Group 08: Project Report-01 (Modified)

HYDROCHLORIC ACID PRODUCTION

Scope and Motivation
In this report we aim to present a detailed analysis on the possible alternatives of hydrochloric acid manufacture
at the industrial scale. We look forward to developing a newer, cheaper, energy efficient and benign process
that can be industrially implemented or integrated with the existing technologies economically.

Uses of hydrochloric Acid1

Acids have always been known to be very useful for man in a multitude of ways. Likewise hydrochloric acid
serves important purposes to mankind inluding: production of organic compounds like PVC, salt purification
processes processing of food additives, facilitating oil well acidizing in oil production, pH control and
neutralisation, regeneration of ion exchangers and many more.

Table 1: Production rate for major corporations around the world2

Corporations Quantity ( MMt/annum)
Dow Chemical - American Multinational 2
Georgia Gulf Corporation - American Multinational 0.5-1.5
Tosoh Corporation - Japanese Multinational 0.5-1.5
Tessenderlo - Belgian Multinational 0.5-1.5
Akzo Nobel - Dutch Multinational 0.5-1.5
Annually 20 Million Metric tonnes of hydrochloric Acid is produced

Target Clients
We have classified our clients into two, first those companies which use hydrochloric acid as a reactant in their
manufacturing processes, and second those companies who are already manufacturing hydrochloric acid. Such
clients include - Food industry (like Nestle, ITC, etc), wastewater treatment, Salt industry (like TATA), and many
others.

Our intended production rates will be ~ 1 MMt/annum which will be the basis for the entire design. This
production rate is chosen such that we can transfer our technology to our clients matching their production
rates.

1
Book: Mohammed WMH,Tilak VB, Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. Copyright John Wiley & Sons Inc. Vol 13,
880-837
2
https://www.pssurvival.com/PS/Chemistry/hydrochloric_Acid_2008.pdf