CID June 2018 combined issue

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY DIGEST Price `125/- ISSN-0971-5266 Postal Reg. No. MCN/31/2017-2019 Vol.31.6. June 2018 A N N U A L - J U N E 2018 Sustainability, Environment & Water Management



CHEMICAL INDUSTRY DIGEST Price `125/- ISSN-0971-5266 Postal Reg. No. MCN/31/2017-2019 Vol.31.6. June 2018 A N N U A L - J U N E 2018 Sustainability, Environment & Water Management Sustainability – An Opportunity For The Chemical Industry Neil Hawkins, Chief Sustainability Officer and Corporate Vice President, Environment, Health and Safety, The Dow Chemical Company

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What’s In? CEO’s Round Table ...34 Chemical Industry Digest posed a set of seven questions to CEOs of a few leading companies to know what their understanding of sustainability is and how they are going about their activities towards sustainability. Their views are presented here. Articles Sustainability – An opportunity for the Chemical Hybrid Technologies for Industrial Wastewater Industry ...51 Treatment ...78 - Dr Neil Hawkins, Chief Sustainability Officer & Corporate Vice - Vinay M. Bhandari, Kshama H. Balapure, Tanur Sinha, CSIR- President-Environment, Health & Safety, Dow Chemical Co. National Chemical Laboratory, Pune This article outlines the possibilities and potential, with Dow’s Industrial wastewater treatment is an extremely challenging own examples, on creating a roadmap to attain the goals of sustain- task, especially for refractory pollutants that are difficult to remove/ ability. degrade using conventional methods of treatment. This article elab- orates on hybrid technologies, that are most relevant in such cases, Digital Transformation of the chemical industry as they not only enhance the efficiency of the existing processes, enables sustainable Operations ...56 but also help in reducing the overall cost of treatment. - Peter Reynolds, Contributing Analyst, ARC Advisory Group The author discusses how emerging digital technologies like Al, Wastewater Valorisation ...88 Blockchain, IIoT, data analytics, cloud etc can create a paradigm - Vikram Dhumal, Head of Technology, Geist Research Pvt Ltd. shift in manufacturing efficiencies that will greatly enable sustain- Reviews how wastes can be extracted from effluent and other able operations. waters and utilised. Various valorisation methods are described and the process of how to go about it. Paving the way for a Sustainable Chemical Industry ..63 - Harshad Naik, Managing Director, Huntsman International Biofilter for the deodourization of industrial emissions India Pvt Ltd. – Sustainable & low cost solution for Indian Industry ...91 Product as well as process innovations are the way forward to - A Gangagni Rao, Bharat Gandu, Kranti Kuruti, CSIR-IICT, obtain higher conversion efficiencies, saving resources and utilities. Hyderabad New technologies on the anvil will also enable sustainability. Odour is one of the major problems of industrial emissions and it could range from offensive to noxious. Biological methods are quite Hydrogen Economy is not dead ...66 effective in addressing this problem compared to physico-chemical - Dr N C Datta, Consultant, Modicon Pvt Ltd. techniques as described in the article. Hydrogen ecocomy has been touted for some time as a superior alternative to the hydrocarbon economy we are in today. This article Regular Features covers various production processes, its transportation and storage Chemingineering .. 9 aspects, particularly in terms of the latest advances in these areas. News & Views ... 12 New Developments ... 47 Events ... 103 CHEMICAL INDUSTRY DIGEST Vol.31.6 June 2018 Web: www.chemindigest.com Editor DTP Editorial Advisors Corporate Office Vinoo Mathews Ravindra Babu Dr D Mehta Dr M Sriram Blockdale Media LLP Publishing Executives Circulation & Subscription Prof V V Mahajani Dr Ramesh Hemrajani 518, Crystal Paradise, Dattaji Salvi Marg, Off Veera Desai Road, (Opp Skoda Showroom), Andheri (W), Kenneth Mathews Ravindra Babu K P Mohandas Rao S L Abhyankar Mumbai-400053, India. Sameeta Kambli S M Mokashi Vineet Shroff Tel: 022-26733324/67410758/26734146 David Mathews Office Assistants Dr S U Kulkarni Dr Ramesh Daryapurkar Email: [email protected] Hitesh Bhatia Vishnu Shelar Ravindra Kalawade Price of this copy: Rs 125/- Regional Office: Chennai Annual Subscription: Rs 1,350/- R Padmavijayam, Tel: 044-24515568 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. June 2018 7



CHEMINGINEERING Our columnist, Sahasranaman, looks at various metrics and indi- ces to measure and rank sustainability. Though easy to understand qualitatively, sustainability is too complex to be quantified. But what cannot be quantified cannot be improved. A well-respected index will allow companies to be benchmarked with their peers on their sustainability performance. K Sahasranaman Independent Consultant - Process Engineering, Energy, Utilities and Safety Measuring Sustainability ustainability, as is commonly complex to characterise. But un- and Economics. Under these four understood today, is a fairly less we are able to quantify it, it heads, the tool uses 139 perfor- Srecent addition to the English will remain a meaningless term to mance indicators to quantify the lexicon. It was first used in 1972, be dropped regularly at conferenc- sustainability of a chemical pro- in the context of “our future”, in es and conclaves. A metric for sus- cess. GREENSCOPE allows quan- the book – Blueprint for Survival. tainability will help in develop- titative comparison between pro- In the US, the word was first used ment and incentivisation of sus- cesses that manufacture the same in 1974 to justify a “no growth” tainable practices through compar- product using different raw mate- economy. “Sustainability” made ison and benchmarking. rials, chemical reactions and sepa- its first appearance in a United ration processes and produce dif- Nations document in 1978. After GREENSCOPE ferent by-products. 1978, the term started appearing A clumsy acronym for Under the Efficiency head, the regularly in both technical ar- “Gauging Reaction Effectiveness methodology looks at the con- ticles and policy documents. The for the Environmental version and selectivity of reac- Brundtland Report, published in Sustainability of Chemistries tions involved in the chemical 1987 by the United Nations World with a multi-Objective Process process. Specifically, it address- Commission on Environment and Evaluator”, GREENSCOPE is a es Atom Economy, which is a mea- Development, coined the term methodology for rating and evalu- sure of how much mass from the “sustainable development” and ating the sustainability of a chem- raw materials end up in product. defined it as “development that ical process during its develop- Energy is arguably the most im- meets the needs of the present ment stage. Sponsored by US EPA, portant component of sustainabil- without compromising the ability the methodology has four pillars ity. GREENSCOPE compares the of future generations to meet their – Efficiency, Environment, Energy energy consumption of the process own needs.”Sustainability has be- against the “Best” and “Worst” of the society ranging from > > Though sustainability is easy to understand case scenarios and calculates come fashionable to talk about these days and a cross-section a rating value as a percentage qualitatively, it is a complex and elusive con- politicians to schoolchildren cept when it comes to quantification. What cannot of the ratio (Actual – Worst) / (Best – Worst). Energy target use the word, perhaps without be measured cannot be improved. A universally can be set for a process using giving it much thought. acceptable and respected system of metrics is pinch technology. Economic activity has to be required so that businesses can be benchmarked efficient. It also has to be sus- on the same platform for their sustainability per- On the Environment front, tainable. While efficiency is formance. A metric for sustainability enables us to GREENSCOPE assesses the po- easy to measure and bench- reward and advance it. tential environmental impacts mark, sustainability is far more of emissions from the process Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 9

CHEMINGINEERING under eight categories: human > > GREENSCOPE is a methodology for rating and Sustainability innovation, toxicity by ingestion and der- evaluating the sustainability of a chemical pro- Environmental performance, mal/inhalation routes, aquat- cess during its development stage. GREENSCOPE Safety performance, Product ic toxicity, terrestrial toxici- allows quantitative comparison between process- stewardship, Social responsi- ty, acidification, photochemi- es that manufacture the same product using differ- bility and Value-Chain man- cal oxidation, global warming ent raw materials, chemical reactions and separa- agement. Launched in 2008, and ozone depletion. As in the tion processes and produce different by-products. the index is benchmarked case of energy, percent scores against that of 11 major chem- are calculated for each im- ical companies like BASF, pact category. The criterial under DJSI AkzoNobel, Dow, DuPont etc. Economics include costs and annu- Dow Jones Sustainability Index alised profits. (DJSI) is a respected indepen- CDP GREENSCOPE builds the sus- dent sustainability ranking sys- Earlier known as Carbon tainability model of a chemi- tem and benchmarks the sus- Disclosure Project, CDP is a cal process during its develop- tainability performance of com- London based not-for-profit or- ment and optimisation stage. Such panies based on environmen- ganisation that seeks to monitor a model sets different targets that tal, social and economic perfor- the environmental performance of have to be realised to improve the mance. Launched in 1999, DJSI is world’s principal publicly traded sustainability of the process. based on RobecoSAM’s Corporate companies. This is done through annual surveys to collect informa- Chemie³ Sustainability Assessment method- tion on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Chemie³, an initiative of the ology. Each year over 3400 public- and Water Management. Over the German Chemical Industry ly traded companies are invited to last 16 years CDP has built up a Association (VCI) in partnership participate in this assessment. The very comprehensive database of with two other organisations, us- assessment examines financially self-reported environmental data material factors that impact a com- es 40 indicators to measure sus- in the world. CDP scores compa- tainable development. It is the first pany’s value drivers, such as the nies on their disclosures and puts of its kind in the chemical indus- ability to innovate, attract and re- out ratings in the public domain. try. Launched in 2013, the indi- tain talent and enhance its opera- cators cover economic, environ- tional eco-efficiency. Within each Epilogue industry, companies with a mini- mental and social criteria, rang- Sustainability can mean differ- ing from the competitiveness of the mum total score of 60 and whose ent things to different organisa- chemical industry on global mar- score is within 1% of the top per- tions depending on their stake- kets to greenhouse gas emissions forming company’s score receive holders. Though sustainability is and the percentage of young peo- the RobecoSAM Gold Class award. easy to understand qualitatively, Within the top 15% of each indus- ple who are offered permanent em- it is a complex and elusive concept ployment after an apprenticeship. try, the company that has achieved when it comes to quantification. As many as 17 out of the 40 indica- the largest proportional improve- What cannot be measured cannot tors are dedicated to social criteria, ment in its sustainability perfor- be improved. A universally accept- emphasising this dimension in the mance compared to the previous able and respected system of met- year is named the RobecoSAM sustainability debate. Following rics is required so that businesses the launch of Chemie³, VCI and its Industry Mover. AkzoNobel is the can be benchmarked on the same partners have set the goal of an- current leader on the DJSI. platform for their sustainability choring sustainability as the guid- AIChE performance. A metric for sustain- ing principle for German Chemical Another index to benchmark ability enables us to reward and Industry. Twelve “Sustainability sustainability against peers is the advance it. Guidelines for the Chemical AIChE (American Institute of Readers’ responses may be sent Industry in Germany” provide a Chemical Engineers) Sustainability to [email protected] or roadmap for this. With quantita- Index. Sustainability perfor- [email protected] tive yardsticks like Chemie³, sus- mance is evaluated using 7 key tainability is no longer an abstract metrics – Strategic commitment, concept. 10 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

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News & Views NEWS & VIEWS Bayer closes Monsanto acquisition erman chemical and pharma major Bayer AG an- The shares of Monsanto would no longer be traded Gnounced completion of the $63 billion mega-deal on the New York Stock Exchange, with Bayer now the to acquire US-based biotech major Monsanto to create sole owner of Monsanto Company, it added. the world’s biggest agro-chemical and seed company. Monsanto shareholders are being paid USD 128 per The deal, which was announced in September 2016, share. The deal value is about USD 63 billion taking in- was closed recently after Bayer got all to account Monsanto’s debt outstand- necessary regulatory approvals from ing as of February 28, 2018. various countries including the US According to the condition- and India. al approval from the United States In India, both entities have pres- Department of Justice, the integration ence in production and sale of vege- of Monsanto into Bayer would take table seeds, cotton seeds as well as in place after divestment of certain as- production and sale of non-selective sets to BASF gets completed. herbicides. Tata chemicals exits fertilizer India signs MoU to make lithium-ion batteries business n agreement on first transfer of technology for lithium-ion batter- ata Chemicals said it has com- Aies was signed between the Indian government-run Central Electro Tpleted the sale of its Haldia fer- Chemical Research Institute (CECRI) and RAASI Solar Power Pvt Ltd. tiliser unit in West Bengal and the According to the Science and Technology Ministry statement, this trading business to Netherlands- memorandum of understanding is the first of its kind for the country. based Indorama Holdings BV for The indigenous technology of lithium-ion cells has been developed `872.84 crore. by a group of scientists at the Council for Scientific Industrial Research In a regulatory filing, the com- (CSIR)’s CECRI in Tamil Nadu’s Karaikudi in partnership with CSIR- pany said it has sold the Phosphatic National Physical Laboratory, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research fertiliser business and the trading Institute, Kolkata and CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, business comprising bulk and non- Hyderabad. bulk fertilisers by way of slump Indian manufacturers source lithium-ion batteries from China, Japan sale on a going concern basis to IRC and South Korea among some other countries. Under the MoU, the Raasi Agrochemicals, a wholly-owned Group will set up a subsidiary of Indorama Holdings manufacturing facil- BV. ity in Tamil Nadu’s Tata Chemicals had recently Krishnagiri district, said that its divestment was in line which is located close with its strategic direction to fo- to Bengaluru. cus on speciali- Lithium-ion batter- ty chemical and ies have applications food business- in energy storage sys- es while main- tems and can power taining leader- any electrical applica- ship in inorgan- tion without the need ic chemicals. of physical wires. 12 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

