyanate and polyol, soap and detergents, paint and ink, pulp and paper, and oil blending industries.

For details contact: Shanbhag & Associates B-50 Nandbhuvan Indl Estate, Mahakali Caves Road, Andheri (E) Mumbai 400 093 Tel: 022-28346604, 28340071, 28218008 | Fax: 91-022-28388334 E-mail: [email protected]

Internal Gear Pumps


Habonim has extended i ts range to mee t i ndus t r i a l demands fo r f l o w c o n t r o l s y s t e m s t h a t a r e accurate, flexible, cost-efficient and maintenance fr iendly. Bal l valves p rov ide exce l l en t pe r fo r mance, even in the harshest environments and of fer a compact l ightweight design solut ion. Cr i t ical features include high pressure drop capacity with straight-through flow, high Cv and large exhaust capaci ty wi th added design features for ease of

maintenance and zero backlash.

For details contact:Jasubhai Engg64/a, GIDC Indl Estate, Phase 1Vatwa, Ahmedabad, Gujarat 382 445Tel: 079-25831042Fax: 91-079-25831825E-mail: [email protected]

Nut Bolt Screws & Industrial Fasteners Control Ball Valves

or Circle Readers’ Service Card 8 or Circle Readers’ Service Card 9

PB • October 2014 October 2014 • 73Chemical Engineering World Chemical Engineering World

Chemical Industry Gorinchem

Dates: 2-4 Dec 2014Venue: Gorinchem, NetherlandsDetails: Chemical Industry Gorinchem will be held for a period of three days in The NetherlandsOrganiser: Evenementenhal Gor inchemContact: +31 183 680680Email: [email protected]: www.evenementenhal.nl

China International Exhibition for Coating & Paintss

Dates: 13-16 Mar 2015Venue: Beijing, ChinaDetails: One of the leading trade fair for Coating & Paints industry in ChinaOrganiser: Sinostar Internationl LtdContact: +852 2865 0062Email: [email protected]: www.sinostar-intl.com.hk

Chem Bio Finland 2015

Dates: 18-19 Mar 2015Venue: Helsinki, FinlandDetails: Exhibition for the chemical, laboratory and biotechnology products and servicesOrganiser: The Finnish Fair CorporationContact: +358 40 450 3251Email: [email protected]: www.messukeskus.com

Middle East Coatings Show 2015

Dates: 9-11 March 2015Venue: Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre, UAEDetails: An event for raw materials suppliers and equipment manufacturersOrganiser: DMG Events – ME & Asia Contact: +971 4 4380355Email: [email protected]; [email protected] Website: www.coatings-group.com

Corcon 2014

Dates: 12-15 November 2014Venue: Grand Hyatt, MumbaiDetails: Corrosion Conference and ExpoOrganiser: Nace International Gateway India Section (NIGIS)Contact: +91 22 25797930 / 25797354Email: [email protected] Website: www.corcon.org

World PetroCoal Congress

Dates: 15-17 February 2015Venue: Convention Centre-NDCC, New DelhiDetails: On sustainable usage of the non-renewable resourcesOrganiser: Energy and Environment FoundationContact: +91 11 2275 8149Email: [email protected]: www.worldpetrocoal.com

Chemspec India 2015

Dates: 16-17 April, 2015Venue: Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC), MumbaiDetails: Event for the Indian fine, custom and speciality chemicals communityOrganiser: Quartz Business Media LtdContact: +91 99 204 74017Email: [email protected]: www.chemspecevents.com

ChemTECH World Expo 2015

Dates: 28-31 January 2015Venue: Bombay Convention & Exhibition Centre (BCEC), Goregoan, MumbaiDetails: World meet of chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and process industry in IndiaContact: +91 22 40373636Email: [email protected]: www.chemtech-online.com


Project UpdateCEW

New Contracts/Expansions/RevampsThe following list is a brief insight into the latest new projects by various companies in India.

• CHEMICALS India GCI Resitop, a subsidiary of Gun Ei Chemical Industry Company, is planning a resin-coated sand and phenolic resin manufacturing project in Oragadam, district: Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. Land acquisition is in progress. The project is planned for completion in 3 years from zero date.

Bhuruka Gases, belonging to the Bhuruka Group, is planning a compressed oxygen project in district: Pune, Maharashtra. The project is in initial stage. Land is yet to be acquired.

