Knocking in petrol engines is caused by premature combustion as the fuel enters the cylinder, and it can damage the engine. This combustion is caused by wrong composition of petrol. Octane number is a measure of antiknocking properties of petrol.

In refining industry the word ‘reforming’ means ‘altering the structure of a molecule’ without adding or taking away any substantial molecules except hydrogen. This theory holds good for the process of reforming naphtha obtained by distillation of crude oil.

High octane number petrol is the most preferred petrol because of its anti-knocking characteristics. Today a typical refinery gives maximum importance to petrol also called gasoline in the United States of America. Maximisation of its production is of highest priority in most coumtries. Various items are blended to produce various grades. Each grade has specific properties. Priority is also given to non-deposition of particles in the engine.

Octane Quality

The most important quality parameter for petrol is the octane number. Octane number is a measure of the antiknock properties of the fuel. Preflame reactions cause knocking in a petrol engine. Knocking produces a metallic clattering noise. It indicates excessive intensity in preflame reactions. Severe knocking can damage the engine.

Petrol is made from naphtha. Naphtha is modified to make best grades of petrol. Naphtha consists of C6 to C11 straight chain hydrocarbons. One of the reactions required is dehydrogenation of some of the molecules in naphtha, for example as methyl cyclohexane being converted to toluene. Cyclisation of molecules such as hexane to form methyl cyclohexane is another example. Isomerisations of molecules such as heptanes are converted into iso-heptanes.

The above changes have the advantage of increasing the octane number of petrol made from it. It also has an additional advantage of forming large quantities of aromatics which have a high demand from petrochemical companies.

Raw materials and products

The preferred raw materials for catalytic reforming are the following.

1. Straight – run naphtha

2. Coking naphtha (naphtha from coking plant)

3. Catalytic naphtha obtained from catalytic cracking.

Typically the product will contain 45 to 60 % aromatics suitable for high octane number petrol or for extraction and sale of individual aromatics such as benzene, toluene or xylene.

Catalysts and Process

Platinum is the most desirable catalyst in terms of selectivity and activity. However platinum is very costly. Hence, catalysts such as ‘chromium or molybdenum oxides’ or ‘cobalt molybdate on silica-alimina’ are very popular. The reactions taking place are endothermic and hence the heat of reaction is provided by heating the gas to high temperature before entering the catalyst bed.

A flow chart of the process is shown above. There are three preheaters and three reactors with catalyst beds as shown in figure. After the last reactor the product is fractionated to produce reformate at the bottom. This is converted to petrol (gasoline) by blending. Low pressure is favoured by the reaction. Previously high pressures were used but new plants operate at lower pressures, such as 4 kg/cm²g. When the catalyst gets poisoned it is regenerated.

K Srikumar has over 30 years of experience in Chemical Engineering Design. He is a graduate of NIT Trichy and can be reached on koyikkal.srikumar@gmail.com

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The Nylons (Nylon 6 and Nylon 6,6) are very strong and durable synthetic fibers as well as important industrial and engineering materials. Both are mainly used at present for making carpets. Nylons are also used as thread in bristles for toothbrushes, surgical sutures, and strings for acoustic and classical musical instruments, including guitars, violins, violas, and cellos. It is also used in the manufacture of a large variety of threads, ropes, filaments, fishing nets, and tyre cords, as well as hosiery and knitted garments. The nylons are also used to make light weight guns and pistols.

Nylon 6 is recyclable, almost 99%, since it can be converted back or de-polymerised to caprolactam, it’s precursor. Nylon 6,6 cannot be recycled since it cannot be converted back to its precursors. Hence nylon 6 can be called as a relatively green product if we make facilities for recycling it. The nylon 6 recycling process developed by Honeywell/Allied Signal and DSM Chemicals has resulted in Evergreen Nylon Recycling, a joint venture to recover and reuse caprolactam, (funded by US Govt.Department). A picture of the plant is given below (indebted to internet site-www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/chemicals/pdfs/nylon.pdf)

Nylon 6 is made by polymerization of caprolactam. Caprolactam is an organic compound produced in the form of white flakes. Don’t get confused by the name and think that this has something to do with copra, the dried kernel of a coconut. There is absolutely no connection between copra and caprolactam, except perhaps that both are produced mainly in Kerala, one from a tree and another from a plant, a chemical plant.