News & Views Indian researchers make artificial leaf that produces fuel and releases oxygen! esearchers at the Indian Institute though several attempts have been Rof Science (IISc) have developed made worldwide to replicate photo- an artificial leaf that absorbs carbon synthesis, Quantum Leaf developed dioxide in the atmosphere to generate at IISc is the most efficient device us- fuel and release oxygen in the process, ing sunlight to convert carbon dioxide simulating the process of photosyn- (CO ) to oxygen. 2 thesis. Explaining the process, Anshu The development is being viewed as a credible can- Pandey, Associate Professor at the Unit, said quantum didate in tackling global warming and climate change dots — semiconducting nano-crystals — made of spe- while keeping the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels cific materials, act as catalyst to convert CO into bicar- 2 in check. bonate form to ‘formate’ (derivative of formic acid) that Biswajit Bhattacharyya, the student at the research may be used as fuel. unit who is the first author of the study, said that al- AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals Dekra launches chemical reaction hazard laboratory to expand facility in Maharashtra nternational expert organization Dekra has announced that it is opening kzoNobel Specialty Chemicals Ia chemical reaction hazard laboratory in the demonstration area of the Awill be expanding capacity and national public inspection and testing service platform – Jinan District, upgrade its organic peroxides facili- Shanghai, China. This latest chemical reaction hazard laboratory adds to ty in Mahad in Maharashtra to meet the firm’s strong global presence with process safety related testing facili- growing demand from customers ties in three continents. in India and the Middle East. The The new Shanghai laboratory expan- expansion of the facility is expected sion covers an area of 100 square meters to be completed by the end of 2018. and will have state-of-the-art laboratory “This expansion will allow us technology and extensive specialist ca- to build on our strong presence in pabilities in chemical process hazard as- numerous organic peroxide mar- sessment and two-phase flow emergen- ket segments, particularly in PVC, cy relief system design for runaway re- acrylics and thermoset resins,” actions. Johan Landfors, member of the ex- Technip FMC receives contracts for fertilizer plants in India ecutive committee responsible for polymer chemicals said. In addi- consortium of Technip FMC and L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering tion to the capacity expansion, a A (LTHE) has been awarded Engineering, Procurement, Construction new waste water management sys- and Commissioning (EPCC) contracts for two state-of-the-art, natural gas tem will also be installed to make based fertilizer complexes in Eastern India. the process environmentally sus- The contractee of the fertilizer plants is Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan tainable. Limited (HURL) — a Joint Venture Company of three Indian Public Sector The company is also investing Companies, IOCL, NTPC and CIL. The two fertilizer plants, located at in a monochloroacetic acid project Barauni in the state of Bihar and in Sindri in the state of Jharkhand, are in a joint arrangement with Atul in each capable of producing 2,200 tonnes per day (TPD) ammonia and Gujarat, due to start production in 3,850 TPD urea. 2019. Both projects are executed on EPCC Lump Sum Turn Key (LSTK) basis and will be car- ried out concurrently. The Consortium, un- der the leadership of Technip FMC, is respon- sible for licensing, basic engineering, detailed engineering, construction and commission- ing of the two complexes within a period of 36 months. Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 13

News & Views AstraZeneca opens another medicines development centre io-pharmaceutical company As- across a range of therapies, including BtraZeneca officially opened its oncological, respiratory and cardio- new Global Medicines Development vascular and metabolic diseases. (GMD) centre here. The unit is one of GMD Bengaluru plays a key role AstraZeneca’s nine GMD centres that supporting 51 of AstraZenecas ma- the company has around the world ture brands which are used by pa- that transforms breakthrough molecules into medicines tients around the world. Last year, the team recruit- and monitors their use and safety. ed scientific experts in the fields of regulatory science, With this opening, India would now play an even clinical, and patient safety, and has grown from 30 to bigger role in AstraZeneca’s global operations. The 70 people. The expansion would see a further increase GMD Bengaluru team would focus on supporting to more than 100 specialists. AstraZeneca’s medicines which covers treatments NGT orders closure of 350 polluting units in Taloja he National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered im- ing very high levels of BOD (Biochemical oxygen de- Tmediate closure of 350 polluting industries in Navi mand) and COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand. In fact, Mumbai’s Taloja MIDC area till further orders. The the BOD and COD levels recorded are over ten times NGT’s principal bench in Delhi also directed the Taloja the permissible limits. MIDC Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) man- A corporator from Panvel had filed a petition with agers to deposit `5 crore as penalty in addition to the NGT last year pointing out the air, water and land pol- `5 crore asked to be deposited lution caused by MIDC units in last month for failing to contain the Taloja belt in Raigad district. pollution of the river. The industries release their ef- Taloja, the most-polluting fluents to the CETP, which pro- CETP in the state, has been cat- cesses it and releases it to the egorised as a non-perform- creek. Leakages in pipelines to ing plant by the Maharashtra the CETP have polluted Kasadi Pollution Control Board and some units also released ef- (MPCB). It has been record- fluents directly into the river. Developer of Kevlar, DuPont researcher passed away SCI awards Perkin harles Shambelan, a DuPont research chemist who played a key role in the Medal to Chemours’ Cdevelopment of Kevlar, the synthetic fiber used in bulletproof vests, died from Barbara Minor heart failure on May 13. Shambelan worked at DuPont from 1957 until 1989, when he retired. he Society of Chem- While Stephanie Kwolek invented Kevlar at DuPont in 1965, Shambelan and Tical Industry (SCI), others at the experimental lab- America Group, an- oratory where he worked made nounces that Barbara the material commercially via- Haviland Minor, cor- ble. Shambelan reportedly took porate fellow at The Kevlar from the test tube stage Chemours Company, and developed large enough has won the 2018 SCI quantities to test its reinforce- Perkin Medal. This ment properties in various honor recognizes her products. Kevlar is best known contributions in the re- for lining bulletproof vests and search and develop- body armor and is credited ment of new refriger- with saving the lives of thou- ants, known as Opteon sands of police officers. refrigerants, to address 14 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

News & Views concerns related to ozone depletion and global warming potential (GWP). Most recently, Minor developed several new low GWP refrigerants based on HFO technology for supermarket, transport and self-contained refrigera- tion and large building air conditioning. Opteon XP40 was designed for retro- fit and new supermarket refrigeration systems to replace R-404A. Thousands of supermarkets globally have already been converted to XP40 since 2013, pro- viding a significant, positive environmental impact, according to SCI. Other refrigerants in commercial use today include XP44 for refrigerated trucks and trailers, XP10 and XP30 for large building chillers and recently commercial- ized XL20 and XL40 for condensing units, ice machines and reach-in coolers and freezers. Barbara Haviland Minor AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals announces 2018 Imagine Chemistry winners inners of the 2018 edition of AkzoNobel Spe- sifying wastewater treatment in industries with com- Wcialty Chemicals’ Imagine Chemistry challenge plex effluents. Fergal Coleman and Alexander Grous were announced. Imagine Chemistry was launched to from UK startup Green Lizard Technologies, working help solve real-life chemistry-related challenges and in partnership with Dixie Chemical, were recognized uncover sustainable business opportunities. The 2018 for their bio-based route to glycidol, which can be used edition generated 150 innovative ideas from startups, in the production of nonionic surfactants. scale-ups, scientists and others. Gaurab Chakrabarti and Sean Hunt from US firm Rahul Dahule and Ranjeet Utikar from Dutch start- Solugen were recognized for their green process to up Water Knight were awarded for their advanced ox- make hydrogen peroxide that has the potential to re- idation reactor technology, which is used for inten- place technology that has remained unchanged since the 1930s. Another US firm, Fero Labs - represent- ed by Berk Birand and Alp Kucukelbir - were awarded for their machine learning software, which can be used to predict quality issues and production bottlenecks and improve key process parameters. Lanxess supports sustainable leather production fter the inclusion of NMP (N- AMethyl-2-pyrrolidone) as an SVHC candidate (Substances of Very High Concern) in 2011, the European Commission issued a restriction on the sale of chemical products con- taining NMP in May of this year and also announced a restriction on the use of NMP in consumer products in the coming fall. Now, many leather manufacturers need to make it trans- parent how they produce leather items without this substance. The specialty Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 15

News & Views chemicals company Lanxess provides the industry with suitable alterna- tives without the need to make any compromises with regard to the quality of the finished leather. Dr. Martin Kleban, HSEQ representative in the Leather business unit at LANXESS: “We extensively removed NMP from the leather chemicals in our product range a long time ago. By developing suitable alternatives, we offer a range of over 30 NMP-free binders for finishing and enable our customers to operate consistently without the use of NMP. We have been offering solutions in accordance with the REACH regulation for ma- ny years.” NMP was traditionally used in industry for the production of polyure- thane coatings as a co-solvent, in order to improve the adhesion and pen- etration of the intermediate layer. AkzoNobel Inaugurates its largest powder coatings plant in China kzoNobel inaugurates its larg- general industrial applications. vanced technology such as the vac- Aest powder coatings plant in Reflecting the sustainable na- uum drum waste water recycling Changzhou, China. It is claimed ture of the powder coatings it pro- system. This helps to achieve full to be one of the largest of its kind duces, the new Changzhou plant recycling of waste water and zero across the globe. will not only supply VOC and sol- waste water emissions. The plant will supply an exten- vent-free products but also uses ad- sive range of Interpon and Resicoat products to meet growing demand for more sustainable coatings solu- tions. Key markets include the au- tomotive, architectural and general industrial sectors. The Changzhou facility will produce almost the complete range, serving customers in the entire Eastern region of the country with products for domestic appliances, architecture, automo- tive, furniture, IT, functional and Toyo awarded petrochemical project in Indonesia oyo Engineering Group (TOYO) was awarded a Toyo Engineering Corporation and Toyo Tconstruction project from PT Chandra Asri Petro- Engineering Korea Limited are in charge of detailed chemical Tbk (CAP), Indonesia’s largest petrochemi- engineering and offshore supply services. PT. Inti cal company. This project involves construction of a Karya Persada Tehnik, TOYO’s Indonesian subsidiary polyethylene production unit of HDPE, LLDPE and is responsible for domestic procurement and construc- mLLDPE with a total capacity of 400,000 tpy at CAP’s tion work, respectively. The plant is scheduled for existing petrochemical complex in Cilegon, Banten, on completion in 2019. the western tip of Java, Indonesia. This is an EPC project following the front end en- gineering design (FEED) contract awarded to Toyo- Korea at the beginning of this year. Toyo’s long-term relationship with CAP and various attractive and ag- gressive proposals under FEED were highly evaluat- ed, leading to the awarding of this project. 16 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

News & Views Janak Mehta appointed as first ever Chairman of Asia Dyestuff Industry Federation anak Mehta, Imm. Past President, represent and promote the interests of JDMAI has been selected as the First dyestuffs and colorant industry in this ever Chairman of Asia Dyestuff Indus- part of the world. try Federation (ADIF) for the next five In his maiden address, Mehta ex- years tenure. pressed his optimism that with the ADIF is an apex body and con- support and co-operation of all the glomerate of dyestuff and pigment stake holders, ADIF would be able to manufacturers of Asian countries perform its activities to the benefits of having a combined production of all concerned to usher better days for about US$ 20-25 Billion. In the pres- the Asian Dyestuff Industry. He ap- ent context of an apparent shift of the pealed to all the members to come to- power-centre of the colorant manu- gether and join all their efforts in this facturing and consumer segments to- direction. wards Asia, ADIF was conceived to Alembic Pharma plans `720-crore capex for India Resurgent Fund invests $125 mn in Archean FY19 Chemical lembic Pharmaceuticals has earmarked a capital ndia Resurgent Fund (IRF), set up by Bain Capital Aexpenditure of `720 crore for this fiscal year to ICredit and Piramal Enterprises, has pumped in complete existing projects and on maintenance. The about `800 crore in Chennai-based Archean Chemical company had spent about `600 crore of capex in the Industries Ltd in a structured credit transaction, Mint last fiscal year (FY18). reported, citing two people aware of the development. “We need `600 odd crore to complete the ex- IRF bought the existing loans of Archean Chemical from isting projects in FY19. We have four projects un- a group of public sector banks, the report added. der execution at present. We are also spending Incorporated in July 2009, Archean Chemical has a `120 crore towards maintenance capex,” Alembic chemical manufacturing plant at Hajipir in Gujarat’s Pharmaceuticals’ Director of Finance and Chief Kutch district. Financial Officer R K Baheti. The plant pro- The company has six formulation and three API duces sulphate manufacturing facilities. It manufactures general of potash, indus- oral solids in Panelav near Vadodara, Gujarat, and trial salt and bro- is in the process of putting up oncology oral solids mine, according and oncology injectable facilities at the same loca- to a recent report tion. The pharma firm has filed 12 ANDAs (abbre- by credit rating viated new drug applications) during the March agency ICRA. quarter, taking the total filings in FY18 to 26. Archean Chemical is part of the Archean Group, The firm had spent `411 crore on research and which was established in 1984 by P B Anandam. The development (R&D) in FY18, about 13 per cent of group has diversified business interests in mining and total sales, and is planning to scale up this invest- minerals, industrial salt, shipping, building materials, ment. The compa- oil and gas services, industrial chemicals and fertiliz- ny’s international ers. formulations busi- ness was relatively flat at `1,200 crore Subscribe to in FY18, where- CHEMICAL INDUSTRY DIGEST as the US business was flat at `920 India’s leading chemical & engineering monthly crore. And be ahead always in the industry Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 17