Vasudha Pharma Chem Limited is planning a chemical manufactur ing project in vi l lage: Atchutapuram, distr ict: Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The project will be spread over 26-acre of land. Land has been acquired. Work on the project commenced in August 2014 and is planned for completion in 2016.

Sayona Colors, belonging to the Sayona Group;, is planning an expansion of its dyes and colours manufacturing project in Navrangpura, district: Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The project will involve capacity expansion of products like synthetic organic dyes, food colours and cosmetic colours. The project is waiting for international collaboration.

Punjab Chemicals & Crop Protect ion i s p lanning a thiamethoxam manufacturing project in villages: Kolimajra and Samalheri, district: Mohali, Punjab. The project will come up at the company’s existing plant premises. The project is in planning stage.

S K Solvochem Private Limited is planning a 1,500-TPA synthetic organic chemicals manufacturing project - dye and dye intermediates, bulk drug and intermediates excluding drug formulations, synthetic rubbers, basic organic chemicals, other synthetic organic chemicals and chemical intermediates at a cost of ` 20-million in village: Nimbua, district: Mohali, Punjab. The public hearing was held in January 2014. The project is waiting for environmental clearance.

Nuray Chemicals is implementing a ferric citrate-manufacturing project at the existing unit in SIDCO Industrial Estate Kakalur, district: Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. Civil, mechanical and engineering work is in progress. The project is scheduled for completion in Q4 2014. Equipment is already available.

Ascent Pharma is planning a synthetic organic chemical manufacturing project in village: Veraval, district: Rajkot, Gujarat. As of September 2013, the capacity of the proposed unit is yet to be finalized. The project is waiting for environmental clearance. Work on the project commenced in Q1 2014.

• MININGBarmer Lignite Mining Company, a JV between Rajasthan State Mines & Minerals and Raj West Power, a subsidiary of JSW Energy is planning an expansion from 3.75-MTPA to 7-MTPA of the Kapurdi Open Cast Lignite Mining project in Kapurdi, district: Barmer, Rajasthan. The project cost is estimated to be ` 18,000-million inclusive of a new lignite mining project at Jalipa mines. The project is waiting for environmental clearance.

• NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGYGovernment Of Odisha is planning a 20-MW solar power plant in Manmunda, district: Boudh, Odisha. Green Energy Development Corporation Of Odisha is the nodal agency. The nodal agency has identified about 120-acre of land at Manmunda for establishment of the project. Land has been allotted to the agency from the industrial park area earmarked by Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO).The EPC tender is for development of the power plant and maintenance for a period of 10 years. Apart from the Boudh project, the agency is in the lookout for additional land in Koraput, Kantamal and Bolangir area for installing about 200-MW solar energy capacity.

Shri Shivsagar Sugar & Agro Products is planning a 18-MW bagasse-based co-gen power project in village: Udpudi, district: Belgaum, Karnataka. The project will come up in the existing 150-acre sugar plant premises. The project is planned for completion in 12 months from zero date.

Siddheshwari Paper Udyog is implementing a 6-MW rice husk-based captive power project in Kashipur, district: Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand. The project is coming up with an expansion of its kraft paper-manufacturing unit. Civil work is nearing completion and machinery has been ordered.

The Jeypore Sugar Company Limited is planning an expansion of its bagasse-based co-generation power plant from initial 0.5-MW to 8.5-MW in village: Chagallu district: West Godavari. Andhra Pradesh. As of January 2014, the project will come up along with a new 120-KLD grain-based distil lery. The project is waiting for environmental clearance.

Favorich Sugars, belonging to the Favorich Group, is planning a 15-MW bagasse-based co-generation power project in Krishnarajpet, distr ict: Mandya, Karnataka. As of January 2013, the company is waiting for land approval from Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board. The project is waiting for financial closure and is planned for completion in 18 months from zero date. The State government had allotted 250-acre of land for the sugar project, distil lery and mega food park.


CEWProject Update

• THERMAL POWERRKM Powergen is planning a 4×660-MW coal-based thermal power project in district: Datia, Madhya Pradesh. The project is waiting for environmental clearance and coal allocation.

Tripura State Electricity Corporation is planning to upgrade its Rokhia gas-based thermal power project in Rokhia, district: West Tripura, Tripura. The estimated cost of the project is ` 3,200-million inclusive of upgradation of the Baramura gas-based power project and renovation of the Dambur hydroelectric power project. The scope of the project will involve conversion of thermal power project into combined cycle. The project would generate 35-MW more power if it goes for combined cycle system. North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) has signed a MoU with the company to convert thermal power project into combined cycle. The expenditure will be shared by the NEEPCO and the company. As part of the ‘understanding’, the NEEPCO will take 50% of the increased power while the State Government will have to pump in ` 900-million to implement the joint venture project.

