Seeking to scale up its production by nearly 30 per cent, fertilizer cooperative major Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) has announced plans to invest Rs.500 crore in the next three years to modernise its DAP plant here.
Investment
The proposed revamp will enhance production of DAP/NP fertilizers to 25-30 lakh tonnes from the existing installed capacity of 19.2 lakh tonnes. “We are aiming to invest Rs.500 crore in three years to retrofit the existing DAP plant with pipe reactor technology and increase the output by 30 per cent,'' IFFCO Paradeep Unit Executive Director M. R. Patel told visiting journalists here.
At present, the conventionally designed Paradeep unit had three streams of DAP/NP fertilizers in operation, he said.
“We are in talks with Hindustan Dorr Oliver for the pipe reaction system, which will help meet the challenge of low cost of production, high production volumes and highest possible conversion efficiencies,'' he said.
The other advantage of the technology was that it lowered energy consumption by 25 per cent and resulted in lower emission of pollutants like ammonia, he added. Mr. Patel said IFFCO was also working on removing transportation bottlenecks at the Paradeep unit.
“We are planning to increase the railway siding for lifting DAP/NP fertilizers directly from the bagging unit. We are also checking the feasibility to build a water jetty on the Mahanadi river bank to ship gypsum via sea route,'' he said.
Following its takeover of the Paradeep plant from Oswal Chemicals and Fertilisers in 2005 at Rs. 2,080 crore, IFFCO has spent Rs.1,500 crore to revamp the unit and resume production.
Since 2009, the unit has also started exporting phosphoric acid to its Kandla unit. “This domestic supply chain will save some valuable foreign exchange that otherwise comes with the high import cost of Phosphoric acids,'' he said.