News & Views Widespread uranium contamination found in India’s groundwater new Duke University-led study fessor of geochemistry and water evaluate human health risks in ar- A has found widespread urani- quality at Duke’s Nicholas School eas of high uranium prevalence,” um contamination in groundwater of the Environment. Vengosh said. “Developing effec- from aquifers in 16 Indian states. The new findings are the first to tive remediation technologies and The main source of the uranium demonstrate the widespread preva- preventive management practices contamination is natural, but hu- lence of uranium in India’s ground- should also be a priority.” man factors such as groundwater- water. “The results of this study The World Health Organization table decline and nitrate pollution strongly suggest there is a need to has set a provisional safe drinking may be exacerbating the problem. revise current water-quality mon- water standard of 30 micrograms Several studies have linked expo- itoring programs in India and re- of uranium per liter, a level that is sure to uranium in drinking water consistent with U.S. Environmental to chronic kidney disease. Protection Agency standards. “Nearly a third of all water wells Despite this, uranium is not yet in- we tested in one state, Rajasthan, cluded in the list of contaminants contained uranium levels that ex- monitored under the Bureau of ceed the World Health Organization Indian Standards’ Drinking Water and U.S. Environmental Protection Specifications. The study was pub- Agency’s safe drinking water stan- lished in Environmental Science & dards,” said Avner Vengosh, a pro- Technology Letters. 4M launches coatings in ONGC Videsh receives first crude cargo from Abu Dhabi Kerala NGC Videsh Ltd has announced the arrival of its first equity cargo ochi based 4M Enterprises Oof Das blend crude oil to New Mangalore. The Das blend crude oil Khas launched a variety of originates from the Lower Zakum (LZ) oilfield in Abu Dhabi. protective coatings in Kerala, The Das blend crude is best positioned in its portfolio of equity crudes with a wide range of applica- to flow to India. It is a grade of crude that is regularly bought by sev- tions in construction, oil refin- eral Indian refiners. ing and marine sectors. 4M Also the shipping dis- Enterprises is a manufacturing tance/voyage time to start-up with units in Kochi the West coast is short and Coimbatore. and can be lifted in a The company is look- wide range of parcel ing at `12-15 crores sales by sizes. 2019-20, said Dhanish George, The OVL-led Managing Director, 4M. There Indian Consortium are also plans to open ‘4M had acquired a 10 per cent participating interest in Lower Zakum Protective Centres’ at major Concession through its Dutch Joint Venture Company — Falcon Oil & towns through which its ex- Gas BV. perts will undertake protective coating jobs. The Indian Consortium led by OVL includes BPRL and IOCL. Other shareholders in the LZ concession are ADNOC (60 per cent), CNPC and JODCO (10 per cent each) and TOTAL and ENI (5 per cent each). This first equity cargo, of approximately 690,000 barrels, was loaded onto the ves- sel MT Wafrah on June 2 was sold by ONGC Videsh for refining to MRPL. This is the first time that Indian oil and gas companies have been given a stake in the development of Abu Dhabi’s hydrocarbon resources. 18 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

News & Views Biological E. bags order for pentavalent vaccine iological E. Ltd. (BE) has bagged an order valued and extend full immunization coverage to at least 90 Bat over `895 crore for supplying its ComBE Five, a percent of all children in the country. 5-in-1 Liquid Pentavalent Vaccine, to the Union Minis- ComBE Five has received World Health try of Health and Family Welfare. Organization’s pre-qualification approval. The vac- The Liquid Pentavalent Vaccine, the Biological cine consists of Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Hib E., was to be inducted in- (Haemophilus Influenza to Government of India’s Type b) and Hepatitis B. Universal Immunization More than 200 million dos- Programme. It would pro- es of the 5-in-1 vaccine from vide a boost to Mission BE had been administered to Indradhanush, an initiative children around the world. to empower the Programme Cyrus Poonawalla honoured by Research body voices concern over cheaper imports of Massachusetts Medical School natural rubber yrus Poonawalla, Founder of Serum Insti- he Indian rubber industry’s over-dependence on import- Ctute of India was conferred with an honor- Ted, cheap natural rubber may be highly unsustainable, ary ‘Doctor of Humane Letters’ degree by the posing serious challenges for its growth and competitiveness, Massachusetts Medical School at Boston. said Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII). There are clear Serum Institute, whose forte so far lay in indications that the industry is losing its momentum and its vaccines for measles, diphtheria, tetanus and contributions to the economy are on the decline in recent whooping cough, has now developed a cure years, a study carried out by the RRII stated. for rabies. Called Rabishield, the potent mono- There are structural changes happening to the indus- clonal antibody was developed by Serum tries of major Institute in partnership with University of natural rub- Massachusetts Medical School. ber exporting “It’s a great honour,” said the 73-year-old countries and patriarch of the Poonawalla group. “What availability of caught their attention was the contribution that cheap rubber me and my institute has made in providing in the interna- vaccine to over 20 million underprivileged chil- tional market dren in the world at the price of a cup of tea.” cannot be tak- Serums currently brewing in the institute in- en for granted. clude “a pneu- Natural rubber has a dominant role in the rubber indus- monia vaccine try, as it constitutes 66 percent of the total amount of rub- that should be ber the industry consumes. In recent years, rubber produc- ready next year tion has been on the decline as a result of growers abstaining and will cost from tapping the trees because of non-remunerative price. `300 per dose Despite declining domestic production, rubber consump- as opposed to tion and the industry continued to grow, albeit at lower rates, its present rate with substantial imports. The longer the decline continues, of `4,000, and the more difficult it will be to reverse the trend because of the a vaccine and perennial nature of the crop, the study said. cure for den- Indian rubber industry is too important for the economy gue”, says to be left to the uncertainties and vagaries of supply issues Poonawalla. in the global market for long. The study, therefore, suggest- ed proactive steps to sustain the domestic rubber production base with adequate public investment are urgently required Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 19

News & Views to ensure sustained domestic supply to the industry. crop for mature rubber under tapping. RRII has suc- In a major relief to farmers who are reeling under cessfully demonstrated the initiative on a small land- stress of low rubber price, another study by the insti- holding in Kerala representing the central traditional tute suggested cultivation of cocoa as a potential inter- rubber growing tract in India. IIT Bombay Climbs 17 Places, Among Top 200 Universities in the World even IITs, the country’s premier Roorkee and Guwahati have found The global rankings remain Sengineering institutes are on the a place in the top 500. dominated by Massachusetts list of the top 500 universities of Other institutes like the Indian Institute Technology (MIT) , the world. The QS World Univer- institute of technology Kanpur Stanford University, Harvard sity Rankings report released on and Indian institute of technology University and California Institute Wednesday night has brought good Kharagpur have jumped 10 and 13 Technology all maintaining their news for the Indian academia. At spots respectively in the latest rank- top 4 spots. MIT has bagged the 162, IIT Bombay has moved up 17 ing. top spot for a record seventh year places since last year’s rankings. straight. Indian Institute of Science, QS world University ranking Bangalore, is at second after IIT are taken out by education analysts Bombay, at ranking 170. IIT Delhi QS Quacquarelli Symonds every which led the list of Indian uni- year. The rankings are evaluated on versities has been displaced by IIT six different metrics, which include Bombay and IISc, Bangalore in the Academic reputation, Employer 2019 QS rankings. reputation, faculty/ student ratio, While IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi Citations per faculty, International are in the top 200 of the elite club of faculty ratio and the International universities in the world, the other student ratio. IITs at Madras, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Allcargo arm Avvashya Logistics to invest `400 cr Russia’s Gazprom Starts Supplying LNG to India to expand warehouse capacity As First Shipment Arrives In Gujarat vvashya CCI Logistics Pvt Ltd., a unit of Mumbai- fter the US, Russia began supplying Liquefied Alisted Allcargo Logistics Ltd., will invest `400 crore ANatural Gas or LNG to India under a long-term by 2022 to expand its warehousing capacity to 10 mil- deal as the world’s fourth-largest buyer of liquefied lion sq ft. natural gas diversifies import basket to meet its vast The expansion will focus on three key areas: energy needs. NG carrier ‘LNG Kano’, carrying a cargo Speciality chemicals, retail associated with e-com- from Russian supplier Gazprom, docked at Petronet merce and auto engineering. Specialty chemicals cur- LNG’s import facility in Gujarat’s Dahej. rently contributes to half of the revenue of the compa- Gazprom sup- ny while auto and retail account for 35 per cent and 15 plied the 3.4 trillion per cent, respectively. British thermal unit Over a period of time, we will probably see chemi- (TBtu) of cargo from cals contributing 40 per cent of our revenues while the Nigeria. The LNG remaining 60 per cent will be split equally between au- cargo was received to and retail. by Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. It will be considered as golden day in India’s energy roadmap, Pradhan told report- ers. “First we renegotiate price of LNG from Qatar, then reworked Australian supplies and now gas from Russia under renegotiated terms have started to flow.” India will import LNG worth an estimated $25 bil- lion over the contract period of 20 years from Russia, 20 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

News & Views “Gazprom price (after being reworked) is very com- long-term import deal. Pradhan said that the starting of petitive,” he added. “Four years ago, we were import- LNG imports from Russia has added a new dimension ing LNG from only Qatar. Today we are getting LNG to the bilateral relations between India and Russia, par- from Australia, US and now Russia,” Pradhan said. ticularly in the oil and gas sector. Russia has emerged Supplies from Russia come within weeks of India as a long-term source for India’s hydrocarbon imports, importing its first ever LNG cargo from the US under a he said. IIT-Kharagpur develops prototype using batteryless sensor nodes to monitor soil health esearchers at Indian Institute of fields can then be used for data an- RTechnology in Kharagpur (IIT- alytics, data visualisation and oth- Kgp) have developed a smart solu- er processes. Other researchers be- tion for farmers based on Internet hind this solution are Arijit Roy and of Things (IoT) to help monitor soil Sudip Misra. They have applied for moisture, soil temperature, nutrient patent for this product. contents and water levels. The institute is still to work out Researchers from its department the cost for this solution that could of computer science and engineer- make farming more productive. “We ing have developed a prototype us- are looking at partnerships with ing batteryless sensor nodes to monitor agricultur- government bodies including the ministry of agricul- al field parameters. This solution can also be used in ture and private sector companies to take this solution other areas like construction, traffic management and to the next stage of commercialisation,” said Misra, a health-care systems. faculty member at the institute. There are two parts to this solution both of which The size of the two devices is about 10 cm by 10 cm do not need any Internet connectivity, allowing the so- — roughly the size of a tiffin box — and is developed lution to work even in the remotest parts of the coun- at the Smart Wireless Applications and Networking try. One part of the device is placed in the field. It us- (SWAN) Lab of the IIT. es sensor nodes and has a processor, a radio unit and The energy constraint keeps wireless-sensor tech- sensors for reading the soil moisture, soil temperature nology out of reach of the masses in India. “We believe and water level in fields. The other portion is hand- that reducing certain essential components in a sensor- held, which tracks or reads the data from the device based system, such as the battery, the net cost of each present on the field. sensor nodes comes down, which in turn makes it more “The handheld device automatically reads the da- affordable to the masses,” Misra said. ta collected by the device on the field when it comes in contact. This data from the handheld device is lat- Using this device, a farmer can digitise his fields er transferred to remote servers,” said Anandarup and follow scientific approaches to farming. Mukherjee, one of the researchers. The data from the Gujarat Borosil plans ₹235-cr brownfield expansion at Bharuch facility orosil looks at the rapid growth said that Gujarat Borosil shared are evaluating various options and Bin the solar glass segment. Ac- the company’s ambitious plans possibilities of source of funding,” cording to a report in Business Line, of brownfield expansions with an added Kheruka. Pradeep Kheruka, Vice-Chairman, investment of `235 crore to double Currently, India imports about the solar glass production capacity 70 percent of its requirement of to 2.4 gw per annum. about 380 tonnes per day. Gujarat “Rather than going for green- Borosil produces about 130 tonnes field expansion, we decided to un- per day, out of which 105 tonnes is dertake brownfield expansion sold domestically, while about 25 which will be done at 60 percent tonnes is exported. The import is of the cost of greenfield expansion. about 275 tonnes per day. We plan to invest `235 crore and Considering the growth of so- Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 21

News & Views lar industry, the solar glass has the highest potential existing modules available in the market. for growth as compared to any other form of glass to- When such modules using bi-facial cells are in- day. Gujarat Borosil has achieved a landmark by mak- stalled on rooftops or on sand, the back of the mod- ing 2-mm fully tempered solar glass in the world. This ule absorbs reflected light, thus, boosting power out- new product enables the production of glass-to-glass put by 30 percent. modules, which are a quantum improvement over the Dhunseri Petrochem to sell 50% stake Sun Pharma rises with R&D and bets on specialty drugs in Egyptian co to Indorama Group uccess is also what Sun Pharmaceuticals seeks with Ilumya a treat- hunseri Petrochem will sell its Sment for psoriasis that the company developed. D50 percent stake in Egyptian “Its (speciality) our new engine of growth, that is why we are in- Indian Polyester Company (EIPET) vesting so in future it becomes a big part of our business’, Dilip to Singapore-based Indorama Group. Shanghvi, MD Sun Pharma said. Dhunseri already sold 50 percent According to a report in The Economic stake in its `4,000 crore Dhunseri Times, Sun Pharma’s will be to build a Petrochem in India. pipeline of patented products for global EIPET was closed two-and-half markets with a focus on improving patient years ago following crash in oil prices outcomes either by targeting unmet med- which distorted fundamentals. It had ical needs or by enhancing patient con- last recorded a turnover of $350 mil- venience through differentiated dosage lion. forms. The Egyptian petrochemical Top drug makers J&J, Novartis, Eli company was making heavy loss- Lilly are ensconced in the drug segment es and had a $197-million debt on the and Sun is expected to be the sixth contender. The two key factors books. The debt was finally settled by that may get Sun Pharma an initial push are the comparative low- Dhunseri at $87 million. With the JV er dosing and a competitive pricing plan. Sun refrained from sharing raising fresh finances, Dhunseri will specific details of its strategy for Ilumya but over the earnings call the get back $62 million. management indicated the launch may be expected in the third quar- Located at Ain Sokhna free trade ter of the year. zone, northwest of the Gulf of Suez, “We expect FY19 to be a critical year for Sun’s specialty initiatives, EIPET has two production lines total- with three key products hitting the market and likely scale-up in a few ling 540,000 tonne per annum capac- others”, wrote Prashant Nair, a research analyst with brokerage firm ity. If the joint venture agreement is Citi, a day after Sun announced its quarterly results in May this year. implemented, the Egyptian company With drugs like Ilumya (dermatology), Yonsa (anti-cancer), Bromsite will restart one production line in the (eyecare), Odomzo (anti-cancer), Seceira (eyecare) spread across four first year. key areas of dermatology, ophthalmology, oncology and central ner- Dhunseri currently owns 77 per vous system that are run as standalone entities. cent stake in EIPET. The rest 23 per- Mylan-Biocon combine get USFDA nod for biosimilar pegfilgrastim cent is owned by its existing JV part- ner Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding he Mylan-Biocon combine have notched up their second biosimi- Company (ECHEM). As per a sepa- Tlar in the US following the regulatory approval given to Fulphila, rate agreement, Dhunseri will pur- Mylan’s biosimilar version of pegfilgrastim, originally sold by Amgen chase ECHEM’s entire 23 per cent under the brandname Neulasta. stake, in tranches, to ensure 50 per- Mylan pipped other competitors in the race cent own- for this drug in the US market, when it received ership in the US Food and Drug Administration’s approv- JV with al for Fulphila, a biosimilar it co-developed with Indorama. Biocon. The product is used to treat fever and other signs of infection in patients treated with chemotherapy in certain types of cancer. 22 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

