SRF to invest in new chloromethane plant

New plant aims to double SRF’s capacity for chloromethanes to 80,000 tonnes per annum.

The new chloromethane plant will enable SRF to meet the growing needs of its pharma customers for methylene dichloride (MDC) and will strengthen its foothold in the Indian market, which remains a net importer of MDC. SRF already enjoys an enviable reputation of a credible domestic supplier of MDC with most of the leading pharma customers in India during the last 20 years. Besides, MDC is a key raw material for HFC 32, the refrigerant that SRF recently started manufacturing at its Bhiwadi plant with its own technology. The new plant will thus make SRF the only Indian integrated producer of HFC 32, a refrigerant to be increasingly used in room air-conditioners in future.

The expansion of the chloromethanes plant is, however, strongly linked to captive consumption of chloroform, which has limited usage. SRF is, therefore, uniquely positioned to leverage the opportunity as it has the capability for captive consumption of the other two ingredients, chloroform and carbon tetra chloride (CTC).

Apart from its usage as a solvent in the growing pharmaceutical drugs, MDC is also used for various applications such as foam blowing segments, aerosols, polycarbonate resins and adhesive formulations. Chloroform is mainly used as raw material to manufacture HCFC 22 and also in pharma and CTC as feedstock in agrochemical intermediates.

SRF will thus consume a large part of chloroform for manufacturing HCFC 22, which will be increasingly used as a feedstock for specialty chemicals, a business of SRF that has been growing steadily for last five to six years. Similarly, the captive consumption of CTC at SRF will also increase as feedstock for its specialty chemicals.

The new chloromethane plant with an annual capacity of 40,000 tonnes is scheduled to be commissioned in December 2017.