First consignment of CSIR-IICT developed import substitute Hydrogen Hydrate out

Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (GACL) flagged off the first lot of Hydrazine Hydrate (80%) from their Dahej complex, Gujarat, last week completing another milestone.

Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Limited (GACL) flagged off the first lot of Hydrazine Hydrate (80%) from their Dahej complex, Gujarat, last week completing another milestone. The technology for making Hydrogen Hydrate was initially developed by CSIR-IICT at laboratory and bench scale, in Hyderabad.

Subsequently, it was scaled up to pilot plant scale with GACL as industry partner. Hydrazine Hydrate, as an import substitute product with world-class quality will help in reducing the country’s dependency on imports, thereby saving valuable foreign exchange, said a press release on Wednesday.

GACL and CSIR-IICT have jointly received patents from India and the U.S. for the indigenous process to manufacture Hydrazine Hydrate (H6N2O). A ₹405 crore commercial plant of 10,000 TPA 80% Hydrazine Hydrate was designed by CSIR-IICT and was established by GACL at their Dahej complex.

Hydrazine Hydrate has applications in pesticides, agrochemicals, water treatment, pharmaceuticals, blowing agent in polymer industry, fine chemicals etc. The GACL plant was opened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 10, 2022 . The first batch of the product was flagged off and was attended by CSIR-IICT director D.Srinivasa Reddy, GACL MD P. Swaroop and others.

Dr. Reddy acknowledged the contributions of his predecessors and the group of 15 scientists and 10 technical officers who were the part of this successful project. With this flag-off, CSIR-IICT has demonstrated successfully the collaboration with industry to strengthen India’s quest for ‘Make in India’ and to become ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, added the release.