Nylon is used mainly for carpets and for knitted garments. A knitted garment made of nylon threads looks is shown below (Indebted to internet, alibaba.com, for the photograph):

PRODUCTION OF CAPROLACTAM

Caprolactam, (CH2)5 CO NH, is in fact a cyclic amide (lactam) of caproic acid. About 20,00,000 tonnes are produced in the world every year, about 3% of it is in India. It is used for making a synthetic fibre called nylon 6.

The first step is the  hydrogenation of benzene to produce Cyclohexane.

Benzene is first hydrogenated to cyclohexane by the following reaction

C6H6    +    3H2     =        C6H12    +     49.25 kcal / kgmole

The reaction takes place in the vapour phase at a temperature ranging from 350 to 400 C and at a pressure of 30 Kg/cm2 G at the inlet of the reactor. The heat produced is absorbed in a tubular reactor by means of hot oil flowing outside the tubes, so that outlet temperature is at about 225 degrees C. The catalyst is placed within the tubes. Catalyst consists of platinum on aluminium oxide support material. It will be in the form of cylindrical tablets. Excess hydrogen is required to complete the reaction. The sulphur impurity is converted to H2S and is removed using a Zinc Oxide bed by the reaction given below.

ZnO    +    H2S     =     ZnS     +   H2

The cyclohexane is oxidized to cyclohexanone by the reaction shown below.

C6H12   +    O2     =      C6H10=O     +     H2O

The other important process steps of  manufacture are , first converting cyclohexanone into cyclohexanone oxime and then treating with sulphuric acid to induce Beckmen rearrangement to give caprolactam .

Huge investment is required for setting up a plant for producing caprolactam. Details of a plant to produce 50000 TPA could be approximately Rs 1500 crores.

NYLON 6

The caprolactam is converted into Nylon 6 by the polymerization reaction by opening the heptagonal ring, previous to the nitrogen junction of the caprolactam molecule.

NYLON 6,6

Nylon 6,6 has two C6 rings but is mostly similar to Nylon 6 and is made from the reaction of hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid. It has higher temperature and friction resistence than nylon 6. Hence it is more suitable for production of tough engineering materials.

The photograph of a gun made out of Nylon 66 is shown above (Indebted to internet for the photograph). It can be easily carried around and hence used for shooting wild animals like the mongoose, wild pigs etc. in some countries. However this is not applicable to India since shooting of such wild animals is not permitted in India.

Mr Srikumar has 35 years of experience working for various Design Consultancies. He passed out from NIT, Trichy. You can reach Mr Srikumar at koyikkal.srikumar@gmail.com

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Sulphur Recovery Units are being established in all refineries, oil and gas production operations and other upstream or downstream production facilities. Hence there is a future for chemical engineers in this area.

Sulphur is called Gandhaka in Sanskrit, meaning a 'material that produces smell'. It is an element of high importance to life on earth. The sulphur in pure form is found as underground deposits in many places. Sometimes it does come to the surface and hence ancient man knew it as an amazing mineral that can cure many ailments. Sulphur is one of the most abundant minerals in the human body. Every cell inside the body contains sulphur atoms. It is a component of amino acids which are seen as the building blocks of the body. Hence its deficiency could cause medical problems. In the natural state sulphur is yellowish in colour, usually formed from volcanic action - as a sublimate from volcanic gasses associated with realgar, cinnabar and other minerals. It is also found in some vein deposits and as an alteration product of sulphide minerals. It can also be formed biogenically - a major source being salt domes, where it was formed by the bacterial decomposition of calcium sulfate.

A sulphur storage at a natural gas processing plant is shown below.

The manufacture of sulphur has undergone a sea change in recent years. No more is sulphur mined from the earth by the triple pipe process known as Frasch process. Almost all our requirements can be met by separating the small percentage of sulphur compounds found in (pertoleum) oil and gas, mainly because the production of oil and gas has grown at a tremendous rate in the last century.

