The PVC operations of Chemplast began in May 1967 at Mettur, near Salem in Tamil Nadu, with technology from BF Goodrich, USA, to manufacture a variety of high quality PVC Resin products having a wide range of end-use applications.
Chemplast Sanmar pioneered the manufacture of Paste Grade Resins in India. It is also the only manufacturer of Battery Separator Grade Resins (made with technical know how from ICI, UK).
With the intention of achieving self-sufficiency in feedstock, the company completed a strategic acquisition of a chlor-alkali plant at Karaikal in August 2003, and ramped up the plant capacity. This plant had a capacity of 33,000 TPA of caustic soda and 30,000 TPA of chlorine.
This has been increased to 54,750 TPA of caustic soda and 48,508 TPA of chlorine. A downstream EDC plant of 84,000 TPA capacity, which captively utilises the chlorine from the chlor-alkali plant at Karaikal has also been set up. This plant includes a Marine Terminal facility for the import of liquid ethylene. To derive further cost advantage, the company has gone in for a gas based power plant of 13 MW capacity at this location.