RIL, Rohm and Haas to explore acrylic manufacturing at Jamnagar

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has signed an MoU with the $8-billion specialty materials company, Rohm and Haas, to put up a world-scale acrylic-monomer complex in Jamnagar.

This proposed facility would have the capacity to make approximately 200,000 tonnes of acrylic acid and its esters annually, for the domestic market, and possibly acrylic acid and derivatives for export.

Materials from the facility would serve as building blocks for environmentally advanced products for paints and coatings, packaging adhesives, detergents, textile and construction materials. The new facility is expected to spur development of super absorbent polymers, used primarily in the manufacture of baby diapers.

Reliance Industries and Rohm and Haas will also mull collaborating in the downstream specialty polymers and chemicals areas, which, according to a company communiqué would be "in the Indian subcontinent".

Based in Philadelphia, PA, Rohm and Haas is a global pioneer in the creation and development of innovative technologies and solutions for the specialty materials industry. The company's technologies are found in a wide range of markets, including building and construction, electronics, food and retail, household and personal care, industrial process, packaging, paper, transportation and water.