Sulphur is used mainly in the production of sulphuric acid. Sulphur is the fourth most essential element for plants after Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Pottasium.

Mr Srikumar has 35 years of experience working for various Design Consultancies. He passed out from NIT, Trichy. You can reach Mr Srikumar at koyikkal.srikumar@gmail.com

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Many decades ago I was working in a small consultancy in Chennai. I was preparing an offer for a small distillation plant. I made a sketch of the plant and showed it to my Managing Director. He looked at it for some time, took a paper and made the same sketch but it was looking a bit like a work of art. These are small things, but it makes a difference, between getting and losing a job, especially for small consultancies.

By the word “MINOR” we mean those consultancies that limit themselves, stick to a small area, such as those given in the list below. Also it is to be remembered that a typical activity like surface production of oil and gas can be a minor or a major work depending on the extent of work.

1. Specializing in process safety and risk management programs, hazard analysis, risk assessment, and compliance audits.

2. Services in industrial adsorption, ion exchange and chromatography.

3. Numerical simulations, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to provide practical solutions to fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer problems.

4. The aluminum sector.

5. Consultant for extractive and azeotropic distillation.

6. Process engineering solutions for the water, wastewater, industrial effluent, and biosolids industries.

7. Piping design and engineering consulting company providing project leadership for the chemical process industries(mechanical branch).

8. Safety and environmental regulations in an international market.

9. Consultancy for corrosion monitoring and control by cathodic protection, coatings, chemicals, and materials selection.

10. Chemical production, product applications, market dynamics, production economics.

11. The paint, resins, emulsions and adhesives industries.

12. Solvent vapor recovery for low to very low concentration vapor streams, process intensification, heat transfer, market research and plant design, basic and detailed.

13. Software products for linear programming modeling.

14. Process scale up, research and development, modernization.

15. Epoxy resin for formulations, component recovery and reactor leak repair.

16. Modeling and simulation services for offline and online applications.

17. Biochemical process and related industries.

18. Micro channel process technology, suppliers of micro technology research, development information.

19. Distilleries and breweries.

20. Oleo resins.

21. Agar and Agarose.

Please note the above list is arbitrary. Did you really go through the list? If not please go through carefully and send your comments to me at koyikkal.srikumar@gmail.com.

The most important activities to be carried out are marketing and technical document preparation along with proper references, in-depth calculations, presentation of documents to client, procurement of materials. Also erection and commissioning services are to be expertly delivered. Associations made with world-wide consultancies and experts in the relevant fields helps, but not compulsorily. Contacts with premier educational institutions also help.

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In the last article we have seen how public sector consultancies work. India is a country where private and public sectors are equally strong. However equally does not mean in the same manner. The way the consultancies are organized is similar but they work in slightly different ways. Maybe one of the first private consultancies to come up in India is the KUSUM PRODUCTS, CALCUTTA in Kolkata. The engineers working here were mostly graduates of Banaras Hindu University, in subjects like Mechanical and Electrical engineering (combined course) and Civil engineering. Chemical engineering came later and many small companies were also started up particularly in Mumbai and Chennai.

Given below are a list of private sector companies along with some of their website names and places from where they operate. Mode of recruitment of freshers will vary, either written tests or interviews. It is better to phone up and ask for details.

Uhde India ltd.

In India located in Mumbai and Pune. They Specialise in fertiliser, petrochemical, refinery, electrolysis, metallurgical, pharmaceutical. Website is uhdeindia.com.

Chemtex Engineering of India Ltd.

In India they are located in Mumbai and Bangalore. They specialize in petrochemicals, fibres, energy and environmental engineering. Website is chemtex.com.

Toyo Engineering India Limited.

In India they operate from Mumbai. They have their main office at Funabashi, Tokyo. They operate in Oil & Gas, Refinery, Petrochemical & Infrastructure Sectors both in India and Overseas.

IBI Chematur

They operate from Mumbai. They specialize in many areas such as Biostill plants, Acetic acid, H2O2, Isocyanate etc. Website is ibichematur.com.

