“The blatant pursuit of industrial development by the countries to become economically stronger has made them unmindful of serious side effects of such a development on human life. We exploited our energy resources to achieve the development without thinking of the composition of the energy mix that would have been friendly to our planet. The consequences are posing serious threats to our own wellbeing. Now we are trying to find ways for the course correction.”

Before onset of industrialization, the world had a climate free from impact of greenhouse gases, planet was safe, nature was unexploited, and the environment was free from pollution. But probably, these things were not sufficient to meet humans’ ambitions and provide them satisfaction. The human community was looking for something more in terms of prosperity, ease of life, level of comfort, and more. With this, started the industrial revolution which spanned from around 1750 till about 1850. Just after industrial revolution, greenhouse gas emission started showing its presence globally in 1860. The energy related global emission of carbon di oxide (CO2), a major greenhouse gas, reached a level of 2 billion tonnes per annum in 1900 and 6 billion tonnes per annum in 1950.

The period from 1950 till now saw rapid global economic development underpinned by faster industrial growth. The world GDP climbed from approximately USD 1 trillion in 1950 to USD 101 trillion in 2022 i.e. at a compounded annual average growth of 6.6%. The industrial development that led to this economic development needed tremendous amount of energy. In order to meet the huge energy demand, countries exploited energy sources becoming unmindful of its impact on climate change. The energy mix predominantly consisted of fossil fuels, which emit CO2 when burnt. Consequently, energy related global CO2 emission steeply increased from 6 billion tonnes per annum in 1950 to 37 billion tonnes per annum in 2022 at a compounded annual growth of 2.6%. This shows a direct correlation between the scale of economic development and CO2 emission level.

The impact on climate change is perceptible in global average temperature rise of 1.2 ◦C at present from pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels. This level of global temperature rise has put serious threat to the safety of the planet. As per World Meteorological Organization, the heat wave conditions in 2022 claimed more than 15000 lives in various parts of Europe-Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Portugal. The number of extremely hot days in a year on global basis at present has increased twice that in 1980s. Other extreme weather events such as flood, drought, wildfire, etc have impacted the planet in their own way.  If determined and effective steps are not taken by the governments worldwide to limit the global warming level, the planet might see disastrous consequences in future.  

Going forward, the average global temperature will be 1.5 ◦C above the pre-industrial levels in 2030 as per International Energy Agency (IEA). If the present energy consumption pattern dominated by fossil fuels continues, global warming is likely to reach 2.0 ◦C with respect to pre-industrial levels in 2050, which would pose serious threats to the climate. It is this concern on climate change that led to adoption of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) in 1992 followed by Paris Agreement in 2015. The Paris Agreement aims to limit global warming to well below 2 ◦C, preferably to 1.5 ◦C, compared to pre-industrial levels.

To achieve the goal of Paris Agreement, countries aim to achieve net zero CO2 emission by 2050. In order to achieve net zero CO2 emission by 2050, the global energy consumption pattern has to change drastically from a fossil dominated to non-fossil dominated through clean energy transition. At present, approximately 80% of the primary energy supply comes from fossil fuels (oil, natural gas and coal) and about 20% from non-fossil sources (nuclear and renewables). As per IEA, if net zero CO2 emission has to be achieved by 2050, over 80% of the primary energy supply will come from non-fossil sources and just under 20% from fossil sources in 2050 (Table 1). Even such a smaller use of fossil fuels shall be accompanied by CO2 emission reduction technology of Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS).

Table 1: Global Energy Mix Pattern

	Share of Energy Source in Global Energy Mix (%)
Energy Source	Present	20501
Solar	1	23
Wind	1	16
Hydro	2	6
Bioenergy	11	19
Other Renewables	1	6
Total Renewables	16	70
Nuclear	5	12
Total Non-fossil Sources	21	82
Natural Gas (Unabated)	23	3
Natural Gas with CCUS	0	5
Oil	30	7
Coal (Unabated)	26	0
Coal with CCUS	0	3
Total Fossil Sources	79	18
Total Energy Supply	100	100

Notes:

1. If Net Zero CO2 Emission has to be achieved by 2050.

Source: International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2022

However, there are some key challenges to achieve the goal of 1.5 ◦C stabilization in global average temperature. One of those challenges is lack of willingness and preparedness on the part of several countries to set a binding target to achieve that goal. While several countries or groups such as United States, European Union, Canada, Japan and Republic of Korea, among others, have set a target to achieve net zero CO2 emission by 2050, several others have set target to achieve that goal much later. China and India together share approximately 40% of the total energy related global CO2 emissions. However, they both have set a target much later than 2050 to achieve carbon neutrality-China in 2060 and India in 2070.   

Another major challenge to achieve the goal of 1.5 ◦C stabilization is the availability of the finances for the investment in clean energy system i.e. low CO2 emission energy system. Today, annual investment in clean energy system is approximately USD 1.7 trillion, which is too less to meet the climate related goals. This has to increase to the tune of USD 4.5 trillion in 2030 in order to achieve net zero CO2 emission by 2050. Realization of such a steep rise in the investment would probably be an uphill task.   Time will tell whether and how the countries can meet the challenges to make the planet safer and climate friendly through sustainable development based on the use of clean energy. Let’s hope they can achieve the goal through a high degree of mutual co-operation in terms of finances and technological diffusion.

About Author: Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 30 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.

Today, the world is facing one of the most critical problems i.e. global warming caused by excessive use of fossil fuels as source of energy. Carbon di oxide (CO2), the major greenhouse gas, is released into atmosphere when fossil fuels are burnt to produce energy. The greenhouse gases lead to global warming. Today, 37 billion tonnes of CO2 is emitted from energy related use of fossil fuels. Together with other greenhouse gases including Methane, total energy related greenhouse gas emission amounts to 41 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Global warming level at present is 1.2 degree Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels, which is likely to increase to 1.5 degree Celsius in 2030. Paris Climate Agreement has set a target to limit global warming to well below 2 degree Celsius and preferably 1.5 degree Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels. If global warming has to be limited to 1.5 degree Celsius after 2030, CO2 emission will have to be reduced from present level eventually leading to net zero CO2 emission by 2050.    

At present, global energy-mix is predominantly fossil fuels based wherein fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) constitute approximately 80% of primary energy sources and non-fossil fuels (solar, wind, hydroelectric, nuclear and bioenergy) just about 20%. If net zero emission has to be achieved by 2050, the share of fossil fuels in primary energy-mix has to be reduced to just over 20% and non-fossil fuels just under 80% by then. Even such use of fossil fuels shall be accompanied with carbon reduction method known as carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) as much as possible.

Low-carbon hydrogen can play a significant role in CO2 emission reduction and hence achieving net zero emission by 2050. It is likely to account for 6% of total final energy consumption in 2050. It’s potential application as source of energy will be in transportation sector, industries and residential and commercial buildings. To that extent, low-carbon hydrogen shall replace fossil fuels and hence contribute to CO2 emission reduction. In industrial applications, it has potential to replace natural gas and coal. It can replace natural gas or coal in chemical industries such as ammonia and methanol, refineries and steel industry. In transportation sector, it has potential to replace natural gas and oil. In residential and commercial buildings, it can replace oil and natural gas in heating applications.

Low carbon hydrogen can be produced in two ways. One, from natural gas by steam reforming process using CCUS technology. The hydrogen produced by this method is usually called blue hydrogen. Two, by electrolysis of water using electricity produced from renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, hydroelectric, etc. The hydrogen produced in this process is commonly known as green hydrogen.

Choice of blue hydrogen or green hydrogen depends upon the cost competitiveness of one vis-à-vis other. While cost of production of blue hydrogen majorly depends upon natural gas price, cost of production of green hydrogen is largely influenced by renewable electricity cost and electrolyzer cost. As per International Energy Agency (IEA), at a natural gas price of USD 10 per million BTU, levelized cost of production of blue hydrogen is USD 2.5-3.0 per kg. On the other hand, levelized cost of production of green hydrogen is in the range of USD 3-4.5 per kg depending upon the renewable electricity cost and electrolyzer cost. Lower end of the range is applicable in the markets where solar or wind electricity cost is less and electrolyzers are cheaper such as China. The higher end is applicable in the markets such as Europe where renewable electricity and electrolyzers are relatively costlier.  In between are the markets such as middle east where renewable electricity cost and electrolyzer cost are in between the two extreme ends.  

