Alkali BulletinAlkali Bulletin(For Restricted Circulation) November 2018Volume XL No. 11

Dear Reader,

The Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals (DCPC) convened a meeting recently to discuss measures to restrict imports aimed at reducing India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD). The CAD has been rising and stood at US$ 19.1 billion in Q2 of 2018-19 compared to US$ 6.9 billion in Q2 of 2017-18. The increase in CAD was primarily due to the large trade deficit at US$ 50 billion, an increase of 50% over a year.

The meeting held by JS (Chem), DCPC discussed the scope for reducing non-essential imports as a step to reduce outgo of foreign exchange. It was no surprise that caustic soda and soda ash topped the list of chemicals with huge imports despite the country having adequate capacity to meet the entire domestic demand.

While volume of imports have been increasing over the years, the value of imports have consistently been over Rs.1,400 crores for caustic soda and above Rs.1,000 crores for soda ash for the past over five years.

Data for the past five years show that imports of caustic soda as a share of domestic demand has been about 15% and for soda ash consistently at nearly 20% in all years. These are significantly high considering that domestic capacity has always been adequate to meet demand. Capacity utilisation during the five-year period had been 82% for caustic soda and almost the same at 83% for soda ash. With new capacities being added in caustic soda and soda ash every year (including greenfield projects), it is necessary to ensure that the huge investments being made by the industry are protected through decent returns and healthy utilisation of capacities. In a sense, capacity additions have kept pace with growing demand and the Indian alkali industry have lived up to the spirit of the Make in India programme.

The chemical industry have always received unstinted support from DCPC and this was again evident in the meeting to review measures to curb non-essential imports. Disappointingly, the measures announced by the government did not cover any chemicals.

The notification on caustic soda standards announced in early April 2018 were finally implemented at the ports towards the end of September 2018 though it was to be enforced with immediate effect (in April itself). The domestic industry was already geared to meet the entire demand much before the notification was issued. The curbs on inferior and non-compliant quality imports was a welcome relief.

K. Srinivasan Secretary General

I. ARTICLES & FEATURES

An Overview of Global Vinyl & Chlor-Alkali Industry – 7th China Internatinal Chlor-Alkali 2 Conference held on 17-19 October, 2018 in Kunming, Yunnan – A Report by Harjeet Kaur Anand, Joint Director (Tech.), AMAI

Corrosion Prevention by Alteration of Environment - Dr. S.K. Chakravorty, Consultant (Plant Engineering) 10

Indian Peroxide Limited launches 125 TPD hydrogen peroxide manufacturing plant in Gujarat 18

Wastewater treatment – Need of the hour in India - Sujay Elangovan, Co-Founder and Director, 19 Biznustek Systems Pvt. Ltd.

Government keen on reducing chemical imports; tweaking PCPIR policy to boost domestic production 21

Report on celebration of International Day for Disaster Reduction 2018 at Century Rayon 24

AMAI conducted Safety Assessment of Johnson Matthey’s Chlorine Plant, Navi Mumbai 24

Incident Report No.103: Chlorine leakage due to Mal - Operation of Liquid Chlorine Storage Tank 26

Beacon-Messages for Manufacturing Personnel 27

II. NEWS DIGESTGeneral

Suresh Prabhu indicates improvement in India’s rankings 29

India can seek duty cuts from China on 200 items 29

Depreciating rupee comes as no solace to exporters 29

India, US talks ongoing to resolve trade issues 30

Commerce Ministry looking at sops to level playing field for exporters 30

India needs to export more to the US to contain CAD 30

Trade deficit at 5-month low despite oil pressures 31

Saudi Arabia, UAE reiterate investment plans in India 31

Caribbean to test greenhouse-gas linked ocean acidity 32

India feels RCEP may frame tighter rules on state-owned enterprises 32

India to buy Iran oil despite US curbs threats, pay not in $ but Rs 33

Petrochemicals driving surge in oil demand: IEA 33

Commerce Ministry to focus on nine key sectors to promote exports 34

SEZ rules eased for merger of units, minimum area requirement 34

India becomes second largest solar market 34

Oil India’s crude production up 3.5% in 2017-18 34

Chlorine Emergency Response Network Toll free no. 1800-11-1735

CONTENTS

Chemicals and Petrochemicals

Air quality better after closure of Sterlite plant 35

Chemical industry may reach $304b by FY25 35

New President of Chemical Council 35

Henkel commits to 100% recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by 2025 35