Pashamylaram Common Infrastructure is planning a 1-MW coal-based co-generation power project in village: Pashamylaram, district: Medak, Telangana. The total land area is 15-acre. The estimated cost of the project is ` 860-million inclusive of a common effluent treatment plant, which is also in planning stage. The project is waiting for environmental clearance.

Rungta Mines is planning a 120-MW coal-based captive power project in district: Dhenkanal, Odisha. The project will come up along with an integrated steel project in the same location, which is in planning stage. Land acquisition is in progress.

Talavadi Cements, a subsidiary of Birla Corporation, is planning a 35-MW captive power project in village: Bari, district: Satna, Madhya Pradesh. JM Environet are the environment consultants. The project is waiting for environmental clearance. The power generated will be used for the cement project that is to come up in the same location, which is in planning stage.

VP Cements is planning a 1×40-MW in Phase-I and another 1×40-MW in Phase-II coal-based captive power plant in village: Gundlakunta, district: YSR, Andhra Pradesh. The project is to be implemented in two phases. Land acquisition is under progress. Both the phases are waiting for environmental clearance. The project will come up as part of its ` 16-billion 2-phase integrated cement project. Work on Phase-I is expected to commence in 2015. Work on Phase-II is expected to commence in 2017.

Kanodia Cement, belonging to the Kanodia Group, is planning a 15-MW coal-based captive power project in Unit-I, Durgawati, district: Kaimur (Bhabua), Bihar. The project is waiting for environmental clearance. Land has been acquired. The project will come up along with an ordinary port land cement manufacturing project. The total cost of both the projects is ` 900-million.

Jai Bhole Cement Combine, a group company of Zawar Sales, is planning a 72-MW (coal as fuel) and 10-MW (waste heat recovery as fuel) captive power project in Velabai, district: Yavatmal, Maharashtra. Equipment supplier is yet to be appointed. The project is waiting for final approval of environmental clearance. Work on the project is planned for completion in H1 2017. The project will come up as part of its ` 151-billion integrated cement project spread over 2,500-acre of acquired land.

CEW Ad Index


1 Atomic Vacuum Company (Exports) Inside Cover I

2 BHS-Sonthofen (India) Pvt Ltd 61

3 Busch Vacuum India Pvt Ltd 33

4 Chemtech World Expo 2015 53

5 Cole-Parmer India 57

6 Concord Instruments (P) Ltd 59

7 Emjay Engineers 63

8 Evergreen Technologies Pvt Ltd 27

9 Filter Concept Pvt Ltd 31

10 Fluidyme Process Flow Technologies 65

11 Forbes Marshall 17

12 Goodie International Pvt Ltd 41

13 Gopani Product Systems Back Cover

14 H&R Johnson (Ind) 21

15 Hitech Applicator 7

16 ImageGrafix Engineering Services Pvt Ltd 69, 71, 73, 75

17 Industry Automation & Control 2015 55

18 Integral Process Controls India Pvt LTd 29

19 Jasubhai Engineering Pvt Ltd 5

20 Kirloskar Brothers Ltd Inside Cover II

21 Kishor Pumps Pvt Ltd 63

22 KPC Filtech Pvt Ltd 59

23 KSB Pumps 15

24 Membrane Hitec 45

25 Outokumpu India Pvt ltd 39

26 Paharpur Cooling Towers Ltd 23

27 Rasaii Flow Lines Pvt Ltd 43

28 Ross Process Equipment Pvt 11

29 SPX Flow Technology (India) Pvt Ltd 19

30 Super Industrial Lining Pvt Ltd 3

31 Suraj Ltd 57

32 Transflow Asia 37

33 Tranter India Pvt Ltd 35

34 Uni Klinger Ltd 47

35 Verder India Pumps Pvt Ltd 9

Client’s Name Page No Client’s Name Page NoSr. No.

Sr. No.