It’s due to technology and cost constraints that the share of low-carbon hydrogen (green or blue) in total hydrogen production is still negligible. Today, approximately 95 million tonnes per annum (MMTPA) hydrogen is produced globally, out of which only 0.7 MMTPA is blue hydrogen and under 0.1 MMTPA is green, remaining all i.e. 99% is conventional hydrogen whose production involves high CO2 emission. The cost of production of conventional hydrogen i.e. hydrogen from natural gas by steam reforming process without CCUS (also sometimes called grey hydrogen) is significantly less than that of blue hydrogen or green hydrogen. However, with technological developments and electrolyzer manufacturing reaching the scale capacity, cost of production of green hydrogen is expected to come down in future-to USD 1.5 per kg by 2030 and USD 1.0 per kg by 2050 potentially making it competitive vis-à-vis blue hydrogen.  

About Author: Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 30 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.

Economic prowess of a country can be measured in terms of certain parameters such as GDP (Gross Domestic Product), per capita income, value of exports and foreign exchange reserves. So, in order to gauge Indian economy, one needs to discuss those parameters.

Starting with GDP, Indian Economy is one of the fastest growing major economies of the world registering a growth rate of 8.9% in 2021 as against global growth of 6.1% in 2021. Among other major economies, only China grew at the rate of 8.1% while others’ growth rate was significantly less than India’s. Even though India is sixth largest economy in the world (based on World Bank data for 2021), its share to global economy is just 3.3% as against 17.5% share in global population. High population coupled with low GDP renders its per capita income far below the global average and amongst the lowest in the world (Table 1).

Table 1: GDP and per Capita Income of Major Economies

Economy	GDP in 2021 (Trillion USD)	GDP Growth in 2021 (%)	Per Capita Income 2021 (USD)
World	96	6.1	12,263
United States	23	5.7	69,288
China	18	8.1	12,556
Japan	5	1.6	39,285
Germany	4.2	2.8	50,802
United Kingdom	3.2	7.4	47,334
India	3.2	8.9	2,277
France	2.9	7.0	43,519
Italy	2.1	6.6	35,551
Canada	2.0	4.6	52,051
Russia	1.8	4.8	12,173
Brazil	1.6	4.6	7,519

Note: GDP=Gross Domestic Product, USD=US Dollar

Source: The World Bank

Next, let’s discuss India’s exports relative to other major economies. Although India’s exports have grown at a healthy rate of 21% in 2021, it is way behind major economies such as China, United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, etc in terms of the value of the exports. Even some of the tiny countries such as Singapore (with a population of 5.4 million), Hong Kong (7.4 million) and Ireland (5.0 million), which represent less than hundredth of India’s population, are ahead of India (with a population of 1.4 billion) in respect of value of exports (Table 2).

Table 2: India’s Export vis-à-vis other Countries

Country	Year	Export of Goods & Services (Trillion USD)
China	2021	3.6
United States	2020	2.1
Germany	2021	2.0
France	2021	0.880
United Kingdom	2021	0.860
Japan	2020	0.784
Hong Kong	2021	0.750
South Korea	2021	0.750
Singapore	2021	0.734
Italy	2021	0.687
Ireland	2021	0.672
India	2021	0.660

Source: The World Bank

Similarly, on foreign exchange reserves front, India stands distant far from the countries such as China, Japan and Switzerland. Although it has a strong foreign exchange reserves of more than USD 600 billion, the gap with those countries is quite wide. Its foreign exchange reserves are less than one fifth of China’s, less than half of Japan’s and less than two third of Switzerland’s. India’s foreign exchange reserves are slightly less than United State’s and just above that of Russian Federation (Table 3).

Table 3: India’s Foreign Exchange Reserves Compared with other Countries

Country	Year	Foreign Exchange Reserves (Trillion USD)
China	2021	3.4
Japan	2021	1.4
Switzerland	2021	1.1
United States	2021	0.716
India	2021	0.638
Russian Federation	2021	0.632

Source: The World Bank

Thus, India, which boasts of contributing to nearly one fifth of world population, is distant far from positioning itself to attain similar landmark on economic front even though it’s one of the fastest growing major economies in the world.

About Author: Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 30 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.

We are pleased to share with you about yet another award received by Satsha Management Services. In recognition to its innovative approach to provide most optimum engineering solution to its customers in energy sector, Satsha Management Services has been awarded “Most Innovative Oil & Gas Engineering Company-South Asia” for 2022 by Asia Pacific business magazine “APAC Insider”. We sincerely thank all our esteemed customers for their continued patronage and trust in our engineering capabilities. It would be our constant endeavor to raise our benchmark to provide most optimal engineering solutions to our customers.

https://www.apac-insider.com/winners/satsha-management-services/

Today world consumes approximately 600 Exa Joules of energy per annum, which is equivalent to approximately 275 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. If the global business carries on as usual i.e. present energy consumption trend continues, the global energy consumption could increase by 30% in next twenty five years. Presently the global energy demand is met mostly by fossil fuels i.e. oil, natural gas and coal. Fossil fuels meet approximately 80% of the global energy demand, while other sources of energy i.e. nuclear, hydro, bio energy and renewables (solar & wind) meet remaining 20% of the energy demand. Among fossil fuels, oil meets approximately 30% of global energy demand while coal and natural gas meet approximately 27% and 23% of that demand respectively.

Key question is whether this energy-mix (dominated heavily by fossil fuels) is sustainable? Fossil fuels emit greenhouse gases in process of producing energy, which leads to global warming. Presently, approximately 36 billion tonnes of CO2 (a major greenhouse gas) related to energy is emitted in atmosphere. If there is no check on emission of greenhouse gases, its consequences on climate could be catastrophic. Some of the islands may face existential threat due to risk of being inundated due to rise in seawater level as a result of global warming, besides other impacts such as floods, droughts, loss of biodiversity to name few.

Global concern on climate change due to global warming has manifested in Kyoto Protocol in 1997 followed by Paris Agreement in 2015. Paris agreement sets a target to limit global warming level to well below 2 deg C and preferably 1.5 deg C from pre-industrial levels. The only way to limit the level of global warming is by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. This requires energy transition from present high CO2 emission energy-mix to low CO2 emission fuels. Several countries and groups such as European Union, US, Canada, Japan and many others have announced the goal to achieve net zero CO2 emissions by 2050.

Of the three fossil fuels, coal emits highest quantity of CO2 followed by oil and natural gas in that order for every unit of energy produced. Natural gas emits approximately half as much CO2 as coal and approximately three quarters of CO2 emitted by oil. If combustion of natural gas is accompanied with carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology, CO2 emissions can further be reduced by 85-90%. This means maximizing the use of natural gas as a source of energy along with use of CCS can bring down CO2 emissions substantially. So, if a fossil fuel energy-mix has to be sustainable, it would have to maximize the share of natural gas along with application of CCS technology.

But, major constraint in use of natural gas is its restricted availability to many countries. Its production is concentrated in a few countries only. Currently, world produces approximately 4000 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per annum, out of which US alone produces nearly 1000 bcm followed by Russia at approximately 650 bcm. That is, approximately 40% of global natural gas production comes from US and Russia only. If we add Iran, China, Qatar, Canada and Australia, nearly 65% of global natural gas production is contributed by these seven countries. If we further add Saudi Arabia and Norway, nearly 70% of global natural gas production comes from those nine countries.
In order to make natural gas available in different parts of the globe, it has to be transported to other countries from major producing countries. Though natural gas is transported to some countries through pipelines e.g. from Russia to European countries, it’s economically unviable to lay subsea pipelines to transport natural gas to other countries which are connected with producing countries through sea. So, there is another economically viable option to supply natural gas to such countries. That is, supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) through LNG carriers through sea routes.