Member Units

thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions bags Tata Chemicals’ caustic soda upgradation project 35

III. UPCOMING SEMINARS/CONFERENCES/WORKSHOPSArgus Media to organise Chlor-Alkali Conference 2019 on 29-30 January 2019 in London - 36 AMAI is Supporting Partner

Alkali Bulletin Novem

ber, 2018

Disclaimer: Information published in this magazine is reproduced from various sources. Every effort is made to minimize errors while reproducing for publication in Alkali Bulletin. However, readers are requested to verify and make appropriate enquiries and satisfy themselves about the veracity of information published in this magazine before use. The publisher or AMAI will not be responsible for decisions taken by readers based on information published in Alkali Bulletin.

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We often think of process safety as being about containment and control of hazardous material. This is an important part of process safety, but control of hazardous energy is also important. Some examples of hazardous energy that you might have in your plant include: Kinetic energy from high speed rotating equipment such as

pumps, compressors, fans, centrifuges, or centrifugal extractors.

Electrical energy High pressure, such as compressed air and other gases, or

high pressure steam High temperature Potential energy from gravity – for example, the failure of a

large tank full of liquid can cause major damage even if the liquid is not hazardous. In 1919, the failure of a molasses tank in Boston sent a wave of molasses 15 feet (5 m) high through part of the city resulting in 21 fatalities and over 150 injuries (May 2007 Beacon).

With your co-workers, make a list of all of the hazardous energy sources in your plant. Be sure that you all understand the operating, inspection, and preventive maintenance systems in place to manage the risk associated with those hazards.

Understand your role in ensuring that the hazardous energy safeguards in your plant are robust and functioning properly.

Many high speed machines have vibration sensors with alarms or shutdown interlocks. Make sure these are not bypassed without following your plant Temporary Management of Change (MOC) procedures.

If you are responsible for inspecting or maintaining hazardous energy equipment, follow all of the specified procedures diligently, and report any concerns that you have to your management and technical staff.

This issue sponsored by

http://www.aiche.org/CCPS/Publications/Beacon/index.aspxMessages for Manufacturing Personnel

Process safety – control hazardous material AND energy!

www.aiche.org/ccps

October 2018

©AIChE 2018. All rights reserved. Reproduction for non-commercial, educational purposes is encouraged. However, reproduction for any commercial purpose without express written consent of AIChE is strictly prohibited. Contact us at ccps_beacon@aiche.org or 646-495-1371.

The Beacon is usually available in Afrikaans, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Filipino, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Marathi, Mongolian, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.

Hazardous Energy!On April 17, 2018 a commercial airliner flying from New York to Dallas had a major failure of the left engine over

eastern Pennsylvania. Fragments of the engine inlet and cowling (1) struck the wing (2) and fuselage, causing significant damage. One passenger window was blown out (3) causing rapid depressurization of the passenger cabin. The flight crew was able to conduct an emergency descent, and landed at Philadelphia airport. One passenger was fatally injured and eight others received minor injuries. The preliminary US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report on the incident indicated that one of the engine fan blades had failed, with failure characteristics consistent with metal fatigue.

The fan in a jet engine is a piece of high speed rotating equipment, and contains a lot of kinetic energy (energy of motion). If there is a failure, pieces of metal shrapnel can cause major damage, and can travel a long distance. Many process plants also contain high speed rotating equipment – for example, compressors, centrifuges, and centrifugal extractors. This equipment could be subject to a failure similar to this jet engine failure. Process safety management systems must include systems to identify these hazards, and ensure proper design, fabrication, inspection, and maintenance of high energy equipment.

Did You Know? What Can You Do?

http://www.dekra-process-safety.com/

Photos taken from reference: US National Transportation Safety Board Investigative Update, Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 Engine Failure, DCA18MA142 SWA1380 INVESTIGATIVE UPDATE (https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/SWA1380-DCA18MA142-Investigative-Update.pdf).

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Published by ALKALI MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION OF INDIA3rd Floor, Pankaj Chambers, Preet Vihar Commercial Complex, Vikas Marg, Delhi 110092Ph: 011- 22432003, 22410150Email: hkanand@ama-india.org; info@ama-india.org;website: www.ama-india.org

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