VOLUME I - ISSUE VIII

AUGUST - 2020

This issue covers

Grasim’s Chemicals business
Aditya Birla Chemicals is a leading manufacturer of
bulk and specialty chemicals and viscose filament
yarn. The business is spread across multiple
manufacturing locations in four countries – India,
Thailand, Germany, and China.
The business is creating a strong footprint in the
chemicals industry – it is a market leader in the
chlor-alkali segment in India; enjoys number one
position in viscose filament yarn and is the third-
largest manufacturer in sulphites globally.
By using advanced technology and ensuring
stringent quality control, the Chemicals business
produces a wide range of products, including chlor-
alkali, chlorine derivatives, and epoxy resins. These
products are used in a wide range of industries that
include metal treatment, textiles, water treatment,
pulp and paper, paint and coatings, civil engineering,
food and food processing, personal care products,
wind energy, composites, electrical industry, and
detergents. Thereby touching people’s lives through
product applications across various walks of life.

Highly confidential

1. Overview of the Business and Technology 02

content
2. Patent Portfolio 06
3. Leadership talk 07
4. Achievements 08
5. Food for Thought 10
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 Overview of the Business
and Technology

The Chemicals business has 16 manufacturing Overview of ABG Chlor-Alkali SBU

sites – nine in India, five in Thailand, one in
Germany, and one in China. These operations The Chlor-Alkali SBU in the Aditya Birla
are handled through: Group took shape in 2007-08 by combining
• In India – Grasim Industries and TANFAC; 3 separate units under different Group
• In Thailand – Aditya Birla Chemicals(Thailand) companies. Moreover, the SBU also acquired 3
and Thai Peroxide Company caustic units at Renukoot, Karwar and Ganjam
• In Germany – Aditya Birla Chemicals between 2011-2015, and also set up a
(Europe) Gmbh. greenfield caustic unit at Vilayat in FY14. Thus,
• In China – Aditya Birla Grasun Chemicals between FY05-FY16, the SBU had doubled its
(Fangchenggang) capacity share from 13.6% to 26.6%, driven by
organic and inorganic growth initiatives.
Their product portfolio includes:
• Chlor-alkali Caustic Soda and Chlorine are the basic building
• Sulphites blocks for quite a few downstream industries.
• Chlorine derivatives Caustic soda is used by players manufacturing
• Peroxides Aluminium, Viscose Staple Fibre, Pulp and
• Epoxy resins Paper, Soaps and Detergents, etc. Chlorine
• Fluorine chemicals is consumed directly for water treatment
• Phosphates and phosphoric acid (municipal, industrial) and in manufacturing
• Viscose filament yarn Chlorine derivatives.

Brief Timeline:

