SGL Carbon delivered a hydrochloric acid (HCl) synthesis unit with integrated steam generation to Travancore-Cochin Chemicals Ltd. (TCCL), a major producer in the chlor alkali business in South India. End of January 2021,TCCL officially inaugurated its plant in Kochi in India’s Kerala state. Since then, the unit has already been ramped up at the customer’s site to full capacity.
The synthesis unit uses the membrane wall technology and has a capacity of 60 t of HCl per day. As an additional benefit, the design enables the recovery of waste heat generated in the synthesis unit from the reaction of hydrogen and chlorine to produce up to 33 t of steam at the high pressure of 10 bar every day. This steam can be used elsewhere in the chlor alkali plant, for example when concentrating caustic to flakes. As a result, the energy efficiency of TCCL’s plant goes up substantially since a huge portion of their steam demand can be covered by SGL’s unit. Thereby this helps to save costs as well as reduces CO2 emissions by more than 1500 tons per year potentially. The HCl synthesis has been completely engineered and produced at SGL’s production site in Pune, India. Scope of supply also included civil modification services at the customer site on a turnkey basis.
