January 2018 issue

Vol.31.1. January 2018 Postal Reg. No. MCN/31/2017-2019 CHEMICAL INDUSTRY DIGEST A Blockdale Publication A N N U A L - JAN 2018 Price `125/- ISSN-0971-5266

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What’s In? Articles Key direct tax expectations of India chemi- cals sector from Budget 2018 ...53 Aashish Kasad, EY India. A brief writeup on the author’s views on the needed tax proposals for the chemical industry. Operational Excellence: Emerges From Multiple Dimensions ...61 O P Goyal, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai How to get the best out of existing assets through operational excellence in every area of manufacturing and business can make the difference between great success and the average. Proposed Methanol Economy Fund – Ground Realities need to be considered ...66 N S Venkataraman, Founder and Director, Nandini Consultancy Centre This article provides a brief on the methanol scenario in India from capacities to production, technology and feed- stock issues and the options for India. Indian Hydrocarbon Scenario ...72 Chemical Industry Digest Research Group Oil & gas and Refinery sectors are very crucial to the Indian economy as they provide the life sustaining energy to fuel industries and provide feedstocks for the chemical industry. Article reviews these sectors in the context of emerging disruptive developments and current needs of the country. Will Indian Fertilizer Industry see changes soon? Piyush Nimgaonkar, Senior Manager, Care Ratings Ltd. ...79 Reviews the urea fertiliser sector in India, the current govern- ment policies, revival strategies etc. The Challenges in the Specialty Chemicals Industry Dr. N C Dutta, Consultant, Modicon Pvt Ltd ...82 The author underlines the constraints and challenges facing the spe- cialty chemicals industry, which if addressed, can lead to astronomi- cal growth of the industry as India has all the required ingredients to achieve this. 4 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

What’s In? Articles Pigment Industry: Hype or Hope. An overview of Pigments industry ...90 Sambit Roy, Head BU Pigments – India Region, Clariant This article reviews the overall pigments industry globally and in India. It also provides a glimpse into the emerging areas of high performance and special effect pigments. Digital technologies in healthcare and pharmaceu- ticals industry: Emerging perspectives ...94 MedTech Asia Research Group, Mumbai This article gives a comprehensive overview of advanced digital technologies and its enabling impact and applications and how it will be transforming the health sector with many examples. Challenges facing the Indian Chlor-Alkali Industry ...103 Chemical Industry Digest Research Group Though these are commodity inorganic chemicals, the chlor-alkali industry, whose products include basic chemicals such as caustic soda, chlorine, soda ash is very important for the working of many chemical industries. The challenges it faces and possible solutions are discussed. Elements Matter - Carbon ...57 Veena Patwardhan – Special Correspondent Yester Year Nobel Laureates ...48 Carbon is a wondrous element with amazing properties which forms the foundation of all known life forms on earth. Read on Veena Patwardhan – Special Correspon- to know more about the omnipresent dynamic element. dent Read about the outstanding scientist for Features many firsts. She is also the only person to Chemingineering ... 7,8 Bibliography-Articles ... 106 be honoured with the Nobel Prize in two News & Views ... 11 Advertisers List ... 109 different sciences. Flashback 2016 ... 30 Events & Index Advts ... 112 Marie S Curie CHEMICAL INDUSTRY DIGEST BLOCKDALE - Vol.31.1, January 2018 Web: www.chemindigest.com Editor DTP Editorial Advisors Corporate Office Vinoo Mathews Ravindra Babu Dr D Mehta Dr K V Raghavan 518, Crystal Paradise, Dattaji Salvi Marg, Off Veera Alexander P K Prof V V Mahajani Dr Ramesh Hemrajani Desai Road, (Opp Skoda Showroom), Andheri (W), Publishing Executives K P Mohandas Rao S L Abhyankar Mumbai-400053, India. Kenneth Mathews Circulation & Subscription S M Mokashi Vineet Shroff Tel: 022-26733324/67410758/26734146 Sameeta Kambli Ravindra Babu Dr S U Kulkarni Dr Ramesh Daryapurkar Email: [email protected] David Mathews Dr M Sriram Office Assistants Regional Office: Chennai Vishnu Shelar Price of this copy: Rs 125/- R Padmavijayam, Tel: 044-24515568 Ravindra Kalawade Annual Subscription: Rs 1,350/- Email: [email protected] No part of this journal shall be reproduced in whole or in part by any means without permission from the publisher. The views expressed by various authors and information provided by the authors concerned are solely from their sources. The publishers and editors are in no way responsible for these views and may not necessarily subscribe to these views. Printed and Published by Vinoo Mathews on behalf of BLOCKDALE: Printed at Fine Prints, Andheri (W), Mumbai-400053, and Published at No.41/102-A, Kanchenganga, Apnaghar Unit No.12, Samarth Nagar, 1 Cross Road, Lokhandwala, Andheri (W), Mumbai-400053. Editor: Vinoo Mathews st Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 5

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CHEMINGINEERING After creating waves in the gaming and entertainment industry, Virtual Reality (VR) is poised to make inroads into many businesses. Our columnist explores how VR can benefit the Chemical Industry in areas of education, research, plant design and construction and operator training. The power of VR lies in boosting our powers of visualisation and imagination coupled with new interfaces to move things around. Will Chemical Industry shed its traditional conservatism and embrace this cutting edge technology? K Sahasranaman Independent Consultant - Process Engineering, Energy, Utilities and Safety The New Reality ext month Winter design, construction, operation and ence. It is only recently that screen Olympics will be staged in maintenance. In the coming decade and processor technology have im- NPyeongchang, South Korea no industry is expected to be un- proved so much in both perfor- and many of the exciting events touched by VR. VR is predicted to mance and price that VR is becom- like Alpine Skiing, Figure Skating, grow into a trillion-dollar industry ing commercially affordable. Ice Hockey etc will be broad- by 2035. cast around the world in Virtual Origins Education Reality (VR), providing an im- It is quite easy to foresee the mersive experience for millions of VR is not such a new idea; it benefits of VR in chemistry and viewers. And when that happens has been around for six decades. chemical engineering education, VR would have arrived big time The father of VR is Morton Heilig, where the students can get a deep- on the centerstage of the world. an American cinematographer, er understanding of molecular Older readers would remember who in 1957 built the Sensorama structures, reaction mechanisms the days when people listened to Simulator, a machine that allowed and other molecular-level phenom- cricket commentary, not even on you to virtually ride a bike while ena. The earliest known applica- radios owned by them but in store experiencing the sounds, vibra- tion of VR in chemical engineering displays. Grandmothers fueled our tions, wind and even smells of the education was Vicher, a VR based imagination by narrating folktales road. Probably too ahead of its simulator developed at University and epics, which then assumed a time, it was a spectacular flop. The of Michigan in 1995. Vicher was new shape as we read those ac- content of VR is created using CGI used as an aid to teach Chemical counts in comics and storybooks. (Computer Generated Images) or Reaction Engineering to under- The imagination got further altered by capturing images using a clus- graduates. Students were able to and intensified as we watched ter of cameras to provide 360-de- travel through pipes and enter in- those stories being enacted, first in grees point of view. In the play- side the reactor to observe the re- 2D and then 3D. VR is expected to back mode, sensors in the head- action. The objective of the mod- refine this experience even further. set track the user’s head move- el was to get a better apprecia- The power of VR lies in its ability ments and alter the view accord- tion of the reaction mechanisms to provide an order of magnitude ingly. Optimal VR experience re- both outside and inside the cata- boost to our visualisation and quires high resolution screens, and lyst. It is remarkable that John Bell imagination. This can be harnessed powerful processors so that im- and Scott Fogler were able to build not just for entertainment, but ages move in-sync with the user’s such a VR model way back in 1995 also education, research, training, head providing a seamless experi- from “primitive” hardware, com- Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 7

CHEMINGINEERING to construct and dresses the control room staff. handle. The plastic Adding VR environment to such models usually end- a simulator will not only raise the ed up as displays in training experience to a new lev- the reception area to el but also expand it to include the be showcased to VIP field operators who are in the “fir- visitors. Computer ing line”. With human failing re- Aided Design sponsible for over 90% of industri- (CAD) generated 3D al accidents, improved and regu- models are now the lar operator training on a VR plat- mainstay of plant form will minimise catastrophic in- engineering. While cidents. Stressful conditions associ- the 3D models facili- ated with an emergency like fire or tate collaborative ef- explosion can be simulated realis- forts in plant design, tically and operators’ response can pared to what is available today. the workflow gets mired in mul- be measured. This will improve VR transforms learning into an en- tiple time-consuming reviews for the preparedness to deal with di- joyable experience as students feel operability, accessibility, construc- sasters. empowered and have control over tability and safety. Reviews are Final Thoughts the learning process. VR is advan- performed on computer monitors tageous for learning the abstract or projected screens and the com- VR is now a very mature tech- concepts of chemistry and chem- ments generated during these re- nology. In the Gartner Hype Cycle ical engineering, particularly for views are usually captured on pa- (referred to in previous editions of spatially-challenged students as per and then painstakingly incor- this column), VR is on the Plateau it does away with the tradition- porated into the model. The iter- of Productivity and is marching al language-based instruction, ative process of create – review – ahead for widespread commer- that would often commence with recreate – review takes time and ef- cial adoption. VR is poised to grow “imagine you are on….” fort. This is where VR would make and thrive in a culture that is be- a world of difference. It has the po- coming increasingly comfortable Research tential to reduce the cycle time by with processing images and less Perhaps the most mind-bend- boosting collaborative effort and adept at handling text. Many busi- ing application of VR is in discov- an entirely different human-mod- nesses are likely to gain signifi- ering new molecules. Scientists el interface. The alterations could cant competitive advantage from at Novartis, for example, are us- be done in real-time through hand VR. As also pointed out, on more ing VR headsets to immerse them- gestures and eye movements. The than one occasion, the chemical in- selves in a protein and walk reduction in engineering efforts dustry is a laggard when it comes around, with a view to under- and time would be very significant. to adopting new tools and tech- stand how drugs interact with pro- Such collaborative visualisa- niques. It will show little urgen- teins in our body. By this way, they tions can be extended to the con- cy to adopt VR. VR does not need hope to alter the molecular struc- struction phase, usually the most chemical industry; chemical indus- ture of a drug and thus improve its difficult and complex phase of the try needs VR. Chemical industry efficacy in arresting a disease. VR project. Supervisors equipped has to seize the initiative and get has great potential to speed up the with VR headsets can track the developers to build relevant appli- discovery of new drugs. progress of construction in real- cations for it on VR platform. Plant Design and Construction time. Readers’ responses may be sent to: Forty years ago, the only tools Operator Training [email protected] or for plant design were paper, pen- While building new plants, ma- [email protected] cil and tons of imagination. Then ny chemical companies invest in came the plastic model in 1980s. Operator Training Simulator to They improved visualisation con- prepare their personnel for plant siderably, but were cumbersome operation. This simulator only ad- 8 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 9

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News & Views NEWS & VIEWS Consortium of Indian oil companies to prospect for oil in Israel consortium of Indian state-run oil and gas hunters firmed the development, saying the consortium will A led by ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) is set to Israeli go through certain processes before deciding on drill- waters for the first time. Israel’s energy ing for oil or gas in the block. This was the ministry gave its preliminary nod to the bid first auction of exploration licences, con- for one block submitted by the Indian con- sisting of 24 blocks, in four years since sortium of OVL, Indian Oil, Oil India Ltd Israel blocked foreign companies from ex- and Bharat Petroleum subsidiary Bharat ploration in its eastern Mediterranean wa- Petro Resources Ltd. Energean of Greece ters. was the other bidder to have secured ap- Israel, with major gas reserves, has proval for five blocks. emerged as a greener pasture for the ONGC Videsh MD N K Verma con- Indian grouping. MoU for Petrochemical park in Dow DuPont to separate into three different companies Kochi inked ow DuPont has plans to separate into three different, publically traded Memorandum of Understand- Dcompanies—agriculture, specialty products and material science, A ing (MoU), for setting up a within the next 18 months. A recent report from Domain Name Wire re- `1,800-crore petrochemical park vealed that the company recently registered for domain names that include in Kochi, was inked by the Kerala Corteva and Corteva Agri Science. The name has reportedly been in the government and fertiliser major works for several months. Last year, the companies announced that the FACT (Fertiliser and Chemical Tra- headquarters of their new agriculture company will be located in Wilm- vancore Ltd), owned by the Centre. ington, Delaware and will include Global Business Centres in Iowa and It will come up on 481 acres of land Indiana. The agriculture business will have estimated annual sales above owned by FACT, according to the $14 billion. The other two companies will be focused on material sciences State Government. The park was and specialty chemicals. aimed at making Kochi, a hub in Three separate advisory committees featuring Board of Directors mem- petrochemical production chain bers have been established to equip agriculture, materials, and specialty on par with Jurong in Singapore products with their own processes, people, systems, licenses, etc. and industrial complexes in South The intended agriculture company will combine products and ex- Korea. pertise from DuPont Pioneer, DuPont Crop Protection and Dow Agro It was signed in the presence Sciences. It will be headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware—the home of of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi DuPont—with business centers in Johnston, Iowa, and Indianapolis. Vijayan by FACT Chairman and The materials science company will be named Dow, and will be head- Mg Dir SK Lohani and Additional quartered in Midland, Michigan—Dow’s current home. This compa- Chief Secretary (Industries and ny will combine Dow’s Performance Plastics, Performance Materials & Power) Paul Antony, on behalf of Chemicals, Infrastructure Solutions and Consumer Solutions (Consumer the Kerala government. Care and Dow Automotive Systems), as well as DuPont’s current Performance Materials operating segment. The specialty products company will operate off DuPont’s Protection Solutions, Sustainable Solutions, Industrial Biosciences and Nutrition & Health, as well as Electronic Technologies, which combines DuPont’s Electronics & Communications business with Dow’s Electronic Materials business unit. The intended company will be headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 11 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