News & Views Successful ACHEMA 2018 closes in Frankfurt t the most important trade Under the motto “Flexible Ashow for the process indus- Production” numerous exhibi- try, more than 3,700 exhibitors tors showed modular solutions from 55 countries showcased the and intelligent components for latest equipment and innova- the plant of tomorrow. “Biotech tive processes for the chemical, for Chemistry” comprised pro- pharma and food industry. In the cess development and equipment field of classic process technology from the lab to the fermenter that hall, the pump exhibition or in the integrate biotechnological meth- plant engineering section, many ods into the chemical industry. stands were so crowded that visi- “Chemical and Pharma Logistics” tors had to take some time to pass through the halls. put a spotlight on the advancing integration of the sup- A very visible trend this year: At many stands he ply chain and attracted new target groups that are in- visitors could experience plants and equipment in aug- creasingly not “only” service providers but systemic mented reality with the aid of special goggles or even partners of the process industry. test their aptitude in completely virtual surroundings. The next ACHEMA will take place during 14-18 The three focal topics were very well received. June 2021 in Frankfurt. Rare element to provide better material for high-speed electronics urdue researchers have discov- leave in their place. Despite tellu- this temperature are more practical Pered a new two-dimensional rium’s rarity, the pros of tellurene and cost-effective than other two- material, derived from the rare ele- would make transistors made from dimensional materials that have re- ment tellurium, to make transistors two-dimensional materials easi- quired a vacuum chamber or low that carry a current better through- er to produce on a larger scale. The operation temperature to achieve out a computer chip. researchers detail their findings in similar stability and performance. The discovery adds to a list of Nature Electronics. The larger crystal flakes of tel- extremely thin, two-dimensional Since electronics are typically lurene also mean less barriers be- materials that engineers have tried in use at room temperature, natu- tween flakes to electron movement to use for improving the operation rally stable tellurene transistors at - an issue with the more numerous, speed of a chip’s transistors, which smaller flakes of other two-dimen- then allows information to be pro- sional materials. cessed faster in electronic devices, The researchers anticipate that such as phones and computers, and because tellurene can grow on its defense technologies like infrared own without the help of any other sensors. substance, the material could pos- Other two-dimensional materi- sibly find use in other applications als, such as graphene, black phos- beyond computer chip transistors, phorus and silicene, have lacked such as flexible printed devices that either stability at room tempera- convert mechanical vibrations or ture or the feasible production ap- heat to electricity. proaches required to nanoman- ufacture effective transistors for higher speed devices. Microscopy advance reveals unexpected role for water in energy Tellurene, a two-dimension- storage material al film researchers found in the el- material with atomically thin layers of water holds promise for energy ement tellurium, achieves a stable, A storage technologies, and researchers have now discovered that the sheet-like transistor structure with water is performing a different role than anyone anticipated. The finding faster-moving “carriers” - mean- was possible due to a new atomic force microscopy (AFM) method that ing electrons and the holes they measures the sub-nanoscale deformation rate in the material in response Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 23

News & Views to changes in the material drate and crystalline tung- caused by energy storage. sten oxide - which lacks the The researchers stud- water layers,” says Veronica ied crystalline tungsten ox- Augustyn, an assistant pro- ide dihydrate, which consists fessor of materials science of crystalline tungsten oxide and engineering at NC State layers separated by atomical- and corresponding author of ly thin layers of water. The a paper on the work. “And material is of interest because we found that the water lay- it holds promise for helping ers appear to play a signifi- to store and release energy cant role in how the material quickly and efficiently. However, it has not been clear responds mechanically to energy storage.” what role the water plays in this process. “Specifically, we found that the water layers do two To address this question, researchers from North things,” says Ruocun “John” Wang, a Ph.D. student in Carolina State University, the Oak Ridge National Augustyn’s lab and lead author of the paper. “One, the Laboratory (ORNL) and Texas A&M University used water layers minimize deformation, meaning that the a new methodology. The new technique relies on AFM material expands and contracts less as ions move in to track the expansion and contraction of the material and out of the material when there are water layers. at the atomic scale and in real time as an electronic in- Two, the water layers make the deformation more re- strument called a potentiostat moves charge in and out versible, meaning that the material returns to its origi- of the material. This technique allowed the team to de- nal dimensions more easily.” tect even minor deformations in the material as charge “In practical terms, this means that the material moved through it. with water layers is more efficient at storing charge, “We tested both crystalline tungsten oxide dihy- losing less energy,” Augustyn says. Indian Oil’s Ennore LNG terminal to be commissioned by October he Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s `5,200-crore plies in the region, he said. Tliquified natural gas (LNG) terminal at Ennore is all Referring to ongoing and new projects in Telangana set to go on stream by October this year. and Andhra Pradesh, Bharadwaj said: “Telangana The project, being set up through a joint venture will see an investment of `560 crore, which includes Indian Oil LNG, entails a 5 million tonnes per annum a `500-crore oil terminal at Nalgonda. A sum of `60 LNG plant at Kamarajar Port in Ennore, near Chennai. crore is being invested in augmenting LPG capacity.” The project is expected to play an important role in sup- plying fuel to companies such as Chennai Petroleum In Andhra Pradesh, several projects are being tak- Corporation Limited, MFC and SPIC among others, en up with an outlay of `827 crore. These include a said S Senthil Kumar, Executive Director (Regional `320-crore greenfield terminal near Visakhapatnam Services), IOCL. Another terminal is being set up at Guntakal with an investment of `350 crore. Alongside, a brownfield ter- Interacting with the media here on Thursday, minal at Vijayawada is being augmented with new ca- Subodh Dakwale, ED, IOCL, and Rahul Bharadwaj, pacity with an outlay of `360 crore.” ED, (Head of Telangana and AP Operations), said, “The corporation has taken up a number of projects in South India — Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in par- ticular — which entail significant financial investments over the next 2-3 years.” Bharadwaj said the proposed pipeline from the Paradip refinery to Hyderabad is expected to be com- missioned by 2020, and the land acquisition for the project is at an advanced stage. The `3,000-crore proj- ect will play a significant role in ensuring timely sup- 24 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

News & Views Honeywell Appoints Mike Banach as Regional General Manager of Honeywell UOP India oneywell announced the appointment of Mike Banach as regional Hgeneral manager – Honeywell UOP India. In his new role, Mike will be responsible for spearheading Honeywell UOP business in India to sustain the growth in the region and continue to build upon UOP’s work in developing and licensing process technologies used in refining, petro- chemicals and renewable fuels. With more than 25 years of experience, Mike is an industry veteran who joined Honeywell UOP in 1990 as a development engineer. He brings diversified experience in technical services of field operations and has worked in several countries including India, China and Far East regional service groups. Mike’s vast experience will help UOP to further strength- en its business in India as the country is undergoing a paradigm shift to- wards a clean fuel regime. Banach earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA degree from the University of Chicago. Repsol, Google team up for big Clariant’s Deepak Parikh to join American Chemistry Council data, AI-driven refinery manage- Board of Directors ment lariant, a world leader in specialty chemicals, announced that epsol is working with Google CDeepak Parikh, Clariant’s Region President of North America, has RCloud on a project that will tap on been appointed to the Board of Directors of the American Chemistry big data and artificial intelligence (AI) Council (ACC). Parikh was approved to serve on the Board of Directors to optimize refinery management. during the ACC Annual Meeting in The project will be implemented Colorado Springs (CO), for a term in Repsol’s third largest unit, located from January 1, 2019 until Decem- in the Spanish province of Tarragona. ber 31, 2021. The Tarragona Industrial Complex The American Chemistry processes 9.5 million tons of raw mate- Council represents the diverse rials a year and has the capacity to dis- set of companies that make up till 186,000 barrels of oil a day. the $768 billion enterprise that is Google’s data and analytics prod- the chemistry business in North ucts, professional services consultants, America. The council is committed and its machine learning managed to working on solving some of the service, Google Cloud ML, will help biggest challenges facing our na- Repsol’s developers to build and bring tion and our world by advocating machine learning models to produc- for public policies that support the creation of groundbreaking prod- tion in their refinery environment. ucts to improve lives, protect our environment and enhance the eco- nomic vitality of communities. Parikh joined Clariant’s North American region as Region President and chief executive officer of both Clariant Corporation and Clariant Canada Inc. in July 2017. Parikh, a U.S. citizen, most recently served as Clariant’s Region President for India, Midde East Africa as well as vice chairman and managing director of Clariant Chemicals (India) Limited. During the previous two decades, he worked with Dow Chemical and DuPont in the USA and Asia where he held various global and region- al leadership roles in research and development, commercial and busi- ness development functions. Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 25

News & Views IUPAC Division of Chemistry and the Environment Annual Meeting 2018 in Rome n the weekend 12-13 May 2018, the IUPAC Divi- NACL Industries Limited (Hyderabad). The venue of th Osion VI – Chemistry and the Environment – had the meeting was the FISE building in Rome, where the its annual meeting in Rome, Italy, just before the begin- Italian branch of the International Solid Waste Associa- ning of the SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicol- tion (ISWA) is based. ogy and Chemistry) Europe Conference (Rome, 13-17 The President of Italian ISWA, Dr. Mario Malinconico May 2018), where the Division had organized a special (Research Director of IPCB-CNR), opened the activities session. The meeting was attended by 25 participants on Saturday 13 morning. During the two-day meet- th coming from 18 countries and representing various ing, several important topics were covered: reviews of continents. India was represented by Dr. Bipul Behari on-going projects, brainstorming ideas for new proj- Saha, R&D Director at L.R. Research Laboratories, ects, exploring collaborations with other International organisations, joint-organization of Conferences and Symposia, and planning of the Division ac- tivities for the Centenary of IUPAC which will be celebrated in 2019 (https://iupac.org/100/). These celebrations will culminate in the 47 th IUPAC World Chemistry Congress in Paris (5- 7 July, 2019). th During the meeting, Dr. Saha made a pre- sentation on the “Status of Responsible Care, Sustainability, Green chemistry and Environment in Indian Chemical Industry”. The Directorate of IUPAC Division VI is cur- rently represented by Dr. Rai Kookana (President – CSIRO, Australia), Dr. Hemda Garelick (Vice- President – Middlesex University, United Kingdom) and Dr. Roberto Terzano (Secretary – University of Bari, Italy). Tata Chemicals to acquire Allied Silica for `123 crore ata Chemicals entered into a Business Transfer nologically enabled, differentiated businesses, with TAgreement with Allied Silica Limited to acquire greater customer centricity, by leveraging our core their business of precipitated silica for a consideration strengths. The manufacture of speciality and perfor- of . 123 crores, on a slump sale basis. The deal is expect- mance silicas is one such area. This is in line with our ed to be closed within three months. This acquisition focus to grow our specialty business, along with our is a part of the `295 crore investment approved by the consumer business.’ Board during Feb 2017, towards this specialty business. Precipitated silica is a versatile product with appli- This agreement includes the acquisition of an ex- cations in many industries including rubber, oral care, isting manufacturing site in Tamil Nadu, which will coatings and agrochemicals. The acquisition also offers produce Highly Dispersible Silica (HDS). The special- the possibility to make value added silica in the future ty chemical product represents a down- for applications that demand high per- stream value addition to Tata Chemicals formance. soda ash business, where it ranks among The technology for manufacturing the top manufacturers globally. HDS, for which eight patents have al- Commenting on the move, Mr R ready been filed, has been developed Mukundan, Managing Director, Tata at the Company’s Innovation Centre in Chemicals said, ‘This acquisition is an- Pune. other step in our journey to build tech- 26 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

News & Views Refinery upgradation projects offer a $30-billion opportunity efinery upgradation projects involving investments of TechnipFMC, the global engineering, procurement Rof $30 billion are in the pipeline and expected to and construction, and project management company. be executed by public sector companies in the coming TechnipFMC’s full year revenue for 2017 stood at $15 days, said Bhaskar Patel, Managing Director at Tech- billion. nipFMC India. Patel said, “In India, we have been little bit sheltered “If you add all the investments in the offing from from the global prices because in the last few years, the public sector undertakings alone, it is close to $25-$30 investment in India has been about going from BS IV billion in the onshore. This is inclu- to BS VI. So, while the market was sive of the land acquisition, develop- down globally, there was business ment, shipping and other costs that in India for us. Whereas our global are associated with setting up a re- footprint saw less work, in India we finery. It’s quite a huge investment saw that there was more work com- by the public sector companies,” ing up. So in 2015 and 2016 we saw Patel said in an interview to Business some difficult times, but in 2017 and Line. 2018 onwards we see a lot of activi- Patel heads the Indian subsidiary ties in the market.” Innovations in Textile Technology and Fashion towards Circular Economy mbracing the concept of ‘Circular Economy (CE),’ stressed on the waste generated in the textile world (5 EThe Society of Dyers and Colourists - Education kgs fabric is consumed per person in developing coun- Charity (SDC - EC) in conjunction with Rachana tries like India) and 15% wastage when fabric is made Sansad School of Fashion & Textile Design, organised into garment. He said that sustainability is the key and Innovations in Textile Technology and Fashion towards industries like dyes & chemicals and fashion etc should Circular Economy in June. The textile and fashion minimise waste. industries are global and through online, on demand Dr. Graham Clayton, information, SDC is ensuring these industries can be CEO, SDC UK discussed responsive to change. SDC’s global mission in CE targets optimum reuse of the discarded prod- his speech. He said that for ucts at their lifecycle and reuse waste generated dur- smart solutions, an organisa- ing manufacture of products. In all it comprised 4 tech- tion has to look at its people, nical sessions with panel discussions (23 members) for operations and technology. It the way forward, a technical paper on CE, followed by is only when people use tech- Collezione (the fashion show) presented by Rachana nology for improving oper- Sansad. ations, smart solutions work Dr. Graham Clayton V. R. Sai Ganesh, Chairman, SDC EC welcomed and profitably. paid homage to Dr. Ian Holme who passed away re- Chief Guest Manish Mandhana, CEO, The cently. He was instrumental in starting SDC Mumbai Mandhana Retail Ventures Ltd advocated responsibili- Chapter in India when he was President during 1999- ty for products and processes since manufacturing en- 2000. Dr. Holme was a long serving member and ad- tails risk and hazards to environment. He said that, it vocate of SDC UK and is important to make CSR and socio-environmental as- Professor at the Department pects as DNA of our tradition to run business. Waste of Textile Industries, and effluents are treated at source and disposed into University of Leeds. He is environment and do the business with core values of respected for his work, and taking care of society, world and planet. He concluded the colouration community with a message on the concept of sustainability. would miss him. Felix A K Pinto, Sales Director, South Asia, South Speaking about East Asia & ANZ, X-rite India Private Ltd spoke on Sustainability, Sai Ganesh Circular Economy: Innovations in Design and Supply V. R. Sai Ganesh Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 27

