Armed with 38 patents, including 11 overseas ones, the company is going ahead with further applications. A slew of international patents are awaiting approval in addition to the ones received.

Patenting these processes is expected to give IPCL a cost advantage over rivals, as this enables it to manufacture them at a lower cost. Under patent laws, once a process is patented, other companies cannot use the same process to arrive at the final product.

The company's recent international efforts on patents are focused on speciality chemicals, which have great potential for commercial exploitation.

International patents--sealed in the US, Europe and Japan--include, among others, the sulfone-recovery process, mono-olefins, process for making Butene1 from ethylene and xylene isomerization tooptimise paraxylene production.

"IPCL's emphasis on home-grown technologies has reduced dependence on foreign suppliers. The patent for para-diethylbenzene, a valuable desorbant used in manufacturing the company's major product paraxylene, is an avid example of commercial exploitation," said a top IPCL official in a faxed response.

IPCL has filed international patents on the adsorption separation process and alpha olefins, a class of speciality chemicals used in various industrial applications, and have great potential for commercial exploitation, the official said.

The company also has the advantage of commercially producing many new catalysts developed and patented in India at its catalyst-manufacturing facility for offering in the world markets.

With the development of a process for para-diethylbenzene, IPCL earns the distinction of being the third company in the world to have developed a technology for a third type of speciality chemicals.

The catalyst used in the production ofpara-diethylbenzene was developed initially at the company's research and development facility. It was scaled up and commercially produced at the catalyst-manufacturing facility.

Majority of catalysts developed by IPCL are also used in-house for manufacturing a wide range of petrochemicals.

Industry observers said that the patents would effectively bring down costs, which was inevitable for the company's long-term recovery.

INSIGHT
Strength in catalysis shows

Filing of 38 patents by IPCL not only reiterates that domestic companies are well equipped when it comes to process engineering, but also that its patenting of catalysts highlights the country's strength in an entirely different field -- catalysis. These patents mean that the company can manufacture the same products using a cheaper route, as compared to its competitors. At a time when petrochemical prices are ruling at their decade's low, these small changes matter a lot.