Presently, nearly 1250 bcm per annum natural gas is traded internationally, of which approximately 60% traded through pipelines and around 40% as LNG through ships. While present global natural gas liquefaction capacity is approximately 450 million tonnes per annum (mmtpa), it is expected to climb to approximately 750 mmtpa in 2026. This shows the global acceptability of LNG as a fuel of future and that it can play a key role in sustainable and low-carbon energy transition.

About Author: Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 30 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.

Client-Kanpur Fertilizers & Cement Limited, Kanpur, INDIA

Project-Study of CO2 removal section piping system of Ammonia plant for vibration problem, size and thickness adequacy, flow pattern and stress analysis.

Client-Bliss Anand Pvt Ltd, Manesar, Gurugram, INDIA

Project-Design of 2 No. three-phase gas-oil-water separators handling a gas flow of 12.5 MMSCFD and 10.0 MMSCFD respectively, oil flow of 5000 BPD and water flow of 5000 BPD, operating at a pressure of 150 Bar (g) and 100 Bar (g) respectively.

Client-Hyper Filteration Pvt Ltd, Sahibabad, INDIA

Project-Basic Engineering for Design of vacuum operated Multiple Effect Evaporation System of Thermo Vapor Recompression (TVR) type to evaporate 17 m3/hr feed from initial concentration of 40000 ppm to final concentration of 350000 ppm.

Client-Isgec Heavy Engineering Limited, NOIDA

Project-Front end engineering design (FEED) and conceptual design for 50 m3 aqueous ammonia storage system with vapor absorption system and sprinkler cooling system.

Client-Agile Process Chemicals LLP, Navi Numbai, INDIA

Project-Modification of pyrolysis gas condensation system for 12 MTPD pyrolysis plant involving design of new heat exchangers (condensers), separators, expansion vessel, pumps, blower, associated piping, process control and instrumentation system.

Client-Agile Process Chemicals LLP, Navi Numbai, INDIA

Project-Engineering design of steam generation and pipe heat tracing system including waste heat boiler, steam drum, de-aerator, boiler feed water pump and chemical dosing system for 6 MTPD pyrolysis plant.

Client-Agile Process Chemicals LLP, Navi Numbai, INDIA

Project-Process optimization study for 6 MTPD pyrolysis plant for energy and cost optimization including design of combustion system, air pre-heater, combustion air blower, piping system, ID fan, knock-out drum, etc.

Client-Pyrocrat Systems LLP, Mumbai, INDIA

Project-Pre-feasibility/cost-estimation study for setting up 10000 liters/day pyrolysis oil fractionation pilot plant for . The plant fractionates pyrolysis oil into value added products such as naphtha, diesel and base oil.

Client-Isgec Heavy Engineering Ltd, NOIDA, INDIA

Project-Engineering support including thermal design of shell-and-tube heat exchanger for Durrah Sugar Refinery project located at Yanbu, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Today, the world is grappling with one of the most critical problems i.e. global warming. The rapid global economic development since 1950 till now entailed similar energy consumption growth during that period. To meet the huge energy demand for the economic development, the world relied heavily on fossil fuels which when used to produce energy emit greenhouse gases in the form of carbon-di-oxide (CO2). The world economy grew from approximately USD 1 trillion to USD 90 trillion over the said period.  Reflecting the linkage between CO2 emission and economic development, global energy related CO2 emission increased from approximately 5 billion tonnes in 1950 to 36 billion tonnes at present. The outcome of the excessive CO2 emission is the present scale of global warming which is 1.2 ◦C with respect to pre-industrial levels. It is expected that the global warming will increase to 1.5 ◦C in 2030.

Global concern on climate change manifested in Paris Agreement in 2015. The Paris Agreement set an objective to limit global warming to well below 2 ◦C and preferably 1.5 ◦C from pre-industrial levels. Being a party to Paris Agreement, India announced its commitments to achieve climate objectives. It announced to achieve net zero emission by 2070 at United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021.  It also set following near terms goals to be achieved by 2030 consistent with its long-term objective to achieve net zero emission.

i) India’s non-fossil energy capacity will increase to 500 GW (Giga Watt) by 2030.

ii) 50% of India’s installed electricity capacity will come from renewable sources by 2030.

iii) Carbon intensity of India’s economy shall reduce by more than 45% by 2030.

iv) India’s total projected CO2 emissions shall reduce by 1 billion tonne from 2021 till 2030.

Achieving the above targets would be in India’s best interest apart from fulfilling its obligations as a party to Paris Agreement. Presently, India meets approximately 90% of its energy requirement from fossil sources i.e. oil, natural gas and coal. Coal is the single largest contributor meeting approximately 55% of India’s total energy demand. Coal is also the largest source of CO2 emission per unit of energy content among the fossil fuels. Today, the world emits 36 billion tonnes of energy related CO2 and India contributes to 7% of it reflecting its fossil-dominated energy-mix.

India consumes the fossil fuels much more than what it produces thus relying heavily upon their imports. India meets approximately 85% of its oil consumption through imports. Similarly, it meets about 50% of its natural gas consumption and almost 20% of its coal consumption through imports.  This means any supply constraints due to geo political disturbances or otherwise not only impact its energy sourcing but also the energy prices. Only possible way to reduce dependence on imports of fossil fuels on one hand and achieve its emission reduction targets on the other is to accelerate its clean energy transition pace. This necessitates to increase the share of renewable sources in India’s energy-mix. Also, it gives economic benefits as solar and wind are one of the cheapest energy sources to generate electricity in India. Levelized cost of electricity from solar and wind sources is the lowest among all other main sources (Table 1), which could provide a key advantage to India’s economy by bring down energy prices.

Table 1: Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) in India

Source of Electricity	LCOE USD/MWH	LCOE INR/Unit
Nuclear	70	5.25
Coal	55	4.15
Gas CCGT	90	6.75
Solar PV	35	2.65
Wind	50	3.75

Thus, acceleration of India’s pace of clean energy transition could provide much needed energy security by reducing its dependence on imports of fossil fuels; help achieve sustainable development goals by way of increased share of clean and affordable energy in total energy-mix; and fulfil its commitment to achieve net zero through reduction of CO2 emissions from energy use.

About Author: Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 30 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.

We are pleased to share that in recognition to its customer focused approach to provide most optimal engineering solutions, Satsha Management Services has been awarded “Best Oil & Gas Engineering Company 2021-South Asia” by UK based global business magazine Corporate Vision. We thank all our esteemed customers for their continued patronage and trust in Satsha’s engineering and management services capabilities. It would be our constant endeavor to raise our benchmark to provide most optimal engineering solutions to our customers.
https://www.corporatevision-news.com/winners/satsha-management-services-2/

Global oil demand outlook significantly depends upon the energy transition which world is witnessing today. The major factors that drive the energy transition are:
i) Global concern on climate change
ii) Global economic development
iii) Energy access and affordability
iv) Energy intensity and energy efficiency

Global concern on climate change has manifested in several countries taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These steps are in line with Paris agreement on climate change which calls for limiting global warming to well below 2 degree Celsius and preferably 1.5 degree Celsius. GHG emissions can be reduced in following ways:
i) Increasing share of renewables (majorly solar and wind) in energy-mix
ii) Increased penetration of electric vehicles
iii) Focus on carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS)

Specific actions taken by some countries are the following:
i) US has announced the goal to achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2050. It aims to reduce emissions by 50-52% from 2005 level by 2030 and make electricity sector carbon free by 2035.
ii) China has set target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 and increase share of fossil fuels in its primary energy-mix to 20% by 2025 and to 25% by 2030.
iii) European Union (EU) has set a target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, and reduce GHG emissions by 55% from 1990 level by 2030, increase the share of renewables in energy-mix to at least 32% and increase energy efficiency by at least 30% by the same period.
iv) EU has also decided to phase out use of coal and that there would be no new coal- based power plant after 2020.
v) In yet another step to reduce GHG emissions, EU has set an objective to increase proportion of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles to total vehicles.
vi) United Kingdom has set a target to phase out completely sale of new passenger cars running on petrol and diesel by 2030 and increase the use of electric vehicles.

The above actions will potentially reduce the oil demand in future. Renewables are mostly used for electricity generation and oil’s demand for electricity generation is very small (approx. 5.5%) relative to total demand. However, increased use of electrical vehicles will have significant downwards impact on oil demand as nearly 55% of total oil demand is for transportation sector. Focus on CCUS will have likely upside demand impact on oil as it would reduce net GHG emissions.

