Panipat petrochem hub to boost plastic industry in northern India
New Delhi   30-Sep-2010

The Haryana government is setting up a petrochemical hub at Panipat. The project is expected to provide a big boost to the downstream plastic industry in the north India and generate direct employment for 38,000 people.

An investment of Rs 13,000 crore is expected to be made in 470 units. The first phase of the project has been scheduled to be implemented from 2007-2012 and second phase from 2013-2016. The project is to be set up over 4,000 acres, out of which over 900 acres have already been acquired and development works awarded by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC).

IndianOil (IOC) has commissioned India's largest naphtha cracker at Panipat, which would facilitate easy availability of raw materials for downstream processing units in the proposed complex. The cracker was built by IOC at an investment of Rs 14,000 crore. It has manufacturing facilities for polypropylene, high density polyethylene (HDPE) and linear low density poly ethylene (LLDPE), swing unit with HDPE and mono ethylene glycol (MEG) plant.

The cracker will produce over 800 thousand tonnes per annum (KTA) of ethylene, 600 KTA of propylene and 125 KTA of benzene.

The polypropylene is used as a raw materials for manufacturing finished products like food packaging and laminations, food containers, automobile parts, luggage and heavy duty transport containers.

Polyethylene is used for making products like injection moulded caps, heavy duty crates, containers, bins, textile bobbins, luggage ware, thermoware, storage bins, pressure pipes for gas and water, small blow-moulded bottles and jerry cans.

Meanwhile, IOC has also entered into a joint venture with TSRC Corporationof Taiwan, and Marubeni Corporation of Japan to set up a styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) unit at Panipat. With a capacity of 120,000 tonnes per annum, the SBR unit will utilise butadiene feed made available from the naphtha cracker to produce high quality synthetic rubber used in the manufacture of automotive tyres, conveyors, fan belts etc.

The project is targeted to be completed by September 2012 at an estimated cost of Rs 900 crore. The setting up of the SBR unit at Panipat would not only result in import substitution but also add value to the intermediate streams of the cracker. TSRC is the SBR technology provider and a leading producer and supplier of synthetic rubbers. Marubeni is one of the largest general trading companies in Japan, trading in commodities, including oil, gas, chemicals, metals, machineries and foods, on a global level.