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Shell announces new catalytic process to make monoethylene Glycol MEG [ 16 Jun, 2008]
Shell is delighted to announce the first start-up using its new Shell OMEGA (Only Mono-Ethylene Glycol Advanced) process technology. This process uses catalytic conversion of ethylene oxide to monoethylene glycol (MEG) as opposed to the traditional thermal conversion approach. The start-up took place at Lotte Daesan's chemical manufacturing facility in Daesan, Korea on 21 May. The start-up was a success with no major problems encountered.
"I am very pleased to see Shell Global Solutions' new OMEGA technology up and running in a commercial unit. This is the culmination of considerable research and development over many years and it is excellent to see the value this offers our customers. The fact that the Lotte 400 kta MEG plant, which is based on new first-of-its-kind Shell OMEGA technology, was started up within a week of its scheduled start-up date is a major achievement and demonstrates the professionalism of Lotte and all other parties involved," commented Ben Ramakers, Global Manager Ethylene Oxide and Derivatives Technology, Shell Global Solutions.
"The fast and smooth start-up of the Lotte 400 kta MEG plant based on Shell OMEGA technology reflects the excellent preparation by Lotte Daesan Petrochemical and Shell for this project and demonstrates Lotte's commitment to exploiting leading technology at our operations," said Hokyung Lee, Project Manager of Lotte Petrochemical Company.
Shell Global Solutions is a division of the Shell Group that provides business and operational consultancy, catalysts, process and basic design, technical services and research and development expertise to the energy and processing industries worldwide. Besides providing services to the Shell Group companies, Shell Global Solutions offers technical support to selected third party companies.
India Glycols to invest over Rs 300 cr on capex [ 07 Apr, 2008]
Leading alcohol producer, India Glycol will invest over Rs 300 crore in this fiscal to raise its capacity in line with its plan to clock a turnover of Rs 2,000 crore in 2008-09 fiscal.
The company is undertaking capacity expansion initiatives in its manufacturing facilities located in Kashipur, Saharanpur and Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. Besides this, it is also setting up a greenfield herbal extraction unit in Dehradun, Uttrakhand.
"We will invest Rs 170 crore in the Shakumbari Sugar to enhance its distillery, power generation and crushing capacities. This acquisition is a first step towards attaining a complete backward integration for the company," India Glycol's Managing Director U S Bhartia told PTI.
The company had acquired Shakumbari Sugar and Allied Industries for Rs 47 crore in December 2007. It has a crushing capacity of 3,200 tonnes per day (tcd) along with a modern distillery of 40 kl per day (KLPD).
India Glycol would be investing in the company to raise its sugarcane crushing capacity to 8,000 tcd from 3,200 tcd and distillery capacity to 300klpd from 40klpd.
"We had also undertaken a de-bottlenecking initiative, under which we plan to increase capacity to produce mono ethylene glycols (MEG) by 20 per cent to 120,000 mtpa in Kashipur Uttrakhand. For this the investment is Rs 50 crore," Bhartia said.
With a view to diversify its product portfolio, the company is entering into the herbal products segment by setting a green field project in Dehradun, Uttrakhand. "Also, we are in the process of diversifying our product portfolio and get into herbal products. A 100 per cent export oriented herbal extraction unit in Dehradun is being set up at an investment of Rs 40 crore," Bhartia said.
Moreover, the company plans to start purifying carbon dioxide, a distillery byproduct, from March 2008 for which it is investing another Rs 50 crore.
"With all our de-bottlenecking and capex initiatives, we are expecting around 25-30 per cent growth in our topline and it may across Rs 2,000 crore in the current fiscal," Bhartia said.
Source: Asia Pulse
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