Preconditions for Liberal Imports

Preconditions for Liberal Imports Hansavivek POLYCHEM has received a letter of intent for a 2,000-tonne per annum polyvinyl alcohol plant to be built adjacent to its VAM plant at Nimbul near Pune. When established, this plant will substantially improve the capacity utilisation of the VAM plant and also reduce the imports of this high value product thus saving foreign exchange. Polyvinyl alcohol finds uses as sizing and coating agent in the textile and paper industries and also in making emulsions. The company's application under the Technical Development Fund Scheme is under consideration of the government for import of an improved technology for batch fermentation of molasses at the distillery for inducting more energy and cost efficient technology in the styrene plant. A development pilot plant, based on the technology developed by IIT, Bombay, is under construction for treating the spent wash effluent from the distillery. Besides reducing the BOD and COD values in the treated effluent, this treatment will generate methane gas which will be used as a fuel in the boilers. The company is yet to receive the approval of the government for increasing the capacity of ABS plant to 3,000 tonnes per annum under the regularisation scheme of the installed capacity. ABS plant is lately working at high rates of production in view of the increasing demand.