News & Views News & Views Himadri Speciality mulls investing ₹628 crore for brownfield expansion olkata-based integrated spe- West Bengal has a production ca- Himadri’s advance carbon has Kcialty carbon company, Hi- pacity of 600 tonne a year. “The de- applications in the manufacture madri Speciality Chemical Ltd, is mand for advance carbon has been of lithium-ion batteries which are considering to invest `628 crore for growing at a CAGR of close to 35 used across portable electronic de- brownfield expansion of its carbon per cent; while that for carbon black vices as well as hybrid and elec- black and advance carbon material at 6-7 per cent,” Choudhary stated tric vehicles. The company is also units in West Bengal. According to according to a report in Business in the process of scaling up its coal Anurag Choudhary, CEO, Himadri Line. tar distillation capacity by 25% to 5 Speciality, the details regarding According to Utkarsh Nopany, lakh tonnes a year through debot- the proportion of debt and equity Senior Manager, Credit Analysis & tlenecking of its existing facility at a for the capital expenditure would Research Ltd (CARE Ratings), there cost of `15-20 crore. The company, be finalised within a month. The has been hardly any capacity addi- which is one of the largest coal tar expansion of both the units would tion in the carbon black industry in pitch manufacturers, caters to near- take anywhere between 18 and 24 the last 3-4 years. And, when the ly two third of the demand of the months. demand started picking up in the graphite and aluminium industries The speciality carbon compa- last 1-2 years, the capacity utilisa- in the country. ny’s existing advance carbon plant tion of most companies operating at Falta at South 24 Parganas in in the segment improved. France passes law to ban all oil and gas production by 2040 Reliance Family day 2017 rance’s parliament has approved a law banning all explora- ‘In its first four decades the company Ftion and production of oil and natural gas by 2040 within the has already achieved global and national country and its overseas territories. According to the law, exist- leadership positions’ – Mukesh Ambani ing drilling permits will not be renewed and no new exploration licenses will be granted. eliance Family Day (RFD) event was The French government claims the ban is a world first. Rcelebrated across the country by the However, it is largely symbolic since oil and gas produced in employees and families of RIL and other France accounts for just 1% of domestic consumption. The rest group companies. More than 50,000 people, is imported. Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot says the law comprising employees and their families, at- tended the grand celebrations at the Reliance shows “current generations can take care of future generations.” The ban is part of a larger plan to wean the French economy Corporate Park in Navi Mumbai while an- other 2,00,000 employees and their families from fossil fuels and to fulfil France’s commitments under the Paris climate agreement to curb global warming. joined the celebrations live via video confer- encing in more than 1000 locations across the country including manufacturing sites, retail LG Chem to invest $278 m in petrochemical facilities stores, Jio Points etc. Chairman and Manag- G Chem Ltd., South Korea’s top chemical firm, said that it ing Director Mukesh Ambani exhorted the Lwill invest 300 billion won ($278 million) to expand its pet- rochemical facilities in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. With the investment, the company plans to increase the an- nual production capacities of crude acrylic acid (CAA) and super absorbent polymer (SAP) by 180,000 tons and 100,000 tons, re- spectively. When the expansion is completed by 2019, the chem- ical giant’s annual production capacity of CAA will increase to 700,000 tons and SAP to 500,000 tons. LG Chem expects its an- nual sales to grow by 300 billion won. The global market for SAP is expected to post annual growth of 5 percent, with annual de- mand reaching 6.75 million tons in 2020, from 5.9 million tons in 2017, according to the company. 12 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018



News & Views News & Views young Reliance workforce to take the company to top services, commerce, manufacturing, agriculture, edu- 20 in the world and play even a bigger role in nation cation and healthcare; and Reliance and Jio to be even building in the coming years. a stronger partner to our nation so that India can be- Ambani said that in its first four decades the com- come a global super power. pany has already achieved global and national leader- The Reliance Family Day 2017 marked 40 years of ship positions in its various businesses and therefore RIL as a listed entity and commemorated the 85 birth th well positioned to accomplish even greater goals in its anniversary of its founder chairman Sh. Dhirubhai golden decade. Ambani. Heartfelt homages were paid to Sh. Dhirubhai Ambani articulated his five point dream that he Ambani by his wife Kokilaben Ambani and Amitabh. would like Reliance to achieve: to be among the top 20 Nita Ambani mentioned how Dhirubhai continues to companies in the world; become a leading provider of inspire and guide people at Reliance. She exuded great clean and affordable energy to India; become a leading confidence in the young men and women of Reliance global producer of innovative new materials; Jio to dig- in taking the company to even greater heights. itally transform the nation in entertainment, financial Thyssenkrupp wins R&D award for highly-efficient electrolysis technology hyssenkrupp Industrial So- der to meet the customer’s demand was achieved. To test the new de- Tlutions has won the Jubilant for a new sodium chlorate produc- sign, a pilot cell was installed in test Award in a Research & Develop- tion facility with a capacity three facilities at the customer’s premis- ment Competition organized by times larger than existing plants in es. It was tested using process flu- the Indian Institute of Chemical India, engineering specialists from ids present in the operation. Engineers (IIChE), Kolkata. The thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions The performance of the pilot- award was at the Indian Chemical designed a larger electrochemical scale cell was tested for about a Engineering Congress 2017 (CHEM- cell with an active area of 20m². year. A mathematical model was CON 2017) in Haldia, West Bengal. A doubling of the original cell developed to understand the hy- The award honours the compa- size directed at reducing the num- drodynamics in the cell and to pre- ny’s work in the field of electrolysis ber of cells needed to be installed. dict the cell voltage under different technology, demonstrated at a re- As a result, a consequent saving in operating conditions. Using this da- cently completed sodium chlorate floor space and in civil and mechan- ta a commercial-scale cell was built plant operated by Gujarat Alkalies ical costs, as well as an increase in which received the award. and Chemicals Ltd at Dahej. In or- safety due to the reduction of joints, HPCL’s Rajasthan Refinery at Barmer to be inaugurated PCL Rajasthan Refinery Ltd. (HRRL), a 74-26% (equivalent to Euro 6-quality) fuels from a feedstock Hjoint venture of Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. of both locally produced and Saudi Arabian crudes (HPCL) and the state government of Rajasthan will kick to meet increased demand for petroleum products in off construction activities in mid-January on the JV’s in- Rajasthan as well as other northern Indian states. tegrated refinery and petrochemical complex at Barmer During its first 8 years of operation, the refinery in Rajasthan. A groundbreaking ceremony for the 9 will be designed to process 1.5 million tpy of Rajasthan million-tonne/year refinery was crude from nearby Mangla held recently. fields and 7.5 million tpy of im- Start of construction in 2006 ported Arab Mix crude—con- did not receive official envi- sisting of Arab Light and Arab ronmental clearance to pro- Heavy grades—before switch- ceed from India’s Ministry ing to a full 9 million-tpy feed- of Environment, Forest, and stock slate of Arab Mix begin- Climate Change (MOEFCC) ning in its ninth year of opera- until recently. Once completed, tion. The refinery is scheduled the refinery will be equipped to to start in 2022. produce Bharat Stage 6-grade 14 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

News & Views News & Views Panacea Biotech, Serum Methanol and dimethylether may be allowed as transport fuel Institute to jointly promote ethanol and its gaseous form sel in transportation and LPG, wood, ‘six-in-one’ vaccine globally M— dimethylether (DME) — are kerosene in cooking fuel. It can al- n collaboration with the likely to be notified as transport fuel so replace diesel in Railways, ma- soon, which will help lower fuel costs rine sector, gensets, and power gen- ISerum Institute of India, in India. “The Highways and Shipping eration. Methanol-based reformers Vaccine maker, Panacea Bio- Ministry has already prepared the could be the ideal complement to hy- tec is ready to take its fully draft notification of M15, M100 & DME brid and electric mobility. liquid six-in-one vaccine onto as a transport fuel and is expecting a A methanol locomotive proto- the global stage. clearance from the Law Ministry to be type is being built by the Railways Panacea had signed two notified officially. India has had exten- under a grant by the Department of long-term agreements with sive discussions with Israel, which has Science and Technology and once Serum Institute and its successfully implemented Methanol all the 6,000 diesel engines are con- wholly-owned subsidiary 15 (M15) blending program for tech- verted to methanol (at very minimal Bilthovan Biologicals BV. The nology transfer,” stated NitinGadkari, cost of less than `1 crore an engine), alliance allows Serum to pro- Union Minister of Road Transport and the annual diesel bill can be reduced duce and market the fully liq- Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, by half. As per the plan prepared by uid Whole cell Pertussis (wP) River Development & Ganga Rejuve- NITI Aayog, using Indian high ash and Salk-based Injectable nation, in a statement in LokSabha. coal, stranded gas, and biomass can Polio Vaccine (IPV) based Methanol is a clean burning drop- produce 20 metric ton of methanol Hexavalent vaccine (DtwP- in fuel that can replace petrol and die- annually by 2025. HepB-Hib-IPV) developed and commercialized by Biocon, Sandoz pact for next-gen biosimilars Panacea Biotec, proclaimed to be the first of its kind. iocon has teamed up with Sandoz, a leading player in biosimilars, in order Bto develop, manufacture and commercialise multiple biosimilars in immu- An important constitu- nology and oncology for patients all over the world. ent for the Hexavalent vac- According to the deal, the responsibility for end-to-end development will cine, IPV, will be supplied be shared by both the companies equally. Sandoz will lead commercialisation by Serum to Panacea in bulk, in North America and EU, while Biocon will lead commercialisation in the rest from BBIO, a bioengineering of the world. and pharmaceutical compa- ny registered in Netherlands. Biocon Chairperson and Managing Director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, said: BBIO has the IPV technolo- “This synergistic partnership will enable us to scale up our capabilities for an gy, earlier possessed by on- ‘end-to-end’ play in the global biosimilars space.” ly three other global vaccine Biocon’s push towards biosimilars has yielded good dividends. Recently, manufacturers, including Biocon got a go ahead from the US FDA for its biosimilar Trastuzumab, a first Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, for an Indian biotech company. Biocon was among the earliest pharma com- Rajesh Jain, Managing panies in India to spot the opportunity offered by patent expirations on expen- Director, Panacea said. sive innovator biologic drugs. Panacea’s vaccine is one According to Arun Chandavarkar, CEO and Joint MD, Biocon, this collabo- of its kind, said Jain, as it is ration with Sandoz is expected to strength- easily administrable. It con- en its global biosimilars portfolio compris- tains six important antigens ing biosimilar antibodies, insulin analogs to protect against six dis- and enable us to address the next wave of eases – Diphtheria, Tetanus, global biosimilars opportunities. Pertussis, Hepatitis B, Many Industry Professionals are of the Haemophilus influenza type opinion that this collaboration is an op- B and Polio. portunity for Sandoz to bolster its posi- tion in the biosimilars space and increas- ing patient access to its drugs, in addition to bringing to market its biosimilars. Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 15

News & Views News & Views The Indian Science Praj propagates green supply chain Congress rescheduled ccord 2017 - Sustainability Summit, a thought leadership forum held at he 105 session of the AYashada, Pune recently was an event to commemorate the achievement of th TIndian Science Congress Praj green supply chain initiative. Speaking at the event, chief guest Ravi Pan- which was to be held dur- dit, Chairman & Group CEO of KPIT, said, “I appreciate Praj’s endeavours in ing 3-7 January at Osmania creating a positive change in the environment by use of innovative and digital University in Hyderabad has practices. They have also set an example for other organizations; especially from been rescheduled to March the SME sector.” Ravi Pandit spoke on harnessing Advancements in the Digital 18-22, 2018, to be hosted by Technology, while guest of honor Pankaj Srivastava, Director of British Standards Manipur Central University, Institution (BSI), spoke about Global Best Practices in Green Supply Chain. Imphal. Speaking at the event, Pramod Chaudhari, Chairman of Praj said that, Praj Seven universities came has always endeavoured for sustainable practices and that the propagation of forward to host the Congress green supply chain amongst industry would help uplift the overall quality and including, Manipur, Andhra sustainability standards in the Indian manufacturing and engineering industry. University, and Lovely In addition to complementing University. However, Government of India’s flagship programs Manipur was chosen because such as Make in India, Swachh Bharat, it could produce letters from Zero Defect Zero Effect (ZED), Praj Green the Vice-Chancellor and the Procurement Initiative also contributes Chief Minister, according to combating evils of climate change and to T Parthasarathy, an EC global warming and fulfil India’s com- member from Chemistry mitment to COP 21 UN Climate Change Department of OU. This Conference. is only the second time Accord Sustainability Summit wit- in ISCA’s history that the nessed a gathering of suppliers, industry Congress dates have been peers, SCM professionals and entrepre- postponed. Pramod Chaudhari, Chairman of Praj neurs amongst the audience. Waters and Malvern Panalytical team up to improve polymer characterization aters Corporation announced that it entered into tion technique has historically seen limited pairing Wa co-marketing agreement with Malvern Pana- with advanced online detectors, such as light scatter- lytical to advance the analysis of polymers. By pairing ing, due to limitations in the dispersion characteris- the Waters ACQUITY Advanced Polymer Chroma- tics of these detectors. However, as the advantages of ® ® tography (APC™) System with Malvern Panalytical’s the APC become clearer, both in research and indus- ® OMNISEC REVEAL, R&D scientists can access higher try, manufacturers have been working to reduce dis- ® sensitivity and resolution data, giving them better in- persion within their advanced detector options, whilst sight into their samples without the need for column maintaining the high resolution of the APC separation. calibration. Malvern Panalytical has achieved exactly this with its Currently, analysts seek out innovative techniques OMNISEC REVEAL multi-detector module. Coupling that allow them to better characterize and understand the APC System to the OMNISEC REVEAL offers the their highly complex samples. Combining high effi- ability to calculate absolute molecular weight, intrin- ciency columns with the low overall system disper- sic viscosity and hydrodynamic radius. These parame- sion of Waters’ APC significantly improves resolu- ters can be used to predict polymer behaviours in solu- tion, especially for low molecular weight oligomers. tions/product matrices and to give a more comprehen- Additionally, run times can be up to 5 times faster sive understanding of polymer structure. This speed than with traditional Gel Permeation Chromatography of analysis and easy access to more detailed informa- (GPC), enabling higher sample throughput and more tion provides a quicker pathway to the development of rapid method development. more successful and efficient products. Use of this high speed, high resolution separa- 16 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

