Chemplast Sanmar Limited

Chemplast Sanmar Ltd, the flagship company of the Sanmar Group is a major player in the chemical industry in the State of Tamil Nadu. The company has set up a Greenfield 170,000 tonnes per annum PVC plant at SIPCOT Phase II in Semmankuppam, Cuddalore at an investment of Rs.600 crores. This is the only chemical project of such large scale that has come up in Tamil Nadu in the last 15 years. Together with the already existing capacity of 65,000 tonnes per annum at Mettur Dam, the total aggregate PVC capacity of the company now stands at 2,35,000 tonnes per annum, placing the company as one of the large PVC player in India.

State Industrial Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) has allotted 69.5 acres of land in their SIPCOT Industrial Phase II area in Semmankuppam, Cuddalore on which the PVC plant has been set up.

Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM), the raw material will be imported for producing PVC in the plant. Chemplast is one of the country’s leading chemical companies, manufacturing PVC using VCM for over four decades at Mettur. There are companies like DCW in Tuticorin, Reliance, Finolex etc., which also import and use VCM for manufacture of PVC.

Chemplast Sanmar has constructed a Marine Terminal Facility (MTF) on the sea front near Chitrapettai village, Cuddalore, for facilitating the import of VCM. Tamil Nadu Maritime Board has also allocated an area of 7.56 acres on the sea front near Chitrapettai village on which the Port office and other infrastructure facilities have been set up. The imported raw material is being pumped from the berthed ships through sub-sea / land pipelines to the PVC plant.

The MTF is connected to the VCM storage tanks located in the plant area by sophisticated “Pipe-in-Pipe” pipeline with attendant safety features, running a distance about 3.5 km (1 km under the sea and 2.5 km in the land area) including the crossing of Uppanar river. The material used for the pipe can withstand much higher pressures when ship unloading occurs. It is also suitably protected externally. There is thus enhanced safety to totally avoid any leakage. The pipeline in the land area is located in a corridor of approximately 30 meters width and is buried under the ground by 10 feet in concrete trenches.

Some of the salient features of Chemplast’s PVC plant are as under:-

• The company’s PVC plant employs a simple single step polymerization process of VCM into PVC and this plant employs state – of – the art best practices with respect to process control, environment control and safety.
• The storage tanks inside the plant premises are of the “double integrity” type. This means that the inner cup holds the liquid VCM and the outer shell completely encloses the inner tank. This is the best-accepted design to eliminate any leakage and is based on technology supplied by M/s Ineos Vinyls, UK, one of the largest manufacturers of PVC. Chemplast is the only PVC company to bring and store VCM in a refrigerated condition at atmospheric pressure which enhances safety.
• In order to eliminate the drawl of ground water, the company has installed a “seawater desalination” plant to meet the total water requirements. This is the only chemical plant at Cuddalore having its own “Sea water desalination” facility.
• The plant is designed on the basis of “Zero Liquid Discharge” concept. All the process effluents are recycled back after treatment in a Reverse Osmosis plant and a forced circulation evaporator. A similar unit is in successful operation at the company’s PVC facility at Mettur.
• The plant is associated with its captive Marine Terminal Facility which will ensure uninterrupted receipt of VCM, the raw material at the site.
• The company will provide considerable direct and indirect employment opportunities.
• This new capacity of PVC will spur growth in downstream application and encourage setting up of small and medium scale industries who would use PVC resin as a raw material to convert into various products such as PVC pipes, sheets, upholstery, window frames and doors, etc.