# Which heat, cooling and vacuum utilities do Thane's solvent distillation, antioxidant, bulk drug and peroxide batches use, and what should I record for each?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/thane-chemical-processes-heat-cooling-and-vacuum

In The Energy and Resources Institute's (TERI) Thane profile, solvent distillation uses a thermic fluid heater and low pressure steam, the antioxidant batch steam at 4 and 15 kilograms per square centimetre (kg/cm2), the peroxide batch ice water. Record fuel to each heater, power and bought ice.

## Solvent distillation

- Heat: "Heating is done using a thermic fluid heater", and also "Low pressure steam is used for heating the reactor and few reactors are equipped with electrical heaters (R-6 and R-7)". One section names three heat sources.
- Cooling: condensers use cool water from the cooling tower.
- Vacuum: a vacuum system, made by a water jet, moves solvent from tank or drum to the reactors.

## Antioxidant batch

- Reaction: para-cresol and iso-butylene with an acid catalyst, at 200 to 250 degrees Celsius.
- Steam: 4 kg/cm2 heats the reactor, 15 kg/cm2 runs the re-boiler of the distillation column, and low pressure steam heats the air for the fluidised bed dryer.
- Cooling: cooling water and chilled water in the later stage, for crystallisation.
- Effluent goes to a multiple-effect evaporator to recover solvent, and the solid waste goes to landfill.
- Vacuum: 730 millimetres of mercury on the distillation column, from a water jet.
- Our reading: the profile names no heater that reaches 200 to 250 degrees. Its steam is 4 and 15 kg/cm2 and its thermic fluid is about 180 to 200 degrees (the thermic fluid heater paragraph of the equipment section). Ask the plant what heats that step.

## Bulk drug and peroxide batches

- Bulk drugs: multi-purpose reactors, then extraction and filtration. The finished product is dried, milled and blended.
- Peroxide hardener (methyl ethyl ketone peroxide): "Ice water is being used to maintain the reactor temperature", with a water jet for vacuum.

## What to record for each

1. Fuel into each heater separately: the boiler and the thermic fluid heater, from the fuel bills. If one boiler feeds both the 4 and the 15 kg/cm2 headers, one fuel bill covers both, and a steam meter or batch records have to split it.
2. Power, with the reactor agitators, centrifuges and vacuum pumps on a meter of their own if you can.
3. Ice bought for cooling, in tonnes. It is a purchased good, not fuel or power.
4. If the multiple-effect evaporator runs on boiler steam, that steam is already in the boiler fuel. Do not add it twice.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so your fuel and power are on file by month. Which heater burns which fuel, and the split by batch, come from your own meters and batch records.

- [Allocating a multi-product chemical plant](https://senseible.earth/answers/multi-product-chemical-plant-emissions-allocation)
- [Steam flow meter or fuel records](https://senseible.earth/answers/steam-flow-meter-or-fuel-records-for-emissions)
- [Solvent recovery: steam emissions](https://senseible.earth/answers/solvent-recovery-distillation-steam-emissions)
- [Bought ice for reactor cooling](https://senseible.earth/answers/chemical-unit-bought-ice-blocks-which-scope)
- [Thane chemical cluster: biomass, energy and carbon](https://senseible.earth/answers/thane-chemical-cluster-biomass-energy-carbon)

Sources: [TERI, Cluster profile report: Thane chemical cluster (SAMEEEKSHA)](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/Thane%20chemical%20cluster.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. The process descriptions are TERI's wording for the units it visited. Your batch may be set up differently, so confirm each heater and meter on site.