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India Will Increase Fertilizer Imports Growing fertilizer industry is still unable to meet needs for greater food production In spite of big expansions under way in the fertilizer industry, India will increase its fertilizer imports next year. For the year April 1962 to March 1963 India plans to import $84 million worth—compared to $76.7 million for the previous year. Total Indian demand for domestic and imported fertilizers will be 3 million tons. Production for 1962-63 should be: 393,000 tons of ammonium sulfate; 67,000 tons of ammonium sulfate-nitrate; 16,000 tons of urea; and 2.3 million tons of calcium-ammonium nitrate. Here is how the expansion program is shaping u p : • Gujarat State Fertilisers Co., Ltd., plans to build a $59.2 million project. Although a private company, the government will also participate in its capital and management. The plant will be located southwest of a petroleum refinery, near Baroda in the Koyali area, which will furnish naphtha for the raw material. Planned capacities are: urea, 90,000 tons per year; ammonium phosphate, 125,000 tons; and ammonium sulfate, 200,000 tons. • During its first year of operation ( 1960-61 ) the government-owned Fertiliser Corporation of India started up the Nangal Fertiliser Factory at Nangal (Punjab) and has worked out detailed plans for setting up three more projects at Trombay (Bombay), Nahorkatiya (Assam), and Gorakhpur (U.P.). The first two are scheduled to start up in 1964, and the third (Gorakhpur) in 1965. • Construction of Fertiliser Corporation of India's plant near the steel plant at Rourkela is running about nine months behind schedule. Production is now expected to begin in September of this year. The limestone and nitric acid plants at Rourkela are being built entirely by FCI. The German firm, Friedrich Uhde, is building the ammonia section. Capacity of the nitric acid plant is rated at 820 tons per day, and the calcium-ammonium nitrate (20.5% N) at 2000 tons per day.
• The first two shiploads of equipment for the multimillion-dollar fertilizer complex designed by Chemical Construction Corp., of New York, for FCI have arrived in Bombay. The complex, to be built near Trombay, is financed by the U.S. Development Loan Fund. Using waste gases and naphtha from refineries belonging to Stanvac and Burma Shell as raw materials, the complex will produce 350 metric tons of ammonia, 300 metric tons of urea, and 320 metric tons of nitric acid per day. • Shaw Wallace-Rallis India plans to build a $59.2 million fertilizer project at Mangalore (Mysore). Technical help will come from Dutch State Mines in the Netherlands. Capacities: 300 metric tons per day of urea; 375 metric tons of ammonium phosphate; and 300 metric tons of ammonium sulfate. • Sindri Fertiliser Factory (Bihar) has started up its ninth gas generator —which should overcome recent production difficulties. The Sindri plant is the first major fertilizer unit established by the Indian government. Capacity is now 120,000 tons per year of nitrogen in the form of 132,000 tons of ammonium sulfate-nitrate, and 23,000 tons of urea. Acid Process. Ammonium sulfate production at Sindri is based on gypsum. Lately, production at the factory has not been steady, largely because of inadequate supplies and inferior grades of gypsum from Rajasthan mines. A committee of experts—including one from Stamicarbon, in the Netherlands—has suggested that one fifth of the factory's ammonium sulfate output should be converted to the acid process immediately, and that the entire factory should switch to this process in five to seven years. During 1960-61, production in the Sindri factory showed some improvement. Total production of ammonium sulfate was 305,218 metric tons, compared with 289,826 metric tons the year before. During the same period,
production of ammonia rose from 73,797 to 84,174 metric tons. Production of urea came to 10,666 metric tons, compared with 4733 tons the previous year. A Central Institute of Fertiliser Technology has been established at Sindri. This organization will offer facilities for research and engineering, and pilot-scale studies of new processes for future Indian fertilizer projects.
BRIEFS Kawecki Chemical Co. and Britain's Durham Chemical Group, Ltd., have formed a joint venture to build a plant at Birtley, England, to produce master alloys for the aluminum and metallurgical industries. The companies will be equal partners in the venture. A plant site has been selected and production is expected to begin late this year.
Petrobas, a Brazilian government agency, has started synthetic rubber production at its new 40,000 ton-peryear plant near Rio de Janeiro. Goodyear and Firestone were among the American companies supplying technical assistance for the styrene-butadiene rubber plant.
Great Lakes Carbon Corp. (Canada), Ltd., has purchased a new plant at Berthierville, Que., for production of graphite electrodes, anodes, and specialties. After extensive equipment installations the plant is scheduled to go into operation in December of this year with production of 3-inch to 24-inch diameter electrodes.
Metals Division of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., will become a new operating company—Imperial Metal Industries (Kynoch), Ltd., with headquarters at Kynoch Works, Witton, Birmingham, England. This is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ICI, administered by a new holding company, Imperial Metal Industries, Ltd.
Pirelli, S.p.A., Milan, Italy, is expanding its facilities to reclaim rubber by a U.S. Rubber Reclaiming Co. process. Expansion will bring Pirelli's capacity to 11,250 metric tons per year. APRIL
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