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2
 Overview of the Business
Their product basket can be categorised as below, which has a detailed value chain:
Both Caustic Soda and Value Added Products
(VAPs) have markets within as well as outside
India. Products are distributed directly to the
end customer as well as through a network of
distributors, dealers, commission agents and
sales representatives, within and outside India.
Product differentiation through application-
based approach for VAP yielded results in new
products for refinery wastewater treatment,
demulsification of resinous wastewater,
handling of dispersed and reactive dye residue,
processing of ceramic ingredients, etc. These
products have been commercialised under the
brand name Vytal. There is a pipeline of at least
5 more products with initial success, which will
be commercialised shortly, converting RandD
efforts into solutions.
New product development and
improvement:
New product development and improvement
in the existing product portfolio have been a
great success in the water sector. Few of the
examples are as follows:
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3
and Technology
Approach 1: Improving existing products/
process for higher realisation
SAB 18+:
Normal SAB18 Poly aluminium chloride (PAC)
liquid has a shelf life of 15-30 days, and
settling of aluminium species is observed with
time. Similarly, the powder made from this
liquid also has deterioration nature of polymer
with time. This nature of PAC product has
attracted a lot of customer complaints and has
a restriction for supplying SAB18 liquid where
storage/ transportation time is higher.
A stabiliser was developed to ensure solubility
of the polymer in solution for a prolonged
time, which resulted in an extended shelf-life
of 4-6 months against earlier 15-30 days for
SAB18 liquid, and a patent has been filed for
the process. It enabled the business to develop
the overseas market and has a monopoly in the
domestic market as a differentiated product,
which has also resulted in the development
of new applications with considerable higher
product realisation.
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 Overview of the Business
and Technology
New High Basicity PAC:
Manufacturing of high-basicity Poly aluminium
chloride required dilution of SAB18 PAC
liquid to a great extent before reaction with
alkaline aluminate. This dilution resulted in
50% capacity of PAC powder. The handling of
alkaline alumina also results in material losses
as well as poor quality of PAC product due to
high turbidity in the final liquid product.
A new high-solid recipe was developed without
using alkaline alumina, resulting in crystal clear
liquid product and an 80% increase in the
productivity of the powdered product. New
product has excellent performance efficacy
against existing conventional coagulants. The
overseas market requirement is being met at
good realisation.
Super coagulant:
Differentiation in water treatment portfolio
was required to capture the marketplace.
New chemistry was identified and initially,
the process was developed in-house. High-
alumina, high-basicity product manufactured
by Grasim in India with a present manufacturing
capacity of 5000 MT per annum, having
high potential for speciality solution in both
domestic and export markets. It has supported
the business to launch performance chemicals
for both water and wastewater segments with
considerably high realisation.
Process for removal of TOC from HCl:
One MT of chlorinated paraffin product
consumes ~1.2 MT of chlorine and results in
~1.6 MT of high-strength, yellow organic-rich
hydrochloric acid. Degraded paraffin and low-
volatile organics present in paraffin are also
solubilised in water during scrubbing of HCl
vapours. This organic-rich HCl having yellow
appearance has a higher negative price of
selling compared to virgin HCl. It was difficult
to dispose of this HCl and it was hampering
the production capacity of the CP plant.
Inhouse development of simple processes
resulted in a reduction of TOC content below
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4
10 ppm at negligible cost and technology
and has been disbursed to other plants of the
chemical business. This has supported the CP
plant for continuous operation while providing
value addition to byproduct.
Approach 2: Customised solutions to resolve
customer pain points
The methodology to identify new product
applications was mainly driven by the out-in
approach, where the voice of the customer was
considered as input excluding a few products/
applications. The following key industrial
sectors were identified based on customer
requests and the market potential was studied
for specialty solutions. These developed
solutions have market differentiation and
excellent realisation.
Oil Refinery:
During the refining of crude or edible oil, a lot
of emulsified oil is carried over to the ETP,
which is difficult to remove and leads to the
poor performance of Biological Treatment. The
industry is not able to run secondary treatment
and subsequently difficult to meet end-use
quality/discharge norms.
VYTAL 2810, a de-emulsification cum
coagulating agent was developed for the
removal of emulsified oil in wastewater, leading
to a removal of nearly 98% of emulsified oil.
This is a robust solution to treat wastewater
from mineral/vegetable oil source, containing
few ppm to % level of oil, and performing even
at 70- 90°C where most other commercial
products get decomposed. The product has
been commercialised in both oil exploration
and refinery oil industries and is performing
well to meet customer expectations with great
realisation and EBITDA.
Textile Industry:
Dispersed dyes and pigments used in dope
dyeing of manmade fibres, lead to generation
of coloured effluent, which is difficult to treat.
The industry is facing this problem from
past several decades. Treated wastewater
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 Overview of the Business
containing colour has issues for surface water
discharge and even for reuse in other process
applications.
VYTAL 641, a formulated product, was
developed to address this issue and was able
to remove >98% colour and ~70% of COD load
from the dye concentrated stream. The product
has been commercialised and has resolved the
decade-old problem for handling wastewater
containing colour.
Similarly, VYTAL 630 has been recently
commercialised for reactive dyes and is able to
resolve the customer issue of reducing colour
while adding negligible TDS and generating
low sludge against conventional chemicals.
Ceramic Mineral Processing:
During the processing of feldspar for ceramic
industry, inconsistent and poor settling of fine
feldspar particles leads to product loss and
increases load on ETP. Increasing the dose of
traditionally used flocculants badly affects the
optical properties of processes feldspar.
VYTAL 612 was specially developed for quick
settling of fine feldspar particles, leading to
higher productivity with no adverse effect on
optical properties.
Product has successfully been evaluated at
5-6 feldspar processing unit and plant scale
too. Commercialisation of the product is at the
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and Technology
final stage, where cost of the treatment will be
recovered out of loss of material and cost of
ETP operation.
Resin Industry:
Wastewater from the resin industry contains
sticky and hard-to-biodegrade organic
material. This sticky material also has issue
in the process of wastewater treatment.
Demulsification and removal of the same
remain a huge issue.
High performance coagulant VYTAL 3310, was
introduced to tackle this problem in the resin
industry. There was almost 99% removal of
turbidity with reduction in sticky material. The
solution provided is already commercialised
and industry is able to produce almost clear
treated wastewater.
High-performance coagulant for
industrial wastewater:
Differentiation of existing coagulants with
better efficacy was achieved by introducing
high-performance coagulant VYTAL 2803. This
variant has an excellent affinity towards natural
organic impurities and is performing well for
issues like problem of high-colour effluent,
poor removal of TOC/TSS/COD etc. in the
industrial wastewater. The solution provided
is already commercialised, and industry can
produce almost clear treated wastewater.
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 Patent Portfolio

