refining india 2022
Advancing industries through materials technology
Alleima
At the end of August 2022, following shareholder approval of a proposal pre- sented by the Sandvik AB board of direc- tors, Sandvik Materials Technology officially separated from Sandvik AB. On 31 August 2022, Sandvik Materials Technology rebranded to Alleima and became listed on the Nasdaq Stockholm Exchange as a stand-alone company. For 160 years, Alleima has been moving materials forward, turning raw into preci- sion, and advancing industries worldwide. The advanced stainless steels and special alloys of Alleima are world-leading. Fuelled by a desire to care, deliver, and evolve, Alleima provides leading materials solu- tions, advances customer operations, and enables new technologies. Utilising its position as a technology leader, progressive customer partner, and sustainability driver, Alleima aims to become an even stronger and independ- ent company within the materials indus- try, with a clear direction for the journey ahead. Forged from the past, engineered for the future The Alleima history dates back to 1862 when Sandvik was founded by Göran Fredrik Göransson. For 160 years, Alleima has been a global engineering and mate- rials technology company synonymous with absolute industry premium, offer- ing products and services that enhance customer productivity, profitability, and sustainability. The new name of Alleima combines two core strengths of the business – alloys and materials – with alei, an old version of the word alloy, as the foundation.
Göran Björkman, President of Alleima, said: “In Alleima we have found a name that encapsulates the core of what we do and our uniqueness in a great way. It will enable us to position ourselves as the technology leader, progressive customer partner, and sustainability driver that we are.” Same old – brand new Although a new name and brand, Alleima will continue to be the same supplier, with the same values, way of working, exper- tise and the same high-quality stain- less steel and alloys offering. All existing orders and contracts remain valid and confirmed delivery schedules will not be affected. The company’s capabilities, global offering, and footprint continue to be the same. Control over the supply chain from research and development (R&D) to melt to the final product remains the priority of Alleima. Sandviken in Sweden is still the main industrial site, R&D location, and the company’s head office. Employees in its global locations continue to support cus- tomers across different time zones. Advancing together In India, one of the key growth areas is spe- cialty chemicals, which make up a large share of the total chemicals and petro- chemicals market of the country. In addi- tion, the demand is estimated to have risen at a high pace during the last couple of years. This, added to the high corrosion challenges they place on manufactur- ing equipment, means there is a need for advanced materials to drive more efficient, profitable, and sustainable processes, products, and applications.
lows available from Alleima can propel pro- cess equipment across various industries, including petrochemical, oil and gas, chem- ical, and fertilizer. In the oil and gas sector, Alleima has been a world-leading manufacturer of subsea umbilical tubing for over 25 years. It has supplied 122 million meters (400 million feet) of umbilical tubing with zero failures and 99% on-time delivery. That is enough tubing to circle the world three times! The Mehsana production unit has supplied mother hollows for half of this quantity since 2004. Separately, with special alloys from the Sanicro family available from Mehsana, Alleima supplies customers across the region with tubes and piping to withstand the most corrosive environments. The Alleima zero defects policy and full traceability from melt to final finished tube also give customers the confidence of com- plete control over their products, empow- ering them to install or modify the material with full knowledge of its history. Everything is new, nothing has changed Since 1862, Alleima has advanced indus- tries and societies through our materials technology and never stopped innovating. A journey started as Sandvik Materials Technology but will continue as Alleima, with the company heritage and values as travel companions. The quality stainless steel and alloys remain the same.
The Mehsana production facility in Gujarat, India, began life as an extrusion unit for tubes, pipes, and hollow bars. In 2004, a cold pilgering line was added, and a limited number of grades were pro- duced. Over the years, Alleima also exten- sively upgraded the finishing facilities for the production of heat exchanger tubing. More recently, in response to the elevated demand for special alloy tubes in India and the Asia Pacific, Alleima expanded its prod- uct portfolio to accommodate an enhanced cold pilgering process, pushing ahead with a much greater variety and quantity of tubes. As a result, various processes for pro- ducing tube products, including hot extru- sion and cold pilgering, also known as hot and cold extrusion, now occur on-site. Additionally, the Mehsana production also manufactures grades used in the specialty chemicals market, such as alloy 200, alloy 201, alloy 600, alloy 625, alloy 825, C 276, C 22, and many other special grades to meet corrosion resistance challenges. These advanced alloys are demanded by customers who depend on reliability, par- ticularly in oil and gas and chemical facil- ities where operating environments can be highly corrosive and production is inte- grated, meaning the performance of every component is critical. These unique grade tubes are man- ufactured to stringent Alleima quality standards and offered highly competitive delivery options. For example, Alleima can deliver tubes from 12.7 mm to 50.88 mm from its Mehsana mill without limitations on quantity. Beyond heat exchangers, the advanced corrosion-resistant tube, pipe, and hol-
This article was previously published in Chemical Engineering World India , August 2022.
Contact: saipriya.paranjape_c@alleima.com
Development and commercialisation of superabsorbent polymer technology
Saptarshi Ray, Renny AM, Jitendra Satyarthi, MV Syamkumar, Vaishakhi Singh, Amit Kunte and Ravikumar V Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd
As part of the Propylene Derived Petrochemical Project (PDPP) of BPCL Kochi Refinery (KR), superabsorbent pol- ymer (SAP) was identified as one of the value-added products of acrylic acid. However, as licences for niche petrochemi- cals are unavailable, BPCL Corporate R&D Centre, Greater Noida, took up the chal- lenge of developing end-to-end process technology for SAP. SAP is a cross-linked polymer of acrylic
acid, which is capable of absorbing water many times its own weight. This special ability of SAP is useful in various hygiene products, like baby and adult diapers, fem- inine hygiene products, and superabsorb- ing sheets. Currently, the market for SAP in India is 50.5 KTPA with a CAGR of 6%, resulting in approximate FOREX outgo equivalent to INR 1000 crores. Globally, SAP is produced by two differ- ent processes: solution polymerisation and
Refinery based on the solution polymeri- sation process. The process was designed and developed 100% in-house by the BPCL Corporate R&D Centre. Basic engi- neering and project execution was done jointly by the BPCL R&D Centre and Kochi Refinery projects team. All individual pro- cess units are well integrated to produce SAP in an end-to-end manner. Machine operations are controlled by SCADA from the refinery control room with
inverse suspension polymerisation. Except for Sumitomo, which uses the inverse suspension process, almost all major manufacturers of SAP use the solution pol- ymerisation process. The latter uses water as the solvent and does not require any other solvent or surfactants during the pol- ymerisation process. It is scalable to 100+ KTPA in a single train. BPCL has constructed a 200 TPA technology demonstration unit at Kochi
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