India’s Deepak Chem Tech to build new phenol, acetone, IPA plants

MUMBAI (ICIS)–India’s Deepak Chem Tech Ltd (DCTL) plans to set up a manufacturing complex to produce phenol, acetone and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) at a cost of Indian rupee (Rs) 35 billion ($407 million).

The company will build a 300,000 tonne/year phenol unit, a 185,000 tonne/year acetone plant and a 100,000 tonne/year IPA line at Dahej in the western Gujarat state, its parent firm Deepak Nitrite Ltd (DNL) said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on 9 April.

It expects to fund the new project through a mix of debt and equity.

DCTL is a wholly owned subsidiary of DNL.

“The new capacity of phenol and acetone would be integrated to produce polycarbonate (PC) resins,” DNL said.

In November 2024, DCTL announced plans to build a new 165,000 tonne/year PC plant in Dahej using technology from US-based engineering materials producer Trinseo.

Trinseo sold its PC technology license, as well as all of its proprietary PC equipment at Stade, Germany to DCTL last year.

DCTL expects to begin operations at all the new plants in the fiscal year ending March 2028.

Once the plants are operational, DCTL “will be one of the most integrated producers of PC,” it said, adding that the complex will help Deepak to meet India’s growing market demand for PC-based products.

To make its Dahej complex fully integrated, DNL’s wholly owned subsidiary Deepak Phenolics Ltd (DPL) entered into a 15-year agreement with Petronet LNG for the procurement of 250,000 tonne/year of feedstock propylene and 11,000 tonnes/year of hydrogen in October 2024.

DPL currently produces 330,000 tonnes/year of phenol, 200,000 tonnes/year of acetone and 80,000 tonnes/year of IPA at its production complex at Dahej.

In March, Deepak Advanced Materials Limited (DAML), another wholly owned subsidiary of DNL, began operations at its PC compounds facility at Vadodara in the Gujarat state. This facility produces PC compounds for the electronic and mobility sectors.

Separately, DCTL also plans to invest Rs2.20 billion to build a plant that will manufacture specialty fluorochemicals.

DNL also plans to commission its greenfield 40,000 tonne/year methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) and 8000 tonne/year methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) plants before September 2025.

($1 = Rs86.01)