Bechtel India - Office

They operate from Delhi. They specialize in power plants, refineries, liquefied natural gas processing plants, and aluminum smelters. Website is Bechtel.com. They have done Jamnagar refining complex on the northwestern coast, the Dabhol power plant on the Maharashtra coast, and the KG D6 gas development project in the Bay of Bengal.

Technimont ICB

Headquartered in Mumbai, the business capital of India, They operate in 1)Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) style and 2) Lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) basis. EPC is actually a consultancy mode with final orders for contracts and supply placed by owners whereas LSTK is turnkey mode and sub-orders are placed by LSTK contractor. Oil & Gas, Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Refineries, Fertilizers, Energy, Civil Engineering and Infrastructure are the areas in which they operate.

Punj Lloyd India Limited

They are a major consultancy and operate from Delhi, Gurgaon.

Punj Lloyd received ‘Company of the Year Award - 2010’ from BC/Essar

Punj Lloyd Group is ranked 58 under Top International Contractors category by ENR.com. Punj Lloyd says their board brings together a dynamic team of engineering, business, and social visionaries who provide direction to Punj Lloyd’s executive management in a vibrant economic and business environment.

L&T Valdel Engineering Ltd.,

Valdel Engineers and Constructors Pvt. Ltd.

The company originally known as John Brown Technologies was split up into 2 companies. Both the companies are based in Bangalore. The offshore ‘oil and gas’ jobs are done by L&T Valdel. The onshore jobs in ‘Oil and Gas’ as well as refinery jobs (some of them obtained from American companies) are done by Valdel Engineers and Constructors.

I might have left out many companies. But my intention is only to familiarize some companies.

K Srikumar can be reached at koyikkal.srikumar@gmail.com

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This is a multi part article covering major and minor public sector and private sector consultancy firms.

How consultancies are organized: A design consultancy consists of a large pool of engineers of different branches of engineering who are brought together at a single location and provided with all tools, software and infrastructural facilities to conceive, design, and construct new projects. A project can be executed in two different ways – turnkey and consultancy. In turnkey contracts the entire expenses are given to the consultant in stages and the consultant takes responsibility for purchase of equipment and also the construction. In consultancy contracts, the final purchase orders are placed by the owner and not the consultant even though all background work up to the placement of orders is done by it.

Projects, Engineering and Construction are main stream departments of any consultancy followed by supporting departments like Purchase, Planning, Finance, Personnel, Documentation Control, Computer services etc.

A few major units are given below. Most of them are partly privatized or in the process of privatisation:

• Engineers India ltd (EIL)
• MECON Limited (MECON)
• Projects and Development India ltd. (PDIL)
• Fact Engineering & Design Organisation (FEDO)

EIL was started in 1967. It is a huge public sector consultancy organization with head office at Bhikaiji Cama Place, New Delhi and with branches in Mumbai, Chennai and Kollkatta.

EIL privatization is in an advanced stage. The bidders have already commenced the due-diligence exercise which is expected to be completed by the month-end.

The sell off of EIL, a profit-making unit, has attracted good response and may fetch up to Rupees 800 crores to the government. Both quasi public and private sector companies are trying to acquire it. Along with public sector units such as Indian Oil Corporation, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., a number of private parties such as Reliance, Larsen & Toubro and Maharashtra Seamless have expressed interest in EIL.

MECON which means Metallurgical and Engineering Consultants is based in Ranchi. PDIL is a major consultancy in fertilizer and related fields which is based in Sindri.

FEDO was also started as a fertilizer consultancy but moved on to other chemical, oil and gas areas. It is based in Cochin and as per information available; Indian Oil Corporation has taken over FEDO recently.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is both a research centre as well as a consultancy for establishing nuclear plants in India.

Opportunities are available to all sections of engineers mostly based on written tests and interviews. There are areas in which academic excellence is important but there are also areas in which practicality and commitment are more important than just academic excellence. Hence it is the importance of having a liking for the subject which is what ultimately counts in this area.

