SNC wins contract for Jordan phosphoric/sulphuric acid complex

18 May 2010 22:21  [Source: ICIS news]

TORONTO (ICIS news)--SNC-Lavalin has won an engineering contract to build a $625m (€506m) sulphuric/phosphoric acid complex in Jordan, the Montreal-based petrochemicals engineering firm said on Tuesday.

The project, by Jordan India Fertilizer Co (JIFCO) – a joint venture between Jordanian Phosphate Mines Co (JPMC) and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) – would have a capacity for 500,000 tonnes/year of phosphoric acid after start-up by the end of 2012, SNC said.

With a daily sulphuric acid capacity of 4,500 tonnes, the complex at Eshidya in Jordan would include the world's largest single stream sulphuric acid unit, SNC said.

The project's estimated value was $625m, including utilities and an associated power plant, the company said.

Jordan's JPMC was a leading producer of phosphate rock, phosphoric acid and fertilizers while IFFCO was the largest fertilizer producer and distributor cooperative in India, SNC said.

Last week, the International Finance Corp (IFC) said its board would consider the project for funding.

According to an IFC disclosure document, the complex would create around 440 jobs. JPMC would supply the project's raw material, namely phosphate rock. The bulk of the phosphoric acid output would be exported, via Jordan's Aqaba port, to India for use as feedstock by IFFCO's Kandla fertilizer plant in Gujarat state, the IFC said.

In October last year, Jordan's King Abdullah II laid the project's foundation. At the time, planned project capacities were reported as 475,000 tonnes/year for phosphoric acid and 1.5m tonnes/year for sulphuric acid.

($1 = €0.81)

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