The first lorry loads of caprolactam produced at the public sector Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore, after a gap of over seven years, was flagged off here on Monday by Union Minister Bhagwanth Khuba.
The Minister also rededicated the renovated plant to the nation , the reopening of which marks a major landmark for the fertilizer producer.
According to FACT sources, two loads of 25 and 17 tonnes were despatched to a company in Gujarat. The rededication of the plant is a great moment for FACT as the company has been on the revival path over the past three years.
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The restarting of the petrochemical product will add about ₹600 crore to the annual turnover and caprolactam from the company would be a major import substitution, the sources added.
Caprolactam is the raw material for production of Nylon-6. The company has the capacity to produce 50,000 tonnes of caprolactam per year. Caprolactam is produced in India by FACT and the Gujarat State Fertilizer Company. The domestic demand for the product is around 1.2 to 1.3 lakh tonnes annually.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that FACT will not suffer excessively from the rising price of fuel as it has entered into a long-term agreement for natural gas supply and caprolactam production has been relaunched with LNG as the major feedstock.
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Nylon-6 is the raw material for filament yarn and fishing nets, among other products. Caprolactam production had come to a standstill in October 2012 with the price of naphtha going up too high. The company then shifted to natural gas in 2013 but the cost of the new feedstock continued to rule high, preventing restarting of caprolactam production.