Says Dr Ranga Raju, Managing Director, Dhananjai Equipments Pvt Ltd, while elaborating on new opportunities in this industry.

Established in 2001, Dhananjai Equipment Pvt Ltd has emerged as one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of chemical processing equipment and plants in the country. With reputed chemical companies as its clients, it has been able to create a niche for itself in this domain. In this interview with IPF, Dr Ranga Raju, Managing Director, Dhananjai Equipments Pvt Ltd, throws light on the emerging trends and new opportunities in the chemical process equipment industry.

How would you describe the present situation of the chemical process industry?

At present the chemical process industry is going strong. Many companies from this industry are exporting their products to different countries. Domestically, the demand for process equipment from the pharma industry is growing. So, compare to other manufacturing sectors, chemical process industry is relatively in a good shape.

Do you have any example of a breakthrough product or technology in this domain?

We manufacture process plant equipment such as reactors, heat exchangers, storage tanks, filters, receivers, columns, condensers, calandria (nuclear reactor), extractors, and a special purpose machinery. Now we are using indigenous technology to manufacture products such as reactors, which are the main machinery in the chemical sector.

What is the kind of R&D done by the company?

We are manufacturing the machinery with indigenous technology. Earlier we use to procure reactors, centrifuges, dryers and some other equipment from Mumbai because there were no fabricators available in Hyderabad. To bridge this supply gap, we developed our own R&D system and today we manufacture most of the equipment required by the chemical processing plants in our factory in Hyderabad.

How is the export potential of chemical process equipment industry?

Chemical process equipment has huge potential for exports especially to the countries in Africa and Gulf regions. Though we are not directly involved in exports, we cater to overseas clients through another manufacturer, who in turn procures these products from us.

Corrosion is a serious menace especially in the chemical industry. What is ideally the best solution?

Level of corrosion depends on the type of chemicals manufactured and also on the processes involved. Corrosions are of different types - some of the processes are highly corrosive, while others may be normal to medium corrosive. Dhananjai Equipments regularly uses SS 316L, SS304L, SS316, SS304 for the low corrosion and IS 2062 Gr. A&B and SA 516 Gr.70 & Gr.53 for higher corrosion. In addition, we also will use Astalloy, titanium and other special alloy steels for making equipment.

What are the requirements of a company which is dealing with the chemical process equipment industry?

To manufacture chemical process plant & machinery, our industry needs plate rolling machine, invertors, rectifiers, air plasma cutting machines, Tig & Mig welding machines, lathe machines, grinding machines, drilling machines, cranes, buffing machines, etc.

Are there any applications which have not yet been tapped by the industry?

The growing demand for chemicals from end-user industries is resulting in capacity expansion. This, in turn, is offering huge scope for the chemical process equipment industry. Earlier we used to face the challenge of imports, especially from countries such as China. However, situation is different now with industries in India preferring to buy equipment from domestic chemical process equipment manufacturers because our manufacturing quality, delivery time and prices are comparable to those offered by other countries.

Pharmaceutical industry has emerged as a major growth driver to the equipment industry as many of the bulk drug manufacturers are undertaking expansion. Demand from pesticides, fertilisers, chemicals and formulations is also going up.

In our manufacturing field, we can atomise our equipment. However, because of cost, we are unable to procure the machinery which we need for the atomisation.