TechnipFMC announces first technology license for epichlorohydrin from renewable feedstock in India
TechnipFMC announces that it has signed its first EPICEROL® Technology License Agreement with Meghmani Finechem Ltd (MFL) in India. The 50 kta(1) capacity plant will produce epichlorohydrin from glycerin, a renewable feedstock derived from natural sources.
The unit will be integrated into the Chlor Alkali and Derivative Complex in Dahej, Gujarat, India, to serve the growing domestic epichlorohydrin market. MFL will be the first to manufacture epichlorohydrin in India with an expected plant start-up of 2021.
Epichlorohydrin is a compound used to produce epoxy resins. Its main applications include corrosion protection coatings in the industrial, automotive, and packaging industries and as composites used in the aerospace and wind mill industries.
This first project using the EPICEROL technology will be managed from TechnipFMC's center in Lyon, France, the reference center for bio-sourced chemicals technologies. Based on renewable glycerol feedstocks, EPICEROL is the most sustainable ECH process in terms of CO2 emissions and process environmental performance.
Compared to a fossil route, it allows a ten-fold reduction in water consumption, a 50% reduction in the consumption of non-renewable resources and a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. Incorporating a 50 kta of EPICEROL instead of a propylene based ECH process reduces the global carbon footprint by 128 kta C02 equivalent.
Stan Knez, President of TechnipFMC Process Technology, commented: "EPICEROL offers a cost-effective process to produce epichlorohydrin, with a reduced carbon footprint compared to traditional propylene-based processes. This breakthrough technology produces fewer emissions, effluents or harmful by-products, making it one of the most environment friendly processes possible."
(1)Kta: kilo tonnes per annum
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