Brazil's Proquigel to ramp up ammonium sulphate output
30 January 2003 18:37 [Source: ICIS news]
SALVADOR, Brazil (CNI)--Brazilian methyl methacrylate (MMA) producer Proquigel said Thursday it plans to boost its ammonium sulphate output to its full 200 000 tonne/year capacity by 2005.
Proquigel, formerly known as Metacril, completed an expansion project at its Candeias, Bahia ammonium sulphate plant last August, increasing the unit's capacity from 60 000 tonne/year to 200 000 tonne.
But Marcelo Thieme, commercial director for Proquigel, said the expanded plant has been operating at reduced rates because of feedstock constraints.
Thieme told CNI that the plant is operating at a rate of about 150 000 tonne/year but that full production should be reached within about two years.
Sulphuric acid feedstock for the ammonium sulphate is provided from Proquigel's MMA facility at the Candeias site. Sulphuric acid is used in the MMA process and then neutralised with ammonia to make ammonium sulphate.
Thieme explained that Proquigel's newly expanded 37 000 tonne/year MMA plant is operating at a reduced rate of 30 000 tonne/year because of low demand, and therefore availability of sulphuric acid for ammonium sulphate production is limited.
The MMA market is "very tight" at the moment, he said, but is expected to improve over the next two years thanks to increased exports and higher local demand.
Ammonium sulphate demand, conversely, is strong. Brazil consumes some 1.3m tonne/year of the product, of which only some 300 000 tonne/year is provided locally. Nitrocarbono is the only other Brazilian producer of ammonium sulphate, which is used in the production of fertilisers.
Metacril changed its name to Proquigel at the beginning of this year to reflect a new international focus following its purchase by petrochemicals holding group Unigel in 1997.
By: Anna Jagger
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