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News & Views Axion launches ‘Design for Recycling’ to increase the sustainability of plastic xion, a UK based company that produces a range sible for the deaths of huge numbers of animals includ- Aof recycles plastics unveiled a new initiative ing whales, fish and turtles that swallow or get stran- aimed to increase the sustainability of plastic. The gled in waste plastic. main aim is to improve the plastic packaging value Axion’s head of circular economy, Richard McKinlay chain while also maintaining the stated that, this design will help quality of product. The company clients to understand how their focuses on creating ‘Design for packaging will be treated and Recycling’ of plastic packaging, how this is impacted by the de- which as a result can contribute sign of the pack. He also add- to the reduction of the impact on ed that, by identifying the char- the world’s oceans. acteristics that reduce the prod- This attempt is significant as uct’s value, an alternative meth- attention is given to the incor- od could be suggested that could rect disposal of plastic into the more readily be recycled. world’s oceans which is respon- Construction of OCP-KRIBHCO joint Oil discoveries scarce, says report venture fertiliser plant to start soon xplorers in 2017 discovered the least amount of oil since at least he construction of Moroccan fertil- Ethe 1940s, according to Rystad Energy, an oil and gas consul- Tiser major OCP’s (formerly the Of- tancy. It estimated that less than seven billion barrels of oil equivalent st fice chérifien des phosphates) plant in were found till 21 December, 2017. Andhra Pradesh, in 50:50 joint venture New discoveries have fallen every year since 2014, when over- (JV) with Krishak Bharati Cooperative supply triggered an oil crash that cut its price by more than half. The Ltd (KRIBHCO), is expected to start in plunge forced many upstream oil producers to reduce their spend- the next few months. “The fourth fertil- ing, and helps explain why discoveries are also down. But that’s not iser plant of OCP in JV is coming up in the only reason. Explorers are finding less oil resources per field, India, and would entail an investment according to Rystad. An average offshore discovery held about 100 of USD 230 million,” Morocco’s minister million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in 2017, down from 150 mil- for logistics and transport, Abdelkar lion boe in 2012. Amara said after an interactive session This doesn’t mean we’re running out of crude oil. Major produc- with Confederation of Indian Industry ers including the US have emergency reserves. The Organisation of (CII) members. Petroleum Exporting Countries, a cartel of big producers, has agreed According to Moroccan Ambassador to deal with the oversupply problem by cutting output until the end to India Mohamed Malaki, the project is of 2018. under engineering study and by June- Also, there are usually a few years in between when an oil firm July, work on the plant would begin. The plant at Krishnapatnam is expected to process up to 1.2 million ton of NPK or nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilisers. The NPK grade of fertilisers is con- sidered important for balanced fertilisa- tion of soil and crop nutrition. The venture is seen as the first step in a broader strategic cooperation be- tween both the companies, which could include KRIBHCO investing in a phos- phoric acid unit in Morocco. Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 19

News & Views makes a large discovery and when it’s ready for pro- Talos Energy, and Sierra Oil & Gas. duction. That means we can count on recent discover- If oil discoveries continue trending down, there ies to keep our engines running for some time. There could be oil shortages in about a decade from now, were some major discoveries this year, like the 1 billion Rystad estimates. barrels found off the coast of Mexico by Premier Oil, Coromandel International to buy bio-pesticides Albemarle to launch new Granite™ technology for business of E.I.D. Parry FCC market oromandel International, India’s second largest lbemarle Corporation, a leader in the global spe- Cphosphatic fertiliser player, has signed a term Acialty chemicals industry, recently announced sheet to acquire the bio-pesticides business of E.I.D. that they are launching a new technology for the Fluid Parry together with its wholly owned subsidiary Parry Catalytic Crack- America, Inc, USA through a slump sale. The transac- ing (FCC) cata- tion is valued at `338 crore and additionally includes its lyst market called R&D unit and captive plantations. Granite™. According to A. Vellayan, Executive Chairman, The Granite™ technology platform is based on a Murugappa Group, the transaction is to expand its novel matrix/binder system, which expands the cata- crop protection business with an eye on the organic lyst formulation window and enables refiners to max- movement gathering momentum in recent times and imize their profitability through better bottoms up- consequent need for natural or microbial pest con- grading, improved coke selectivity, and higher zeolite trol solutions gaining traction. He added, “The acqui- stability while achieving targeted product yields. The sition enables the company to gain entry to this seg- first catalyst product lines under the Granite™ tech- ment, provides access to the developed markets of the nology platform are Peak™, Everest™ and Denali™. US and Europe, enhance its presence globally address- The Granite™ technology reinforces Albemarle’s ing multiple crop and consumer segments and provide long-standing leadership in the FCC market and offers integrated pest management solutions”. new options for customers, whether they focus on fuel Sameer Goel, Managing Director, Coromandel or petrochemical production. International stated that, presence of complementary market in both Indian and global markets provides op- BASF and SINOPEC to expand production capac- portunity for both chemical and bio-pesticides to grow. EID Parry’s bio-pesticides business has a manufac- ity of Neopentylglycol in Nanjing, China turing facility in Tamil Nadu and manufactures aza- ASF and SINOPEC will expand the production ca- dirachtin using technology sourced from Trifolio, Bpacity of Neopentylglycol (NPG) at BASF-YPC Co., Germany. Its R&D unit has carried out extensive stud- which is a 50-50 joint venture in Nanjing, China. The ies and have made significant progress on bio-stimu- plant was established in 2015 with an annual capac- lants, microbials and household pesticide segment for ity of 40,000 metric tons. Following the expansion, the domestic and global markets. annual capacity will be doubled to 80,000 metric tons. Parry America, Inc, a 100% subsidiary of E.I.D. This expansion will take effect by in 2020. Parry headquartered in US sources azadirachtin tech- “With this increased capacity, we will support the nical from bio-pesticides business in India, formulates fast-growing customer demand for high-quality NPG and markets the products in North and South America, in China and the Asia Pacific region. The expansion Canada and adjacent markets of US. is also in line with the trend towards environmental- ly friendly powder coatings with low volatile organic compounds, or VOCs,” said Narayan Krishnamohan, Senior Vice President, BASF Intermediates Asia Pacific. NPG is a unique polyalcohol offering superior per- formance in many end-use applications such as pow- der coatings, textiles and construction due to its high chemical and thermal stability. It is mainly used as a building block in polyester resins for coatings, unsatu- 20 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

News & Views CB&I announces joint development agreement with Saudi Aramco B&I has entered into a joint Cdevelopment agreement with Saudi Aramco that includes Chevron Lummus Global (CLG), CB&I’s joint venture with Chevron U.S.A. Inc., for the development, commercialization and marketing of innovative crude- to-chemical technologies. Together, Saudi Aramco, CB&I and CLG will develop a unique inte- gration of advanced technology pro- cesses for the production of high- value petrochemicals from crude oil. From left – Ming Wei Qin (BASF), Bei Hu (BASF), Narayan Krishnamohan (BASF), Yuan GuanGu (Nanjing Chemical Industry Park), Hugues Vanden- Specifically, CB&I’s ethylene crack- mersch (BASF), Jurgen Hoekstra (BASF) er technology and CLG’s hydropro- cessing technologies combined with rated polyester and alkyd resins, lubricants and plasticizers. As the glob- Saudi Aramco’s proprietary Thermal al market leader, BASF has NPG production facilities in Ludwigshafen, Crude to Chemicals (TC2C™) tech- Germany; Freeport, Texas, United States and Jilin, China. nology will provide the platform for this joint development. Roche to acquire U.S. Cancer-drug maker Ignyta for $1.7 billion wiss drugmaker Roche will buy U.S. cancer drug specialist Ig- Snyta Inc for $1.7 billion in an agreed deal to broaden its oncology Albemarle to Sell Polyolefin portfolio, the companies stated on recently. Roche would pay $27 Catalysts and Components per share for Ignyta investors, representing a premium of about 74% Business to Grace to the stock’s closing price on 21 December 2017, according to the st companies. Ignyta was founded in 2011 by University of California, orth Carolina-based Albemarle San Diego researcher Gary Firestein and Jonathan Lim, the former Nhas agreed to sell its polyolefin chief executive officer of Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. catalysts and components business Roche’s purchase comes about five weeks after Bayer signed a to W.R. Grace & Co. The $416 mil- lion deal will break up Albemarle’s $1.55 billion licensing deal for Loxo Oncology Inc.’s larotrectinib, operations in Baton Rouge. Under an experimental medicine similar to Ignyta’s entrectinib. Roche has the current agreement, Albemarle said it will focus on small deals like Ignyta to build up its portfolio. will retain the curatives and organo- The Swiss company, the world’s biggest maker of cancer drugs, is metallics division of its Performance facing a critical transition as its three top-selling medicines lose pat- Catalysts Solutions business. ent protection. Roche said it aims to complete the purchase in the first half of Albemarle stated that the move 2018. will help the company streamline its portfolio while it focuses on strength- ening its battery-grade lithium busi- ness. The company’s CEO also said that Grace is “well-positioned with- in the industry” to drive the poly- olefin catalysts company “to future success.” The sale still has to be ap- proved by regulators but the compa- nies hope to close the sale in the first quarter of 2018. Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 21

News & Views Clariant joins hands with Xuzhou Hai Ding to develop Catofin catalyst and PDH unit in China lariant recently announced an stocks. HGM is a patented metal- Cagreement with Xuzhou Hai oxide material loaded with the cat- Ding Chemical Technology Co. Ltd. alyst that increases the selectivity to develop a custom-built Catofin and yield of Catofin units. To max- catalyst and propane dehydroge- imize the yield of propane to pro- nation (PDH) unit in cooperation with its technology pylene, the process operates at thermodynamically ad- partner CB&I. The project includes the license and vantaged reactor pressure and temperature and utiliz- engineering design of the unit, which is to be built in es a highly selective catalyst. Catofin’s optimized con- Pizhou, Jiangsu Province, China. ditions deliver the highest conversion and selectivity The Xuzhou Hai Ding plant is designed to produce among the technologies proven in the market today. 600,000 tpa of propylene and will be based on Clariant’s Globally, nine Catofin propane dehydrogenation Catofin catalytic dehydrogenation technology. units have been successfully commissioned and con- Catofin is a proven, highly reliable dehydrogena- tinue to reliably produce more than 4,500,000 tons a tion catalyst used for the production of olefins, such year of propylene. as propylene or isobutylene, from light paraffin feed- Start-up Company Verdimine licenses green Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories launches generic chemistry process to SUNY version of Alkeran cancer drug in U.S. tart-up Company Verdimine, New York signs an r. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. has launched Mel- Sexclusive license agreement with the Research Foun- Dphalan Hydrochloride for Injection, a therapeutic dation for The State University of New York (SUNY) equivalent generic version of Alkeran (melphalan hy- to employ a proprietary green chemistry process. This drochloride) for Injection in the United States market process reportedly improves safety and efficiency in after approval by the U.S. FDA. Alkeran for Injection is manufacturing specialty chemicals across many indus- indicated for the palliative treatment of patients with tries. The patent on the synthetic pathway, invented by multiple myeloma for whom oral therapy is not appr Jacqueline Bennett, associate professor of chemistry at Dr. Reddy’s melphalan hydrochloride for Injection SUNY Oneonta, covers a process for making imines, is available in a carton containing one single-dose clear a class of chemical compounds frequently used in glass vial of freeze-dried melphalan hydrochloride pharmaceutical, agrochemical, fine chemicals, plastics equivalent to 50 mg melphalan and one 10 mL clear manufacturing and household product industries. glass vial of sterile diluent. Conventional methods of imine production require boiling large quantities of toxic solvents for hours to EKKI Pumps to set up centres of excellence in days. Left-over solvent is later disposed of as hazard- Coimbatore ous waste. Bennett’s process uses a non-toxic, FDA- he EKKI Group, which includes EKKI Pumps & approved food additive, ethyl lactate, as the solvent, TDeccan Pumps Pvt Ltd, is planning to set up three and is said to reduce the time required from hours to a centers of excellence in Coimbatore, South India which few minutes, requires no agitation or purification and would focus on skill development, research & train- little to no heat. According to SUNY Geneseo, the on- ing. The first regional centre will be set up by at the Dr. ly by-product of Bennett’s process is water, and it is Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology inexpensive compared to traditional methods of imine (MCET), Pollachi for MCET & NPT institutions. preparation. “Collaboration with academia and lifelong learn- The Research Foundation for SUNY protects the ing will be a crucial component to help achieve our valuable intellectual property generated at SUNY cam- growth plans,” said Kanishka Arumugam, Director puses and works with and industry and businesses, EKKI Pumps & Deccan Pumps Pvt Ltd. M. Manickam, like Verdimine, to translate research discoveries into Chairman, launched the NIA Skill foundation and commercial products that benefit society and spur eco- said the campus will setup more center of excellences nomic development. at the institute that would work on real time industry projects. 22 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

