India : Reliance Teamed Up With Dupont For Polymer Research

Reliance Industries (RIL) and US major DuPont has joined hands for research and development in polyester and polymer products. The alliance involves DuPont outsourcing R&D to RIL for state-of-the-art new products.

RIL's new technology centre in Mumbai will carry out research activities for the US major. Though details of the alliance are not known, it will broadly cover research in co-polymer fibres, filaments and resins.

The research will also leverage synergies between RIL's polymers and fibre intermediates businesses. RIL and DuPont are expected to make a formal announcement on the tie-up shortly. The move signals an increasing association between RIL and DuPont. Reliance  had tied up with DuPont last year to license the NG-3 resin technology from the US-based company.

This technology was used mainly for the expansion of Reliance's annual polyester packaging resins (PET) capacity to 300,000 tonnes from 80,000 tonnes.

DuPont has also transferred the rights to market its Lycra fibre brand to RIL. Reliance Industries is now using its nation-wide network to market the Lycra brand, a registered trademark used for DuPont's elastane. Reliance is also providing technical support to DuPont.

Both companies are exploring the possibility of extending the tie-up to the field of biotechnology. DuPont, which had identified India as a key outsourcing base for biotechnology research, has had preliminary discussions with RIL.

Reliance Industries' proposed technology centre is expected to carry out research on polymer synthesis, polymer characterisation and testing, polymer and resin processing, additive technology and polymerisation reaction engineering.

Reliance Industries has also collaborated with academic institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and the University Department of Chemical Technology (UDCT) in Mumbai to undertake research projects in polymers. The projects are aimed at developing new speciality polymers.