CEWBook Shelf

Authors : J D Seader, Ernest J Henley, D Keith RoperPrice : USD 173.18Pages : 848 [Paperback] Publisher : Wiley

Separation Process Principles

Separation and Purification Technologies in BiorefineriesEditors : Shri Ramaswamy, Huajiang Huang, Bandrau RamaraoPrice : USD 160.93Pages : 608 [Hardcover]Publisher : Wiley

About the Book : Completely rewritten to enhance clarity, this third edition provides engineers with a strong understanding of the field. With the help of an additional co-author, the text presents new information on bioseparations throughout the chapters. A new chapter on mechanical separations

covers settling, filtration, and centrifugation, including mechanical separations in biotechnology and cell lysis is also incorporated. Boxes help highlight fundamental equations. Numerous new examples and exercises are integrated throughout as well. In addition, frequent references are made to the software products and simulators.

About the Book : Separation and purification processes play a critical role in biorefineries and their optimal selection, design and operation to maximise product yields and improve overall process

efficiency. Separations and purifications are necessary for upstream processes as well as in maximising and improving product recovery in downstream processes. These processes account for a significant fraction of the total capital and operating costs and also are highly energy intensive. Consequently, a better understanding of separation and purification processes, current and possible alternative and novel advanced methods is essential for achieving the overall techno-economic feasibility and commercial success of sustainable

Wastewater Treatment: Concepts and Design Approach

Authors: Karia G L, Christian R APrice: ` 383Pages: 448 (Paperback)Publisher: PHI

About the Book : This thoroughly revised second edition presents a comprehensive account of the principles of operation and design of wastewater treatment plants.

Beginning with the basic concepts of treatment of wastewater and the design considerations required of an efficient treatment plant, the book moves on to spotlight the design criteria for domestic wastewater treatment units. In essence, the text gives the detailed procedures for design computations of all units of a wastewater treatment plant. It also describes the most common types of reactors used for physical operations and biological processes in wastewater treatment plants.

Besides additional examples and exercises, this edition also includes a new chapter on “Disinfection of Wastewater”.

The book is intended for the undergraduate students of Civil and Environmental Engineering. It will also be useful to the practising professionals involved in the design of wastewater treatment plants. The Book provides several examples supported by graphs and sketches to highlight the various design concepts of wastewater treatment units and Encapsulates significant theoretical and computational information.

Thermoforming: A Plastics Processing Guide, Second Edition

Authors : Geza GruenwaldPrice : USD 199.45Pages : 241 [Hardcover]Publisher : CRC Press

About the Book : Dr Gruenwald has indicated the desirable properties of polymerics for differing applications; thus, the book is especially useful for polymer chemists who must “tailor” plastic materials for specific groups of applications. Engineers in extruding and calendering film and sheet will benefit from the intimate relationships elucidated between processing parameters imposed upon stocks employed in thermoforming and the products thereof. Mold designers are provided with a complete guide that will enable them to avoid the less obvious pitfalls and wasted effort so often experienced in the evolution of molds for (especially) complex parts. Quite likely, Dr Gruenwald’s suggestions will lead to considerable benefits to those who read and practice by this remarkable exposition of thermoforming technology.


InterviewCEW

“Consumer Awareness Can Drive the Speciality Chemical Industry in India”

Chemical Industry in India needs to strengthen and streamline application development programmes. It needs to innovate and develop customised solutions to meet the demand of the end-user market which - as far as speciality chemical manufacturers are concerned – is still small, scattered and in the nascent stage, believes Prakash Raman, Country Manager (India) and Managing Director, Solvay Speciality India Pvt Ltd. In an exclusive interaction with Mittravinda Ranjan and Harshal Y Desai, he further highlights the need to have industry-consumer interaction and suggests measures to tap the mega trends.

How can speciality chemical industry in India accelerate the growth? India has got certain inherent strengths; however, there are some elements which are not very positive including the availability of key feedstock. Rather than focussing on low value commodity chemicals, we should start focussing on the areas where we can add value, especially in downstream business and enhance application development

programmes. India has got the technological edge and can perform remarkably well in these segments. Speciality chemicals, speciality polymers and organic chemistry are the areas that must be paid attention to. It’s time industry focussed on some of the megatrends which require chemical industry to develop innovative solutions that are India-specific. Let us consider an example of mobile electronics; the

Indian market size is very attractive, but unfortunately no manufacturing activity takes place in the country to cater to this market.

It is a fact that contribution of speciality chemicals is still nascent; however, the contribution has grown significantly in the last few years. I strongly feel that we have got the potential and can grow to a size of about USD 100 billion in


CEWInterview

future. It is quite possible, but there are couple of issues that need to be addressed. First, we need strong regulatory support, and second, speciality chemical industry needs to spread awareness about the new solutions among the consumers.

