The future of petrochemicals in India is poised to be shaped by innovation, sustainability, and strategic investments, setting the stage for significant economic growth and global competitiveness. The demand for petrochemical products is set to soar, driven by sectors such as automotive, construction, healthcare, and consumer goods.

Leading stakeholders recently discussed how by addressing environmental challenges, investing in infrastructure, and embracing technological advancements, India can position itself as a global leader in the petrochemical sector at the 4th edition of NextGen Chemical and Petrochemical Summit 2024 organized by the Indian Chemical News in Mumbai on July 11-12, 2024.   

The fifth session, ‘Future of Petrochemicals’ was moderated by Udeep Agarwal, Principal, Kearney who shared an overview of the industry.  

Dr Partha P Maitra, President - Strategy & Initiatives, Reliance Industries Limited explains various futuristic technologies that are highly relevant for recyclability and sustainability. He shared insights on the energy efficiency in terms of H-crackers, durable polymers, biochemicals and other technologies.

"Industry must focus on materials of tomorrow and the chemicals for the future. One of the very disruptive innovations is RDR (RotoDynamic Rector) and EDH (Ethane Dehydrogenation). Industry should not invest in the old technology based crackers otherwise there will be a lot of emissions which won’t fit the net zero criteria. Next we have the engineering polymer where we substitute the metals such as steel and aluminium with high strength and weight ratio polymers already used in aero-space. These are used for maximum strength. At Reliance, we do a lot of mechanical recycling but the ultimate aim is to do chemical recycling of plastic waste where we can either have pyrolysis in order to make the steam cracker feed or depolymerization that is recycling to monomer stage or solvent treating to recycling to polymer stage itself.

“There are two pyrolysis technologies that are very interesting. One uses supercritical water instead of fuel in order to do pyrolysis. There is another technology to form the olefinic vapours from recycling by bypassing the cracker heater furnace and going directly to the cold section. Next is depolymerization. Polystyrene can be recycled and used as styrene again through catalytic and microbial processes depolymerization and solvent treating.

“It is essentially dry cleaning of polyester or Polyethylene terephthalate (PET). We can produce biodegradable and compostable products from fossil or biomass. Two examples are Polycaprolactone (PCL) and Polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) from fossils. We can also use the biodegradable PLA with 50% market share and polybutylene succinate (PBS) which has 40% market share. Fermentation, pyrolysis and gasification are the three processes through which you can produce ethylene and propylene. We are always short on refining but we are scaling up to 1.2 million metric tonnes and require enough feedstock to reduce the dependency," said Maitra.

P. V. Ravitej, Executive Director, Bharat Petroleum Corporation emphasized the need for increased focus on petrochemical manufacturing, thereby boosting exports and reducing the dependency on imports.

Ravitej explained: "It is our priority to meet the utilization of the common man. With decrease in growth of gasoline and diesel by 2020, the focus will be more on petrochemicals. The transition towards petrochemicals was at 5-6% intensity and now to 15-16% by 2030, and then 40% level in 25 years. This will result in a decrease in import dependency. Until now we have been focusing on refining rather than making more petrochemicals. However, now after meeting our fuel requirements, we need to rise to the occasion to meet the demand.

“The government policies including establishment of PCPIRs and incentives such as the PLI scheme are helping India to become a petrochemical hub. Going forward, there is a need for modernization of technology and creating a manufacturing hub for catalysts. The companies are increasingly adopting digital technologies, automation, and AI to optimize production processes, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. Ensuring a stable supply of raw materials like naphtha and natural gas is crucial. Emphasis on green and sustainable practices, including recycling and waste management, is becoming integral to the sector's development."

Bimlesh Gupta, CGM - Technical Services, Numaligarh Refinery Limited spoke about his company’s trailblazing project to produce biofuel and green chemicals from biomass.  

"In Northeast India there is abundant availability of bamboo, amounting to closer to 60% of the share in India. We are using just 0.3 million tonnes out of 55 million tonnes of bamboo produced. Bamboo itself is made of up three parts, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. We produce lignin from the bamboo as the cellulose undergoes enzymatic fermentation process. Our plant with 49 KTPA of ethanol is expected to get commissioned by September 2024 and it will take another 3-4 months for full-fledged operations.  We have two byproducts, acetic acid and Furfural. While we have a deficit of Acetic acid as we import 80% of it, the Furfural demand is not much but we can convert it into Furfural alcohol. Biocoal can be used in power generation.

“We have recently signed a MoU with NTPC to set up a bio-refinery Salakati in Assam. The strategic partnership is in the area of green chemicals and green projects, wherein the opportunities would be explored in the proposed bamboo-based bio-refinery at NTPC Bongaigaon and other green projects. The two Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), through this MoU, intend to enhance their footprint in this area, and foray into sustainable solutions to advance the efforts towards achieving Net-Zero targets and be partners in the development of the North-east region."

The Summit was supported by DCM Shriram Chemicals as principal partner, Somaiya Vidyavihar University as academia partner, Cadmatic as platinum partner and Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB), Govt. of Andhra Pradesh as state partner.

Gold partners for NextGen Chemicals & Petrochemicals were Epsilon Carbon, Forbes Marshall, Gharda Chemicals, Indofil Industries, Ingenero, IPCO, Jaaji Technologies, Moglix, PIP, Port of Antwerp - Bruges, RIECO and Re Sustainability. Associate Partners are: HPCL and Nuberg EPC.

Supporting partners included Aarayaa Advisory Services, Archroma, India Glycols and Tata Steel Special Economic Zone and industry association partners are: ACFI, AMAI, CropLife India, Gujarat Chemical Association and PMFAI.