“At the outset, the coal from the Carmichael Project in Australia is not suitable for the PVC plant.
Secondly, it is widely proven that using coal as a chemical feedstock to produce PVC is less polluting as compared to conventional methods such as petrochemical refinery and ethylene cracker. Both processes demand the use of carbon atoms as feed. While conventional methods source the carbon atom from oil, sourcing it from coal does not produce carbon-di-oxide. Further, PVC is not toxic or single-use plastic, but an infrastructure material with a life span of several decades.
Thirdly, given that the project is an energy-intensive process, the Adani Group’s massive renewable capacity of 24+ GW would enable to make this a low carbon-intensive and of its kind projects in this segment. It is also pertinent to understand that the biggest demand for PVC is in agriculture and infrastructure, water pipes, sprinkler systems, etc. materials critical to India’s urbanization drive needed for the modernization of the economy. Out of country’s 4 million tonne of annual PVC demand, 2.5 million tonne is imported for close to 4 billion USD. India manufactures PVC using largely imported oil and other feedstock.
Considering India’s huge dependency on these vital resources and the limited natural gas supplies in the country, including imports, are needed for higher-value chemicals. The project would be a major step towards reducing our nation’s import dependency in alignment with the vision to become self-reliant.”