The awareness today is very low. For example, the industry has innovative solutions for automotive and construction industry, but not many consumers are aware of these solutions. The consumption of speciality chemicals, compared even to the developing market, is about one-fourth. How many of the users actually know that the use of speciality polymers and other chemicals can help them build a safe and sustainable structure which can help them save lot of money in long term, and how it can help roads to be safer and long-lasting.

So, the value speciality chemicals offer is humongous, but we need a delivery mechanism that can spread the awareness about the advantages and convince the people to invest in new technologies. The scenario is no different for automotive market. We do not have any regulatory requirement for a minimum mileage. How many of the consumers know that the largest selling models of cars in India failed to pass the crash tests? But when these companies export the same models, they use completely different parameters.

Here the point is that the automotive companies should face the incremental cost to save the life of the passengers. The use of speciality material can help car manufactures reduce the wait of the car thus allowing consumer to save on fuels. You must be surprised to know that we don’t use the polymer fuel tanks in India which are more efficient, safer and light in weight. Why it is not happening? Well, it is not happening because the adoption of technology with the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) is not that strong. All these facts need to be communicated to the consumers by the industry.

Isn’t the process of communicating these things to consumers difficult? Yes, it is and it is indeed a challenging area, but if we have a common body which includes members from the government,

industry and the consumer, these issues can be addressed. A regulatory body can push this initiative. We need minimum standards – minimum mileage standards which should be followed religiously. California has already come out with such policies. And for a country like India which is dependent on imports for fuel, these standards are more crucial. Once the consumption goes up, the demand for speciality chemicals can increase multifold, and thus the industry can easily attain the goal of growing to the size of USD 100 billion.

How can the industry make the ‘Make in India’ initiative successful? I lead the Chemical Sector innovation committee constituted by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). This committee is making an effort to track the mega trends that are evolving in India. Food, energy, infrastructure, water and health are some of the trends that we have identified. We have also identified the implications and the ideas to address those implications.

Let us first talk about the food industry, where we have already improved the productivity and supply-chain mechanism in recent few years; however, there is still a lot to be addressed. Chemical industry can offer innovative solutions to improve the shelf life of the fruits and vegetables before they reach the consumer. If we can start working on these technologies, we can do a lot of value additions to address this mega trend. We should be working on technologies that are India-specific and bring a commercial value proposition to the manufacturers. We should incentivise the manufactures so that they accelerate the pace of research and come out with affordable solutions.

Water and health are the other two major megatrends. Today, we have huge requirement for fresh water and the key element that is used to desalinate or purify the water is membrane, which is manufactured by the chemical industry, but, unfortunately, there is not a single unit manufacturing membranes in India. There are immense opportunities in health segment as well. We are going to be the diabetic capital of

the world very soon. A larger number of people will require blood transfusion and it will require a huge quantity of affordable membranes. This is an area where chemical industry can offer a solution. Innovations in this area will not only benefit consumers, but it will also be a viable business proposition for the manufactures. Blood dialysis today is an expensive process and chemical industry can come out with solutions which are cost effective. These are the areas that we as a part of the committee are working on. You need to manufacture the solution in India as you cannot rely on import for long. So, in order to make the ‘Make in India’ initiative successful in India, you need to incentivise the manufacturers and have policies that support the research and development within the country.

What is the role speciality chemical manufacturers can play? Well! It is the speciality chemical industry the innovative solutions have to come from. The industry needs to analyse the megatrends, the issues hindering the growth of the niche market, and make sincere efforts to nurture and develop solution within the country. Unfortunately, we are not spending enough money on R&D. We are focussed on short term business opportunities and in addressing low value addition exports business. Speciality chemicals play a crucial role not only in expanding manufacturing capacities but also in creating value addition. The value addition in speciality chemicals is anywhere between 4 to 10 times than that of commodity chemicals which means you produce less and add lot of value.

We need to focus on building the value chain for domestic market that will be much more sustainable. We should explore options where we can source cheap feedstock from China or other locations and then do the value additions here in India.