Global economic development is expected to drive global energy demand growth. World economy, with current size of approx. USD 85 trillion, is likely to expand more than twice in next 25 years. Consequently, global energy demand is expected to increase from current approx. 275 million barrels of oil equivalent (mboe) per day in 2020 to approx. 350 mboe per day in 2045. While energy demand is likely to increase in developing countries, it is likely to decline in developed countries. This is due to declining energy intensity (energy consumed per unit of GDP increase) in developing countries as a result of energy efficiency measures taken by them coupled with their service oriented economic growth.

On other hand, energy poverty of developing countries will drive their energy demand growth. Average per capita energy consumption of developed countries is slightly more than 30 mboe per day, while global average per capita energy consumption is approx. 15 mboe per day, China’s approx. same as global average, India’s approx. 5 boe per day and other developing countries’ approx. 6 mboe per day. Therefore, developing countries have potential to increase their per capita energy consumption to reduce their energy poverty.

Bulk of the energy demand growth over next 25 years will come from developing nations and approx. 65% of that growth shall be contributed by India and China only. Average per capita income of developed nations is approx. USD 40000 whereas that of developing countries (excluding China) is approx. USD 2000, China approx. 11000 and global average approx. 11000. This shows the gap between developing and developed countries on prosperity front. Given this fact, affordability or cost of energy will play an important role to decide the course of energy transition.

Cost competitiveness of electric vehicles is less vis-à-vis conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines due to higher battery cost and battery charging infrastructure cost. However, developed countries can afford the cost of electric vehicles and therefore approx. 55% of new passenger cars in those countries will be electric battery powered in 2045. Globally, the share of new passenger cars on electric battery in total passenger cars shall be approx. 30% and share of new passenger cars on natural gas and other power trains taken together shall be about 10%, which means nearly 60% of total new passenger cars shall be fueled by petrol and diesel in 2045.

Globally, number of passenger cars is expected to increase by nearly 80% between 2020 and 2045. This coupled with high share of new passenger cars on petrol and diesel in total new passenger cars will drive the oil demand growth over next 25 years. Consequently, world oil demand is expected to rise from nearly 91 million barrels per day in 2020 to about 108 million barrels per day in 2045 i.e. nearly 20%. But, share of oil in total primary energy demand is expected to decline from 30% in 2020 to 28% in 2045 due to renewed global push for clean energy in future. However, a bigger push for clean energy transition on global front could drastically reduce oil (and other fossil fuels) demand in future. In the most optimistic but least practical scenario of achieving target of net zero emission by 2050, oil’s share in total primary energy demand could be as low as 8% in 2050 meaning an oil demand of just around 22 million barrels per day.

About Author: Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 30 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.

One of the major factors that drive the energy transition is the global concern on climate change. Global concern on climate change has manifested in several countries taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emission levels. These steps are in line with Paris agreement on climate change which calls for limiting global warming to well below 2 degree Celsius and preferably 1.5 degree Celsius. Some of the specific actions taken by some major countries or group are the following:
i) European Union (EU) has set a target to achieve net zero GHG emission level by 2050, reduce GHG emission level by 55% from 1990 level by 2030, and increase the share of renewables to energy-mix to at least 32% by 2030.
ii) EU countries have also decided to phase out use of coal and that there would be no new coal- based power plant after 2020.
iii) In yet another step to reduce GHG emission level, EU countries have set an objective to increase proportion of electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles to total vehicles.
iv) United Kingdom aims to phase out completely sale of new passenger cars running on petrol and diesel by 2030 and increase the use of electric vehicles.
v) US has set a target to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, to reduce its GHG emission levels by 50-52% from 2005 level by 2030 and to make electricity sector emission-free by 2035.
vi) China has set a target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 and meet 20% of its energy consumption through non-fossil fuels by 2025.
vii) India has announced to achieve net zero emission by 2070 at United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.
As a sequel to above and similar climate actions by other countries, the share of renewables (solar plus wind) to total global primary energy demand is expected to increase from just 2.5% at present to approximately 10% in 25 years hence and share of fossil fuels (petroleum + coal + natural gas) is expected to decline from current 80% to 70% over the same period.

Satsha Management Services is awarded Best Engineering Design Management Consultancy Services-Uttar Pradesh by renowned UK based business magazine Corporate Vision. We thank all our esteemed customers for their continued patronage and trust in our engineering design and management capabilities.
https://www.corporatevision-news.com/winners/satsha-management-services/

COVID-19 pandemic has impacted global economy deeply. COVID impact could lead to deepest global economic recession since World War II according to a report of The World Bank. Be it advanced economies, developing economies or low-income countries, COVID-19 has impacted them enormously. According to ‘Global Economic Prospects’ published by The World Bank, global economy is expected to contract by 5.2% in the year 2020. Whereas advanced economies are expected to contract by 7.0%, developing economies are likely to shrink at a slower rate of 2.5%. Low-income countries’ economy is expected to expand by a meagre 1.0%.

Many countries imposed lockdown to limit the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. This has impacted demand, investment, labor supply and production. Commodity prices particularly oil prices have been hit, services like tours and travels affected adversely and supply chains disrupted. All those factors have led to fall in economic activity.

i) Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited
ii) Kanpur Fertilizers & Cement Limited
iii) Isgec Heavy Engineering Limited
iv) Bliss Anand Pvt Ltd
v) Hyper Filteration Pvt Ltd
vi) ASMETECH Engineers Private Limited
vii) Centre for Industrial Solution and Advanced Training
viii) Agile Process Chemicals LLP (Erstwhile Pyrocrat Systems LLP)

Satsha Management Services has successfully delivered two-day training program on “Heat Exchanger Design” at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Visakh Refinery, Visakhapatnam. The program was delivered by Satyendra Kumar Singh, Business Head of Satsha Management Services. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited is a “Navratna” company and a key player in Indian petroleum refining industry, and Satsha Management Services is privileged to add such a company to its clientele. It also demonstrates Satsha’s expertise and experience in the field of design & engineering. The training covered following key aspects among others:

i) Thermal design basics, procedure, optimization including case study
ii) Temperature profile distortion and heat release curve
iii) Applicability of TEMA in design of the exchanger
iv) Design of condensers including case study
v) Design and selection of reboilers with case study
vi) Flow induced vibration
vii) Fouling and its impact on exchanger design
viii) Design of air-cooled heat exchanger
ix) Heat exchanger troubleshooting

Proper design of inlet pipe and outlet (tail) pipe is key for smooth and stable operation of a pressure safety valve (PSV). Improper design of PSV inlet line may cause instable operation of PSV due to chattering. On the other hand, improper design of PSV outlet (tail) pipe may cause excessive backpressure resulting into performance reduction of the PSV. Therefore, it is vital to design PSV inlet pipe and tail pipe carefully.

PSV inlet pipe should be sized so as to limit non-recoverable pressure drop in the pipe to less than 3 % of set pressure of the PSV in line with API 520 part II. The pressure drop should be based on rated capacity of the PSV, not the required capacity as pipe will handle a flow corresponding to rated capacity of the PSV when it releases the fluid. If PSV is installed on a pipe, this pressure drop should be the sum of pressure drop in non-flowing line and incremental pressure drop in flowing line.

PSV outlet pipe should be designed to avoid excessive backpressure, erosional tendency and noise. Hence, design should meet following criteria: i) built-up backpressure should not exceed the overpressure of the PSV in case of conventional type PSV and approximately 50% of total backpressure (superimposed plus built-up) in case of balanced bellows type, ii) Mach No. should be limited to 0.7, and iii) density X velocity2 should not exceed 200000. Again, above criteria should be applied based on rated capacity of the PSV, not the required capacity. If superimposed backpressure is variable, the said criteria should be applied at minimum backpressure which would be the worst case due to maximum volumetric flow rate. Further it should be checked whether there is two phase flow in tail pipe as a result of flashing of saturated liquid or high-pressure gas/vapor flowing in inlet pipe. If so, the above criteria should be applied for two phase flow.