News & Views Chain Management. Discussing the steps taken to created. Database is digitised and stored in the cloud reduce waste, Pinto described the importance of a which helps to reduce space, time, people, resourc- Pantone Colour Card built into a dependent standard es and colour processes approval that are involved and how colour is achievable on different substrates, in life cycle of development process. He added that without the need for sampling. He stressed on the im- a huge amount of waste generated due to sampling, portance of Industry 4.0 and the need for vertical mate- unwanted colours, mismatch of colours can be elimi- rials. Material could be digitised to any product with- nated by implementing mass customisation, Artificial out physical samples thereby economy is sustained Intelligence and Internet of things. and a better value to the brand and manufacturing is – By Dr K S Murthy Anjani Mashelkar Inclusive Innovation Award 2018 th Anjani Mashelkar Inclu- Criteria 8sive Innovation Award is an- Only Indian organizations or nounced. This award is proferred people of Indian origin are eli- in the memory of Raghunath gible to apply. Innovators of all Mashelkar’s mother, who always ages may apply. The nomina- persuaded him to use science and tions should be for prototypes technology for the benefit of the or proof of concepts which have needy- especially the poor. the potential to be successful in- The Anjani Mashelkar Inclusive novations. The prototypes, prod- Innovation Award is an annual ucts, services or business mod- award of `1 lakh given to an in- els should be original and nov- dividual or an organisation for an el. They should provide high- idea, prototype or a commercial- est quality affordable products ized product, service and busi- and experiences to the resource ness model. The innovation must address the prob- poor people. The innovations should substantial- lems faced by the disadvantaged resource-poor people ly and positively affect the quality of life of the dis- in India and offer an original and implementable solu- advantaged sections of society - such as the resource tion. poor elderly people. All applications should clearly The awardees will preferably be those who believe explain the innovation, the originality of the idea, its in not just ‘best practices’, but ‘next practices’. Most im- benefit, and impact. portantly, it will value solutions that represent ‘afford- For more details check: http://mashelkarfounda- able excellence’, breaking the myth that ‘affordability’ tion.org/awards/inclusive-innovation/ and ‘excellence’ cannot go together. AkzoNobel to demonstrate new ethylene amines process technology in Sweden kzoNobel Specialty Chemi- manufacturing facility. lective production of a wide range Acals has broken ground for a The new technology will signif- of end products, enabling the com- demonstration plant to showcase a icantly reduce raw material con- pany to expand its amines product revolutionary and more sustainable sumption and substantially im- offering. technology platform for producing prove cost and environmental per- The range of ethylene amines ethylene amines and their deriva- formance when compared with ex- targeted by the new technology tives from ethylene oxide. Located isting processes. The flexibility of platform includes diethylenetri- at its Stenungsund site in Sweden, the technology will allow for a se- amine (DETA) and triethylenetetra- the facility marks the next step mine (TETA), which are key build- towards commercialization of the ing blocks in a number of growth patented technology. applications such as epoxy cur- In parallel to the construction ing, lube oil additives, and oil field the company has already started to chemicals. explore options for a world-scale 28 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

News & Views Avantium begins construction of bio-based MEG demonstration plant in Netherlands vantium N.V. has started con- of an environmentally friendly based MEG. The plant will be oper- Astruction of a new demonstra- plant-based alternative has strong ational in 2019. tion plant that will help advance potential. The objectives of the demonstra- the production of bio-based mono- The novel single-step process tion plant are to scale up the novel ethylene glycol (MEG) made di- can finally fulfil this demand in an bio-MEG technology, validate the rectly from renewable sugars in environmentally sustainable man- technical and economic feasibility Netherlands. ner that both consumers and lead- of the process, and to collect data to As MEG is a component for ing brands have been seeking. The execute an environmental life-cycle making everyday consumer goods, new plant will use Avantium’s pi- analysis (LCA) quantifying the sus- such as PET and PEF plastics and oneering Mekong technology to tainability benefits of the Avantium polyester textiles, the development convert renewable sugars into bio- technology. Siluria Technologies inks deal with Saudi Aramco for high-olefins cracking process technology audi Aramco Technologies Company and Siluria ing carbon efficiency and production rates. STechnologies executed a multi-plant technology Robert Trout, Siluria’s President and CEO said, license for the integration of Siluria’s proprietary tech- “Converting methane containing off-gases to high- nology (natural gas to olefins) with Saudi Aramco’s er value chemicals adds meaningful economic value, high-olefins cracking process technology. while plant integration can deliver excellent capital ef- Siluria’s natural gas-to-olefins technology, based ficiencies. We are thrilled to be working with a compa- on oxidative coupling of methane chemistry, is avail- ny like Aramco towards some of the largest and most able for license in stand-alone configurations, as well technologically advanced petrochemical facilities the as integration within a wide range of existing process industry has ever seen.” plants; including steam crackers, propane dehydroge- Ahmad Al Khowaiter, Chief Technology Officer of nation units, oil refineries, and methanol plants. By in- Saudi Aramco commented, “Maximizing the output of tegrating Siluria’s technology with existing facilities, high-value chemicals products from our future crude operators can upgrade their methane-containing by- oil processing projects is one of the key objectives in product streams from fuel to chemical value, improv- our downstream technology strategy.” Neste and IKEA to launch commercial-scale production of SNC-Lavalin wins substantial bio-based polypropylene contract for chlor-alkali plant in este Corp. is collaborating with IKEA to utilize renewable residue and Oman Nwaste raw materials, such as used cooking oil, as well as sustainably- NC-Lavalin has signed an ex- produced vegetable oils in the production of plastic products. It will be the Sclusive agreement with Project first large-scale production of renewable, bio-based polypropylene plastic Development & Management In- globally. ternational LLC (PDMI) in Oman, IKEA wants to use more renewable and recycled materials and explore to design and deliver a greenfield new materials for IKEA products. As part of this journey, IKEA is work- chlor-alkali PVC plant 150 km ing to change all of the plastic used in IKEA products to plastic based on southeast of the Omani capital recycled and/or renewable materials by 2030. Muscat. One of the ongoing proj- SNC-Lavalin will support the ects towards eliminating vir- project long term, from concept de- gin fossil-based raw materi- velopment to commissioning, car- als in plastic products is col- rying out the initial engineering, laboration between IKEA and master planning, process technol- Neste, which was initiated in ogy evaluation and selection to 2016. support project financial invest- ment decision approvals. The sub- Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 29

News & Views sequent Engineering, Procurement and Construction framework contract from Petroleum Development Management (EPCM) contract is expected in Q1 2019, Oman for the commissioning and start-up support ser- where SNC-Lavalin will execute the complete design vices management for its upstream assets in Oman. As and delivery, working alongside Omani contractors to part of this contract, SNC-Lavalin has set-up a dedicat- maximize in-country value. SNC-Lavalin will also sup- ed training academy in Muscat to train and develop port the operations and maintenance of the plant. multidisciplinary graduate engineers in the specialist In 2017, SNC-Lavalin was awarded a long-term field of commissioning. BASF to invest in carbon recycling company ASF Venture Capital GmbH is from residual gases containing car- polymers. The company’s product Bto invest in LanzaTech, a biotech bon monoxide and hydrogen. By portfolio includes additional bio- company headquartered in Chica- re-using waste streams instead of chemicals besides ethanol, such as go, Illinois, USA. Using special mi- incinerating them, industrial com- chemical specialties and intermedi- crobes, LanzaTech has developed a panies can reduce carbon dioxide ates, that can be used as raw mate- technology for gas fermentation that emissions. rials in other chemical production first enables ethanol to be produced LanzaTech’s patented technolo- processes. The technology is al- gy is now being deployed at com- so potentially suitable for treating mercial scale in the steel industry and recycling waste streams in the where carbon monoxide from re- chemical industry and for munici- sidual gases (off-gases) can be con- pal waste disposal. verted into ethanol. Ethanol can be Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of used as the raw material for the pro- LanzaTech said “Investment from duction of diesel, gasoline or jet fu- BASF will help us realize our goal el and as a precursor to plastics and of a Carbon Smart Future.” 30 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

HB HIN-Anz M-Serie 020216_Layout 1 03.02.16 07:42 Seite 1 HAVER IBAU INDIA powder and pigment filling technology and expertise www.haveribauindia.com THE M-SERIES HYBRID FILLING SYSTEMS FOR VALVE BAGS AND OPEN MOUTH BAGS HAVER IBAU INDIA Pvt. Ltd. Survey No. 32/4/41 & 42 Khandiwada, Baroda Halol Road, Post Asoj,Vadodara 391 510 Gujarat, India Phone: +91 2676 306-600 • E-mail: [email protected]

News & Views ExxonMobil begins production at Butyl and Resins plant in Singapore xxonMobil has recently commenced production inflation to improve fuel economy. Eof hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin and halobutyl The new plants expand on ExxonMobil’s flexible rubber at the company’s largest integrated refining and steam cracking capability in Singapore, which provides petrochemical complex in Singapore. a range of feedstocks for upgraded specialty products ExxonMobil’s new 90,000 tonnes per year to meet growing long-term demand in Asia Pacific. EscorezTM hydrogenated hydrocarbon resins plant The Singapore complex also includes a new cogenera- will be the world’s largest and will meet long-term de- tion unit at the refinery, bringing the total cogeneration mand growth for hot-melt adhesives used in packag- capacity of the site to over 440 megawatts, which will ing or baby diapers. The new 140,000-tonnes-per-year help reduce emissions and support more efficient use butyl plant will produce premium halobutyl rubber of energy. used in the manufacture of tires that better maintain Clariant inaugurates new additives The chemistry of the World Cup! production facilities in China he 2018 FIFA World Cup has kicked off! The spotlight is on the pecialty chemicals company, Clari- Twinning team, the star players and of course the game. Behind Sant recently announced the official the scenes chemistry has contributed a lot to make the game of opening of two new additives facili- football what it is today; polymers make up the ball and the shirts, ties at its site in Zhenjiang, China. This and chemistry has also a part to play in the vanishing sprays that completes a multi-million CHF invest- referees use during the game. ment announced last year and puts The ball: The World Cup ball is Clariant’s additives business in China made from six polyurethane panels on track to further expand its offering which are thermally bonded togeth- of customized, high-end solutions for er. the plastics, coatings & ink industries. The trophy: The World Cup tro- The newly opened facilities are ex- phy is made of gold, though it is hol- clusively for production of Ceridust mi- low; if it were solid, it would have cronized waxes and AddWorks syner- been too heavy to lift! The green base gistic additive solutions, both of which is made of malachite, which is copper are used in various applications across carbonate hydroxide mineral. the plastics, coatings and ink industries. The additional local production capac- The shirt: Football shirts are ity will allow Clariant to provide more commonly made from polyesters. tailored solutions to clients at shortened Elastane can be incorporated to give lead times. strength and elasticity. Names and Such tailored solutions are a key numbers are usually made of poly- component in Clariant’s China sales ex- urethanes. pansion, as they fulfill the demand for The spray: The spray referees use environmentally compatible and safe as a temporary marker contains bu- products as outlined in China’s 13 tane, which expands when released th Five Year Plan and the industrial pol- from the can. Surfactants help create icy ‘Made in China 2025’ while allow- foam, which disappears as the butane evaporates. ing Clariant to differentiate itself in the Its not just the above items, but a whole lot of other equipment market environment. and sports goods such as the artificial turf, the stadium seats, the gloves and shoes worn by footballers, the lights and so many more materials that have the imprint of chemistry in them that make for latest generation tournaments. 32 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