News & Views Grace continues process Baidyanath Ayurveda to double revenue and foray into US, Europe, offerings to Kuwait Petroleum Middle East markets Company century old Shree Baidyanath Ayurveda Bhawan, the country’s largest . R. Grace & Co., supplier A manufacturer of traditional ayurvedic medicines, is aiming to double Wof polyolefin catalyst tech- its revenue to US$ 300 million over the next three years and has drawn nology and polypropylene (PP) up plans to expand its footprint in global market with focus on USA, UK, process technology, has contracted Germany and Middle East region. to license its Unipol PP Process Global Ayurveda medicine market stands at US$ 8-10 billion and USA Technology to Kuwait Integrated constitutes a big chunk of the global market. It exports hundreds of Ayush Petroleum Industries Company products to USA and is planning to tap the market by wide-reaching dis- (KIPIC) for the integrated petro- tribution channels and different product lines. chemical complex at its Al-Zour Riding on the increasing de- refinery. Expected to open in 2023, mands for herbal products the facility is designed to produce in Europe especially UK and 940 kilotons per year of PP, in- Germany, Baidyanath has drawn cluding high-end homopolymer, up plans to capture both markets. random copolymer and impact Recently Germany which is birthplace of homeopathy drugs has start- copolymer thermoplastic resins. ed registration of alternative medicines including Ayurveda. This has of- KIPIC is a subsidiary of Kuwait fered tremendous opportunity for Indian Ayush companies to get their Petroleum Corporation (KPC), product registered in the country and market them. Baidyanath is looking Kuwait’s national oil compa- to register two Ayurveda products targeting diabetes, rheumatoid arthri- ny. A long-time Grace customer, tis respectively with German FDA. KPC previously licensed Unipol After US and Europe, Middle East is next target of Baidyanath. The PP Process Technology for an af- UAE, one of the prominent markets in Middle East region is set to become filiate’s joint venture. Grace’s the hub forpromoting traditional, complementary and alternative medi- all gas-phase Unipol PP Process cines in the region with the country joining hands with India in principle Technology provides a broad range on several plans. of homopolymers, random copoly- mers and impact copolymers. Seven companies won the FICCI CSR Awards 2017 even companies were awarded the prestigious 16 Gail India Ltd, Tech Mahindra and SRF Ltd were th SFICCI CSR Awards on 30 November in New Delhi the winners in the category of ‘Education, Skill th at the FICCI CSR Summit and Awards. An eminent Development and Livelihood’. Larsen & Toubro jury, chaired by former SEBI Chairman, U. K. Sinha Ltd bagged the award in the ‘Health, Water and determined the top awardees. Sanitisation’ category. National Stock Exchange of India Ltd, Elin Appliances Pvt Ltd and Axis Bank of India bagged hon- ours in ‘Exemplary Innovation’, ‘Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs)’, ‘Women Empowerment’ categories, respectively. Nuvoco Vistas Corp Ltd, Deepak Fertilizers and Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd and Sterlite Technologies Ltd got the ‘Special Jury Commendation’ in ‘Women Empowerment’, ‘Education, Skill Development and Livelihood’ and ‘Health, Water and Sanitisation’ cat- Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 23

News & Views egories, respectively. and driving change through media. The summit al- The theme for the year was “CSR: Investing in so had special talks by TedX speakers on Stories of Generation Next”. Speaking on the occasion, Rajashree Change. An exclusive highlight of the conference was th Birla, Chairperson, FICCI Aditya Birla CSR Centre of the 7 Korea-India CSR Forum. The forum covered Excellence highlighted the need to accelerate rural en- dialogue exchange between Korean Companies and trepreneurship for Generation next. More support and Ministry of Corporate Affairs about ground realities of resources need to be provided. The summit deliber- CSR implementation and showcase of how the Korean ated on Strategies to Educate, Engage and Empower Companies in India are promoting, supporting and le- Gen Next through strategic CSR, entrepreneurship veraging the youth initiatives in India through CSR. Study finds banned chemical in many sports products he Norwegian Environment Directorate recently one fifth of the products that tested positive, the chemi- Ttested a number of different sports products and cals were present at values above the permitted limit. found traces of toxic chemicals, including a banned The chemicals are on the list of 30 priority substanc- substance. According to a report in Chemical Watch, es that Norway intends to eliminate by 2020. SCCP was the study included sports gloves, yoga mats, sandals, already banned in Norway in 2002. SCCPs are typical- wallets and phone covers. In the 44 tested products, the ly used as fire retardants in a number of materials, as group found that 40% contained diethylhexyl phthalate secondary plasticizers or as lubricants in metal work- (DEHP) and short-chain chlorine paraffin (SCCPs). In ing. thyssenkrupp wins Research and Development award AkzoNobel expands organic peroxides hyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions won the Jubilant Award plant in Mexico tin a Research & Development Competition organized by kzoNobel Specialty Chemicals is invest- the Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE), Kolkata, Aing more than €12 million to expand pro- honouring the company’s ground-breaking work in the field duction capacity and upgrade its organic per- of electrolysis technology, demonstrated at a recently com- oxides facility in Mexico. Organic peroxides pleted sodium chlorate plant operated by Gujarat Alkalies and are essential ingredients in the manufacturing Chemicals Limited at Dahej. of a wide range of polymers. Engineering special- The project involves the construction of a ists from thyssenkrupp new facility to make Perkadox CH-50 organ- Industrial Solutions de- ic peroxides, which are sold primarily into the signed a larger electro- thermoset resin market. One of the key growth chemical cell with an ac- segments for this market is ambient tempera- tive area of 20m² to meet ture curing of acrylic resins, which are used in the customer’s demand road marking, resurfacing and roofing appli- for a new sodium chlo- cations. rate production facili- ty with a capacity three times larger than existing plants in India. This showed a doubling of the original cell size direct- ed at reducing the number of cells needed to be installed. As a result, a consequent saving in floor space and in civil and me- chanical costs as well as an increase in safety due to reduction of joints was achieved. P. Samudra, CEO and MD of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (India) said, “This challenging project motivated our team to develop an outstanding solution based on our ex- pertise in chemical and mechanical engineering as well as in electrochemistry. Our efforts are complemented by our group R&D experts, and our tie-ups with top R&D institutes, re- search centres and laboratories in India and abroad.” 24 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

News & Views Akzonobel to develop innovation center in Netherlands kzoNobel Specialty Chemi- nicipality of Deventer and is be- tion and training facilities Acals has signed an agreement ing supported by the Restructuring The center is widely support- which will see its Deventer site in Company Overijssel and the ed by the local and regional busi- the Netherlands transformed into a Province of Overijssel. ness community, educational chemistry and technology innova- Companies, knowledge insti- and knowledge institutions, the tion hub. tutes, entrepreneurs, investors and Association of the Dutch Chemical Set to be positioned as a key students will be able to gain access Industry (VNCI) and the Top Sector European center for the most de- to a working environment which Chemistry public-private alliance. manding chemistry and technolo- includes special research facilities, Currently known as the Deventer gy (chemtech), the Deventer Open such as a unique safety laborato- Open Innovation Centre (DOIC), Innovation Center is backed by a ry, analytical lab, pilot facilities for the final name is expected to be an- seven-year agreement with the mu- scaling up production, and educa- nounced in early 2018. Hanwha Total petrochemical to expand its Archroma joins the United Nations Global polymer production Compact Initiative anwha Total Petrochemical, a 50/50 joint venture rchroma has become a signatory of the United Na- Hbetween Hanwha and Total, will invest to expand Ations Global Compact. The company has joined the its integrated refining and petrochemicals platform world’s leading voluntary corporate social responsibil- located in Daesan, South Korea. The investment will ity initiative. increase the site’s polyethylene capacity by more than As part of its deep-rooted commitment to lead 50% to 1.1 million tons per year by the end of 2019. the way toward making its industry more sustain- This project complements the steam cracker expan- able, Archroma formally pledges to support and pro- sion and flexibilisation project announced earlier this mote the UN Global Compact’s 10 principles in the ar- year, that will notably enable it to process low-cost eas of human rights, labor, the environment and an- propane feedstock. Thus, it will allow the facility to ti-corruption. This is fully aligned with Archroma’s capture margin along the full ethylene-polyethylene Sustainability Policy and Code of Conduct. value chain. In its 4 years of existence, Archroma has already Hanwha Total Petrochemical will use the state-of- made a recognized contribution to its commitment to the-art Advanced Double Loop technology licensed make the industry more sustainable. The company in- by Total and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, troduced several innovations aiming to make textile which will enable the production of a wide range of or paper manufacturing more sustainable, such as its high-end specialty polyethylenes. biomass-based Earth Colors range or non-fluorinated The additional production of polyethylene will Smartrepel water-repellent finish. Archroma also im- ® supply the local South Korean demand and also the plemented advanced, resource-saving manufacturing fast-growing Chinese market. processes at several of its production facilities, such as its zero discharge facility in Pakistan. Asia to receive high volumes of western naphtha sia is set to receive up to 2.0 million tonnes of naph- Atha from the west, the highest amount in two years, putting pressure on light fuel margins that touched 22-month highs in November. High refinery runs and a lack of demand for naphtha as a gasoline blendstock over the winter in Europe and the United States have resulted in unused naphtha. Some 1.9 million to 2.0 million tonnes of naphtha - the key feedstock for petrochemicals such as plastics Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 25

News & Views and polyester - was booked to arrive in Asia in January. ally becomes more readily available in summer. But Asia, being structurally short of naphtha, is an at- they added that naphtha crack levels in the first quar- tractive sales outlet for surplus Western supplies. But ter were unlikely to return to the peak levels seen in the volumes due from the West are way above 2017’s late 2017. average monthly arrivals of 1.2 million tonnes, with Naphtha demand is set to remain strong in light spot premiums around November/December pushing of supportive steam cracking margins, and seasonal to their highest since 2015. maintenance is not expected to constrain steam crack- Some trade and industry sources expect the weak- er run rates until the end of Q1. Weaker LPG prices ness in the naphtha crack to pass as supplies could be could offer some pressure to naphtha cracks, placing soaked up by strong demand, especially due to a lack a ceiling on cracks which means they are unlikely to of cheap liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), used as an al- reach and sustain their early-December crack levels ternative feedstock. LPG, also used for heating, usu- again over the next few months. Clariant presents new insights to consumer care customers in india lariant, a world leader Moisturizing, Hair Care, Cin specialty chemicals, Slimming, Skin Repair, introduced for the first time Anti-aging, Lightening, in India, its nature inspired Oily Skin, Soothing and new Active Ingredients to Uniformization. provide dedicated, custom- BeautyForward is offer- ized support for the highly- ing market insights to stim- specialized needs of the ulate new ideas for formu- Personal Care industry at lations, creative applica- the symposium in Delhi. tions, product design and Clariant also highlighted branding. Clariant’s official the four new trends with its Beau- your home. Eosidin specifically tar- trend guide for personal care inspi- tyForward second edition, which is geting atopic-prone skin conditions ration is based on extensive on-the- expected to impact global Personal triggered by indoor pollution. The ground research into lifestyle, tech- Care with inspirational formula- team also presented Lightening nology, innovation and emerging tions and textures. Active Ingredients - Alpha Melight, cosmetic beauty products. It trans- At the event, the Active HodVital, MadeWhite, that de- lates the global societal and cultural Ingredients team presented crease the melanin content respon- changes into personal care trends, Eosidin™ the first solution for in- sible for skin color and pigment- consumer profiles, and links these door pollution control. Indoor pol- ed spots. Clariant offers an array with Clariant ingredients and for- lution is the accumulation of heavy of products, that can be catego- mulations. metals and other materials inside rized in: Environment Protection, Caywon to adopt Crowd Machine as digital transfor- mation initiative aywon Pharmaceutical Group will become the first Cinternational pharmaceutical company to adopt Crowd Machine as the key enabling technology to power its Pharma 4.0 digital transformation initiative. Crowd Machine bridges the communication gap be- tween pharmaceuticals experts and technology, by en- abling these experts to provide their domain knowl- edge through applications easily and efficiently. Crowd Machine provides an app development engine that re- quires no coding. It is also capable of getting blockchain- agnostic decentralized apps and smart contracts to market 26 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