Another important aspect of PSV outlet pipe design is selection of material of construction (MOC). As there is expansion across the PSV when PSV releases the fluid, there could be significant drop in temperature at the outlet if inlet fluid is a gas at high pressure and/or low temperature. This could warrant a MOC of outlet pipe different from inlet pipe. For example, if inlet pipe is of carbon steel (CS) and outlet pipe temperature falls below -29 deg C as a result of expansion across the PSV, it would entail outlet pipe MOC to be low temperature carbon steel (LTCS). Heat transfer from ambience to flowing fluid inside the pipe should also be considered for right selection of MOC particularly if minimum ambient temperature is higher than flowing fluid temperature inside the outlet pipe, and right MOC should be selected based on pipe wall temperature instead of fluid temperature.

About Author: Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 30 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.

Slug catcher is designed to accommodate slug volume created by change in flow rate of two-phase fluid so that downstream equipment handle stable flow of fluid. Slug catcher is commonly provided in upstream oil & gas processing facilities to handle reservoir fluid coming from oil wells.

Slug volume is a function of change in liquid hold-up volume. The liquid hold-up fraction is ratio of liquid volume in a pipe line to total pipe line volume. As liquid hold-up decreases with increase in gas flow rate, there is a decrease in liquid holdup volume when total two phase fluid rate increases. The difference between initial and final liquid hold-up volume is released over a time period, which is liquid residence time and equal to final liquid holdup volume divided by final liquid volumetric flow rate. Thus, there is increase in total liquid flow rate during the transition period (liquid residence time). After the transition period, liquid flow rate stabilizes to equilibrium flow rate.

During transition period, total liquid volumetric flow rate is sum of equilibrium flow rate and the additional flow rate due to reduction in liquid holdup volume. The excess of this flow rate over what can be handled at receiving end of the pipe line gives rise to slug volume i.e. slug volume is excess flow rate multiplied by liquid residence time. A slug catcher which in essence is a liquid-vapor separator should be provided with additional liquid holdup (between normal liquid level and high liquid level) equivalent to slug volume.

About Author: Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 30 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.

Satsha Management Services completes conceptual study and engineering design of ammonia vapor absorption system (breather vessel) for 50 m3 aq ammonia storage to the fullest satisfaction of the client-ISGEC Heavy Engineering Limited. With this, Satsha Management Services has become one of only few Indian engineering companies to carry out basic engineering for design of breather vessel. Breather vessel is provided to prevent loss of ammonia to environment from slightly-above-atmospheric storage tank in the event operating temperature of the storage tank goes above boiling temperature. It prevents the loss of containment by absorption of ammonia vapor coming out of the storage tank through absorption by water and returning back the ammonical solution into the tank. Design of the breather vessel is based on vapor generation from storage tank from all possible sources i.e. solar radiation, pumping energy and displaced vapor from filling liquid. Solubility of ammonia vapor in water becomes important factor affecting design of the breather vessel. It’s one of the most commonly used aq ammonia storage systems for reduction of NOx from power plant flue gases through selective non catalytic reduction (SNCR) technique.

A waste to energy project producing fuel oil from waste plastic located at factory complex of Uflex Limited, NOIDA, Uttar Pradesh, INDIA, conceptualized, designed and engineered by Satsha Management Services has been successfully commissioned meeting all the performance parameters. The project involves modification of combustion process having a heat release of 1.1 MMKCal/Hr and waste heat recovery system for a waste to energy plant aimed at cost and energy optimization. Satsha Management Services exclusively provided conceptual design, basic engineering and detailed engineering for this project. Successful commissioning of this project demonstrates capability of Satsha Mnagement Services to do conceptual design, basic engineering and detailed engineering of projects related to Process industries. Satsha’s scope of work included defining process flow scheme, block flow diagram, process description & control philosophy, process safety philosophy, process flow diagram and heat & material balance, P&ID, equipment design & datasheet, control valve design & datasheet.

Satsha Management Services in partnership with ASMETECH Engineers Pvt Ltd gets the job of engineering of aqueous ammonia storage system from one of our esteemed clients Isgec Heavy Engineering Limited, NOIDA. While Satsha Management Services is doing Front end engineering design (FEED) and conceptual design, the detailed engineering is being done by ASMETECH Engineers Pvt Ltd.  The aq. ammonia storage system consists of aq ammonia storage tank of 50 m3 capacity, sprinkler cooling and ammonia absorption system, and breather system. The system is the part of 2×20 MW power project-III of NTPC SAIL Power Company Limited at Durgapur, West Bengal.  Detailed scope of work of Satsha Management Services consists of the followings:
i) Design Basis Report of Aq. Ammonia Storage System
ii) Dyke volume calculation for aqueous ammonia storage tank
iii) Calculations for Process design of breather system for zero discharge condition of ammonia vapor
iv) Process datasheet of aqueous ammonia storage tank
v) Heat & mass balance (H&MB) of the breather system
vi) Process data sheet of breather vessel
vii) Calculation report for sprinkler system
viii) Process data sheet for safety valve and vacuum relief valve on aq ammonia storage tank
ix) Process data sheet of instruments on breather vessel

Satsha Management Services has been awarded the prestigious job of Process optimization study of 6 MTPD plastic pyrolysis plant by one of its esteemed clients Agile Process Chemicals LLP, Navi Mumbai.The study aims at energy and cost optimization of the plant by improving design of existing equipments. It includes improvement in design of hot air generator system, combustion air blower, ID fan, air pre-heater along with knock-out drum design and flue gas piping network design. The scope also includes development of heat and material balance for improved design and financial analysis (NPV, IRR, Payback period) for Process improvements in terms of cost reduction (capital/operating).

Pyrolysis oil fractionation can be a landmark in waste monetization by converting pyrolysis oil into value added products such as naphtha, diesel and base oil. Pyrolysis oil is obtained from waste plastic and tyre through a process known as pyrolysis. Although pyrolysis oil is currently sold and used as fuel oil, its value is less than other high value pteroleum products such as petrol and diesel. However, it can be fractionated into value added products such as naphtha, diesel and base oil in a series of two distillation columns, one the atmospheric column and other the vacuum column.

Satsha Management Services is probably the first in India to conceptualize the process of Pyrolysis oil fractionation and perform the pre-feasibility study on pilot plant scale for one of our esteemed clients, Pyrocrat Systems LLP, Mumbai. If implemented, the process can be a landmark in value maximization of the waste.

The distillation curve data of pyrolysis oil varies from oil to oil. Typically, its IBP is 61 ºC and FBP 633 ºC. The expected yield (by weight) from distillation is:

Naphtha: 22.3%
Diesel: 45.1%
Base oil: 27.4%
Residue: 5.1%

Satsha Management Services has delivered a two-day industrial workshop on ‘Pressure Safety Valve (PSV): Fundamentals, Design, Sizing and Parameters’ on 15th and 16th December 2017 at Kolkata. The program was delivered by its proprietor-Satyendra Kumar Singh. Participants from Tata Chemicals Limited, Haldia and Numaligarh Refinery Limited, Numaligarh attended the workshop. The participants acquired knowledge and learnings from the workshop in respect of various aspects of PSV such as concepts and basics of PSV, functions of PSV, need and importance of PSV in Process design, layer of protection analysis (LOP), operations and types of PSV, identification of various upset scenarios, PSV relieving rate and sizing calculations, etc.

Satsha Management Services provides engineering support to various manufacturing companies such as paper & pulp mills, caustic manufactures, cotton textile firms and others to adopt cleaner energy alternatives by switching over to Natural Gas based power generation. Currently, most of them are producing power from petcoke, fuel oil or coal. These fuels produce excessively high quantities of harmful SOx and NOx gases in the exhaust gases and pollute the environment.

Switching over to Natural Gas would enable them to meet stricter regulatory norms which Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has fixed recently in terms of reduced SOx and Nox emissions, <600 mg/m3 for SOx and <300 mg/m3 for NOx. On the other hand, it can provide several other benefits. For example, fuel cost per unit of power production can be optimized relative to the existing cost depending upon the power generation capacity by choosing right configuration, due to better thermal efficiency of Natural Gas based power plant and lower price of natural gas fuel. It would also save the handling and storage costs associated with  the existing fuel. Further, the space which was being used for storage and handling of the existing fuel can now be used productively. Thus, overall saving in various costs could more than off-set the capital cost on modification of existing plant and machinery depending upon their existing configuration and capacity resulting into overall net saving.

