2nd National Interaction Meet on “Sectors-Specific Initial

Assessment of Mercury in India” –

‘Effective Mercury Management in India’

Industry Report: Alkali and Chloro-vinyl Industry

K. Srinivasan
Secretary General

Alkali Manufacturers Association of India

5th April 2019

 Reduction of Mercury in
Products and Processes –
Alkali & Chloro-vinyl Sectors
Indian industry achieved complete phase-out of
mercury from Chlor-Alkali processes by 2015

The industry switched over to State-of-the-Art Green

membrane cell technology from mercury cell process
based on CREP recommendations during 2003-2015.
Mercury Cell based Capacity Reduction

Capacity (Thousand MTPA Chlorine)

700

600 581
557
490
500
428
400 383
308
300
215 188
200 188
95 98
100
42 42
0 0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Mercury Reductions in Products, Water, Solid
Wastes & Total Emissions
10000
9000
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Emission to products Emission to water
Emission to Solid Wastes Total Emissions
Caustic Soda / Chlorine Industry
• Indian industry achieved mercury phase-out in the
committed time
• Industry voluntarily invested over Rs.5,000 crores to
achieve the target as part of CREP
• 2nd Country to achieve this distinction (after Japan)
• Mercury in stocks: No caustic plant has any stock of
mercury in any form
PVC Industry
• Capacity of domestic industry is 15.35 lakh MTPA (5 Plants)
• Of which 4 Plants produce VCM from EDC
• Only 1 Plant (DCM Shriram Ltd., Kota) produces VCM by carbide
route
• DCM Shriram has capacity of 0.70 lakh MTPA (4.6% of total
Indian capacity)
• Mercuric Chloride used as catalyst in VCM production by carbide
route (Inventory as HgCl2 is about 1.6 Tons max.)
• No direct imports of mercury or Mercuric Chloride – procured
from authorised dealers
• Industry committed to phasing out mercury (as provided for in
Annex B Part II of Minamata Convention on Mercury)
Milestones & Issues
• Caustic soda covered under mandatory BIS certification –
only membrane grade caustic soda permitted to be sold in
the country – Ten-year journey
• First Chemical to be brought under compulsory BIS
certification
• BIS (Caustic Soda) Order, 2018 issued on 3rd April
2018…. implemented at the ports in September 2018…..
Some violations in releasing non-compliant imports post-
September 2018 for domestic sale
• A similar approach is necessary to regulate PVC imports
Thank you