Wednesday, July 4, 2012

FORECAST

'India's bioethanol output this year likely to rise 29%'

The country's ethanol production from sugar molasses is likely to increase by 29% to 2,170-mn litres in 2012 on the back of higher sugar production, says a new report released by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

India is estimated to manufacture 26-mt of sugar in the 2011-12 marketing year (MY) ending September, higher than the domestic demand of 22-mt.

Total supply of bioethanol in the country is expected to be 3,006-mn litres, including import of 80-mn litres of ethanol this year, the USDA said in the report. The domestic consumption of bioethanol is estimated to rise marginally by 4.5% to 2,085-mn litres this year from 1,995-mn litres in 2011, it said.

Ethanol production in India depends largely on availability of sugar molasses, a by-product of sugar production. Out of 330 distilleries in India, the USDA noted that about 140 have the capacity to distil around 2-bn litres of conventional ethanol per year.

"The Indian government may renew its focus and strongly implement the mandatory 5% ethanol blending in petrol, provided there is consensus among stakeholders on the purchase price of ethanol for EBP. Presently, only three-fifths of total facilities are actually supplying ethanol, severely constraining the supply of ethanol for the ethanol blending programme (EBP)," the report said.

Consequently, molasses stocks are being diverted to Europe for cattle feed. Short supplies of sugar molasses in preceding years (before MY 2010/11) had constrained ethanol production and consequent higher prices made it unviable to supply ethanol to petroleum companies at the negotiated prices, it added.

Biodiesel scenario

Commenting on the biodiesel scene in the country, the report states that slow progress in jatropha planting has resulted in lower availability of jatropha seeds to be used as feedstock for biodiesel production and hence most of the biodiesel units are not operational most of the year. "There are about 20 large-capacity biodiesel plants (10,000-tpa to 200,000-tpa) in India that produce biodiesel from alternative feedstocks such as edible oil waste (unusable oil fractions), animal fat and inedible oils," the report revealed.

Presently, commercial production and marketing of jatropha-based biodiesel in India is small, with estimates varying from 140 to 300 million litres per year. The biodiesel produced is sold to the unorganised sector (irrigation pumps, mobile towers, kilns, agricultural usage, owners of diesel generators, etc) and to experimental projects carried out by automobile manufacturers and transport companies. However, as per industry sources, there has been no commercial sale of biodiesel to state-owned transport companies except for trials, the report said.

Additionally, there has been no commercial sale of biodiesel across the biodiesel purchase centres (set up by the government) as the government biodiesel purchase price of Rs. 26.5 per litre is still below the estimated biodiesel finished production cost (Rs. 35 to Rs. 40 per litre). "Unavailability of feedstock supply (jatropha seeds), rising wage rates and inefficient marketing channels are a few of the major factors that have contributed to higher production costs,' the report said.

WATER SHORTAGE

Grasim likely to suspend stable fibre production at Nagda plant

Aditya Birla group firm, Grasim Industries, said it may suspend staple fibre production at its Nagda plant in Madhya Pradesh from July 3 due to water shortage. The company said "delay in onset of monsoon and consequential water shortage" had forced it to curtail production from July 1. The company's chlor-alkali plant at Nagda has also curtailed production at about 50% of its rated capacity of 2.58 lakh tonnes per annum. Last year too the company had to shut the plant down for a limited period due to water shortage.

Apart from the Nagda plant, the company has two other staple fibre facilities at Kharach in Gujarat and Harihar in Karnataka. The total production capacity of the three plants currently stands at 3.3 lakh tonnes per annum.

CLEAN CHIT

US court absolves Union Carbide of pollution liability in Bhopal

In a setback to 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy victims, a US court has held that neither Union Carbide nor its former Chairman Mr. Warren Anderson was liable for environmental remediation or pollution-related claims at the firm's former chemical plant in Bhopal.

US District Judge, Mr. John Keena in Manhattan, dismissed a lawsuit accusing the company of causing soil and water pollution around the Bhopal plant due to the disaster, and ruled that Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) and Mr. Anderson were not liable for remediation or pollution-related claims.

The court ruled that it was Union Carbide India Ltd., and not its parent company UCC, that was responsible for the generation and disposal of the waste that polluted drinking water, and the liability rests with the State government.

NEW APPOINTMENT

Mahesh Rao takes over Nalco Water India' MD

Leading water treatment firm, Nalco Water India Ltd, has announced the appointment of Mr. Mahesh Rao as Managing Director. He took over from Mr. Alok Kumar Bhadra, who will join Ecolab's Asia Pacific marketing team as Heavy Industry Marketing lead. Ecolab Inc, the US-based maker of cleaning chemicals had acquired Nalco last year.