Sourcing Companies into Renewables/Algae Leading MNCs, Research organisations and Universities are developing technologies for fuels and feedstocks based on renewables such as agricultural material, algae, plant and vegetable oils etc. A few of the leading organisations are listed here. Abengoa Bioenergy Gevo Myriant Corporation & Research 16150 Main Circle Drive, Suite 300 345, Inverness Drive south, Development Chesterfield, St Louis (Corpn), Building C, Suite 310 42 Cummings Park USA Englewood, CO 80112, USA Woburn, MA 01801 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Web: www.abengoa.com Web: https://gevo.com Web: www.myriant.com Genomatica Amyris Biotechnologies 4757 Nexus Centre Drive Praj Industries Limited 5885 Hollis Street, Ste. 100 San Diego, CA 92121 “Praj Tower” 274 & 275/2, Emeryville, CA 94608, USA Email: [email protected] Bhumkar Chowk-Hinjewadi Road, Email: [email protected] Web: www.genomatica.com Hinjewadi, Pune-411057, Web: www.amyris.com Maharashtra, India E-mail: [email protected] Godavari Biorefineries Ltd Web: www.praj.net Avantium Technologies Utility Buildings, Tower Block, Zekeringstraat 29 4th Floor, J C Road, 1014 BV Amsterdam, Bangalore 560 002, India Solazyme Inc The Netherlands Email: [email protected] 225 Gateway Blvd. Email: [email protected] Web: www.somaiya.com South San Francisco, Web: www.avantium.com California 94080 GreenFuel Technologies Corpn Email: [email protected] Web: www.solazyme.com BioAmber Inc. 146 S. Main Street Suite L, 1250, Rene-Levesque Boulevard Orange, CA 92868 West, Suite 4310 Montreal, Quebec, Email: [email protected] Virent Energy Systems, Inc. Canada H3B 4W8 Web: www.greenfueltechnologies. 3571 Anderson St. Web: bio-amber.com com Madison, WI 53704 Email: [email protected] Ineos Web: www.virent.com DSM 3, Avenue des Uttins Poststraat 1, 6135KR, Sittard Rolie, CH-1180, Switzerland LanzaTech The Netherlands Email: [email protected] 8045, Lamon Avenue, Email: [email protected] Web: www.ineos.com Suite 400, Skokie, Web: www.dsm.com Illinois, I 90077 USA Iogen Corporation Email: [email protected] E I DuPont India Pvt Ltd 310 Hunt Club Rd. East Web: www.lanzatec.com 7th floor, Tower C, DLF Cyber Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1V 1C1 Greens, Sector - 25 A, DLF City, Email: [email protected] Phase III, Gurgaon, Web: www.iogen.ca Haryana - 122002. India Web: www.dupont.co.in (Please note that only a selection of companies are listed here and this is by no means a comprehensive directory) Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 33

CEO’s Round Table CEO’s Round Table The Different Dimensions of Sustainability There is no doubt that issues related to sustainability and environment have be- come powerful drivers, at once challenging, as well as enabling growth. The word ‘Sustainability’ seems to have many connotations and has come to mean different things to different sets of people be they industrialists, politicians or NGOs. It is a comprehensive term or rather a philosophy which ranges in its definition from the efficient utilisation of the earth’s resources without compromising needs of future generation to ensuring that the processes and products made are benign to the environment. So many techniques have also come up – some jargonised too – such as circular economy, cradle to cradle, green chemistry and so on. There are extreme proponents who insist that chemistry has to be good abinitio such that the de- velopment of any process or product that creates problems for the environment or overuse of resources like water or energy is a no-no. Plastics and the environmental havoc it is causing, aided by irrespon- sible human habit of littering, is a classic case. There are others who want to proceed incrementally. Adding to the confusion is the lack of a unified benchmarked metric for measuring sustainability as stated by our columnist in Chemingineering in this issue. So Chemical Industry Digest posed a set of seven questions to CEOs of a few leading companies to know what their understanding of sustainability is and how they are going about their activities towards sustainability. The views of CEOs are presented here. Ajay Durrani Managing Director, Covestro (India) Private Limited Chemical Industry Digest (CID): Sustainability means many things the way we create prosperity in all its various forms. to many people. It could be resource efficiency, avoiding or mini- This is why Covestro’s approach to sustainable devel- mizing bad effects on the environment of any material or product opment is based on the triple-bottom line principle to or emissions from manufacturing processes. Some link it with CSR serve “people, planet, profit”: With everything we do activities too. Can we get some clarity on this along with what the we aim to deliver a positive impact on at least two of benchmarks are if any for sustainable manufacturing in the chemi- those three dimensions while not harming the other. cal industry? We always bear this basis for our decision making in mind. We are committed to foster increased value on Ajay Durrani (AD): Sustainability is a highly complex the economic, environmental, and social levels, all at matter as it touches on the overall integrity & con- the same time and are a strong advocate for the United struct of our planet and its eco-system, our society and Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 34 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

CEO’s Round Table do you practice? AD: Covestro is constantly pushing boundaries to increase the share of alternative resources in the pro- duction of its plastics – but only if this really does help the environment. Should the process require addition- al energy, or should the production or transport of the alternative resources release more CO than the appli- 2 cation saves, our company will decide against it. As mentioned we have replaced up to 50% crude oil used in manufacturing polyols with CO . Hardeners 2 for high-performance coatings in the automotive and furniture industry too were traditionally based on fos- sil – and therefore non-sustainable – raw materials. We have now coating hardeners based on renewable re- sources. From a point of view of manufacturing poly- urethane, isocyanate and polyols are the two main components. Therefore, to make the production more sustainable Covestro adopted the use of gas phase technology. CID: The World Environment Day this year on 5 June had the theme th ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’. As you are aware a large part of the pri- Ajay Durrani is Managing Director & CEO of Covestro (India) Private mary basic petrochemicals is converted into plastics or polymers Limited (formerly known as Bayer MaterialScience Pvt. Ltd). In this role, which are non-biodegradable and creating mammoth pollution of he is responsible for leading the development and expansion of Covestro’s our seas, rivers and land. Would you agree that from the sustain- business across the Indian sub continent. ability perspective plastics was a ‘bad’ material ab initio and would Durrani has over 21 years of experience in the chemical industry with a this also be the inadequacy of chemistry not to have foreseen the consequences? focus on achieving continuous and improved business performance. He has a master’s degree in Marketing Management from Jiwaji University, AD: The world has produced over nine billion tons Gwalior with professional qualifications from Boston School of Business of plastics since the 1950s. 165 million tons of it have in Switzerland, INSEAD Singapore and Indian School of Business in trashed our ocean, with almost 9 million more tons en- Hyderabad. Business activities of Covestro India are in polymer prod- tering the oceans each year. Since only about 9 % of ucts, such as polyurethanes, polycarbonates and coatings, adhesives and Specialties. plastic gets recycled, much of the rest lies in the envi- ronment or landfills. This cannot be wiped out in a jif- fy. We believe in extending this mission of sustainable I believe we would be doing a disservice to poly- growth to the last mile of our value chain. mers if we only restrict the discussions on the inade- Thus, it’s our commitment to make 100 percent of quacy of the chemistry or the impact on nature. More our suppliers compliant with our sustainability re- than polymers itself, it is the application which deter- quirements. We also aim to reduce our specific green- mines its contribution. As a matter of fact, there have house gas emissions – those generated per metric ton been several industries where polymers continue to of product produced – by 50 percent when compared play the role of a catalyst in environmental protection to our base year 2005. and promote a healthier life. That being said, there is no doubt that there is an CID: Many materials/products that are being used now are not satis- urgent need to introduce polymers which have a less- fying the sustainability criteria. What should companies do to green er environmental impact. A case in point is the innova- existing products or replace them totally with more benign and envi- tion from Covestro wherein we have replaced 20-50% ronmentally friendly materials/products? Should companies revisit of the crude oil used to manufacture polyols with car- their existing product portfolios and even their manufacturing pro- bon dioxide. This has a dual impact – reduces the bur- cesses to reorient them towards sustainability requirements? What Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 35

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CEO’s Round Table den on the crude oil as well as uti- One of our own five sustainability tar- done in the long term? lizes the carbon dioxide from the “ gets, which we aim to achieve until 2025, is environment in a constructive AD: As I mentioned earlier, sus- manner. to invest at least 80 percent of our R&D bud- tainability has to meet the needs of get in projects aligned with the Sustainable It is also important to adopt bi- Development Goals (SDGs). the present without compromis- ing the well-being of future gener- oplastics. There have been many “ ations. To which we need multiple challenges to the adoption of bi- approaches that can answer both oplastics. One of the foremost be- short term and long-term problems. ing that they are a recent invention. Any innovation re- quires climbing through the usual growth trajectory We have already achieved a breakthrough in this before gaining acceptance as a mass product, regard- direction with our cardyon technology. The material less of the benign nature of the material/idea. Second, (polyol) produced using this technology contains 20 absence and lack of strict regulations is a major imped- percent CO and is a precursor for foam used in mat- 2 iment to the adoption of bioplastics. Third, the incre- tresses and upholstered furniture. Covestro brought mental appreciation in the cost of utilizing bioplastics the first industrial-scale production plant for this poly- has been a deterrent in markets which are more cost ol on stream in 2016, and in the future, we are expect- competitive. However, we have been witnessing this to ing to increase the share of CO to up to 40%. 2 be a waning trend across sectors and economies. We are also working in cross-industry consortiums on methods to make carbon dioxide and waste flow of CID: When it comes to the development of entirely new products/ other industrial sectors usable as raw materials for our materials do you employ principles of sustainability ab initio? Are products. such principles & practices employed in your R&D? Do you feel the In order to live up to the growing significance of cir- global public pressures towards cleaner environment & sustainabil- cular business models and the need for the more effi- ity would give an impetus to R&D? cient use of resources, a central coordinating office for the circular economy was implemented in 2017. AD: Sustainability is at the core of all our efforts and is our strategic vision. We keep an eye on the entire CID: Another major problem is that of climate change, global warm- product lifecycle. This includes the raw materials, pro- ing due to emissions of greenhouse gases. This can be mitigated by duction, and processing, as well as the application, dis- manufacturing processes shifting to low carbon or no carbon load posal or recycling of our products. Sustainability gov- on environment. Are R&D efforts moving in this direction? Can a erns everything we do, and we want to improve in shift to renewable feedstocks from petro feedstocks help? In your each area: from research and development – including manufacturing are you trying to reduce the carbon load of your pro- joint projects with our customers and other partners – cesses? to sourcing, production and distribution. There is absolutely no pressure on us as we have AD: Shift to renewable feedstock from petro will def- been at the forefront of building a brighter tomorrow initely help. We need to move towards more biobased through sustainable practices. We are committed to polymers. At Covestro, we use innovative manufactur- the goals and provisions set out in the United Nations ing processes, such as the oxygen depolarized cathode Global Compact (UNGC) and have signed the UNGC technique in chlorine production that saves as much as Charter. 30% of electricity. Similarly, employing gas phase tech- Furthermore, one of our own five sustainability tar- nology can also save 40% energy and up to 80% solvent gets, which we aim to achieve until 2025, is to invest at usage in the manufacture of the foam component TDI least 80 percent of our R&D budget in projects aligned (toluene diisocyanate), a precursor for flexible polyure- with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thus, thane foam. sustainability is an integral part of our R&D and how In order to increase our carbon productivity we our business moves forward. formed the Carbon Productivity Consortium with ex- ternal partners and developed a methodology that CID: End of the pipe treatment means not good chemistry; mini- identifies nine levers along the value chain that help to mizing deleterious effect of environment is another approach; make a better use of fossil fuel carbon as a resource, to Recycling & reuse is being adopted in some cases and cradle to use alternative resources and to move towards a closed- cradle/circular economy are being touted. What would be the most looped model. This methodology is open source as we practical approach – in the short term and what is required to be want to encourage our business partners as well as Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 37

CEO’s Round Table other industries and public insti- “ Between 2005 and 2016, CO emissions in ready producing 40.9% fewer 2 tutions to become as carbon pro- all company locations of Covestro decreased specific CO emissions compared 2 ductive as possible, to overcome by 12% despite the fact that the production vol- to the reference year 2005. the challenge to ensure our soci- ume in our 17 most important locations across With a specific focus on India, ety’s prosperity while minizing, we set up the Eco-Commercial if not reversing, our negative im- the world increased by almost 57%. Towards Building as a proof of our com- pact on the climate. the end of 2016, we were already producing mitment to push boundaries to- 40.9% fewer specific CO2 emissions compared CID: Can you give some examples/ to the reference year 2005. “ wards a brighter tomorrow. In achievements of your company’s efforts . the last few years, it has become a net positive energy building. on the sustainability front? This means that we generate and AD: Between 2005 and 2016, CO emissions in all save more energy than what is consumed by the build- 2 company locations of Covestro decreased by 12% de- ing. Similarly, we have been working with companies, spite the fact that the production volume in our 17 partners and NGOs to contribute to social causes using most important locations across the world increased our solutions. by almost 57%. Towards the end of 2016, we were al- Ashwin Shroff Chairman and Managing Director of Excel Industries Limited Chemical Industry Digest (CID): Sustainability means many things companies do to green existing products or replace them totally to many people. It could be resource efficiency, avoiding or mini- with more benign and environmentally friendly materials/products? mizing bad effects on the environment of any material or product Should companies revisit their existing product portfolios and even or emissions from manufacturing processes. Some link it with CSR their manufacturing processes to reorient them towards sustain- activities too. Can we get some clarity on this along with what the ability requirements? What do you practice? benchmarks are if any for sustainable manufacturing in the chemi- cal industry? AS: We strongly believe that the future of all of us in the chemical industry lies in constant innovation to Ashwin Shroff (AS): Sustainability is the ability to meet think of ways to develop, produce, market chemicals the present needs without compromising the ability in a green way – always looking for safer and renew- of future generations to meet their own needs. We, at able rawmaterials, processes, equipment, energy and Excel have always considered ourselves to be an inte- other natural resources. We need to produce at low- gral part of a society and not just a commercial entity. er costs, while attaining sustainability and very impor- Sustainability has always remained close to our heart tantly, need acceptance by society at large, especially and mind. Sustainability not only takes care of inter- our neighbours as well as the regulators. ests of environment and soci- ety, it also serves business in- “ Working towards sustainability needs many CID: The World Environment Day this terests. If companies improve steps to be taken in operational processes as well as in year on 5 June had the theme ‘Beat th process efficiency, it leads to R&D. These include: • Efficient utilization of raw mate- Plastic Pollution’. As you are aware a cost savings on various pa- rials • Use of renewable raw materials • Energy efficient large part of the primary basic petro- rameters – raw materials, wa- processes, waste heat recovery • Steps to minimize ef- chemicals is converted into plastics ter, energy, pollution abate- fluent generation • Use of water instead of solvents • or polymers which are non-biode- ment, etc. Adoption of safer processes and well designed equip- gradable and creating mammoth pol- CID: Many materials/products that are ment • Appropriate use of mechanization, automation • lution of our seas, rivers and land. Would you agree that from the sus- being used now are not satisfying the Balancing of environmental, social and economic indi- tainability perspective plastics was a sustainability criteria. What should cators • Constant training of personnel. “ ‘bad’ material ab initio and would this 38 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018