Mr Srikumar has 35 years of experience working for various Design Consultancies. He passed out from NIT, Trichy. You can reach Mr Srikumar at koyikkal.srikumar@gmail.com

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It is tough to write on pharmaceuticals since English medicine is such that it keeps changing all the time. On the other hand Ayurvedic and Unani medicines are quite stable and wrongly or rightly assumed as used by retired people since they take a long time to do their duty. Ahmedabad, Hyderbad, Kolkatta and Pune are some important centers of English pharmaceutical industry. Panvel in Maharashtra is a center for Ayurvedic pharmaceuticals.

When you take a look at the pharmaceutical industry a sort of revolution seems to have started with the triplet of antibiotics which were penicillin, streptomycin and ampicillin. A major public sector installation of these plants was Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd. at Pune. A few joint ventures of this company at present are the following:

1. Maharashtra Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Limited (MAPL)

2. Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Limited    (KAPL)

3. Manipur State Drugs & Pharmaceuticals

Limited     (MSDPL)

4. Hindustan MAX-GB, Pimpri, Pune                          (HM-GB)

Antibiotics are naturally occurring substances that are capable of destroying harmful microorganisms that cause disease. It is known that certain curds have antibiotic action. The Chinese are known to have used certain antibiotics 2500 years ago.

Antibiotics are made by fermentation process. The raw material consists of a broth made of Soya bean or molasses. The organisms that produce the antibiotics are isolated and added to the broth typically about 30 to150 cubic meter in volume. When the required quantity is produced which may take about 5 days, an extraction process is used to recover the antibiotic with solvents such as isobutyl ketone. After a further thorough refining process the material is sent for making into capsules. Quality control holds the key to the manufacturing process.

Indian drugs and Pharmaceuticals located in Hyderabad is another big name in public sector. Some of the big names in private sector are Ranbaxy, Abbott, Sigma, Nestle, Novartis, Cipla, Pfizer and many others.

Indian pharmaceutical market, which is currently valued at $14.23 billion, will grow at a pace of compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) at 12.2 percent, to reach $44.99 billion by 2018, according to a new market research report from companiesandmarkets.com.

In July 2009, the Indian Department of Biotechnology (DBT) planned to create a separate IP regulator for the biotechnology sector. The National Biotechnology Regulatory Board would be responsible for identifying and controlling drugs and vaccines which are developed from natural sources. Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has also identified six research and development (R&D) centers in which new drugs will be tested before they are launched. The market for pharmaceuticals in India has a strong potential for increased growth, from 2008 right through to 2023. However it needs to be admitted that in large parts of India Naturopathy and Homeopathy are also prevalent to an extent more than what is readily estimated.

India has had a strong domestic pharmaceutical industry and a rapidly expanding market and with a population of more than a billion and a rapidly expanding economy. The diseases are also likely to increase as a result of population growth, pollution and urbanization. Healthcare provision in all sectors is improving, leading to rapidly expanding markets for healthcare products. India is emerging as a competitive outsourcing hub and is playing a major role in the global pharmaceutical industry in manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates for drug makers. Global pharmaceutical companies are establishing long-term relationships with Indian manufacturing companies and contract research providers in India.

With this article I am winding up my emphasis on different sectors of production and will be writing 2 or 3 articles with an emphasis on consultancies and process development.

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For jobs in Fertilizer and Chemical companies you need to know more about chemistry, thermodynamics, heat transfer, mass transfer, plant design, effluent treatment, general management, organizational structure, organizational behavior, motivation, innovation and finance and not forgetting, something on current affairs.

Countries like India relies heavily on agriculture for their livelihood. Under such circumstances a balanced use of fertilizers is needed. A number of fertilizer companies operate in India. Some of them in the private, cooperative and public sector are:

Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Ltd.

Chambal Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd.

Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd.

Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Co. Ltd.

Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd.

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd.

Indo Gulf Fertilisers Ltd.

Krishak Bharart Cooperative Ltd.

Nagarjuna Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd.

Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation Ltd.

Tata Chemicals Ltd.

Fertilizers And Chemicals Travancore Ltd.

Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Ltd., Barauni (Bihar), Namrup(Assam), Durgapur(WB), Haldia(WB).

Madras Fetilisers Limited.

