“Napoleon Bonaparte used to sleep on his horse. Generals must be visible at all time,” says Dr KH Gharda - Chairman and Managing Director of Gharda Chemicals Ltd (GCL), in a tête-à-tête with PROCESS India. This 81-year-old stalwart — who believes in silently fulfilling his role of a front liner, maintains a low profile and lets his work speak for him — has made far-reaching contributions to the Indian chemical industry.

Marred by a turbulent past, foreign competition and a not-so-favourable public persona, the domestic chemical industry has, nonetheless, accomplished its fair share of growth and development. A look at some of the finer details of this journey.

High growth rates coupled with attractive relocation packages are the best incentives for enticing international chemicals companies to develop production sites in India. Lanxess is responding to the invitation with significant investment. The latest step is the opening of an ultramodern plant for ion exchangers in Jhagadia.

With this massive investment, Exxon Mobil plans to increase its production of ultra-low sulfur diesel by 45 % at the Fawley refinery. Ultra-low sulfur fuels aim at improving air quality when powering the latest technology.

Favourable government initiatives, a strong ‘green’ approach and robust R&D are propelling the Indian chemical industry to new heights.

Branching into various industries, blockchain is now strongly making its presence felt in the oil and gas as well as the chemical process industries. PROCESS brings you the many plus points of this dynamic technology in chemical process industries.

Under the terms of the contract, Toyo will be responsible for carrying out engineering work for BASF’s investments in Asia Pacific. The renewed agreement can be traced back to the original partnership agreement which aimed at strengthening the partnership for BASF’s upcoming investments.

Impressive modularisation concepts for the engineering of technical gases plants  — From coolants, protection gas or additive in refreshing drinks — CO2 gets industry experts and customers sparkling with excitement. Also plant engineers have set their sights on this versatile molecule: Technology specialists are turning to modular plant design for the production of technical gases. In fact, LCO2 plants (LCO2 = liquid CO2; liquid carbon dioxide) from the construction kit have several advantages.

Nord Drive Systems has committed INR 45 mn (approx. EUR 600,000) to the expansion of its Indian subsidiary. The investment was used to establish a new service area at the company's facility in Pune.

Under the deal, Astra Zeneca will utilise new age concepts such as machine learning and artificial intelligence to explore potential new drugs for chronic kidney disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.