CEO’s Round Table Ashwin Shroff is Chairman and Managing Director of Excel Industries Limited. He is also Chairman of Transpek Industry Limited and Transpek- Silox Industry Limited. Over the years, Ashwin Shroff has been associated with various organiza- tions. To name a few: • President – Indian Chemical Manufacturers’ Association (now known as Indian Chemical Council) – 1996-1998 • President – Roha Industries Association – 1998-2008 • Board Member – Crop Life India (Pesticides Industry Association) • Chairman – FICCI Environment Committee – 2005-2010 • Co-Chairman / Member – CII Biotechnology Committee – Since 2013 He is member of the Research Councils of CSIR, NIIST, Thiruvana- nthapuram and IICT, Hyderabad. He is Trustee of Vivekanand Research & Training Institute (VRTI), a voluntary organization based in Kutchh, Gujarat and Member – Board of Governors, IIM Shillong, 2018. He was conferred the Life Time Achievement Award for the year 2012 by Indian Chemical Council (ICC), Mumbai. also be the inadequacy of chemistry not to have foreseen the con- • Energy efficient processes, waste heat recovery sequences? • Steps to minimize effluent generation AS: Plastics are very versatile materials. We can • Use of water instead of solvents make anything and everything from it. While there is • Adoption of safer processes and well designed an increasing environmental concern about the use of equipment plastics, they are not so bad as made out to be. It is the • Appropriate use of mechanization, automation overuse, misuse, irresponsible disposal and littering of • Balancing of environmental, social and economic the plastics which cause problems. Plastics have many indicators benefits – light weight, durability and long shelf life. • Constant training of personnel Industry is aware of the environmental effects of plastics. Researches are being done to create plastics • Adoption of various tools and techniques like ISO that decompose much faster than the current products. standards, Responsible Care, Nicer Globe which en- Some of these plastics are already available and should compass whole value chain from vendors, to trans- bring some promising, environmental changes going porters, to operators, to customers. forward. There is a need to distinguish and bring clar- CID: End of the pipe treatment means not good chemistry; mini- ity to terminology loosely used to describe new gener- mizing deleterious effect of environment is another approach; ation of plastics or polymers eg. biodegradable, com- Recycling & reuse is being adopted in some cases and cradle to postable, biopolymers etc. cradle/circular economy are being touted. What would be the most CID: When it comes to the development of entirely new products/ practical approach – in the short term and what is required to be materials do you employ principles of sustainability ab initio? Are done in the long term? such principles & practices employed in your R&D? Do you feel the AS: In the short term, the following are important: global public pressures towards cleaner environment & sustainabil- ity would give an impetus to R&D? • Recovery of useful Raw Materials from process wastes AS: Working towards sustainability needs many • Optimize the packaging requirement – eliminate steps to be taken in operational processes as well as in overpackaging, bulk transportation R&D. These include: • Introduce eco-friendly / bio-degradable / bulk / re- • Efficient utilization of raw materials cyclable packaging • Use of renewable raw materials In the long term, several steps should be taken in 40 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

CEO’s Round Table improving the processes, in being energy efficient and AS: At Excel, some of the changes we have incorpo- in overall environmental management such as: rated in shifting to cleaner and greener processes are: • Use of better catalysts for better conversion efficien- • Manufacturing butenediol at atmospheric pressure cies and better energy efficiencies • Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) solvent replace- • Minimize / eliminate use of petroleum solvents in ment in Endo – Carbon tetra chloride j toluene the processes and products • Di Ethyl Thiophosphoryl Chloride (DETC) petro- • Optimize / minimize use of energy either for heat- leum solvent based j solvent free ing / cooling / material handling / transport / light- • Tris Hydroxy Phenyl Ethane (THPE) petroleum sol- ing vent based j solvent free. • Treat the effluents properly to avoid damage to life and land CID: Can you give some examples/achievements of your company’s • Recycle the treated water from industrial opera- efforts on the sustainability front? tions as well as sewage AS: There are many things we have done on the sus- • Green cover – on the premises, adjoining areas, and tainability front. Some of the notable ones are: in general, wherever possible • Water conservation, energy efficiency, raw materi- • Use of plants to purify treated effluents al efficiency, use of renewable raw materials, mini- • Treat even canteen waste / make compost, or ener- mize effluent generation, treatment of effluent gen- gy from it. erated. • Municipal solid waste management. CID: Another major problem is that of climate change, global warm- ing due to emissions of greenhouse gases. This can be mitigated by • Seaweed cultivation manufacturing processes shifting to low carbon or no carbon load • Water harvesting on environment. Are R&D efforts moving in this direction? Can a • Ground water recharge, through check dams shift to renewable feedstocks from petro feedstocks help? In your • Energy Plantation manufacturing are you trying to reduce the carbon load of your pro- • Using wind (Windmills) and solar energy. cesses? Sanjeev Taneja President and Managing Director, Evonik India Chemical Industry Digest (CID): Sustainability means many things tends along the entire value chain from upstream with- to many people. It could be resource efficiency, avoiding or mini- in the supply chain and right through to downstream mizing bad effects on the environment of any material or product by enabling customers to reduce their ecological foot- or emissions from manufacturing processes. Some link it with CSR prints. activities too. Can we get some clarity on this along with what the benchmarks are if any for sustainable manufacturing in the chemi- CID: Many materials/products that are being used now are not satis- cal industry? fying the sustainability criteria. What should companies do to green existing products or replace them totally with more benign and envi- Sanjeev Taneja (ST): Today in the chemical industry ronmentally friendly materials/products? Should companies revisit sustainability is closely linked with corporate strategy their existing product portfolios and even their manufacturing pro- and it is an important element of responsible business. cesses to reorient them towards sustainability requirements? What At Evonik, sustainability is a growth driver for many do you practice? of our businesses. We defined six areas of action based on balanced management of economic, ecological and ST: It’s good that you have put this question. We social factors. These six areas are: strategy & growth, constantly visit our product portfolio and our manu- governance &compliance, employees, value chain & facturing processes. We are well-known for our culture products, environment & safety. Our responsibility ex- of innovation which is geared more and more towards Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 41

CEO’s Round Table Sanjeev Taneja (BSc India, Process Engineering Degree - Frankfurt, MBA - USA) is the President and Managing Director of Evonik India. He has 30 years of experience in various functional areas. Sanjeev started off his profes- sional career with the former Degussa AG in 1987 in Germany. Since then he has been with Evonik Group compa- nies in the US and in Germany in production, technical, strategy and project management positions including P & L responsibilities. In these functional and lead ership roles he has looked after various product lines including for fine chemicals, methacrylates and high performance polymers. In 2011 he took over the management of the high temperature polymers business. Before his current position, he was the Vice President - South Asia (including India) in the Resource Efficiency Segment of Evonik. tainability ab initio? Are such principles & practices employed in your R&D? Do you feel the global public pressures towards cleaner environment & sustainability would give an impetus to R&D? ST: More value, less resource is our credo. Our market-oriented R&D plays a key role in im- proving the ecological footprint of our customers still further and differentiating us from our global compet- itors. We are therefore increasingly focusing our inno- vation pipeline on products for applications that make sustainability. Our sustainable innovation work covers efficient and environmentally compatible use of re- six growth fields: Sustainable Nutrition, Healthcare sources. Solutions, Advanced Food Ingredients, Membranes, Our innovation unit, Creavis, manages its portfo- Cosmetic Solutions and Additive Manufacturing. For lio using the Idea-to-People-Planet-Profit (I2P ) pro- 3 example at Evonik we are establishing additional cess. Each strategic research project is assessed on the products and services for sustainable nutrition of live- basis of environmental influences (planet) and societal stock and people. aspects (people) as well as economic criteria (profit). I2P was developed jointly by our strategic research, 3 CID: The World Environment Day this year on 5 June had the theme the Life Cycle Management group, and the Innovation th ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’. As you are aware a large part of the pri- Excellence group, with external support from the re- mary basic petrochemicals is converted into plastics or polymers nowned Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment which are non-biodegradable and creating mammoth pollution of and Energy. our seas, rivers and land. Would you agree that from the sustain- ability perspective plastics was a ‘bad’ material ab initio and would CID: End of the pipe treatment means not good chemistry; mini- this also be the inadequacy of chemistry not to have foreseen the mizing deleterious effect of environment is another approach; consequences? Recycling & reuse is being adopted in some cases and cradle to cradle/circular economy are being touted. What would be the most ST: We take this issue seriously. However, all plastics practical approach – in the short term and what is required to be are not bad. Evonik has been observing the zero pel- done in the long term? let loss campaign of the European Plastics Association whereby we ensure that pellet ST: We believe that whatev- loss is minimized in produc- “ Our innovation unit, Creavis, manages its er we do in one area should not tion, processing and transpor- portfolio using the Idea-to-People-Planet-Profit create problems in other areas. tation. Micro-plastics as you (I2P3) process. Each strategic research project is We have created products with know is a major hazard and assessed on the basis of environmental influences cradle to cradle certification. we have been offering substi- (planet) and societal aspects (people) as well as eco- Evonik observes the tenets of the tutes for this, mainly specialty nomic criteria (profit). I2P3 was developed jointly by ‘Circular Economy’ with an in- silicas for personal care prod- ternal expert group to drive this ucts. our strategic research, the Life Cycle Management approach forward. group, and the Innovation Excellence group, with CID: When it comes to the develop- external support from the renowned Wuppertal CID: Another major problem is that of ment of entirely new products/materi- Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. “ climate change, global warming due to als do you employ principles of sus- emissions of greenhouse gases. This 42 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018



CEO’s Round Table can be mitigated by manufacturing processes shifting to low car- m SEPURAN Noble for energy efficient helium re- ® bon or no carbon load on environment. Are R&D efforts moving in covery from source gas this direction? Can a shift to renewable feedstocks from petro feed- m SEPURAN N for energy efficient nitrogen genera- ® stocks help? In your manufacturing are you trying to reduce the tion from air 2 carbon load of your processes? Membranes - Polyimide membrane modules for ef- ST: Our activities are geared to keep our environ- ficient and energy-saving gas separation, tailoring se- mental footprint small by continuously improving our lectivity and permeability exactly to the specific appli- own environmental protection performance and in- cation. novating climate-friendly products. One example is a To meet the increasing demand for healthy and nu- new efficient process for producing methyl methacry- tritious fish, Evonik is supporting the aquaculture in- late that reduces carbon emissions by upto 40 percent. dustry with a set of innovative solutions. Evonik can Another example is the Rheticus project where build on the experience in the production of essential Evonik alongwith Siemens is planning to use electrici- amino acids from over 60 years. ty from renewable sources and bacteria to convert CO Silica & silanes for “green tire” - The Green Tire 2 into specialty chemicals. In this joint research project with lower rolling resistance reduces fuel consump- we are working on electrolysis and formulation pro- tion and CO emissions by up to 8%, compared to con- 2 cesses which have great potential to produce a broad ventional automobile tires. Safety is improved due to variety of specialty chemicals. reduced braking distance on wet roads. CID: Can you give some examples/achievements of your company’s Silica and Functional silanes to protect buildings. efforts on the sustainability front? High Performance Polymers for lightweight appli- cations or 3D-printing. Additive Manufacturing (3D ST: Some of our achievements to provide innovative printing) enables new design freedom, light weight solutions based on sustainability are outlined below: components, rapid prototyping and more efficient Evonik’s technology converts organic waste into spare parts logistics. green energy. Using its innovative membrane technol- Around 50 percent of the sales generated by ogy, biogas which is released during the wastewater Evonik’s chemical segments already come from prod- treatment process or the anaerobic digestion process of ucts that make a measurable contribution to improv- household waste for example can be upgraded simply ing resource efficiency in the use phase. and efficiently to pure bio methane and fed directly in- Evonik has already conducted life cycle analyses to the natural gas grid or used as biofuel. of around 70 percent of external sales generated by its Evonik has: three chemical segments as part of the sustainability m SEPURAN Green for upgrading biogas to bio- analysis of its businesses. The aim is to extend this to ® methane 80 percent. John Loudermilk COO, Birla Carbon Chemical Industry Digest (CID): Sustainability means many things ical, I believe sustainability is much more. It is about to many people. It could be resource efficiency, avoiding or mini- looking holistically at the business and creating a mod- mizing bad effects on the environment of any material or product el to ensure that we are truly building for the future. or emissions from manufacturing processes. Some link it with CSR This requires a long view of issues and what the needs activities too. Can we get some clarity on this along with what the of society may be in generations. Therefore, while a benchmarks are if any for sustainable manufacturing in the chemi- sustainability initiative may be in play today, its real cal industry? results will be measured long in the future. John Loudermilk (JL): Sustainability is not limited to the CID: Many materials/products that are being used now are not satis- health and safety of workers, nor can it be only about fying the sustainability criteria. What should companies do to green environmental stewardship. While these areas are crit- existing products or replace them totally with more benign and envi- 44 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

