Petrotahlil --Indian conglomerate Adani Group plans to build a 2m tonne/year coal-to-polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant at Mundra in the western Gujarat state at a cost of Indian rupees (Rs) 292bn ($4bn).

Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) the flagship company of this group will execute the coal-to-PVC complex, the company said in its submission to the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change dated April 2021.

The proposed project is expected to produce PVC grades such as suspension PVC (resin), chlorinated PVC (C-PVC) and emulsion PVC (paste), AEL said.

The company expects to bring the project on stream within four years of receiving all the necessary approvals, it added.

Feedstock coal of about 3.1m tonnes/year for the project will be sourced mainly from Australia, Russia and other countries, AEL said.

In the coal-to-PVC process, the coal (coking coal/thermal coal/blend of coal and petcoke) is processed through the coal pyrolysis unit to produce calcium carbide which is further processed to acetylene.

The acetylene gas is then processed together with hydrochloric acid from the company's chloralkali plant to produce vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) which is then used to make PVC, as per the company statement.

The company also expects to produce 1.3m tonnes/year of caustic soda at the plant as a byproduct of the PVC production process, it said.

The byproducts would be marketed either locally or exported depending upon demand.

"PVC produced from the facility will cater to the domestic market and will replace imports," AEL said, citing India’s strong dependence on imports to keep pace with the growing domestic demand.

The country currently imports more than 50% of its PVC requirements and these imports are expected to rise further with no recent new capacity additions, AEL said.

"India is one of the fastest growing petrochemical markets in the world and requires several petrochemical plants to meet the rising demand,” AEL said.

PVC and caustic soda are two basic segments of the Indian industry which facilitate a chain of downstream industries such as agriculture, infrastructure, housing and sanitation and other similar industries.

The proposed project will also help to reduce import dependence for polymers by promoting domestic production, the company said.

($1 = Rs72.88)