APL bid to woo entrepreneurs to set up downstream industries

Tag : pentaerythritol resin

From Our Bureau
DIBRUGARH, June 2  The State government undertaking, AssamPetrochemicals Limited (APL) is going on an overdrive to attractentrepreneurs to set up downstream industries. The endeavour ischiefly to create a market for its upcoming 500 tonnes per day(TPD) capacity methanol making plant.

APL managing director O P Tailor sad the company is currentlyproducing 100 TPD of methanol and another 100 TPD of formalin. Thenew 500 TPD methanol plant will be established without anyfinancial input from the state government. However, gas allocationfor the new plant is yet to be received, but Tailor said he is notanticipating any major hurdle in the allocation process, as new gasreserves are being discovered in upper Assam by ONGC and OIL.

Methanol and formalin are produced by cracking natural gas at APLsinstallation at Namrup. After the Supreme Court ban on timberindustry in upper Assam, APL found it difficult to market formalin,as it is used in large quantities by the plywood makers. However,the jolt has been remedied by selling formalin to markets in therest of the country, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Tailor said there is a vast scope to develop entrepreneurs in upperAssam to put up industries to produce a long list of products usingmethanol as the raw material. A day long workshop to motivatepotential industrialists s held in this connection last Saturday atthe Dibrugarh University. Earlier, a similar motivational workshopwas held at Guwahati.

The downstream industries that have been identified by APL includeunits to produce methyl chloride, di methyl ether, acetic acid,methyl amines and bio diesel. Downstream projects based onformaldehyde include units making phenolic resin, polyacetal,paraformaldehyde, rubber blowing agent, synthetic tanning agent,foundry resin, pentaerythritol and hexamine. Units making ammoniumbicarbonate can also be set up, using carbondioxide made by APL.