Synthetic organic chemicals (SOCs) are man-made (anthropogenic) organic compounds created through industrial synthesis. Some SOCs evaporate easily (are volatile) whereas others tend to remain dissolved in water or other solvents with little or no evaporation.

Chemical synthesis is a process of creating a desired substance by means of one or more controlled chemical reactions. The products of SOC sector represent the penultimate goal of much of the chemical industry— the manufacture of chemicals tailored such that they are directly useful to the final customer (in contrast to inorganic chemicals and petrochemicals sectors, which mostly produce intermediate materials) The industrial sequence and the connections between this sector and those of inorganic minerals, chemicals sector and the petrochemical sector are obvious.

The diversity of the synthetic organic chemical sector may be appreciated by listing some of its sub-sectors, though even this list is far from exhaustive:

• Basic organic chemicals
• Dyes and dye intermediates
• Bulk drugs and intermediates
• Synthetic rubbers
• Other synthetic organic chemicals and chemical intermediates

The products of the SOC sector may contain inorganic materials as well as organics; this is especially true for paints, in which inorganic molecules are used as pigments (colorants). Lead, chromium, and other potentially hazardous metals are common pigment constituents, and paints must therefore be used with discretion.

Prior environmental clearance process has been revised in the Notification issued on 14th September, 2006 and its amendments into following four major stages i.e., screening, scoping, public consultation and appraisal. Each stage has certain procedures to be followed. The Notification also classifies projects into Category A, which require prior environmental clearance from MoEF& CC and Category B from SEIAA/UTEIAA.

RISPL provides Consultancy services of Synthetic Organic Chemicals Industry under the Purview of Notification :

All the new synthetic organic chemicals industrial projects (dyes & dye intermediates; bulk drugs and intermediates excluding drug formulations; synthetic rubbers, basic organic chemicals, other synthetic chemicals and chemical intermediates) including expansion and modernization require prior environmental clearance. These projects are classified into Category A and Category B i.e.

Category A : all the projects located outside the notified industrial area/estate

Category B : all the projects located in the notified industrial area/estate.

Besides there are general and specific conditions, when it applies, a Category B project will be treated as Category A project.

In case of Expansion or Modernization of the developmental Activity:
Any developmental activity, which has an EIA clearance (existing plant), when undergoes expansion or modernization (change in process or technology) with increase in production capacity or any change in product mix beyond the list of products cleared in the issued clearance is required to submit new application for EIA clearance.

Any developmental activity, which is listed in Schedule of the EIA Notification and due to expansion of its total capacity, if falls under the purview of either Category B or Category A, then such developmental activity requires clearance from respective Authorities.