Gypsum industry news

India: Larsen & Toubro has signed a long-term technical licence agreement with Japan's Chiyoda Corporation for its Chiyoda Thoroughbred 121TM (CT-121TM) flue gas desulphurisation (FGD) technology. The agreement grants L&T exclusive rights to undertake engineering, procurement and construction with this system.

The deal follows a notification by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) issued in December 2015 that placed new limits on SO2 emissions for coal-based thermal power plants. The legislation has called for mandatory installation of FGD systems in new power plants, including those currently under construction and many that are already operational.

In the CT-121TM FGD process developed by Chiyoda SO2 is absorbed from flue gas generated by coal-fired, oil-fired and other types of boilers and removed as gypsum. Unlike conventional processes in which the reagent slurry is sprayed on flue gas, the CT-121TM process uses Chiyodas unique absorber, the Jet Bubbling Reactor, in which the flue gas is blown into the reagent slurry, forming a fine bubble bed where SO2 is absorbed, oxidised by injected air, and then neutralised by ground limestone slurry.

Larsen & Toubro and Chiyoda's relationship dates back over two decades with L&T-Chiyoda Limited, a joint-venture catering to the hydrocarbon sector. Through the signing of this agreement, the two companies have extended their association into the power sector as well.