The Chemicals business has accelerated R&D
efforts at its Aditya Birla Water Application and
Product Development Centre. The busines has
focused on customer-driven R&D, resulting in
providing solutions and solving problems at the
customer end. The R&D team has also shown
improvement in existing processes in terms of
efficiency and quality.
The Business has also filed a few patents in
the areas of water treatment, raw material
and process improvement. The Business has
partnered with reputed institutions viz. Institute
of Chemical Technology, Mumbai; Malaviya
National Institute of Technology, Jaipur; Central
Institute for Brackish Water Aquaculture,
Chennai, National Environmental Engineering
Research Institute, Nagpur, Central Leather
Research Institute, Chennai, Vasantdada Sugar
Institute, Pune etc. on various projects.

Nature of the technologies secured

Title Executive Summary
A process for preparing a stable The aim of this invention is to develop a blend that slowly
blend for slow release of insoluble releases soluble phosphate when contacted with soil. It not
phosphate to soluble phosphate only has a higher shelf life but is also developed in a cost-
effective manner.
A method of preparing stable Poly Poly aluminium chloride (PAC) is manufactured in both
aluminium chloride (PAC) liquid liquid and powder forms. PAC is widely used as a coagulant/
and improving the stability of PAC flocculant in water purification, in treatment of drinking/
powder. potable water, and in wastewater treatment. Through this
invention, stability of PAC (liquid and powder) were increased
by delaying the settling of the white jelly-like material in PAC.
A process for preparing food- This invention provides a novel process for preparing food-
grade mono-calcium phosphate, grade phosphate suitable for human consumption. The
di-calcium phosphate and tri- process involves calcination step at a low-temperature unlike
calcium phosphate. suggested in other literature, which makes it an energy-
saving process.
A process for treating alkaline This invention provides a process for treating alkaline Red
bauxite residue obtained during Mud before sending it for disposal or landfill. Here, the red
Bayer process. mud is neutralised without using a large quantity of alkali.
Moreover, the water used in the process is recirculated
thereby making the process efficient.
A process for extraction of It provides a process for extraction of phosphoric acid from
phosphoric acid from rock rock phosphate, showing increased efficiency of extraction
phosphate. by reducing the number of extraction cycles. This process
involves using a novel organic solvent, which improves the
extraction efficiency of phosphoric acid by utilising fewer
contact cycles.
A process for increasing the This provides a process whereby metal impurities are
efficiency of phosphoric acid removed up to 95% before extraction of phosphoric acid
extraction. thereby increasing the extraction efficiency of the overall
process.
Disinfectant and cleaning material This latest invention provides a disinfectant composition
composition and preparation having a combined property of disinfectant and cleaner in
Thereof solid granular/ powder formulation.

