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Glass-lined equipment (GLE)
What it is
Steel reactors and vessels fused internally with a glass coating, giving the strength of steel with the corrosion resistance of glass. They are the standard vessel for aggressive chemistry in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and specialty chemicals
The glass layer is applied and fired in multiple coats, and the technology is held by a small number of global and Indian manufacturers
Impact on industries
- Demand is tied to chemical and pharmaceutical capex rather than to general industrial activity, and to the reactor-intensive chemistry India is attracting
- A narrow producer set with proprietary glass formulations, so competition is on capability rather than price
- China-plus-one relocation of chemical capacity to India creates a domestic customer base for reactors that would previously have been installed elsewhere
- Order flow is capex-linked and cyclical, and vessel life is long, so growth depends on new capacity rather than an installed-base annuity