The month of June 2006 saw the beginning of the end of the mercury cell process in caustic soda production at Mettur Dam. The conversion in the production process of caustic soda from the mercury cell to the membrane cell process was completed in August 07.
The Conversion – a ‘green’ initiative With increasing consciousness towards environment protection and corporate social responsibility, the caustic soda industry voluntarily agreed with the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) to switch over the caustic soda production process from mercury cell based to the environment-friendly membrane cell process by the year 2012.
Chemplast Sanmar, in keeping with its environment-friendly approach to business completed the switch over this August 2007, well ahead of the mandated timeline. The company spent Rs 80 crores in the switch over at its old plant in Mettur Dam. The new facilities at Karaikal and TCI Sanmar Chemicals, Port Said, Egypt, already follow the membrane cell process. Caustic soda production at Chemplast Sanmar will henceforth be a totally ‘green’ process. This initiative places the company on par with advanced leading caustic soda manufacturers of the world.
A sustainable story The switch over in the production process is a moral responsibility of the company towards environment protection. The process consumes less energy and to further reduce resource consumption, a coal-based power plant for power generation will replace the LSHS-based power generation. The membrane cell conversion will bring about energy saving close to 900 kwh per metric ton of caustic soda production.
The membrane cell is designed to scale up the output with modular additions of membranes and some balancing equipment. The area occupied by the facility is lesser when compared to the mercury cell process. This also offers greater safety at the production facility and is more user-friendly. Yet another advantage is an increase of 25-30% in production capacity. The Conversion Team A huge capital investment project such as this posed a host of expected and unforeseen challenges. It was not simply a question of getting the technology, plugging in the equipment and carrying on with the production process.
The Conversion Team
It was more to do with optimising the equipment and processes and ensuring their efficiencies as well. Teams worked together coordinating across divisions. The process of problem-solving saw several new ‘innovations’ too. The membrane cell conversion is a robust technology and the new cell-house at Mettur Dam is indeed world-class.
Chemplast Sanmar, as a true corporate citizen, has carried out successfully the project to convert the mercury based caustic soda production at Mettur into an environmentally friendly membrane process well ahead of time. In converting the mercury process to membrane process, the company has utilised lot of in-house engineering talents in optimising the process. The conversion would enable the company to achieve higher efficiencies and optimise resources. The benefit of the conversion will be reflected in the cost of chlorine which is used as a raw material for downstream application.
Both the Mettur and Karaikal facilities of the company manufacturing caustic soda are now based on the membrane process. The total capacity in these two facilities aggregate to 1,25,000 tons per year placing Chemplast as a leader in caustic production in Southern India. Together with the acquisition of caustic soda facility at Port Said, Egypt, The Sanmar Group’s caustic production capacity is now 3,25,000 tons per year which will go up to 4,00,000 tons per year after completion of ongoing capacity expansion project at Port Said.
P S Jayaraman