CEO’s Round Table John Loudermilk (Bachelor of Science - Chem Engg, Univ of Tennessee) is Chief Operating Officer (COO), Birla Carbon, based at the Company headquarters in Marietta, Georgia, USA along with an office in Hannover, Germany. In his role, Loudermilk provides operational leadership globally for Birla Carbon. Loudermilk joined the Carbon Black Business in 2005 as Director of Global Operations. In 2008 he was appointed Vice President of Global Operations with responsibility for global manufacturing facilities along with corporate engineering, quality, and six-sigma. Over his 25 years of experience in the chemical indus- try, he has held a variety of leadership positions within Monsanto and Solutia with responsibilities across Business Management, Manufacturing, Procurement, Sales and Supply Chain. Birla Carbon is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of high quality Carbon Black and a flagship business of the US$ 41 billion Aditya Birla Group. ronmentally friendly materials/products? Should companies revisit product stewardship approach ensures that our people their existing product portfolios and even their manufacturing pro- understand how our carbon black is made and their cesses to reorient them towards sustainability requirements? What role in its manufacturing process. Not only do we help do you practice? our customers but we also act responsibly across our value chain. JL: Birla Carbon focusses on market trends and works closely with customers to understand where We ensure that our product meets and exceeds all they need help delivering value. From this, we uti- regulatory requirements. We also remain abreast of lize our experience and knowledge to help solve their any regulatory or market developments, enabling us to problems. The areas you mention are among the key support our customers in meeting their own regulato- objectives for our customers and we see ourselves as ry obligations. We thoroughly test our solutions to en- well positioned to help them deliver. sure that it is aligned to health, safety and environmen- tal requirements while maintaining its high-quality. Our product development scientists are focused clearly on improving energy efficiency whether that be We continue to build a product stewardship culture helping to lightweight rubber products or reduce the in our operations by creating an environment in which rolling resistance that requires energy to move vehi- our people feel able to seek advice and support. We cles. This is an area where carbon black can make a re- encourage employees to stop, think, ask and discuss al difference. what they’re doing before and during process develop- ment and production changes. Our teams have gotten better at leveraging their knowledge by collaborating beyond our organization. CID: End of the pipe treatment means not good chemistry; mini- This multiplies the effectiveness of our more than 50 mizing deleterious effect of environment is another approach; scientists in two global R&D centers to commercialize Recycling & reuse is being adopted in some cases and cradle to better products faster. cradle/circular economy are being touted. What would be the most practical approach – in the short term and what is required to be CID: When it comes to the development of entirely new products/ done in the long term? materials, do you employ principles of sustainability ab initio? Are such principles & practices employed in your R&D? Do you feel the JL: The focus on sustainability and the environment global public pressures towards cleaner environment & sustainabil- will necessitate all industries to look closely at topics ity would give an impetus to R&D? like recycling and create economic opportunities as new technologies evolve. We focus on long term R&D JL: At Birla Carbon, we have mapped the United solutions at the same time partnering with the custom- Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to er and supplier to increase the life cycle of their prod- our business. Our approach to product responsibility uct which is key towards creating sustainable value. In is divided into two key focus areas: safety and stew- the end, it is a combination of all of these approaches ardship. By safety, we ensure that our product is made you mention (designed in minimal impact, recycle/re- safe for customers’ specific use. At the same time, our Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 45

CEO’s Round Table use, etc.) that will be required to ing processes for better yield, deliver the future we envision. “ A key environmental area for us is water as conserving energy, minimizing we operate in some areas where it is not abun- waste and similar efforts that CID: Another major problem is that of dantly available. We are in the process of improv- render us more efficient. climate change, global warming due to ing our water management, including how we emissions of greenhouse gases. This access, measure and ensure efficient use of this CID: Can you give some examples/ can be mitigated by manufacturing resource. Almost all our plants have “zero water achievements of your company’s ef- processes shifting to low carbon or no discharge” outside our premises. “ forts on the sustainability front? carbon load on environment. Are R&D efforts moving in this direction? Can a JL: We have made sustain- ability a foundational aspect of shift to renewable feedstocks from pet- our business as represented by our vision, “to be the ro feedstocks help? In your manufacturing are you trying to reduce most respected, sustainable, and dynamic” in our in- the carbon load of your processes? dustry. Our perspective on sustainability is holistic JL: Our approach to reducing our emissions is guid- covering areas normally associated with the term such ed by our Sustainable Operational Excellence, which as environment, safety, and health along with those, leads us to continually search for the best possible pro- people might not connect to sustainability such as peo- cesses and technologies. We continue to work on tech- ple development and financial performance. We view nology improvements such as state-of-the-art filter sustainability as a way to ensure our long term future materials, which ensure maximum containment and as a company, as well as, the future of the planet. recovery of our product. In addition, we proactively Our Sustainable Operational Excellence strate- evaluate innovative technologies throughout our pro- gy influences every decision we make. The approach cess that can reduce air emissions and access how they drives us to share and adopt best practices across the can be implemented across our operations. business to continuously improve and promote consis- As responsible stewards, our approach and targets tency. It is a real differentiator for Birla Carbon. are frequently reviewed and challenged, to ensure we Formal external communication on our sustainabil- continue to drive improvement in evolving environ- ity journey began in 2013, with our first Sustainability ments. A key concern for us and our stakeholders is air Report. Since then, Birla Carbon has surged past many quality, energy use and carbon conversion efficiency. of its sustainability milestones, of which health, safe- We lead the way in our industry in terms of pollution ty and environment (HS&E) have been key elements. control technology and aim to be as efficient as possi- These accomplishments have not been limited to one ble in our carbon mass balance efforts; the more profi- region, but rather across all the regions where we op- cient we are, the more effectively we capture and uti- erate. lize the carbon in our feedstock. We are proud to be seen by many customers as lead- A key environmental area for us is water as we oper- ers in this arena through participation in their own sus- ate in some areas where it is not abundantly available. tainability efforts. It is also rewarding to be recognized We are in the process of improving our water manage- by leading sustainability rating agency, EcoVadis, as a ment, including how we access, measure and ensure Gold Level practitioner in the top 1% of all companies efficient use of this resource. Almost all our plants have reviewed, for consecutive years. “zero water discharge” outside our premises. We have been investing into Flue Gas Desulphurisation technology to reduce sulphur emis- sion from our operations. Such forward-looking in- vestments do have a definite cost impact, both in terms of capital investment and operating costs, leading to reduced competitiveness; however, our customers will value the long term sustainable benefits of these programs. We also simultaneously focus upon plant wise energy conservation and monetization, cost-sav- ing projects, utilizing alternate feedstock and develop- 46 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

New Developments NEW DEVELOPMENTS Technology Potential New method to produce smaller carbon nanotubes research team from a process called Ostwald rip- A anderbilt University ening—where the nanopar- V has developed a new and ticles that grow the carbon cheaper method to convert nanotubes change in size to carbon dioxide into carbon large diameters—was a hin- nanotubes with small diame- drance in producing small- ters, supermaterials that can er carbon nanotubes. The re- be stronger than steel and searchers also discovered a more conductive than cop- correlation between the di- per. ameter of the carbon nano- According to the study, small-diameter carbon tubes and iron metal layer thickness after electrochem- nanotubes often require increased sophistication and ical catalyst reduction at the cathode-molten salt inter- control in synthesis processes, but exhibit improved face, as published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. physical properties and greater economic value over The nanoparticles produced are about 10,000 times their larger-diameter counterparts. smaller than a human hair and can be produced from To make the nanotubes, the researchers found that coatings on stainless steel surfaces. Common algae for biofuel butanol production esearch at The University of ars. Then via fermentation process, ber. This made the entire fuel con- RArkansas by a group of chemi- sugars were converted into butyric, version process faster and less cost- cal engineers and research students lactic and acetic acids. Again butyr- ly. of Honours College led by Assistant ic acid was converted by fermenta- The new conversion process is Professor & Project Leader, Jamie tion into butanol. This process was less expensive and definitely more Hestekin focussed on conversion of made speedier by a special tech- efficient. Apart from the fact that the common algae into renewable nique called electrodeionization – a butanol is far superior to ethanol fuels which could be used in au- process developed by a team mem- in efficiency; this process helps the tomobiles with combus- water become less pollut- tible type engines. The re- ed and healthier. The al- search was done on algae gae use the extra nitrogen which survive on nitro- and phosphorous in the gen, phosphorous, sun- existent water and make it light and carbon dioxide; safer for marine flora and and from which, organic fauna. As Hestekin puts acids and subsequently it succinctly, “the coolest biofuel is produced. thing about this process is Carbohydrates were that we’re actually making extracted by scraping and rivers and lakes healthier drying the algae and were by growing and harvest- converted to natural sug- ing the raw material.” Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 47

New Developments New role of microbes in biofuel production The focus of the experiment was to induce the mi- crobes under the study to produce a specific kind of proteins rather than what they otherwise might be in- clined to produce. This special protein could be re- fined in to biofuel. The task was to make the microbes produce only this kind of protein rather than utilizing it for their own growth and growth related activities as they otherwise do. This has been claimed as the first ever attempt to use the proteins as a source for generating energy. The scientists have tampered with usual nitrogen metabo- new research has led to a new discovery of getting lism process and induced biorefining process and al- A the microbes to produce fuel from the proteins in- tered the metabolizing of nitrogen at the cellular level, stead of utilizing the protein for its own growth. as published in Nature Biotechnology. Indian scientists develop nanocomposite that clean air team of scientists at the Indian A Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar have developed a nanocomposite material that can selectively convert environmental carbon monoxide into less toxic car- bon dioxide. The new composite material is made of graphene and alloy of plat- inum and palladium in the form of nanoparticles. Graphene was used as substrate and then ‘decorated’ with alloy nanoparticles of plati- num and palladium. The novel cat- alytic structure was then used for varied along with the flow rate of The new material could po- selective oxidation of CO into CO . CO as well as temperature, show- tentially find use in chemical in- 2 The use of metal particle of certain ing full conversion at temperatures dustries as well as environmental orientation which absorb or inter- ranging from 75 to 125 degrees. cleaning, researchers said. act with CO at lower energy helped the conversion. ‘Green’ approach to make ammonia The study was done by re- he University of Central Florida (UCF) research team with collabora- searchers from IIT Gandhinagar, Ttors at Virginia Tech have developed a new “green” approach to mak- in collaboration with scientists ing ammonia that may help make feeding the rising world population from IIT Kanpur and University of more sustainable. Campinas, Brazil. The research re- sults have been published in jour- There are many efforts to pursue ammonia synthesis under milder con- nal Nanoscale of the Royal Society ditions, and one of them is to use electrical energy. In an electrochemical of Chemistry. method at room temperature, active electrons are used to drive the reac- The catalytic behaviour of the tion with water as the hydrogen source, but the electrons passing through nanocomposite was studied using an electrode cannot be efficiently used and the reaction rate is very low. different morphologies for the oxi- The research has discovered a new mechanism whereby electrons can dation of CO. The conversion rate be more efficiently used via the catalyst of palladium hydride. This new 48 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018

New Developments approach may not only provide a new route for ammonia synthesis with minimal electrical en- ergy, but also inspire peer researchers to use the principle to address other challenging reactions for renewable energy conversion, such as turn- ing carbon dioxide into fuels. The work was supported by the UCF Start- up Fund, the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund and the National Science Foundation CBET Catalysis Program. The team has been granted synchrotron beam time at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory facility in California this summer to further investigate the mechanism. Indian scientists develop nanomaterial to treat wastewater team of researchers led by Dr. A Ramavatar Meena at the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar, India, have created carbon-based cleaning pro- cess fully green by using seaweeds as starting material. They have syn- thesised graphene-iron sulfide nano- composite from abundantly found seaweed — Ulva fasciata – through direct pyrolysis technique. Seaweeds are known as carbon sinks. In some earlier studies, bio- mass of Ulva fasciata has been direct- ly employed for adsorbing copper and zinc ions from water but the up- take capacities were relatively low. This problem was resolved by deriv- ing thin carbon sheets from seaweed at very high temperature. These gra- phene sheets were doped with iron. The nanocompos- maximum adsorption capacity of 645 mg per gram for ite obtained from seaweed showed a very high adsorp- lead was achieved at neutral pH. This is the highest tion capacity for various cationic and anionic dyes as ever reported for any biomass derived carbon mate- well as lead and chromium. rial, scientists have claimed in their study published in Journal of Hazardous Materials. It could also remove The nanocomposite can be used in up to eight clean- ing cycles, with only nominal loss of its adsorption ca- highly toxic hexavalent chromium from wastewater. pacity. Even mixed dyes could also be adsorbed. A Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018 49

New Developments New catalyst could turbocharge high-performance fuel cells ngineers at Georgia Institute of Technology have developed nanotechnol- Eogy that could speed up the process of oxygen-induced fuelling with the help of a catalyst. The catalyst was capable of achieving the speed through a fuel cell system that causes the oxygen to flow easily. Moreover, this process also helped in lowering the temperature which eliminated the cost of expensive cooling materials and protective casings. Additionally, calcium, and cobalt and PBCC – a catalytic function increased the life of fuel cell devices over lanthanum, strontium, cobalt, and iron (LSCF). A Pt-free electrode for making H First bio-based FDME pilot plant operational 2 from water he world’s first pilot plant for manufacturing bio-based furan P rofessor Ryoichi Ito at the Tdicarboxylic methyl ester (FDME) began operating recently in Decatur, Ill, USA University of Tsukuba, in col- laboration with Osaka University and It’s a collaboration between DuPont Industrial Biosciences and Tohoku University, have developed Archer Daniels Midland Co. The 60-ton/yr pilot facility represents non-noble-metal electrodes capable of the next step in an ongoing commercialization process for bio-based performing the H -evolution reaction FDME. 2 (HER) as efficiently as conventional Pt/C electrodes, even under acidic con- Bio-based FDME is made ditions, as published in ACS Catalyst. from cornstarch-derived The new electrodes use nitrogen-doped fructose starting material, graphene sheets to encapsulate a NiMo and will be used to make a alloy electrode. Unlike other graphene- range of bio-based chemi- based electrodes, the Tsukuba system cals and plastics. The fructose incorporates nanometer-sized holes, is dehydrated and the prod- which are ringed by chemically active ucts from the reaction are oxi- ridges known as fringes. These fringe dized to form furan dicarbox- defects are more hydrophillic than nor- ylic acid (FDCA). The FDCA mal graphene, so they attract H O ions is then reacted with metha- + 3 in the acid solution, which are involved nol, resulting in FDME. One in the HER reaction mechanism. The of the first FDME-based poly- fringes also adsorb H atoms, thereby mers under development by providing extra surface area for an- DuPont is polytrimethylene other HER process. As a result, the H furandicarboxylate (PTF), a 2 is generated as efficiently as with the novel polyester also made more expensive Pt/C electrode, and the from DuPont’s proprietary remaining hole-free part of graphene Bio-PDO (1,3-propanediol). Research by the two companies shows protects the metals from corroding in that PTF has up to 10–15 times the CO barrier performance of tra- 2 the acid. ditional PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic, which results in a longer shelf life. 50 Chemical Industry Digest. June 2018