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News & Views up to 45x faster than regular methods. gy will help with this process, enabling the company to Caywon will become one of the first movers in bring remote teams together and standardize process- China to specialize in decentralizing the pharmaceuti- es, systems and information sharing in a secure way. cals development process. Crowd Machine’s technolo- Clariant and Global Bioenergies develop new bio-based cosmetics polymer lariant and Global Bioenergies announced the de- Cvelopment of a new bio-based polymer for cosmetic creams and lotions, which is derived from renewable isobutene. Developed with Global Bioenergies’ sugar-based isobutene, Clariant’s new ingredient is a rheology mod- ifier that influences formulation viscosity and achieves specific sensorial and texturizing properties for creams and lotions. It contains more than 50% renewable car- bon, and consequently meets the ISO 16128:2016 stan- dard for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. The bio-based polymer does not change the proper- ties of an application, offering formulators a direct 1:1 alternative to petroleum-based equivalents. L&T awarded EPCC project of HPLC Vishakhapatnam refinery Torrent Pharma increasing US industan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (HPCL) has let a contract to Lars- presence through acquisition of US Hen & Toubro Ltd. subsidiary L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Company, Bio-Pharm Ltd. (LTHE) to provide engineering, procurement, construction, and commissioning (EPCC) for HPCL’s expansion and modernization of orrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd acquired Vishakhapatnam refinery. The expansion will include the addition Tthe US-based generic pharmaceu- of major processing unit the 8.3 million tones/year capacity refinery. ticals and OTC Company, Bio-Pharm, As part of the contract, LTHE will deliver EPCC services for a Inc. (BPI) leading to the first M&A this year in the domestic pharma sector. BPI crude distillation unit (CDU) and vacuum distillation unit (VDU) was established in 1992 and has a proven that will have a combined nameplate capacity of 9 million tpy. track record in research and develop- This latest contract for HPCL’s Visakh refinery modernization ment and manufacturing of oral solu- project (VRMP) follows the operator’s previous contract award to tions, suspensions and suppositories. LTHE for delivery of EPCC services on a 3.053 million-tpy full-con- “This acquisition is an important version hy- step for increasing Torrent’s presence drocracker in the United States, is consistent with to be added our strategy of dosage form diversifica- as part of tion, and provides us with new capabil- the project. ities including manufacturing and R&D T h e presence in the US,” Torrent Pharma project in- stated in a statement announcing the ac- tends to ex- quisition. pand the BPI’s US FDA registered facility has refinery’s manufacturing capabilities for con- processing trolled substances which can be manu- capacity by 6.7 million tpy to 15 million tpy as well as boost its pro- factured in the US only as per govern- duction of low-sulfur fuels conforming to Euro 4 and Euro 5-quali- ment guidelines. Till date, BPI has 10 ty standards. approved ANDAs (Abbreviated New 28 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

News & Views Drug Application), 10 ANDAs that are under review `5,800 crore, is the flagship company of the `18,300 at the FDA and has an additional 17 products under crore Torrent Group. The company, led by Executive development. Torrent plans further investments to ex- Chairman, Samir Mehta, has been on an aggressive pand the BPI facilities including R&D capabilities. This expansion spree leading to the consolidation in the will increase the number of product filings from BPI. Indian pharma space. Torrent Pharma, having annual revenues of over Clariant starts up new masterbatch production site in Saudi Arabia ecently, Clariant officially open edits new state- novative solutions to its customers,” said Patrick Jany, Rof–the art masterbatch production site in Yanbu, CFO of Clariant. Saudi Arabia. The site is owned by Clariant Master- The new site is constructed on a 38,000 square me- batches Saudi Arabia, a joint venture between Clariant ters property in Yanbu Industrial Zone 2 and will fo- and Rowad, a leading plasticproducts manufacturer in cus on the production of white masterbatches. It is the the Middle East.“As part of its commitment to intensify second manufacturing hub for Clariant Masterbatches growth and increase profitability, Clariant invests in in Saudi Arabia, complementing an existing site in capacity expansions that provide competitive and in- Riyadh. 3 Edition CAPINDIA 2018 to be held on 22 -24 March, in Mumbai th rd nd uresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Commerce & manufacturing capabilities and capacities and aims to SIndustry, presented the details & unveiled a global enhance exports of Indian manufactured products. campaign for the 3 Edition of CAPINDIA 2018, Ashok Basak, Chairman, PLEXCONCIL, mentioned rd which is to be held on 22 -24 March at the Bombay CAPINDIA 2018 to be a very significant show for the nd th Exhibition Centre, Goregaon, Mumbai. It is organised members who target to cross the US$ 8 billion mark jointly by PLEXCONCIL, CHEMEXCIL, CAPEXIL in 2017-18. The 3-day CAPINDIA exhibition will host and SHEFEXIL under the aegis of the Department of 700 manufacturers and exporters, who will showcase Commerce, Government of India (GOI), supported by hundreds of products, including a range of Industrial Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GOI. & Agricultural Raw Materials, Consumer Items, The initiative is a showcase of the country’s world-class Packaging Items, Plastics Processing Machinery and Construction Materials, Mining Products amongst oth- ers. CAPINDIA 2018 will also have participation from all major industries and sectors including Granite, Natural Stone, Marble, Minerals and Ores, Paints, Coating, Glassware, Furniture, Ceramic, Sanitary ware, Cement, Clinkers, Asbestos, Paper, Paper board, Stationary products, book Publishers and Printers. India’s ONGC to buy majority stake in refiner HPCL for $5.78 billion ndia’s biggest explorer Oil and give them the capacity to bear high- in bids for overseas exploration INatural Gas Corporation (ONGC) er risks and create more value for and production assets. India is the has agreed to buy the government’s shareholders. Purchasing a stake in world’s third biggest oil consum- majority stake in state-refiner Hin- India’s third biggest state-owned er, importing about 80 percent of its dustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd refiner would also help ONGC to crude needs. for $5.78 billion. It will pay a premi- diversify its cash flow and reduce The proceeds from the HPCL um of about 14 percent on HPCL’s its vulnerability to changing global stake sale will also help the feder- current market price for the 51.1 crude prices. al government pay for welfare pro- percent stake. It expects to complete India has about a dozen state- grams. Asia’s third-largest econo- the transaction by end-January. owned oil and gas companies, with my has said it aims to raise 725 bil- The deal is part of the govern- significant overlaps in operations. lion rupees through the sale of gov- ment’s objective to combine var- Alone they do not have the finan- ernment stakes in various compa- ious public sector enterprises to cial clout to rival global oil majors nies. Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 29

Flashback 2017 FLASHBACK 2017 Time flies. 2017 has given way to 2018. Everyone looks to any new year full of hopes and op- timism. Happenings there were aplenty in 2017. But nothing great. Nothing earthshaking. Industry has not got out of the slow down in India though globally in the West, in the US, North Europe, Japan and few other countries economic growth has improved. However, statistically India’s GDP growth at around 7% is still considered admirable in various announcements and pro- nouncements. What matters finally is the ground reality. Private investment continues to be sluggish, wary, afraid to take the plunge. Many reasons are cited. Whatever it be unless private investment in manufacturing starts happening in a big way, it will be difficult to address the many challenges India is facing in creating manufacturing capacity in crucial areas of chemi- cals required to satisfy domestic demand and reduce import dependency. This is also required to address the challenges on the unemployment front. Long term everyone agrees the prospects will be good. But short term is what matters more. Manufacturing and agricultural growth have to accelerate in a country of 1.3 billion people - due to the innate potential of demand in just about any sector. Lets hope this happens in 2018. Before 2018 gets cracking, a retrospective of the important happenings of the year that went by would probably provide fodder for developing plans and actions meet the emerging chal- lenges of 2018. So lets rewind to 2017 and take a relook at the snapshots of some selected happenings during 2017. 30 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

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Flashback 2017 Saltigo celebrates 50 years of its Central Organics Pilot Plant Saltigo GmbH, a wholly owned sub- satility alone. In time for this anniversary sidiary of LANXESS celebrated 50 years celebration, work also was completed on of its Central Organics Pilot Plant (ZeTO) the extensive expansion and moderniza- in operation at the Leverkusen site in tion project started in 2015 primarily for Germany. The ZeTO accounts for around two new multi-purpose production lines one-fifth of Saltigo’s total capacity and at ZeTO and the construction of a tank holds a unique position based on its ver- container storage facility. Russia launches giant $27 billion Clariant launches 3D printing business LNG project in the Arctic Clariant announced its new dedicated 3D Russia has launched a $27 bil- Printing business to meet the demand of the fast- lion liquefied natural gas plant changing Additive Manufacturing market for in the snow-covered plains of the premium and customized 3D printer filaments. Siberian Arctic as Russia hopes Additive Manufacturing (AM) is growing at a to surpass Qatar to become the rapid pace globally, with over 28% average an- world’s biggest exporter of the nual growth for each of the last 7 years, and generating a total of $6.063 chilled fuel. billion in sales in 2016 (Wohlers Report 20171). The new Clariant 3D Printing business leverages the company’s numerous years of experience in tailoring polymers for a broad range of end market applications with pigments, additives and masterbatches, to provide high-grade, 3D print- er filaments and specially made solutions. Saudi Aramco and SABIC sign MoU to develop innovative crude oil to chemicals complex Saudi Aramco and SABIC have (COTC) complex in the Kingdom For the project, Russia’s pri- signed a memorandum of under- of Saudi Arabia, which governs vately owned gas producer standing (MoU) to develop a ful- the execution of the Front End Novatek partnered with France’s Total and China’s CNPC. The $27 ly integrated crude oil to chemicals Engineering Design (FEED). billion (23 billion euro) project is The COTC complex is expect- set to start with a production ca- ed to process 400,000 barrels per pacity of 5.5 million tonnes per day of crude oil, which will pro- year and increase it to 16.5 million duce approximately 9 million tons tonnes by the start of 2019. of chemicals and base oils annually and is expected to start operations in 2025. Obituary Dr Kondapuram Vijaya Raghavan Dr Kondapuram Vijaya Raghavan, distinguished He was the INAE Distinguished Professor at IICT scientist, who was the former director of Indian from October 2008. He was a Fellow of the National Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad Academy of Engineering, Indian Institute of and earlier director of Central Leather Research Chemical Engineers (IIChE) and A.P. Academy Institute (CLRI) Chennai passed away recent- of Sciences and a Distinguished Fellow of ly. Dr K V Raghavan (born 1.10.1943) joined University Grants Commission (UGC). He was CSIR in 1964 and served with three national on the Editorial Board of Chemical Industry laboratories, including the directorships of the Digest and has contributed several articles to two mentioned. the journal. 32 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

Flashback 2017 IBM’s New Al tool to predict Organic Reaction Outcomes A new artificial intelligence (AI) tool developed by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) researchers, predicts the products of organic reactions correctly about 80% of the time even without being taught any chemistry rules. It is modelled on the latest language trans- lation systems – like Google’s artificial neural net- Using sunlight to degrade work. In the latest effort, IBM focused on giving their microplastics program more than 50,000 reactions to train on rath- A system developed at KTH er than teaching it chemistry rules. This approach to Royal Institute of Technology in learning organic chemistry centres on trying to find Sweden for breaking down micro- the underlying patterns in reactions and rationaliz- plastics from personal care prod- ing them. ucts will be tested for implemen- tation in homes and wastewater Huntsman and Clariant mutually agree to abandon planned merger of equals treatment plants. Huntsman Corporation and Clariant jointly an- While exposure to sunlight can nounced that they have terminated their proposed degrade plastics into harmless el- merger of equals by mutual agreement. The decision ements, it’s a slow process. In was unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors some cases plastics can take sev- of Huntsman and Clariant. Shareholder opposition re- eral years to decompose. Joydeep sulting in too much uncertainity is the reason for calling off the merger. Dutta, Chairman of the Functional Materials division at KTH, says One-step 3-D printing of catalysts this system will speed up that pro- The U.S. Department of Energy’s lysts for complex chemical reactions cess by making more efficient use Ames Laboratory has developed a in a wide scope of industries. of available visible light and ultra- 3D printing process that creates a The Ames Laboratory meth- violet rays from the sun. chemically active catalytic object in od combines the structure with the a single step. This will help develop chemistry in only one step using in- more efficient ways to produce cata- expensive commercial 3D printers. Tata Chem sells Haldia plant to Indorama for `375 cr UPL to set up `6000 cr agro chemical plant in Dahej The board of Tata Chemicals Ltd has approved the sale of its non-bulk phos- United Phosphorous Ltd (UPL) announced its plans to invest phatic business to IRC Agrochemicals `6,000 crore to set up a plant to manufacture agro-chemicals and in- termediates at Dahej, South Gujarat. for `375 crore. IRC Agrochemicals is a wholly owned subsidiary of The investment by the company the Netherlands-based Indorama is expected to boost business for the Holdings BV. existing chemicals players in the re- The trans- gion and create new employment action will in- opportunities. The company signed volve sale of the a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government fertilizer busi- ness, the as- for the project. sets attached to it as well as AkzoNobel to sell its speciality chemicals business the company’s AkzoNobel India is plan- The business includes the Mahad Haldia plant, Tata Chemicals said. The ning to sell its specialty chem- manufacturing facility for poly- plant produces DAP (Di Ammonium icals business to an affiliate of mer chemistry range of products. Phosphate) and NPK (Nitrogen, the AkzoNobel Group for ` About 80 employees, currently Phosphorous, and Potash) fertilisers, 320 crore. working with the special chemicals sulphuric acid, phosphoric acid, sodi- The transaction is sub- business, will be transferred along um tripolyphosphate crop nutrition. ject to shareholders approval. with the business. Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 33