Feriliser Corporation of India Ltd., Sindri (Jharkand), Ramagundam (Andhra Pradesh), Talcher (Orissa), Gorakhpur (U.P.).

Plants get their nutrients from the soil. When plants grow thick and strong the nutrients get depleted which necessitates putting nutrients into the soil. The most important of these nutrients are Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium, in short N, P and K.

The main source of nitrogen is the chemical - Urea. Urea is produced from Ammonia and ammonia is produced by the reaction of Nitrogen of the air and hydrogen obtained from hydrocarbons such as Natural gas or naphtha. Ammonia production involves the reaction of Hydrogen with Nitrogen in the stochiometric ratio (Synthesis gas is the gas at this ratio). The synthesis gas itself is obtained by primary and secondary reforming processes and shift reaction where carbon monoxide is reacted with steam to produce large quantities of Hydrogen.

The main source of Phosphorus is phosphate rock. Not being soluble this rock is converted into phosphoric acid in attack tanks using sulphuric acid and recycled phosphoric acid. The phosphoric acid so obtained is reacted with ammonia to obtain ammonium phosphate which is a good NP fertilizer. If we mix potash to it we get NPK fertilizer. Sulphur is also a nutrient and hence when we mix ammonium sulphate to this we get NPK fertiliser with Sulphur.

Please note that Caprolactam is not a fertilizer. It is the prime raw material for making Nylon which is mainly used for making fishing nets, nylon reinforced tyres etc. GSFC and FACT make Caprolactam because the manufacture of caprolactam produces Ammonium sulphate as a byproduct (about 4.5 Kgs per Kg of caprolactam). This byproduct is mixed in NPK or can also be used as such as a fertiliser.

Sulfur, calcium, and magnesium are secondary nutrients. Boron, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc are micronutrients. Depending upon the soil analysis these need to be supplied into the soil for getting bountiful crops.

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The Japanese have come out with a new idea. This has been called by them as disruptive technology. The term looks a little odd in English, but in Japanese language it may be an apt word. A disruptive technology is a technology which challenges an existing technology even though it is yet to prove that it is the better one. One such idea is that an organic molecule can replace polysilicon (which I had been referring to in my previous article) in the making of solar panels, luminescent materials and circuits and in information technologies. The importance of organic chemicals may only grow in the years to come.

Exports of organic chemicals and chemical products from India stands at about US$ 4 Billion, and keeps increasing.

Highly heterogeneous, the organic chemical industry in India encompasses many sectors like aromatic chemicals, aliphatic chemicals, organic dyestuffs, organic pesticides, specialty chemicals, etc. Some of its more prominent individual chemical industries are phenol, acetic acid, methanol, acetone, plastics and rubber products, azo dyes etc.

Let us start with some aromatic compounds. In organic chemicals we find amore than one product being produced in the same plant. Benzene, Toluene and Xylene are made together in aromatization units and separated and sold. Another example is phenol and acetone made in the same plant. Benzene and Propylene are combined to produce Cumene. The Cumene is oxidized by air to produce Cumene hydrogen peroxide and the same is cleaved to produce phenol and acetone. This process is employed by HOC (Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited).

Rubber Chemicals are chemicals used in rubber industry. They are made from many organic acids and alcohols. NOCIL (National Organic Chemical Industries Limited) is located in Thane-Belapur Road in Mumbai makes rubber chemicals. Organic chemicals such as methanol, acetic acid, formic acid, aniline etc. are manufactured by GNFC (Gujarat State NarmadaValley Fertilizers Corporation Limited) at Bharuch in Gujarat. Methanol is made by methanol synthesis reaction. The required synthesis gas is produced by steam reforming of natural gas at about 20 bar pressure and less than 900 degrees centigrade temperature. The methanol produced is purified by distillation.

