Chemical industry in India has been gearing up to match the global expectations on sustainability practices such as water reduction, waste recycling, cutting down pollution and emissions, minimizing hazardous leaks and overall impact on the environment. Experts are of the opinion that sustainable development must meet the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. 

 “The whole world order is changing and climate change is hitting us now. We therefore need to adapt to the changes happening on the planet and start working on solutions right now. I think largely the chemical industry has the solutions for sustainability challenges that are thrown at us. Our solutions can include more energy efficient homes, reduce the demand for fuels on ground, energy durability of materials, and make processes more efficient. Chemicals carry the power to enable sustainability. Challenge is that we need to think beyond the normal,” says Rahul Tikoo, Managing Director, -South Asia, Huntsman India International.

 Tikoo spoke along with other industry captains on the role of sustainability in the chemical manufacturing processes and R& D at the ‘NextGen Chemicals & Petrochemicals Summit 2022’ organized by Indian Chemical News on July 21, 2022. The panel discussion at the inaugural session themed, “Driving Sustainable Growth for Chemicals and Petrochemicals”; was moderated by Pravin Prashant, Editor, Indian Chemical News.

 Tikoo mentioned further: “To convert the hope into reality, we need to sharpen our research capabilities, ability to think differently and beyond cross innovation. While the R& D accounts for the total 3-5% of the product cost, it also influences about 80% of how the products are sourced. Therefore, the potential impact around sustainable portfolio would always start with how we develop the future portfolio around sustainable ambitions. If you look at the traditional design to cost approach I think it should transform to design to value.

We should focus on the design for sustainability approach. Organizations should tweak their exposure towards sustainability tailwinds and this will help them to create better enterprise value to revenue valuations, and stay relevant in terms of green portfolio to address needs of our future generations.” 

“Miralon technology launched by Huntsman helps in reducing the amount of carbon being released in the environment through production sites. The process helps in breaking down methane gas to produce versatile carbon material that is stronger than steel and can be used in construction, transportation and renewable energy ambitions. NASA recently endorsed the product by using this technology in the launch of UNO. This is not just the focus on the product portfolio but the processes around us. In terms of product portfolio and raw materials we have upscaled a low quality PET scrap and converted it into an energy saving insulating material. In the past seven years we have used 7 billion PET bottles which is good enough to insulate 70,000 homes across the world,” Tikoo added.

B Narayan, Group President, Reliance Industries believes that chemical companies across the board must be concerned about the depletion of resources, protection of environment and economic sustainability. 

“We need to build methods to reduce the depletion of earth’s resources. Few of the ways for reduction in consumption of natural resources are through reduce, recycle, reuse, re-process, recovery, regenerate and rejuvenate. As an example, 500 ml of nano urea can replace 45 kg of urea. There is emphasis on reduction of water and even sanitary waste is being used for recycling of water. 10-15% of the polymers and petrochemicals are recycled currently. About 90% of PET is recycled through mechanical processes,” said Narayan.

 “Upscaling of PET bottles and process to make fibre filled products. We do chemical recycling by taking the PET bottle which is a polymer and we make monomers or oligomers through the glycolysis or methanolysis process. That monomer is injected along with regular monomer. Today recycling is cost effective in India, almost 10-15% and is expected to go up to 50%. In India there is no provision for storage of Co2 as compared to western countries. The release of Co2 into the environment has led to temperature increase. We are working on decarbonization and wherever possible we use hydrogen for our applications.

“We are working on hydrogen bi-electrolysis and coal based hydrogen. Same hydrogen can be used to make ammonia and urea. The steel industry is using hydrogen instead of coal,” added Narayan. 

“I believe that sustainable chemistry doesn’t come only by harnessing the chemistry but also by coupling the power of biology and physics in a way that has been only dreamt of before,” said Maulik Mehta, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director, Deepak Nitrite.

Mehta explains: “We have to develop solutions in a way where we are able to take inspiration from nature to design our products. We must consider the power of physics while doing sustainable chemical reactions. Future requires a confluence of chemistry, biology and physics. In terms of energy, we will achieve a major breakthrough when we are able to transport the hydrogen via a powder.

Similarly harnessing solar energy in a faster way is the need of the hour. The new developments such as new material for solar panels raises hopes.  The infrastructure of the future can be developed by India if we tap the opportunities. Incredible opportunities such as entrepreneurial grit, domestic consumption and export opportunities for development of polymers and monomers which will create a particular kind of properties more suitable for the sustainable future of the world. Government policies, industrial and academic learnings. Let’s be collaborative and open minded rather than being closed or inward looking.”

During the last two decades there has been a significant shift in the global specialty chemical industries, particularly in Asia that has gained supremacy over developed countries. The key drivers include cost advantages in emerging markets in terms of equipment, labor and logistics as well as stricter regulatory norms than western countries, said Rajendra V Gogri, Chairman and Managing Director, Aarti Industries.

“The companies are optimizing their supply chains and exploring opportunities to stay closer to demand centres. In India, the per capita consumption of specialty chemicals is far lesser than the global average. Currently 30% of the chemical requirement is fulfilled by imports. The import substitution and government’s push towards Atmanirbhar Bharat is aiding this growth. India’s chemicals export was US$ 25 billion in FY2022 as compared to US$ 14 billon in FY2014. In less than a decade, we have seen 100% growth. Specialty chemicals dominate the chemical exports. Reduction of corporate tax, PLI scheme, 100% FDI automatic route, PCPIR scheme indicate a better future of the industry. Domestic industry is strong in segments such agrochemical, API, dyes and pigments. However, for a sustainable future, we need to target the new green chemistry based products,” Gogri added.

 “Usually sustainability as a concept is founded on three pillars: social, economic as well as environmental. When we talk about 17 sustainable development goals, there are six different types of transformation that we need across the globe in order to achieve them,” said Dr Vaibhav Diwan, Global Business Development Manager, GPC Group.

 “In order to meet the needs of the present generation we must not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. One of the significant changes that is talked about is the energy de-carbonization in sustainable industries. When we talk about regulatory practices in the chemical industry, there are many voluntary as well as mandatory ones. There are regulations that fall in the category of technical barriers to trade. One of the fundamental principles is to safeguard human health,” added Dr Diwan.

Pravin Prashant, Editor, Indian Chemical News who welcomed the speakers and delegates highlighted the importance of the summit.

“As per the statistics, the chemical industry covering 80,000 commercial products presently stands at US$ 80 billion and is looking at reaching US$ 304 billion by 2025. India is 6th largest producer of chemicals globally and 3rd largest in terms of output in Asia. Ranked 3rd globally in terms of agrochemicals, it caters to 16% of active pharma ingredients, global dyestuff and dye intermediate production. In terms of specialty chemicals, we contribute to 22% of the chemical and petrochemical market. These numbers are achievable and captains of the industry are tirelessly working to achieve these. The country needs to stay competitive. The Indian chemical industry is moving ahead in their rights protecting players and needs to focus on sustainability,” said Prashant. 

Presenting his vote of thanks, Yogesh Joshi, Director, Indian Chemical News appreciated the speakers and delegates for taking out time to be a part of the summit,

 The NextGen Chemicals & Petrochemicals Summit 2022 was supported by the leading names of the industry. The platinum partner was Elliot Group. Regulatory Knowledge Partner was GPC. Gold partners of the event included Deepak Nitrite, Ingenero, Premier Tech and Carbanio. Among the associate partners were PIP and Huntsman. The industry partners of the event included AMAI, Croplife India, and ACFI.