Flashback 2017 Thyssenkrupp receives contract for caustic soda plant Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (India) has won a con- tract from Kutch Chemicals Limited, the Gujarat-based special- ity chemicals major. The contract is for its grassroots 421 tpd (100% NaOH) membrane cell caustic soda-chlorine facilities in Kutch, Gujarat. Thyssenkrupp will provide engineering servic- es, construction supervision services and supply proprietary equipment for the new facility. Start-up of the plant is scheduled for March 2019. The plant will deploy Thyssenkrupp’s leading membrane cell technology. Glenn Saldanha of Glenmark appointed IPA President Alembic Pharma acquires US based Orit Lab Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), a body of Vadodara based Alembic major domestic pharma firms has appointed Glenn Pharmaceuticals has acquired Saldanha as President for 2017-19. US-based generic drug develop- Saldanha is Chairman & Managing Director of er Orit Laboratories LLC through Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. IPA also appointed its 100 percent subsidiary Alembic Panacea Biotec Joint Managing Pharmaceuticals Inc. Director Rajesh Jain as Vice Based out of New Jersey, Orit Laboratories has sev- President. The IPA, initially en approved and four pending ANDAs, with an 8,600 formed by eight national com- sq ft wide R&D and pilot manufacturing facility. panies in November 1999, has now 20 research-based na- tional pharmaceutical compa- Covestro among the 50 most innovative companies as per nies in its fold. MIT magazine The magazine Technology Review, published by the HPCL aims to boost petchem Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has ranked capacity to 5 million tonnes Covestro as one of the 50 most innovative companies HPCL plans to increase pet- of 2017. A highly sustainable production process earned rochemical production capacity Covestro a place in the global ranking by the German- over the next 5 years to 5 mil- language edition of the research magazine and honours lion tonnes. After the compa- “groundbreaking ideas and pioneering advances.” ny’s annual shareholder meet- Covestro has successfully used plant-based raw materials to produce ing, MK Surana, CMD, HPCL aniline. This results in petroleum savings which is the raw material that said that this increase would has generally been used. involve a significant portion of HPCL’s planned `61,000-crore MCF to invest `1000 crore to set up Reliance signs agreement to sell US expenditure for that period. phosphatic fertiliser plant shale gas asset for $126 million He also added that HPCL’s Mangalore Chemicals & Reliance Industries announced refinery in Barmer, Rajasthan, Fertilizers (MCF), Managing the signing of agreements to di- will be the first integrated re- Director, Suresh Krishnan speaking vest all of its interest in certain up- finery in the country, with both to the media said that the compa- stream assets in north-eastern and an oil refinery and a 2 million ny plans to invest `1,000 crore over central Pennsylvania, USA. The as- tonne petchem production ca- three years to set up a phosphatic pacity built into the design. fertiliser plant to produce 700,000 sets, which are currently operat- ed by Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc., were tonnes of phosphatics a year in sold to BKV Chelsea, LLC, an af- Mangaluru as well as improve its filiate of Kalnin Ventures LLC, for energy efficiency levels. MCF is consideration of $126 million, sub- a subsidiary of Zuari Fertilisers ject to customary closing terms and and Chemicals, an Adventz Group conditions. company. 34 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018



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Flashback 2017 Assam Petrochemicals to invest `1337 India to set up gas trading platform soon, says Pradhan crore to set up second unit India will soon have a natural gas trading platform, which Assam Petrochemicals Ltd (APL) will could lead to market-determined pricing of gas. At the end of the invest close to `1337 crore to set up a sec- India Energy Forum by CERAWeek, Minister for Petroleum and ond unit for the production of methanol Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan said, “We will soon move the and formalin. Cabinet to seek approval for setting up a gas trading platform.” The new plant in Namrup, in Upper Such a platform will be similar to global hubs such as Henry Hub Assam will manufacture 500 tonnes per of the US and National Balancing Point of the UK. day (TPD) methanol and 200 TPD for- Imported natural gas as well as gas produced domestically malin. With this, the overall capacity of will be traded at the hub. This will enable market determination APL will rise to 600 TPD of methanol of the Indian price for natural gas, according to a government of- and 325 TPD of formalin. ficial. Lupin acquires US firm Symbiomix World’s largest combustion R&D centre inaugurated at IIT Madras Lupin has acquired US-based The National Centre for in the presence of Prof. Ashutosh Symbiomix Therapeutics LLC for Combustion Research and Sharma, Secretary, Department of $150 million (around `980 crore), Development (NCCRD) at the Science and Technology recently, including $50 million as upfront Indian Institute of Technology, as per a release by IIT-M. This is and other time-based payments. Madras (IIT-M) was inaugurated by the world’s largest combustion re- Symbiomix is a NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat search centre, it said. company that looks at innovative thera- BASF to acquire Solvay’s global polyamide business for €1.6bn pies for gynaecolog- Germany’s BASF will acquire the global integrated polyamide busi- ical infections with ness of Belgium’s Solvay for €1.6bn “on a cash and debt-free basis”, as serious health con- per a BASF statement. Solvay and sequences. BASF aim to close the transaction in Lupin has been actively under- the third quarter of 2018. taking overseas acquisitions in the The deal will be concluded after last few years which included the customary regulatory approvals have been obtained and the formal con- $880-million purchase of Gavis in sent of a joint venture partner has been received. The partner has already the US in 2015. committed to grant its consent subject to the delivery of definitive docu- ments with BASF. Essar Ports to set up four LNG terminals Essar Ports Ltd is con- Rubber material discovered that could lead to sidering the setting up of scratch proof paint for cars four Liquefied Natural Superlubricity is a term used to describe a motion where Gas (LNG) terminals in friction disappears or very nearly disappears. Now a team joint ventures with other of researchers led by Dr. Elton Santos from the Queen’s companies. The compa- University School of Mathematics and Physics have found ny wants to explore the superlubricity in a few layers of graphene - a concept where business mainly because friction vanishes or very nearly vanishes. This is an excit- it already has LNG car- ing discovery that could be go and customer tie-ups, said Rajiv Agarwal, used in the future to devel- CEO and Managing Director, Essar Ports in- op some pretty cool prod- teracting with the media at the company’s ucts including scratch-proof Vishakapatnam facility. car paint. The discovery On the West coast, Essar Ports has op- could lead to the develop- erational terminals at Hazira and Salaya in ment of a number of prod- Gujarat. On the East coast, it is present at ucts that could make a real Visakhapatnam and Paradip. difference to the world. Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 37

Flashback 2017 US, UK and Swiss scientists win Nobel Prize in Chemistry the Earth. Their effort to record gravitational waves for work on imaging molecules for the first time — a decades-long collaboration in- Three re- volving thousands of scientists around the globe — searchers based has been rewarded with the Nobel Prize in physics. in the U.S., U.K. A Nobel can only go to a maximum of three laure- and Switzerland ates, however, and so this one went to three US-based won the physicists, Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne, and Barry Barish. Nobel Prize in They pioneered Laser Interferometer Gravitational- Chemistry for Wave Observatory (LIGO), the scientific project that developing a made gravitational wave detection possible. cool method of imaging the molecules of life — a technology that the Nobel Medicine Prize for insights into internal biological Nobel committee said allowed scientists to visualize clock goes to three American scientists molecular processes they had never previously seen. Three American scientists have won the Nobel The 9-million-kronor ($1.1 million) prize is shared Prize in physiology or medicine for their discoveries by Jacques Dubochet of the University of Lausanne, of the microscopic Joachim Frank at New York’s Columbia University biological machin- and Richard Henderson of MRC Laboratory of ery that controls the Molecular Biology in Cambridge, Britain. circadian rhythm, or the 24-hour Nobel Physics prize goes to discoverers of gravitational body clock. The waves American trio were recognised by the Nobel commit- In a massive tee for being able to peek inside the ‘body’s biological achievement of hu- clock’ and discover “how plants, animals and humans man ingenuity, sci- adapt their biological rhythm so that it is synchronised entists announced with the Earth’s revolutions.” Through their research in 2016 that they they showed that the particular gene “encodes a pro- had detected grav- tein that accumulates in the cell during the night, and itational waves as is then degraded during the day”. they slid through India’s first completely integrated membrane RIL to add $300-$400 m in operating profit this fiscal manufacturing plant by Ion Exchange (India) by replacing naphtha with ethane inaugurated Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will add $300-$400 million to To be of significant value for the water treatment its operating profit this fiscal by increasing the amount of eth- industry ane used as feedstock in its petrochemical plants. RIL’s reve- Water treatment and environment nue from its petrochemical business stood at Rs 87,623 crore for management company, Ion Exchange FY17. This savings in cost by using cheaper ethane is due to RIL’s (India) Ltd. inaugurated India’s first ethane import project – which involved importing cryogenic state-of-the-art, completely integrated ethane (stored at -90 C), transporting the ethane to India in cus- o and automated reverse osmosis mem- tom-made ships (very large ethane carriers or VLECs). brane manufacturing plant at Verna Industrial Estate, in Goa, India. Manohar Essar to invest $250 million in its UK refinery Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa, inaugu- Essar Oil UK will invest $250 million in its Stanlow refinery, rated the plant. UK. This investment will enable Essar Oil UK raise its annual The plant has been set up with an ob- production to 75 million barrels from the current 68 million bar- jective to provide India’s water treatment rels, increase its basket of crudes, and augment production of industry and global Original Equipment petrochemicals to 10%. Manufacturers (OEMs) a range of quali- The business remains heavily focused on Britain, where it ty reverse osmosis membranes for water generates 85% of its revenue, while the remainder of its prod- and waste water applications. ucts are sold in other parts of Europe. 38 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

Flashback 2017 Petronet LNG to build LNG import Indian Oil to invest `1.8 trillion to expand refineries, new businesses terminal in Sri Lanka Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) will invest `1.8 trillion over the Petronet will build a Liquefied next 5-7 years to expand refining capacity and build new business, Natural Gas (LNG) import termi- said Sanjiv Singh, President at the company’s AGM. nal in Sri Lanka in collaboration Indian Oil is currently undergoing expansion of its Barauni and with Japanese and Lankan compa- Gujarat refineries. “Apart from capacity expansion, a large-size sin- nies. The Sri Lankan government is- gle crude unit will be incorporated in place of several small existing sued a letter of intent to the Indian units for efficient operations. Expansion of Panipat and Paradip refin- government in this regard recently, eries are also under consideration along with various petrochemical Petronet said in a statement. options”, Singh said. AkzoNobel launches world’s most Cabinet okays restructuring of Hindustan Organic Chemicals advanced paint plant The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved AkzoNobel has opened the world’s the restructuring of state-run Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd. most advanced and sustainable paint (HOCL) after it registered continuous losses since 2011-12. Most plant in Ashington, UK. The hi-tech fa- of its plants have been shut down. cility which cost more than Euro100 m The company has two units to build will become the new centre of in Rasayani (Maharashtra) production for Dulux, the UK’s leading and Kochi (Kerala). Both these decorative paint brand. The Ashington units were facing acute losses plant uses a variety of renewable energy owing to shortage in working sources, including photovoltaic cells and capital. a biomass boiler, alongside a highly au- tomated manufacturing process which saves water, waste and energy. India to buy $1 billion of US crude oil Indian researchers produce bio fuel from carbon waste Indian oil companies have started Indian scientists from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the process of procuring crude oil from Delhi, have found a way to convert carbon-rich waste materials the United States, following the visit of into bio-fuel using microbes growing in Prime Minister Modi, to the US in the two diverse climatic conditions. June 2017. Six weeks after the visit, the A team of researchers discovered two first orders for $1 billion of crude were distinctly different species of bacteria placed. from Aravalli marble mines near Alwar Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat and from the high-altitude Pangong Petroleum have already taken delivery of Lake in Ladakh. They also found that the first 2 MMbbl that have been shipped they can combine forces to produce from ports in Texas and Louisiana. bio-diesel from carbon-containing waste materials. The bacterium identified and isolated from the marble rocks in Rajasthan, called Birla Carbon’s Greenfield facility commenc- Serratia sp. ISTD04, is capable of sequestering atmospheric carbon es operations in China dioxide into organic compounds such as lipids. Meanwhile, lipase, Birla Carbon’s Greenfield 1,20,000 which the team isolated from cold-loving bacterium Pseudomonas sp. ISTPL3, can convert these lipids into bio-fuel. metric tonnes carbon black project in Jining, Shandong province, China was Sanjiv Singh appointed as the Chairman recently inaugurated by Dr Santrupt Misra, Chief Executive Officer, Birla of IOC Carbon. The Jining plant, which current- Sanjiv Singh who was earlier Director ly has an installed capacity of 1,20,000 Refineries is the new Chairman of In- metric tonnes will expand to 2,40,000 dian Oil Corporation Ltd, the nation’s metric tonnes in phase 2. largest company. Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 39