Coal is also a source of organic chemicals. In fact these plants were the forerunners of modern chemicals industry. When coal is heated gas, light oil, tar and coke are produced. The coal gas can be converted to some basic chemicals, methane, ethane, propane etc. The light oil contains chemicals similar to petrochemicals. Examples are benzene, toluene, xylene, naphthalene, pyridines, naphthalene, anthracene, pyridines, quinolenes etc. Phenols, cresols, xylenols, resorcinol etc are important coal chemicals. However coal chemicals and petrochemicals overlap. In Bihar, Barauni Petrochemicals Limited is a petrochemical company which makes a few petrochemicals like LPG.

India outshines other countries in the production of Coal chemicals. A wide fascinating range of these chemicals are made in India. Asian, African and Middle East countries buy Indian coal chemicals not only because of high quality but also because Indian manufacturers have the additional expertise in making these chemicals. This industry will continue to be a big success in the years to come.

Petrochemicals are also a big success story and some of these products are listed below:

1.LPG, Propane, Butane, Ethylene, Propylene, Butadiene, Styrene, Benzene, Toluene, Orthoxylene, Paraxylene, Mixed xylenes, and Ethylene oxide.

2.Synthetic fiber such as Acrylic fiber, Nylon filament yarn, Polyester staple fiber, and Polyester filaments yarn.

3.Chemical intermediate such as Mono-ethylene glycol (MEG), Phthalic anhydride, DMT, Vinyl Chloride, Caprolactam, Acrylonitrile, and Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB).

4.Polymers such as LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE, PVC, Polystyrene and Polypropylene.

5.Synthetic rubbers such as Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) and Poly butadiene.

Hope you are not flabbergasted. I would consider it a personal credit to me if you at least remember one of these chemicals and also try to further explore on that chemical.

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India's gas distribution regulator expects a large number of companies including Reliance Industries Ltd. and GAIL India Ltd. to invest 10000 crores of rupees ($21 billion) in the next five years to build pipeline networks connecting cities and industrial hubs. This of course means a lot of jobs.

A natural gas network is called a GAS GRID. It consists of uniting gas suppliers with gas consumers by means of GAS GRID. Constructing and maintaining a grid is a challenge and opportunity for all sections of engineers and technologists. This blog is only to make people understand the unique terms and criteria that guide this sector of industry so that they may try for jobs therein. In India, Gujarat shows the way in energy sufficiency by networking almost the entire state with Natural Gas pipelines. Similar is the case of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and Rajasthan will follow suit since they are forging ahead in gas production. (This blog is meant to make you familiar of the terms and usages in this sector.)

Europe was one of the first to venture into international gas networks. Most of the gas requirement for Europe is supplied by Russia. This way Russia earned a pride of place in Europe as an energy supplier. This is mainly because of large deposits of gas in Russia.

The gas pipelines are usually buried underground except in unpopulated areas where it is over ground. The right of way is acquired from owners of land. Naturally the question arises - What happens if somebody sabotages the pipeline or it breaks due to natural calamities like earthquakes? The defenses are inbuilt into the system. The pipelines are divided into sections by sectionalizing valves which are kept in "valve stations" at definite intervals.

The top portion of the valves will be above ground. If any pipe breaks the upstream and downstream sectionalizing valves close and the leakage of gas will be limited to a certain quantity. Further the SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) system will take necessary actions and also alert the operators. The SCADA system essentially consists of computers, telecommunications and onsite instrumentation.

Compressor stations are placed typically when pressure goes below 50 bar whence the compressor raises the pressure of gas to typically 80 to 100 bars. The pipelines should never be over-pressurized. Safety valves are okay only in limited cases where the gas can be disposed off. Otherwise HIPPS (High Integrity Pressure Protection System) is employed to route the gas to other areas or to protect by opening and closing relevant valves.

Gas consumption may increase after construction in which case looping (laying one more line in parallel) of lines can be employed. Software used in the design of dry pipelines is usually Pipeline Studio TGNET or similar software. Dynamic simulation is also done to review the performance at opening and closing valves, venting etc.

Those interested further can consult the very good book "Pipeline Design and Construction" by M. Mohitpour et al. Another book by same author is "Pipeline Operation and Maintenance".

( P.S. IIChE has published a book "Chemical Engineers' Reference Manual". If you need a copy contact the secretary, "suresh kumar p.k" <sureshkumarfact@gmail.com>)

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