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6

What changes would you recommend
for advancement of technology and
intellectual property in ABG?
We need to build capabilities in this vital area. The
growth of a business, society and nation is directly
linked to the adoption, creation and safeguarding
of technology. We have made significant progress
in this field, but we still have a long way to go
where we can compare ourselves with our leading
peers in respective industries and businesses. It
would be a competitive advantage if we leverage
the human capital which is available in plenty
with us.
What is your vision for CFI business and
where do you see the technology growth
of the business in 10 years?
CFI is like a mini ABG in terms of diversity. This is
an aggregation of various businesses which are
very different from each other. I would imagine
that in 10 years, all the businesses would have not
only developed internal capabilities and caught
up with global competition but also have taken
technological leads globally, at least in one of the
areas chosen by them. I would also imagine that
if we can leverage this dissimilarity and create
something combing two or more businesses,
then it can be unique to CFI and ABG.
How do you deal with the unexpected and
how do you plan to take the CFI business
through this pandemic?
These are unprecedented times. All businesses
are impacted – some favorably but most of them
unfavorably. Even though the businesses which
have experienced favorable demands were not
necessarily designed for it, they have been more
successful relative to others due to their internal
capabilities to respond to the situation. Likewise,
the severity of negative impact has been different
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7
Leadership Talk
for different organisations in the same industry.
These are very testing times. We have increased
communication to align and focus across the
teams. We have more frequent and transparent
communication with all stake holders in order to
understand and respond in best possible way to
changing situations. Most importantly, adhering
to our values in this testing time is what we have
been doing.
What is the next disruptive technology
that you think will hit the market?
“Disruptive” and “Revolutionary” to me are
exaggeration of expression to underline the
importance of certain factors. But to me, it is
always continuous evolution and their impact are
felt once it has crossed critical threshold. Just
to clarify, “internet” concept was developed in
1970s and it took decades and millions of other
parallel developments to make it more relevant
and impactful, be it new materials, new chips, new
languages of coding, new concepts of designs
etc. This is true for discovery of laser and then
its evolution to create most destructive weapon
to most precise tool for therapy and complicated
operation of human bodies and likewise for every
development.
Technology is expanding both vertically and
horizontally and it is getting multidisciplinary and
more complex as well. This is where collaborations
of individuals and teams to bring multidisciplinary
skills in solving new problems and creating new
solutions becomes extremely critical.
It is very difficult to say what will be next disruption
but if we see through the human desire and
market forces then the scientific community will
try to respond to “How do we stretch healthy life
span?” or “How do we multiply capabilities?” or
“How do we make planet more sustainable?”. The
answer to these questions will come from various
sides and many in numbers. For example, the
first question will be answered through editing
of DNA or new interventions through additional
medicines or implants or a combination of them
is difficult to predict.
More relevant to our context is new materials
which exhibit combined performance of organic
and inorganic materials such as micro reactors
for large-scale manufacturing, making operations
more agile and safer, and biosynthesis of various
products may become more popular in coming
decades which may reduce effluents, energy
requirements substantially.
- Mr. Pradeep K Dubey
CTO, Grasim (CFI Sector)
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 Achievements
Implementation of Central Control
Tower: Live tracking of logistics
Supply Chain Visibility is the key enabler
for managing a business both within the
organizational boundaries as well as across
the boundaries. This visibility provides speed,
reliability and flexibility in order to gain a
competitive advantage in the form of well
controlled and managed supply chain functions.
In response to the need for Supply Chain
Visibility, the leading Supply Chain Visibility
principles are increasingly being embodied in
Supply Chain Control Towers.
A supply chain control tower is a central hub
with the required technology, organization and
Following are the key focus areas planned to be addressed through this initiative:
Nature of the technologies secured
Title Safety
In-Plant • Driving speed within plant
• Excessive time spent within plant
• Parking/access in undesignated areas • De-bottlenecking of processes to
En-route • Speed violation, harsh driving
• Deviation from determined route
• Night driving
• Stoppage at undesignated areas
At • Halting of hazardous consignments • Monitoring of detention
Customer inside/outside customer location for • Control over malpractices around
long periods
Outcome: The Business has taken this new
initiative for better control of vehicle movement
and logistic activities. So far, 800 GPS devices
have been installed across the plants and all
vehicles are tracked by the Control Tower.
Now, all violation is captured and immediate
action is taken accordingly. It will result in
better negotiations with transporters based
on the data captured for trips. Moreover, it will
reduce the cost of customer detention as the
actual time halt time can be calculated at the
customer location.
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processes to capture and use supply chain data
to provide enhanced visibility for short- and
long-term decision making that is aligned with
strategic objectives. All the vehicle movement
can be controlled from a central location with
accurate and real-time data for improving
the en-route and plant safety in logistics
by advance technology. Control Tower is an