Flashback 2017 Indian refiners outperform within Asia Indian refiners are outperforming their competi- year. According to a report by Wood Mackenzie, with tors in South Korea and Thailand as they have ramped units coming online in China and Vietnam, it could up output from new fuel and chemical keep most of Asia well-supplied. India capacities to meet rising domestic de- is likely to be shielded from pressure mand that could further lift their earn- on margins by strong local demand. ings over the next two years. It will also weigh on refining margins Asia is adding net refining capaci- for export-oriented refiners in South ty of 360,000 barrels per day (bpd) this Korea and Thailand. Lyondell Basell to build the world’s largest PO/TBA Eminent scientist, P M Bhargava passes away plant in Texas, USA P M Bhargava, eminent sci- Lyondell Basell announced it will build the entist and founder-director world’s largest propylene oxide (PO) and tertia- of the Centre for Cellular and ry butyl alcohol (TBA) plant in the Houston area, Molecular Biology (CCMB), died Texas, USA. The project is estimated to cost ap- in Hyderabad after a brief ill- proximately $2.4 billion. Once in operation, the ness. He was 89 and is survived plant will produce an anticipated 1 billion pounds by two children. (470,000 metric tons) of PO and 2.2 billion pounds Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, born on February 22, 1928, (1 million metric tons) of TBA annually. was a pioneer in the field of biotechnology in India and among the first persons to use the term “genetic engi- GAIL begins construction of Kochi-Mangaluru pipeline neering”. Bhargava was instrumental in the formation of GAIL India Ltd has begun construction work the Department of Biotechnology in the ‘70s. on its long- delayed Kerala stretch of the Kochi- Kuttanad-Mangaluru- Bengaluru gas pipeline Former ISRO Chairman, UR Rao, the man behind project which had been stalled due to land acqui- India’s 1 satellite no more st sition problems. Eminent space scientist and former Indian Space The project will cost `3,263 crore. “Despite Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman, Udupi the initial hurdle, the Kerala stretch of the proj- Ramachandra Rao, 85, passed away due to age-related ect will gain impetus with commencement of 100 ailments. per cent construction work,” the company said in a statement. The pipeline, which forms part of the Rao is survived by his wife, National Gas Grid, will be completed by December a son and a daughter. Born in 2018. Adamaru area of Karnataka’s Udupi district, Rao was involved IOC, LanzaTech ink pact to build first off in all ISRO missions till date in one capacity or the other. He is gas-to-bioethanol unit credited for contributions to the development of space Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) and technology in India and its extensive application to com- LanzaTech, have signed a deal to build the world’s munications and remote sensing of natural resources. first refinery off gas-to-bioethanol production facil- ity in India at an investment of `350 crore. Meghmani Finechem to invest `400 cr LanzaTech has developed a gas fermentation on expansion projects process to make fuels and chemicals. Instead of Meghmani Finechem Ltd (MFL), owned by Meghmani sugars and yeast, the company uses a biological cat- Organics Ltd, is to invest `400 crore towards expansion alyst to ferment waste gas emissions. LanzaTech’s of existing projects and a new project of hydrogen perox- technology allows refineries to divert waste gas- ide at its facility in Dahej. es from the grid, supporting the transition to fully renewable power, while recycling this carbon into The company plans to meet funding for the projects liquid fuels and petrochemicals. through internal accruals and will commission the plant by June 30, 2019. 40 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

Flashback 2017 Croda International to invest in renewables manufacturing Prof. Yash Pal, eminent physicist dies at 90 Croda International Plc celebrated a milestone Yash Pal, the physicist whose for its new ECO Project. This latest milestone in the interests ranged from cosmic $170 million investment in renewables manufactur- ing will reduce reliance on fossil fuels and the car- rays to the weight of school bags, bon footprint of its new 100% bio-based ECO range passed away in Noida recently. of surfactants. He was 90. Born in Jhang, now in Pakistan, IOC, BPCL, HPCL sign agreement to set up $40bn refinery and brought up in Haryana, Yash IOC, BPCL and HPCL signed an agreement to Pal did his masters in physics jointly set up the world’s largest refinery and petro- from Punjab University and Ph.D from Massachusetts chemical complex at Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra Institute of Technology, US. From explaining science con- at a cost of USD 40 billion. Indian Oil Corp (IOC) will be the lead partner with 50 percent stake while cepts on Doordarshan as part of a TV series in the 1980s to Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat advocating university reform and pushing for visual ele- Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) will take 25 percent stake ments in school books to make learning fun, Yash Pal was each. an iconic figure for over 50 years. Scientists create artificial food from thin air and electricity Ingredients: one serve of carbon Scientists in Finland claim they dients into a coffee-cup-sized bio- dioxide, high voltage. Now wait have successfully created food out reactor and supplying an electric for a few weeks of thin air by using shock, they were able to create a and enjoy a meal of only using electric- powder that is around 50 per cent single-cell protein. ity, CO and a few protein and 25 per cent carbohy- 2 This could be the added microbes. By drates, with the rest being fat and culinary feat of the mixing the ingre- nucleic acid. future. Exxon Mobil and Synthetic Novel bio-based catalyst for butadiene Genomics reports breakthrough production in Algae Biofuel research A three-step process starting from bio- Exxon Mobil and mass-derived sugars and involving a new Synthetic Genomics an- catalyst could lead to greener production nounced a breakthrough in of butadiene, which is a key component joint research into advanced for manufacturing synthetic rubber and bio fuels involving the modi- plastics according to the research group fication of an algae strain. The researchers have been able to more behind the process from the Catalysis than double the algae’s oil content without significantly inhibiting Center for Energy Innovation (CCEI) the strain’s growth. based at the University of Delaware The research team modified an algae strain to enhance the al- (UD), US, and from the University of gae’s oil content from 20% to more than 40%. Minnesota (UM), Minneapolis and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. S N Subrahmanyan takes charge as CEO & MD of Larsen & Toubro Sugars were first converted to furfu- S N Subrahmanyan took charge as ral and then into tetrahydrofuran (THF). CEO and Managing Director of the The team developed a new catalyst called $17-billion engineering and infrastruc- “phospho- ture giant Larsen & Toubro from 1 July st rous all-sili- 2017. He takes over from AM Naik, who ca zeolite” to headed the company for almost two de- convert THF cades. Subrahmanyan joined the con- to butadiene. struction business of L&T in 1984 as a Project Planning Engineer after completing a degree in civil engi- neering and post-graduation in business management. Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 41

Flashback 2017 Shashi Shanker will be new ONGC CMD RIL inaugurates product application centre at Vadodara Shashi Shanker takes over as the next Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) recently inaugurated its ad- Chairman and Managing di- vanced Product Application & Research Centre (PARC) at rector (CMD) of India’s big- Vadodara, Gujarat. The PARC gest oil and gas producer, Oil will aim to create value not & Natural Gas Corporation only for RIL’s polymer busi- Ltd. (ONGC). Earlier he was ness, but also for its custom- Director of technical and oil ers through technical, prod- field services at ONGC. uct upgradations and appli- cation development services. ICT and UAA Felicitate Prof M. M. Sharma Padma Vibhushan Professor M. M. Sharma Turns 80 UAA along with ICT and Indian Padma Sri Prof G. D. Yadav, Vice Chemical Council on 9th June 2017 hosted Chancellor of ICT said MMS is a man with the 80th birthday celebration of Prof. M. Midas touch and missionary zeal, enjoys M. Sharma (MMS) in Mumbai. The gath- the respect of people from industry, aca- ering of admirers and well-wishers whose demia and government circles and oth- lives and careers were influenced by MMS er walks of life, encyclopaedic knowl- greeted him fondly and prayed for his edge on subjects ranging from Science & good health and continued activity. Technology to movies. Obituary Pharma Doyen Desh Bandhu Gupta (1938-2017) Desh Bandhu Gupta, founder and chairman of the second largest pharma company LUPIN in India, and the sixth largest generic company globally, passed away on 26 June th 2017 at the age of 79. One of the pillars of the pharma industry, Gupta founded Lupin, the name of a flower which is known to nourish the land and soil it grows and is tolerant of infertile soils, capable of pioneering change in barren and poor climes. L&T arm ties up with ICT to build AkzoNobel makes double acquisition to enhance its global position in ethanol plants performance coatings L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, AkzoNobel has announced its acquisition of UK-based Flexcrete a wholly-owned subsidiary of Technologies Ltd. and an agreement to acquire Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has signed French manufacturer Disa Technology (Disatech). a Memorandum of Agreement The deals will help enhance AkzoNobel’s leadership (MoA) with the Institute of position in supplying innovative industrial coatings Chemical Technology (ICT) to and aerospace and automotive coatings. build ethanol plants based on fully indigenous technology by ICT. Dr Markus Steilemann takes over as CEO of Covestro The technology is capable of mann, who has been on the board Dr Markus Steilemann, earli- processing a variety of feed stocks er Chief Commercial Officer, was of management since 2015, enjoyed and offers one of the lowest project life costs. appointed as the CEO a long and interna- of Covestro (formerly tional career at Bayer, Bayer Material Science) joining the compa- to succeed Patrick ny in 1999 and Bayer Thomas. Material Science in Dr Markus Steile- 2004. 42 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

Flashback 2017 Reliance Industries commissions ethane project at Dahej Reliance Industries Ltd has com- Reliance is the first company to missioned world’s largest and most globally conceptualise large-scale im- complex ethane project, includ- ports of ethane from North America ing commissioning of its ethane re- as feedstock for its cracker portfolio in ceipt & handling facilities and eth- India. The project involved the seam- ane cracking, at its Dahej facility in less integration of several elements Gujarat in a world record time of across a complex infrastructure val- fewer than three years. ue chain. Praj sets up first integrated bio-refinery for renewable fuels and chemicals Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways inaugurated Praj Industries’ second generation inte- grated biorefinery demonstration plant for renewable fuels and chemicals, near Pune. India’s first integrated biorefinery dem- onstration plant is built on Praj’s proprietary platform technol- ogy - “enfinity’’ for manufacturing ethanol from a variety of ag- ri-wastes. ExxonMobil buys Singapore petchem plant ExxonMobil Corp has reached an Lanxess successfully agreement to buy a refining and pet- completes acquisition of rochemical plant owned by Jurong Chemtura Aromatics (JAC) in Singapore that will boost its output and meet demand in Specialty chemi- Asia. cals company Lanxess The company expects to complete the has successfully com- transaction in the second half of 2017, pleted the acquisi- boosting its aromatics production in Singapore to more than 3.5 MMtpy, includ- tion of U.S. company ing 1.8 MMtpy of paraxylene, a raw material for textiles and bottles. Chemtura which is the largest acquisition for Lanxess. The acquisi- HMEL-Mittal readies $3 billion Coal India to set up methanol plant in WB tion significantly ex- plan for petrochemical unit in Coal India Ltd (CIL) will diversify into coal to pands the company’s Punjab chemicals business and is planning to set up a coal- additives portfolio and HPCL-Mittal Energy based methanol plant in West Bengal. CIL intends makes Lanxess one of Ltd, the joint venture of to diversify into new ‘Coal to Chemicals business’ the world’s leading Hindustan Petroleum and domain by converting the high calorific value, low players in this growth NRI steel tycoon Lakshmi ash thermal coal into chemical. field. In addition to ad- N Mittal, is gearing up to in- Premises of the existing Dankuni Coal Complex ditives, Chemtura’s vest nearly $3 billion in set- in West Bengal, was identified as the location for urethanes and organo- ting up a petrochemicals setting up a coal to methanol complex based on metallics businesses complex at their Bhatinda coal gasification route. will be integrated into refinery in Punjab. The com- the Lanxess portfolio. pany plans to set up a naph- tha cracker with a capacity of up to 1.7 million tonne for producing raw material for making of plastics. Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 43