Other alternative of installing SOx and NOx removal facilities could be uneconomic for the smaller capacities of power generation which these firms need.

Satsha Management Services has complete know-how  for modification of existing power plants based on petcoke, coal or fuel oil to natural gas based power plant which includes definition of air compression parameters, fixing flue gas composition and temperature, optimizing net isentropic and actual work produced from gas turbine, fixing the parameters for steam turbine, optimizing steam conditions, optimum definition of steam turbine parameters.

It provides complete engineering solution (based on its own know-how) in the form of techno-commercial feasibility study, design & engineering, and project management consultancy. It suggests the most optimum configuration in terms of steam turbine, gas turbine or combined cycle depending upon the existing configuration, power generation capacity and steam requirement of the plant so as to maximize the net benefit thus creating value to its customers.

Satsha Management Services has designed for one of its esteemed clients the shell-and-tube heat exchanger that handles a fluid with viscosity as high as 17000 cP at 40 ºC. The exchanger cools molasses, a by-product of sugar manufacturing process, from 50 ºC to 40 ºC with cooling water available at 37 ºC. The Process conditions of hot fluid (Molasses) are as under:

Heat duty 83720 KCal/hr
Flow rate 15 m3/hr
Inlet temperature 50 °C
Outlet temperature 40 °C
Density 1400 kg/m³
Viscosity at 40ºC  17000 cP
Viscosity at 50ºC  6000 cP
Specific heat 2500 J/kg K
Thermal Conductivity 0.3 W/mK
Maximum pressure drop 2 bar

Design Constraints

The given Process conditions set following constraints for the design of the exchanger:
i) The extremely high viscosity of molasses (17000 cP at 40 deg C) makes the design of the exchanger pressure-drop-limited.
ii) As molasses side is controlling the heat transfer and its heat transfer coefficient is extremely low due to extremely high viscosity, the exchanger design is limited by heat transfer also. It is to be noted that such a high viscosity leaves little room to increase the velocity due to high pressure drop. Thus, it also causes very low velocity on molasses side. The low velocity reinforces the impact of high viscosity on the heat transfer coefficient. The combined impact of the two factors makes the molasses side heat transfer coefficient very low.
iii) As approach (temperature difference between molasses outlet and cooling water inlet) is very low (3 deg C), it makes the exchanger MTD (mean temperature difference) limited too. In fact, shell and tube heat exchangers are rarely designed for an approach less than 5-6 deg C. As below this limit, a shell and tube heat exchanger becomes highly inefficient from heat transfer point of view. Yet, as per the client’s requirement, Satsha Management Services designed the shell-and-tube exchanger with lowest possible heat transfer area.

Design Philosophy

As molasses side heat transfer coefficient is very low (due to excessively high viscosity) and it is controlling the heat transfer (the other side being cooling water with high heat transfer coefficient), the overall heat transfer coefficient becomes very low. This requires large heat transfer area for the exchanger even for a small heat duty of 83720 kCal/hr.

As molasses has extremely high viscosity, it has been placed on shell side. Putting on shell side and providing 45○ tube lay out (rotated square pitch) creates the tendency for turbulent flow leading to higher heat transfer coefficient and lower required heat transfer area as compared to placing it in tubes. Putting it on tube side would make the flow laminar resulting into very low heat transfer coefficient and making the exchanger excessively large.

In order to ensure a reasonably high velocity of cooling water in tubes, the number of tube passes has been increased to 8. The high velocity in tubes minimizes the fouling tendency of cooling water.
As molasses is supposed to have fouling tendency, U-tube exchanger has been selected to facilitate mechanical cleaning of outer surface of the tubes by way of removal of tube bundle. A minimum cleaning lane of 0.25 inch as required by TEMA has been ensured by specifying tube pitch 1 inch for ¾ inch tube outer diameter.
A 45○ tube lay out (rotated square pitch) has been selected which provides dual advantage in this case. Firstly, it creates induced turbulence on shell side and hence improves shell side and overall heat transfer coefficient particularly when viscosity of molasses is so high. Secondly, it facilitates mechanical cleaning of outer surface of tube bundle.

Double segmental type of baffle has been used to cope up with high pressure drop on molasses side due to its extremely high viscosity. With double segmental baffle, cross flow in shell is divided and hence shell side pressure drop is reduced substantially.

It’s commonly perceived notion that people are one of the pillars of an organization. They can make an organization prosper even under most adverse conditions. This particularly holds good for some industries e.g. the service sector where people can be the key assets of the organization. As long as people are in sync with the organization, there is not an iota of doubt about the growth of the organization. However, it’s only through the strong sense of responsibility and accountability to the organization that this sync can be established whatever the challenges may be. And, this condition may not always be fulfilled. In that situation, an organization may find it challenging to (re)orient the people in unison with itself. Following paragraphs describe the various situations when (and how) the organizations need to intervene.

i) Affiliation need: Certain degree of affiliation need may help in increasing individual’s productivity. However, sometimes, it may be so strong that an individual may find it difficult to safeguard the organization’s interest at the cost of his personal relations with some other individual(s). So, the organization must ensure that there is a balance between the two. In case this balance disturbs, the organization must step in to safeguard its interests.
ii) Competitive Strength: The organization must analyze strengths and weaknesses of its people on a continuous basis and endeavor to overcome their weaknesses. Lack of competitive strength vis-à-vis the peers may tempt some individuals to find some easier path even if it is at odds with the organization’s interest and objectives. Organizations must find ways to pre-empt this situation. Some of the ways may be through training and development of the people and by creating an enabling environment.
iii) Subjectivity vs Objectivity: Sometimes, subjectivity may outdo the objectivity to the extent that an individual may become self-centric so much so that he is oblivious of his obligations towards the organization. Such a tendency must be discouraged through conducive work environment and organization culture. If it doesn’t work, the organization’s rules and regulations must be strong and effective enough to overcome the same.
iv) Super Ego: Human ego can be productive as long as it motivates an individual to excel and accomplish. However, super ego of an individual may make him reluctant to accept or even heed to others’ ideas which may be in the interest of the organization but at variance with his wishful thinking. The organization must be careful not to allow the culture of super ego to sprout in its environs.
v) Ethics and Integrity: Ethics and integrity must be the key ingredient of an organization’s culture and policy. Lack of rectitude may force an individual to serve his own vested interests at the cost of the organization’s interests. The organization must have zero tolerance to unethical practices.
vi) Personal Power vs Institutional Power: The greed for personal power (as against institutional power) may guide an individual to direct all his energy and efforts to invoke the personal loyalty instead of the organizational loyalty. On the other hand, institutional power is exercised to pursue organization’s goals and objectives. The organization must rein in the exercise of personal power in the guise of institutional power.
vii) Inertia: Human inertia is a strong obstacle in the path of an individual’s productivity and efficiency. It may lead to resistance to change which may be necessary to enhance productivity and efficiency, and achieve organizational goals and objectives. Resistance to change may cause stagnation and apathy which may again strengthen inertial forces. Thus, a vicious circle is created. Once it is created, it becomes challenging to break the same. Therefore, organizations must not allow the inertia to thrive and become the part of the practice by providing opportunities to the people to remain agile and dynamic.
viii) Recognition: While recognition for work well done acts as a motivation to perform better, false eulogy has tendency to make a person recalcitrant, conceited, show active or passive aggression, and may discourage others to perform well. Hence, organizations must ensure that recognitions are objective, driven purely by the merit, and not to be used just to fulfill affiliation needs of the individuals.

The organizations must be vigilant to pre-empt the occurrence of the situations which are inimical to their interest, mission, goals and objectives. People development with a focus on inculcating strong sense of responsibility and accountability to the organization should be made part of the organizational development process. Therefore, it should be implemented in a planned and systematic manner instead of following an ad hoc approach. Further, organizations must have strong and effective interventional mechanism in place which can be applied (if required) to dovetail individual need with the organization’s interest.