ultimate source of all SCM/Logistics solutions.
It offers centralised control and visibility of
the end-to-end supply chain. It facilitates
management and handling of supply chain
shocks and shifts real-time. From a business
perspective, it provides visibility of the impact
across the end-to-end chain, which is crucial
for launching corrective actions.
Cost and Service Level
• In-plant turn-around time (TAT)
monitoring
reduce Gate-in Gate-out time (GIGO)
• Excess idling
• Deviation from route
• Missing geographic milestones
‘ship-to-location’ to gain price
advantage
COVID-19 Response:
I. Disinfection and Sanitisation:
• Donated 80+ MT of bleaching power and
6+ MT of Sodium Hypochlorite to nearby
districts and state of Odisha for sanitisation
of public places.
• Fogging and Sanitisation in plant, colony
and local communities in Ganjam and other
districts of Odisha.
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• Disinfecting areas of Bharuch City with
disinfecting material (Sodium Hypochlorite)
through the use of our emergency vehicle.
• Weekly sanitisation of 13 nearby villages
around BB Puram with HSB Solution.
II. Distribution of face masks prepared developed 10-bedded isolation/quarantine
by Self Help Groups (SHGs):
• Distributed 75,000+ masks to the nearby
villagers and government personnel like
police, health practitioners, drivers, etc. in
Rehla, Vilayat, and Ganjam districts.
III. Providing food and groceries to Awards and Accolades:
people in need:
• Distributed raw food packages (each
containing 5 kg rice, 2 kg flour, 2 kg potato,
1 kg pulses, 1 Lit. mustard oil, 1 kg salt and
1 shop) to 100+ people in nearby villages
around Rehla, Gujarat.
• Ration distribution to the people in need
around the plant premises, Vilayat and
Ganjam
• Distributed dry Ration kits to Migrant Labour,
Office of DC- Bharuch and DY Director
Factories
IV. Awareness Campaign:
• Displayed leaflets, posters in various public
places to raise awareness on COVID-19.
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Achievements
• Awareness campaigns conducted through
leaflets distribution, posters in 11 nearby
villages around Vilayat, Gujarat.
V. Medical Facilities:
• As per the instructions of Govt. administration,
centre at our Agriculture training centre in
Ganjam, Odisha
• Essentials Kit distributed to 125 young
vernacular freelance journalists around 4
nearby mandals of BB Puram, AP
2019
• First Prize in the Chemical Sector in National
Energy Conservation Award (by Bureau of
Energy Efficiency, Government of India)
2018
• National award for excellence in water
management
• IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality
Award
2017
• Chairman’s WCM and Business Excellence
Awards
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 Food for Thought
How COVID-19 is Changing IP Law - What You Need to Know
The rapid spread of COVID-19 brought about
massive global events that led to a dizzying
array of changes—including in intellectual
property law around the world, shaking up
administrative procedures, court rules, and law
firm best practices.
On March 23, the Supreme Court of India took
suo motu cognizance of challenges faced by
the country due to the coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic, including the difficulties that legal
practitioners and litigants may face. To obviate
such difficulties and also limit physical presence,
the Supreme Court invoked its plenary powers
under Article 142 of the Constitution to extend
the period of limitation in all proceedings with
effect from March 15 till further orders. The
High Courts and IP Offices have also announced
measures that will affect IP proceedings such
as delay fee waiver. In a notice published in
March, the Patent Office advised applicants
and parties to use the provisions of Rule 6
(6) of the Patents Rules 2003 to request an
extension of time or condone the delay in filing
documents and other responses.
The European Patent Office issued a blanket
extension of time limits expiring on or after
March 15 to May 4, 2020 (an end date that
could be extended further) and provided certain
remedies for earlier time limits “for users
located in areas directly affected by disruptions
due to the COVID-19 outbreak.” Likewise, oral
proceedings in examination and opposition
proceedings have been postponed until further
notice.
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office
has authorised extensions of deadlines for
trademark oppositions, in addition to patent-
related deadlines.
This bulletin is brought out for informational purpose only.
For further information / feedback, please contact: vrinda.kaul@adityabirla.com
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More proactively, the Korean Intellectual
Property Office has launched multiple initiatives
to encourage innovative responses to the
pandemic, including a fast-track examination
for related technologies. Brazil implemented
similar measures on April 7.
Australian patent office will allow patentees and
owners to request an extension of the deadline
if the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their
ability to respond by a deadline.
There has been no uniform response to the
pandemic by courts to date, and different
jurisdictions have widely varying and quickly
changing procedures. One issue of ongoing
concern is whether various companies were
sufficiently prepared for mass remote working
arrangements to ensure that their trade secrets
remain adequately protected.
Conclusion:
As the virus is spreading rapidly all over the world,
it is expected that a greater number of national
IP offices will introduce measures to overcome
the impact of the virus and may provide relief
to the IP holding companies, and practitioners.
For now, professionals, IP owners/holders and
practitioners are suggested to manage their IP
portfolio diligently to identify non-performing
assets. IP holders should also design some
clever strategies which will help them adapt to
the post-pandemic environment. To address IP
infringement concerns related to crisis critical
products during a pandemic, compulsory
licensing, IP pledges, and IP pooling are
becoming beneficial. Also, it is important to
capture and protect any essential IP that is
generated from the mass manufacturing of
Crisis Critical Products.
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