Flashback 2017 Stahl to acquire BASF leather CMT Britto appointed as RCF CMD chemicals business C M T Britto will hold the ad- Stahl has signed an ditional charge of Chairman and agreement to acquire the Managing Director at Rashtriya leather chemicals business Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd of rival manufacturer BASF. (RCF). Britto is currently Director Stahl intends to take over activities of BASF’s leath- (Technical) at RCF. er chemicals business, including a manufacturing site Britto has worked with RCF since 1980 and has the near Barcelona. This deal will strengthen its competi- opportunity to work and gather valuable operation- tive position and improve sustainability in the leather al experience in a large number of plants operated by chemicals industry. the company. Tata Chemicals inks pact with Welspun Global bags US pipeline order IIT- Gandhinagar Welspun Global Trade LLC, part of the $2.3-bil- Tata Chemicals Ltd (TCL) lion Welspun Group, has bagged an order from has inked a Memorandum of TransCanada Corp to supply line pipes for the Understanding (MoU) with Keystone XL pipeline project. Indian Institute of Technology- Phase four of the Keystone project will link oil producers in Canada Gandhinagar (IITGn) for collabora- and North Dakota with refiners and export terminals on the Gulf Coast. tion on research projects in the field The pipeline will carry tar sands oil from Canada to refineries on the of waste management and sustain- Texas Gulf Coast. ability. The agreement is aimed at enabling the institute and the com- Thomas Walkenhorst appointed as CEO of TÜV SÜD pany to collaborate for adding val- Thomas Walkenhorst takes over ported by the recently appoint- ue to product wastes, management as CEO of the company succeeding ed Chief Operating Officer, Hans of corrosion and overall sustain- Dr Hans-Nicolaus Rindfleisch. The Joachim Machetanz. ability. new company head will be sup- Reliance sells its interest in Gulf Africa Petroleum Shell opens technology hub in Bengaluru Corporation to TOTAL Shell opened its new major technology hub in Bengaluru. Reliance has sold its entire 76% interest held This hub is a 52 acre, custom built technology centre - that by Reliance Exploration & Production DMCC can house up to 1,500 experts, who would collaboratively (REPDMCC) in the Mauritius-incorporated work on worldwide in- Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation (GAPCO) novative energy proj- to Total. REPDMCC is an indirect wholly ects. The Bangalore Shell owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd Technology Centre is one of the three main technol- (RIL) and Total. ogy hubs in Shell’s global Many mega M&A deals to transform chemical network of R&D centres, industry in 2017 with the other two locat- ed in the Netherlands and Record-high M&A activity is set to trans- the USA. form the chemicals industry in 2017. According to A.T. Kearney’s new Chemicals Executive Munters acquires Kevin Enterprises M&A Report, more than $300 billion of chem- Munters Group, a Swedish company in energy efficient icals M&A deals are in the pipeline of which air treatment and climate solutions, announced the acquisi- four pending mega deals represent 75 percent. tion of Mumbai-based Kevin Enterprises. Kevin is a compa- Each of these large deals (Dow-Dupont, Bayer- ny engaged in design, manufacturing, supply and installa- Monsanto, ChemChina-Syngenta, Praxair- tion of mass transfer and separation equipment. The acqui- Linde) is valued between $40-70 billion, two to sition of Kevin is in line with Munters strategy to strength- three times larger than any single deal seen in en its footprint in emerging markets and at the same time se- the past 10 years. cure a world leading product suite for the process industry. 44 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 45

Flashback 2017 New catalyst produces carbon neutral fuel Deepak Fertilisers starts production of NPK fertilisers Australian scientists have paved the way for carbon at new Taloja plant neutral fuel with the development of a new efficient cat- Pune-based Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals alyst that converts carbon dioxide (CO ) from the air in- Corporation Ltd (DFPCL) has begun commercial 2 to synthetic natural gas in a ‘clean’ process using solar production of NPK fertilizers at its new Rs 800 crore energy. plant in Taloja, Maharashtra. It has a provision of Undertaken by University of Adelaide in manufacturing multiple collabo¬ration with Commonwealth Scientific and grades of fertilisers. This Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the research is the only fertiliser plant could make viable a process that has enormous poten- in India that has one-of- tial to replace fossil fuels and continue to use existing its kind fully automated carbon-based fuel technologies without increasing at- bagging facility. mospheric CO . 2 Chemplast Sanmar to invest `425 crore in expansion AkzoNobel to use 100% Chemplast Sanmar Ltd, the flagship of the Chennai-based diversified Sanmar renewable energy by 2050 Group, has announced a `425-crore expansion-cum-diversification plan. AkzoNobel has commit- The company has taken up two new projects. It plans to diversify into man- ted to accelerating its sus- ufacture of hydrogen peroxide. It will also set up a unit for production of chlo- tainability agenda by an- rinated PVC (CPVC) through a joint venture with a French company. nouncing a new ambitious plan to use 100% renew- Gail, HPCL ink MoU for petrochemicals complex in AP able energy and become Hindustan Petroleum Corporation up a greenfield, standalone pet- carbon neutral by 2050. Ltd (HPCL), Gail India Ltd and govern- rochemical complex in Andhra The company is among the ment of Andhra Pradesh have signed a Pradesh (AP). The proposed com- global leaders in sustain- memoran- plex will come in 2000 acres of ability for more than a de- dum of un- GMR’s Kakinada SEZ. It is ex- cade. AkzoNobel’s share derstand- pected to involve an investment of of renewable energy cur- ing (MoU) `40,000 crore. rently stands at 40%, with for setting almost half the compa- ny’s sites around the world Clariant appoints Adnan Ahmad as Regional President - India having improved their en- Clariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, announced the appointment ergy footprint in 2016. of Adnan Ahmad as Region President, India. He succeeded Deepak Parikh who has been instrumental in implementing and leading OPaL’s largest petrochemical Clariant’s growth strategy in India for the past 4 years. plant in the country, inaugu- Adnan Ahmad assumes the role of Region President for rated Clariant in India and also the Vice-Chairman & Managing Prime Minister, Director of Clariant Chemicals (India) Ltd. Adnan has over Narendra Modi inaugu- 32 years of industry experience across sectors and conti- rated ONGC Petro addi- nents. tions Ltd (OPaL)’s largest petrochemical plant in the MRF plans to set up `4,500-cr manufacturing plant in Gujarat country at Dahej Special Tyre major MRF Ltd will invest around `4,500 crore in a phased manner Economic Zone (SEZ). Close to `30,000 crore have over a period of ten years to set up a manufacturing unit in Gujarat. The company has signed a memo- been invested on the OPaL plant. It has a capacity to randum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat produce about 14 lakh government expressing its in-principle intention to set up a new manufacturing facility in the state for tonnes of polymers and 5 lakh tonnes of chemicals manufacturing automotive tyres, tubes, flaps and related products. such as benzene annually. 46 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

Flashback 2017 Corning appoints Amit Bansal as FAI elects K S Raju as chairman and Manoj Mishra as co-chairman Managing Director for India K S Raju has been elected as the chairman and Manoj Mishra as Amit Bansal the co-chairman of the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI). Raju is the is appointed as Chairman of Hyderabad-based Nagarjuna Group and Mishra is the Corning’s new Chairman and Managing Director of state- owned National Fertilizers Managing Director Ltd (NFL). for its operations in The decision was taken India. Bansal will be at the board meeting of FAI. based in Gurugram, This will be the second term Haryana and spear- for K S Raju as Chairman, head the company’s growth and oper- FAI. He was Chairman of FAI ations while contributing to strategic during 2008-2010. planning for Corning in India. K S Raju Manoj Mishra ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions presented Grundfos India unveils its new manufacturing facility in Gujarat sustainability award Global pump manufacturer ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (India) Grundfos A/S, recently unveiled its lat- was awarded the Indo-German Chamber of est manufacturing facility in Dantali, Commerce Sustainability Award for 2017. Gujarat run by its subsidiary Grundfos The award was presented by Dr Martin Ney, Pumps India Pvt. Ltd. This facility will the German Ambassador to India, at the supply stainless steel products, boost- Chamber’s 61 Annual General Meeting at st ers, and box products to India’s west- the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai. ern and northern regions. This new fa- The award required applicant companies cility has been developed based on to summarize their activities in the fields of Grundfos’ designs and specifications and will export stain- business, technology, environmental efforts, less steel components to Grundfos’ global facilities in Europe, procurement policies, Health and Safety, HR Americas and China. practices and CSR initiatives. Andhra Sugars Ltd to use ThyssenKrupp’s membrane cell technology The Andhra Sugars Ltd has giv- equipment to expand the plant’s en ThyssenKrupp an order to ex- production capacity to a total of 600 pand its 436 tons per day mem- tons per day in two phases. brane cell caustic soda facilities The expansion project will in Saggonda, Andhra Pradesh. deploy the latest generation of ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions membrane cell technology from (India) will provide engineering ThyssenKrupp-Uhde Chlorine services and supply proprietary Engineers. First 2G bioethanol plant construction started at Bathinda A foundation-stone laying ceremony for setting up meet the 26% of the ethanol blending requirement of the first, second generation (2G) ethanol bio-refinery Punjab. in India was held at Tarkhanwala, Bathinda (Punjab). Another important output of this bio-refinery will Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) is setting be bio-fertilizer. Approximately 30,000 tonnes per an- up the project, with an approximate investment of num will be produced. `600 crore. The Bathinda Bio-refinery will utilise agriculture residues for production of 100 KL per day or 3.20 crore litres per annum of ethanol which may be sufficient to Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 47

Nobel Laureates Yesteryear Nobel Laureates The Nobel Prize symbolises the pinnacle of excellence in scientific achievements in different areas. Nobel Laureates in science have discovered phenomena that were unexplained till then and/or invented what was in many instances not thought possible earlier. They have broken barriers and boundaries pushing the frontiers of science and technology to new paradigms. This series profiles one Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in each issue. The profile not only covers what the scientist won the Nobel for, but also the personal side and interesting interludes in the life of the scientist. Madame Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867 – 1934) The First Lady in Nobel Prize History Veena Patwardhan - Spl. Correspondent magine having to make do till today, she remains the only with primitive lab facilities to person, man or woman, to be hon- Iundertake pioneering research. oured with the Nobel Prize in two Imagine not being fully acknowl- different sciences. In a way, Marie edged for revolutionary scientific Curie’s life shines a light on how work because of the belief that excelling in scientific work was women scientists could only play doubly difficult for women during a supporting role when it came her time, and how her determina- to significant research. Imagine tion to achieve her goals despite being plagued by ill health and formidable barriers, has paved the unbearable fatigue, directly re- way for other women scientists to sulting from the kind of research follow in her footsteps. work engaged in, but carrying on regardless, with an almost ma- Early Life in Poland niacal devotion, not to mention Born Maria Sklodowska in 1867 severe bouts of depression and the strain of dealing in Warsaw, in Russian-occupied Poland, Mme. Curie with scandalous gossip and xenophobia. grew up under the shadow of tyrannies inflicted by Madame Curie took all this and more in her stride, the Russian regime. With university education being and in addition, produced trendsetting scientific work out of bounds for Polish girls under the Russian rule, that took the world by storm. in the beginning, Maria’s father, a teacher of physics and chemistry, sent her and her elder sister Bronya to An outstanding scientist of many firsts, Marie a floating night university that held classes for young Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, women clandestinely in different private residences. the first person to win it twice (1903 in Physics, and 1911 in Chemistry), the first woman to get a Ph.D. in However, the two sisters had set their hearts on France, the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne, and pursuing higher studies in Paris, something their in later years, the first Nobel Laureate whose child too father could ill afford. Maria worked as a governess went on to win a Nobel Prize, her first-born, Irene, for three years to help her father pay for Bronya’s having won it in Chemistry in 1935. Not just that, medical studies in Paris, so Bronya, after starting her 48 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018

Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018 49

Nobel Laureates cally change their personal lives and the course of An outstanding scientist of many firsts, Marie Curie science. was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win it twice (1903 in Physics, and 1911 in A dynamic couple obsessed with research work Chemistry), the first woman to get a Ph.D. in France, Pierre, who had done enough seminal research the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne, and in over the past 15 years to earn him a doctorate, was later years, the first Nobel Laureate whose child too stagnating at the bottom of the academic ladder. went on to win a Nobel Prize, her first-born, Irene, Marie motivated him to complete writing his re- having won it in Chemistry in 1935. Not just that, till search paper on magnetism and in March 1895, he today, she remains the only person, man or woman, was awarded the doctorate degree and also offered to be honoured with the Nobel Prize in two different a professorship at the municipal trade school with a sciences. slightly higher salary. In July that year, Marie and Pierre were married practice, could then help pay for her own educational in a simple civil ceremony. When a family member costs there. offered to buy her a wedding dress, Marie requested that it be “practical and dark” so she could “put it on University education in Paris afterwards to go to the laboratory”. The couple used the money they were gifted at their wedding to buy When Maria finally went to Paris in 1891, she was bicycles for themselves and spent the summer cycling 24. She took on the French name Marie, enrolled at through the countryside. In the years that followed, the Sorbonne, and notwithstanding limited resources, got her Master’s degree in physics in two years, and they continued to go on long cycle rides whenever they wanted to relax. a year later, a second degree in mathematics. Some French scientists, impressed by Marie’s aptitude for Ground-breaking discoveries learning and research, helped her complete the sec- ond degree by getting her a scholarship meant for an On completing her research on the magnetic prop- outstanding Polish student. erties of steel, though Pierre and she were barely man- aging to make ends meet, Marie used part of the pay- While studying for her Master’s in math- ment she received to return the scholarship money ematics, Marie got a job from the Society for the she had received as a university student, although she Encouragement of National Industry for carrying was not required to. She repaid it to help some other out research relating magnetic properties of different deserving Polish student pursue advanced studies. steels to their chemical composition. But, she needed a lab to do the commissioned work. A Polish profes- Choosing to work on the largely ignored Becqu- sor she knew introduced her to his colleague, Pierre erel rays for her thesis, Mme. Curie, like other scien- Curie, who though holding a low- tists, was baffled about the source profile position as laboratory su- of the high-energy radiations pervisor at a municipal industrial emitted by uranium compounds. school, was already well-known She put forward a daring hy- for his pioneering research on pothesis postulating that these magnetism and the precise instru- emissions could be a property ments he had invented for his built into the very structure of work. the atoms of uranium. Till then, the atom was thought to be Pierre was then 34, and still indivisible and nobody had as living with his parents. With yet understood the inner struc- Marie sharing space with him in ture of an atom, or the immense his lab, the relationship between energy it contained. Mme. Curie the two of them transitioned from was also sure a small sample of intellectual affinity and mutual pitchblende she was testing could respect to love. This development contain some undiscovered ele- in the lives of Marie Sklodowska ments. and Pierre Curie would dramati- 50 Chemical Industry Digest. Annual - January 2018