About Author: Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 25 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.

Leadership plays a key role in shaping an organization’s growth trajectory and fulfillment of its objectives. An organization can be a corporate, a unit, a division, a department or a team. Leadership influences the organizational efficiency and effectiveness through the utilization of the organization’s human resources and guiding its corporate culture. Leadership style is nothing but expression of the leadership qualities, capability, inner strength and personality of a leader. Leadership qualities include selflessness, character, courage, will-power, initiative and knowledge (of the job, handling the people and self). Presence or absence of those qualities gets reflected in the style of functioning of a leader. Leadership style of a leader leaves significant influence on the motivation level of the people of an organization, their decision making ability, self-initiative potential, team spirit and commitment to work, thereby, impacting meaningfully their efficiency and, hence, overall efficiency of the organization.

Various Leadership Styles and their Impact on Organizational Efficiency

A leadership style can broadly be classified into two types-authoritarian and participative.

Authoritarian Style

In authoritarian style, the leader makes decision on his own without involving those who are affected by the decision. The leader may not have the complete idea and understanding of the situation, circumstances and the purpose, but, still prefers to be sole decision maker only to satisfy his own ego and vested interests. Also, sometimes, a leader may feel a sense of insecurity from others, which discourages him to involve others in decision making. Obviously such a decision may not serve the organization’s interests and fulfill its objectives. Furthermore, as those affected are left out of decision making process, they get demotivated and demoralized. Their decision making ability, self-initiative power, commitment to work and team spirit get eroded. All those factors lead to loss of individual and organizational efficiency.

Participative Style

On the other hand, participative style requires participation of all the affected in decision making process. The leader allows everyone to express his ideas and views freely and fearlessly. As a result, a well thought decision emerges out. Such a decision aims at fulfilling organization’s interests and objectives instead of any individual’s interests. Moreover, it gives a sense of belongingness to all the concerned and acts as a great source of motivation to them. This increases their efficiency and overall organizational efficiency. Further, decision gets implemented easily and smoothly as all the concerned have already been involved in decision making. Decision is perceived well by everyone and no one has any element of doubt or suspicion about the repercussions of the decision. The Leader may also allow the sub-ordinate to function with autonomy within limits defined by him. This develops the sub-ordinate’s decision making ability and infuses into him the sense of self-responsibility and self-accountability.

Other Styles

Authoritarian and participative styles are the two extreme ends. However, in practice, a leadership style varies between the two extreme ends depending upon the situation, task and the group to be led.
A leadership style can also be viewed as a mix of persuasion, compulsion and self-example. In certain situation, persuasion is the most effective way to motivate the people to fulfill the organizational task. When the people understand the purpose and circumstances, they put their best efforts to perform even most challenging task. Compulsion in certain circumstances is used as a measure of last resort to discipline the crooked, incompetent or mischievous. A leadership style of self-example is considered as most effective one. If the leader himself demonstrates the example of sincerity, honesty, integrity, commitment, or whatever, it automatically percolates through the people in most effective way. People follow the standards set by their leader, and, therefore, self-example is the most potent way to influence them.

Concluding Note

A leadership style has significant impact on the efficiency of the people and the organization as a whole. An authoritarian style can demotivate the people, reduce their decision-making ability and self-initiative capability. Thus, it hinders the optimum utilization of the human resources of the organization leading to loss of organizational efficiency. On the other hand, a participative style enhances motivation level of the people and infuses a sense of belongingness into them. This results into optimum utilization of the human resources leading to enhanced organizational efficiency. A leadership style of personal example is considered as the best and most effective style. By setting the personal example, a leader can inspire the people most effectively to do something which he expects them to do.

An organization, being made of the people, cannot remain free from the activities its people do to satisfy their needs while doing their works. One of such needs and an important one is the social need. In order to satisfy their social need, people interact with each other beyond what is warranted by the organization’s formal channels. Thus, they create their own informal channels as against the formal channels which are created by the organization’s structure. These informal channels grow over a period of time and may become strong enough to extend beyond just means of social interactions. The informal channels, then, may manifest themselves in following ways:

i) Pressure Groups: The people may use the informal channels to create the pressure groups. Such pressure groups exert the pressure to deter the authorities of the organization from taking the steps which are not liked by such people even if they are required in the best interest of the organization. People have tendency to remain in comfort zone, but that may lead to inefficiency and unproductivity in the organization. Hence, the responsible authorities may be obliged to bring about change in order to ensure efficiency and productivity in the organization. Such a change may entail the people to break the inertia and come out of their comfort zone, which may be resisted by such pressure groups.
ii) Parallel Authorities: The informal channels may become so strong that they may lead to creation of parallel authorities. These parallel authorities may compete with the real authorities of the organization and may become threat to their effective functioning. This tends to demotivate the functionaries of the organization and discourage them from taking bold and decisive steps in the interest of the organization, thus weakening the very fabric of the organization. Parallel authorities may also influence others to get distracted from their duties and responsibilities towards the organization thus denting the organizational productivity.
iii) Inhygenic Factors: The informal channels may also lead to development of inhygenic factors in the organization’s work environment such as sycophancy, crookedness, indiscipline, irresponsibility, dereliction of duty, lack of integrity, turpitude, arrogance, conceit, so forth and so on. Such inhygenic factors vitiate the work environment and hamper the productivity and efficiency of everyone and hence of the organization as a whole.
iv) Organization Culture: There could be development of an organization culture wherein people tend to act in the interest of individuals and against the interest of the organization, by-pass the system in deference to some individuals or to pursue their own preferences, show the loyalty to individuals instead of the organization, discriminate one person from other based only on their liking or disliking, be subjective in the approach, lose the sense of purpose, show predisposition in their decision making, etc. Such an organization culture, no doubt, saps the organization of all its vigour and energy, and acts against its growth and development.
v) Potential Threat: There could be tendency among the people to brush aside the organization’s mission, goals and objectives as these may be of little importance and may not find a place in the people’s activities carried out through the informal channels. When an organization’s mission, goals and objectives are not given due importance by the people, it may be a potential threat to very existence of the organization itself.

The Way-out

Informal channels, if unbridled, have potential to inflict all pervasive damage to an organization. Therefore, the organization must step in to check their growth before they can overpower the formal structure of the organization. For that to happen, the organization must do the following:

i) Empower its functionaries to enable them to discharge their duties and functions without getting distracted and daunted by the pressure groups. This would also allow them to drive the people towards the organization’s goals and objectives. Moreover, they can thwart the challenges and threats posed by the pressure groups. This can also discourage the harmful activities carried out through informal channels.
ii) Put the system in place and ensure its implementation. This would discourage any one to by-pass the authorities and indulge in activities inimical to the interest of the organization. Putting the system in place also ensures that people adhere to the set path of goal accomplishment without diverting to undesirable path.
iii) Enforce the organizational rules meticulously. This would ensure no one, what so ever his position be, can be above the organization. It would not allow any individual irrespective of his position or status to compromise the interest of the organization. This would also mean that every individual in the organization would be aligned with the goals and objectives of the organization leaving little scope for informal channels to compete with the formal organizational structure.
iv) Create an organization culture wherein everyone acts in sync with the organization’s mission, goals and objectives. The organizational culture plays a vital role in growth and development of an organization by aligning its people to the interests of the organization. Therefore, creating a healthy organization culture can be an effective means to drive the people to goal accomplishment of the organization and discourage the creation of informal channels.
v) Strengthen the organization structure. The very purpose of an organization structure is to define a channel through which its people can interact and communicate to achieve its goals and objectives and that no other parallel channels can crop up in the organizational set up. Therefore, an organization must make every endeavor to strengthen its structure and ensure that it is strong enough to function effectively and counter the threats and challenges from any other informal channels. It must not be just a formality. In fact, the stronger the organization structure is, the weaker would be the informal channels and the better would be the growth and development of the organization.

