India’s Tata, Archean build potassium sulphate plants in Gujarat

19 August 2010 07:41  [Source: ICIS news]

MUMBAI (ICIS)--In a bid to reduce India's dependence on imported potash-based fertilizer, two domestic fertiliser companies -Tata Chemicals and Archean Group are pursuing projects to produce sulphate of potash (SOP), or potassium sulphate, in the western state of Gujarat, sources said on Wednesday.

Tata Chemicals on Wednesday signed an agreement with the Department of Science and Technology (DST) on the use of a patented process by Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) to produce potassium sulphate from sea bittern, said a company source.

Sea bittern is concentrated seawater brine which is a residue generated from the production of salt from sea water.

Tata would initially set up a 3tonnes/day pilot project at its fertilizer facility in Mithapur, Gujarat, which would begin operations in the next 18 months, the company source said.

“Once the results of the pilot project are assessed, we may scale up operations,” he added.

Meanwhile, south India-based fertilizer producer Archean Group plans to set up an SOP plant in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat.

In the first phase of the project, Archean would build a 100,000 tonne/year plant at a cost of around $200m (€156/tonne) which would be operational by the second half of 2011, a company official said.

“We will use technology from Germany-based Kutec to produce SOP,” the official added.

Archean would begin work on doubling its SOP capacity once the plant became operational, under the second phase of the project, she said.

India currently imports its entire potash requirement of more than 5m tonnes/year, the sources said.

($1 = €0.78)

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By: Priya Jestin

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