Mr. Rao is a chemical engineer and has been with Nalco for 26 years, working with the Sales (Australia) and Regional Marketing (located out of Singapore and China) teams. He will relocate to India to take on his new role at Nalco Water India Ltd. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Rao led marketing for Nalco's water business in India and chemical business unit for the Asia Pacific region.

Abhijit Roy to head Berger Paints

The Kolkata-based Berger Paints India has elevated Mr. Abhijit Roy as its new Managing Director with effect from July 1. He is the company's Director and Chief Operating Officer.

Mr. Roy took over from the company's current MD, Mr. Subir Bose, who retired on June 30, 2012. Mr. Bose, who has held the position of MD since 1994, has been appointed as Additional Director of the company.


COLORANTS

Dyes & intermediates exports show robust growth despite economic slowdown

India has emerged as a global supplier of dyes and dye intermediates, particularly for reactive, acid, vat, direct dyes and pigments. The country now accounts for approximately 8% of the world production, while Gujarat accounts for more than 70% of the Indian production.

This was stated by the outgoing President of the Gujarat Dyestuff Manufacturers' Association (GDMA), Mr. Shankerbhai Patel, at the executive committee meeting of GDMA held in Ahmedabad recently.

However, he pointed out that the industry was going through a critical phase due to adverse impact of devaluation of Rupee. Moreover the growth rate has also declined to 6%, compared to 9% earlier. "In spite of this, the export of dyes & dye intermediates for the period 2011-12 (up to January 2012) was worth Rs. 15,395-crore, compared to export value of Rs. 10,619-crore in 2010-11 (up to January 2011)," he said.

Awards presented

The Association also gave away awards for exceptional export performance by member companies during the financial year 2010-11. Asahi Songwon Colors Ltd bagged the 'Star Exporter of the Year' award for earning of highest foreign exchange for export of dyes & dye intermediates. Other awards, trophies and certificate of merit were presented to various companies by Mr. Mahendrabhai Patel, CMD, Mamata Group of Industries.

ASSOCIATION ACTIVITIES

R. S. Patel takes over as new President, GDMA

Mr. R. S. Patel of McFills Enterprises P. Ltd. was elected as the new President of the Gujarat Dyestuff Manufacturers' Association (GDMA) for the year 2012-2013. The election took place at the executive committee meeting of GDMA held in Ahmedabad recently. Mr. Jatin Patel will be the new Honorary Secretary.

FOSTERING INNOVATION

DRDO to bring together young minds for research

In a new initiative, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is bringing together 30-40 bright young scientists from its different labs to one centre to focus on developing new technologies. This group of scientists will converge at IIT Madras Research Park in Chennai. They will work closely with the academia and the industry present in the park to crystallise projects and undertake research work. The initiative is expected to take off by August 15. The core areas of research are being finalised. The objective is to leverage strengths of the academia-industry-research triad to ensure that critical technologies that cannot be imported or obtained are developed quickly.

DRDO has nearly 50 national research laboratories distributed across the country. Its research focus covers a broad spectrum from missiles to readymade foods for soldiers in tough locales.

The IIT Madras Research Park is modelled along the lines of successful research parks at Stanford and MIT in the US. It focuses not just on incubation efforts, but also fosters innovation in established research and development driven companies. The park is adjacent to IIT Madras and located over a 42-acre plot.

JOINT EFFORT

Australian and Indian governments to fund collaborative research projects

Top scientists in India and Australia will receive funding for cutting-edge research in fields that include environment science, materials science, stem cells and vaccines as part of a joint programme. The Australian and Indian governments will support thirteen new collaborative projects and seven joint workshops through the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund. From a total Australian commitment to the fund of Aus$64-mn, the Australian government has committed Rs. 23 crores (Aus$4.37-mn) to these new projects and workshops. The Government of India will fund the Indian teams' participation.

The Australian high commissioner to India, Mr. Peter Varghese, said, "This program brings together leading scientists in both countries for truly world-class research. This is Australia's largest science fund with any country and one of India's largest sources of support for international science."

Participating institutions in India include, but are not limited to, Banaras Hindu University, National Chemical Laboratory, National Centre for Cell Science, IIT Mumbai, IIT Roorkee, Immunology Laboratory Institute of Microbial Technology Chandigarh, and Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. The partner institutions in Australia include the University of New South Wales, Melbourne University, Southern Cross University, Australian National University, Queensland University of Technology, CSIRO and Deakin University.

The research to be supported includes development of new batteries for electric vehicles, developing an approach for recycling hazardous e-waste to reduce harmful emissions and coming up with a process to manage wastewater discharged from ethanol distilleries. Other projects supported by the fund are in the fields of renewable energy, marine and earth sciences, food and water security, biomedical devices and implants, and bio energy.