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.1% in fiscal 2016-17 as compared to 8.0% in 2015-16 according to data released by Central Statistics Office. Thus, Indian economy slows down in fiscal 2016-17: the first trend reversal after acceleration over last many years. Of the various components of GDP, government final consumption expenditure (GFCE) recorded highest growth rate of 20.8% due to the government’s wage increase on account of implementation of seventh pay commission report in 2016-17. However, private final consumption expenditure (PFCE), the largest component of GDP that constitutes a little less than 60% of GDP, grew by 8.7% which is far less than growth rate of GFCE, yet significantly higher than corresponding rate of 6.1% witnessed in 2015-16. On the other hand, Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) grew by meager 2.4% bespeaking weaker investment. It is also far below the corresponding rate of 6.5% recorded in 2015-16.

Although Indian economy slowed down in 2016-17, it still remains fastest growing among major world economies based on their growth rate in 2016-United States (1.6%), China (6.7%), Japan (1.0%), Russia (-0.2%), Turkey (2.9%), Brazil (-3.6%), Mexico (2.3%), high income countries (1.7%), developing countries (3.6%), BRICS (4.2%), World (2.4%). BRICS consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. However, quarterly analysis within fiscal 2016-17 shows that India’s GDP growth rate declined in all the four quarters of that fiscal and was lowest at 6.1% in the last quarter (Jan-March 2017). This is far below China’s GDP growth rate of 6.9% in the same quarter.

The dismal performance of Indian economy in Jan-Mar 2017 quarter could be mainly due to the government’s demonetization measure introduced in November 2016. However, for entire fiscal 2016-17, there could be various other factors at play. Such factors could be sluggish investment, high cost of capital, global economic scenario, etc. As GFCF constitutes approximately 30% of GDP, sluggish investment could have played important role in shaping growth trajectory of Indian economy.

Sluggish investment can be attributed to capacity under-utilization and poor credit off take. As the debt-laden corporates found it difficult to repay their loans, banks’ non-performing assets (NPA) increased which increased their risk aversion and forced them to adopt cautionary approach while lending to corporates. This impacted availability as well as cost of the capital impacting the investment scanario.

Pumps are one of the most commonly used and important equipment in process industry as they provide necessary driving force to transport fluid from one place to another and/or to increase the pressure as required by the Process. However, they per se cannot deliver a desired capacity and in general in a process plant, the capacity must be fixed as per downstream system’s requirement.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide a pump with capacity control means to ensure that it delivers the capacity to meet varying requirement of downstream system. Capacity control methods can be categorized separately for centrifugal and positive displacement pumps. For centrifugal pumps, various capacity control methods are-discharge throttling, variable pump speed and capacity by-pass. Whereas, for positive displacement pumps, they are-capacity by-pass, variable stroke length and variable speed.

Although discharge throttle is the most commonly used method for capacity control of centrifugal pumps, it can result into significant loss of energy if the pump capacity is large enough and plant or the system has to run at below 100% capacity frequently. In such situations, capacity control through variable speed could be a preferred choice. However, it could add to fixed cost. The final selection of most suitable means of capacity control is a trade-off between the fixed cost in form of variable frequency drive (VFD) and the energy saving benefits.

For positive displacement pumps, by-pass is the common means of capacity control due to its simplicity and low cost. However, similar considerations as above could warrant use of variable speed as capacity control method. For reciprocating pumps, capacity control through variable stroke length could be an effective means where there are frequent and wider capacity variations.

Date of Publication: July 10, 2017

About Author:

Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 30 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.

High integrity pressure protection system (HIPPS) provides a novel approach to protect Process systems from over-pressurization. It is a safety instrumented system that provides protection to Process systems including pressure vessels and piping systems against over-pressure. The over-pressure may be caused due to upset conditions such as control valve failure, blocked outlet or other. Such upset conditions cause unbalanced flow of energy and material leading to accumulation of material or energy in the system giving rise to pressure rise situation. Over-pressure protection can be provided either by mechanical means or by instrumented means. PRV is a mechanical device whereas HIPPS an instrumented device to achieve the same objective i.e. over-pressure protection.

Designed and built according to International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standard 61511 (Functional Safety-Safety Instrumented Systems for the Process Industry Sector), an HIPPS consists of a pressure sensor, a logic solver and a shutdown valve as its main components. Pressure sensor and shutdown valves are generally provided with redundancy to achieve desired safety integrity level (SIL).  Generally, sensors are provided with 2 out of 3 configuration and shutdown valves 1 out of 2 (graph 1). Whenever pressure of the system reaches a pre-set value which is less than or equal to the design pressure of the system, the logic solver closes the shut-down valve at the inlet i.e. cuts-off the source of over-pressure and thus protects the system from over-pressurization.

Graph 1: Components of HIPPS

Notes:
i) SDV-shutdown valve, PT-pressure transmitter
ii) 1oo2-one-out-of-two voting architecture; 2oo3-two-out-of-three voting architecture

HIPPS can act as a substitute of a pressure relief valve (PRV) or can supplement it depending upon the upset scenarios causing over-pressure. For example, if one of the over-pressure scenarios is fire, the need for the PRV cannot be done away with as HIPPS cannot be provided for fire scenario. In such cases, PRV can be provided for fire scenario and HIPPS for remaining scenarios (such as blocked outlet and control valve failure).However, if HIPPS has toact as a substitute for a PRV, its SIL rating must be at least 2 i.e. its probability of failure on demand (PFD) should not be more than 0.01 as PFD of a PRV is typically 0.01.

Moreover, an HIPPS with SIL-3 can provide higher risk reduction than PRV. Thus, HIPPS can be used for risk reduction of high-risk process systems such as those involving highly toxic material.Further, HIPPS can provide additional risk reduction in combination with PRV where extremely tight risk tolerance is required.Where stricter environmental regulations are in force, HIPPS may be the only option as PRV’s operation may cause harmful impact on environment by releasing greenhouse gases through flare in atmosphere. HIPPS is particularly effective in revamp of an existing plant or unit where installation of additional PRV is constrained by existing flare capacity and providing new flare system or enhancing capacity of existing one is impractical or infeasible. A comparison of HIPPS and PRV can be found in table 1.

Table 1: Comparison of HIPPS and PRV

Sr. No.	PRV	HIPPS
1	PRV is a mechanical safety device	HIPPS is a safety instrumented system.
2	PRV provides protection against overpressure by releasing the excess fluid from the system	HIPPS provides protection against overpressure by closing source of overpressure.
3	Activation of PRV leads to discharge of contents from the system without shutting it down. For the same reason, it causes loss of containment that could be valuable.	Activation of HIPPS may lead to shutdown of the system. There is no loss of containment.
4	PRV can be used for every commonly known over-pressure scenario.	HIPPS cannot be used for every over-pressure scenario e.g. external fire.
5	PRV requires a disposal system e.g. a flare system for disposing the discharged fluid from the system.	HIPPS does not require any disposal system.
6	Testing and maintenance requirement for PRV is relatively less frequent.	Testing and maintenance requirement for HIPPS is frequent.
7	No similar means are available to lower PFD of a PRV. Thus, PFD of a PRV once designed remains fixed. It is typically 0.01.	SIL of an HIPPS can be increased or PFD decreased by increasing the redundancy level of its components (sensor and shut-down valve) and/or safe failure fraction, or decreasing test interval1,2.

Source: IEC 61511-1: 2003; API Standard 521, 5th Edition, January 2007, Addendum, May 2008
Notes:
1. According to IEC standard 61511-2, safe failure fraction (SFF) of a component denotes its capability in terms of the extent to which the faults lead to safe condition or can be detected by diagnostics so that a specified action can be taken.
2. In order to ensure that an HIPPS performs its function as per required SIL, its components have to be tested regularly. Such a test is called functional test or proof test and the interval between the two successive functional tests or proof tests is called the test interval.

About Author: Satyendra Kumar Singh, B.Tech. (Chemical Technology) + M.B.A., is proprietor of Satsha Management Services-an award winning design engineering and management consulting company (www.satshamanagement.com). He possesses approximately 30 years’ experience in engineering consultancy in process and energy industries. Satyendra has authored several papers on energy, business and management, which have been published in some renowned journals/magazines such as ‘Chemical Engineering’, ‘Process Worldwide’, ‘Modern Manufacturing India’. He may be reached at satyendra.singh@satshamanagement.com, Ph. +919811293605.