Will you please comment on the R&D capabilities of Solvay? Solvay has sizeable presence in India. We have a team of about 750 professionals in the country. In 2013 Solvay India had approximately 230 million euro revenue, and we have the ambition and road map to more than double it in the next three years,


InterviewCEW

Solvay in India will continue to look for both organic and inorganic growth opportunities. Our growth in India is through strategic mergers and acquisitions, the acquisition of Gharda’s polymer unit being the first of them. The Gharda acquisition has been one of the most positive experiences for Solvay as after the acquisition the company could manufacture polymers for top of the pyramid of polymer chemistry. These polymers are used for high-end applications in healthcare, industrial and electric and mobile electronics sector. However, most of the material manufactured is supplied to US and Europe. This is one example that exhibits the capability of engineers and scientists who manufactures this advanced material meeting requirement of overseas market. We have lot of confidence on Indian strength in R&D and technical capabilities, and to leverage that we have established Solvay’s global R&D centre in Salvi, Vadodara which currently employs around 50 high quality scientists working on global research programmes. The centre, when it would be fully operational in the coming few years, can host upto 200 scientists.

Many companies have established their R&D and innovation centres in India, which clearly show their faith in Indian talent. But are we innovating for India at these centres? Even though we continue to pursue on global innovation, there is still immense scope and opportunity for India specific Innovation to cater to the emerging needs of Indian consumers. All the chemical companies need to enhance its reach to Indian masses which is possible mainly through innovation And once we develop products specific for Indian requirement, we can also export them to other countries after due modification. There is a strong perception among the masses that speciality chemical only meet the requirement of the top of the Pyramid , which is not true. We need to change this perception and innovate products that can meet the requirement of middle or the bottom of the pyramid. Currently market attractiveness for speciality chemical manufacturers in India is low because the market is small and fragmented. As I talked about earlier, we need regulatory support to enhance and accelerate the consumption standards which are very low even compared to developing countries.

We have reasonable demand for most of the advanced applications, but still the production is not happening in India. The end-market for Automobile - Luxury Cars/SUVs, Smart Devices, Advance Electronics ie, semiconductors are the three areas which are expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 15, 15 and 10 per cent, respectively, but the end-market domestic production is zero. Pharma and Food Packaging is the only market where domestic production is significantly higher than domestic demand.

Which markets the products are supplied into in majority – domestic or international

– from your Salvi unit? How are you increasing your presence in India? Our growth strategy in India goes hand in hand with our global strategy.. Solvay is continuously looking for opportunities to expand its manufacturing base in India so that it can increase its share for the domestic market. We are committed to have a strong network of distributor in the country and have a larger market development team. Solvay has recently hired a strategic marketing professional to focus specifically on India by identifying key market segment where Solvay can take the lead. Being a major and meaningful player in speciality chemical market in India has always been our goal and hence we are committed to make India as one of our manufacturing hub. We have world class technology in our manufacturing units in India. Our waste water management system at Panoli site is the best among similar systems installed at other manufacturing units of Solvay across the world.

Quicker environment clearances mechanism and easy availability of raw materials is something that will further encourage us to invest more in the country.

What is the kind of infrastructure we need to have in place to give boost to speciality chemical manufacturing in India? We need to increase capacities to manage liquids – both hazardous and non-hazardous – at ports. We have only one chemical port which is already overcrowded. Better road infrastructure is another element that can improve the supply chain operations. We need to move chemicals

in much safer manner. Chemical industry is already perceived to be dangerous and hazardous and we cannot simply afford to mar its reputation further by ignoring proper emergency measures. We are active member of a new initiative ‘Nicer Globe’ started by Indian Chemical Council (ICC) to monitor truck carrying hazardous chemicals. Under this initiative we train respective staff on how to handle emergency situations and have better emergency preparedness and response.

How can we improve the image of chemical Industry? It is a time-consuming process and needs to be started at school level. It is very sad that not many students like to pursue career in chemistry. There are lot of opportunities and we will need thousands and lakhs of chemical engineers in future. Modern human life is all about chemistry and this fact needs to be explained to the masses. So, we need more and more outreach programme to educate people. Almost all established chemical companies through their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) are already spreading the awareness. But in India the problem is that the chemical industry is not organised. It is still dominated by small and medium scale manufacturers, which usually do not follow the compliances to the tee. If we have proper chemical clusters, the issue of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) can be addressed successfully to a great extent. A common facility will always help in streamlining the chemical manufacturing process as a whole.

One bad incident puts question mark on entire industry. You will be surprised to know that contemporary polymer plants are much more sophisticated and advanced in terms of technology than several electronic units, but still they are considered as ‘dangerous chemical units’.

What are your plans for future? Specialty polymers, specialty surfactans, healthcare, automotive, food and beverages industry are some of the area where Solvay will keep focusing upon. We intend to become a 500 million USD company over the next 3-5 years which will come through organic as well as inorganic growth and will continue to develop innovative solutions through chemistries.

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