Acid Plant Database

Acid Plant Database October 19, 2023

Owner	Coromandel Fertilisers Limited (CFL)
Location	Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh India
Background	Part of the Murugappa Group
Website	www.coromandel.biz
Plant	SAP-I	SAP-II	SAP-III
Coordinates*	17° 41' 57" N, 83° 13' 54.5" E	17° 41' 59.5" N, 83° 13' 54" E	17° 42' 4" N, 83° 14' 5" E
Type of Plant	Sulphur Burning	Sulphur Burning	Sulphur Burning
Gas Source	Elemental Sulphur	Elemental Sulphur	Elemental Sulphur
Plant Capacity	300 MTPD	-	1650 MTPD
SA/DA	DA	-	3/2 DA
Emissions	SO₂: 1 kg/MT	SO₂: 0.65 kg/MT	-
Status	Operating	Operating	Operating
Year Built	1975	-	2023
Technology	MECS Enterprises Private Limited (MEPL)	-	MECS
Contractor	MECS Enterprises Private Limited (MEPL)	-	ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solution
Remarks	1987 - CI trombone coolers replaced with anodically protected shell and tube acid coolers	-	Cost: Rs 400 crore US$53,828,000
Pictures
Pictures
General	Coromandel Fertilisers Limited (CFL) incorporated in 1964, now belonging to the Rs 9582 crores (USD $ 2.4 Billion) Murugappa Group, is a leading company in India manufacturing a wide range of fertilisers and pesticides (technical and formulations). CFL markets around 2.5 million tonnes of phosphatic fertilisers making it a leader in its addressible markets and the second largest phosphatic fertiliser player in India. The Company also markets phosphogypsum and sulphur pastilles. Coromandel Fertilisers Ltd has multi-locational production facilities and markets its products all over India and exports pesticides to various countries across the globe. It is managed by competent and committed professionals using advanced management practices. The Company is known for fostering a climate of high performance and continuous improvement. MEPL commissioned this turnkey sulfuric acid project in a record time of just 11 ½ months, which was almost 2 months before than the committed completion of 14 months. Another unique feature of this plant is the lowest stack emissions of 0.65 Kgs of SO2 per MT of acid (equivalent to 120 ppm) in India. This 300 MTPD sulfuric acid project is based on MEPL’s in-house technology using sulfur burning process. MEPL has used MECS’s proprietary MONPLEX^® plate type exchanger as well as Anodically Protected acid coolers.
References	Seetaram, N. and Srinivasan, M.S., “Productivity Improvements in Murugappa Group’s Phosphatic Fertilisers Unit at Visakhapatnam and Ennore”, IFA Technical Conference, Chennai, India, September 24-27, 2002.
News	July 27, 2022 - Agri solutions provider Coromandel International has posted a more than 47% increase in consolidated net profit to ₹499 crore for the quarter ended June aided by growth in both nutrient and crop protection businesses. The surge in net profit came on a nearly 57% increase in total income to ₹5,783 crore (₹3,686 crore). “Coromandel registered a strong performance in Q1 with a 57% revenue growth over the same quarter last year, with growth in both nutrient and crop protection businesses due to high price of raw materials,” said MD Sameer Goel. “We are witnessing adequate monsoon coverage and higher reservoir levels which augurs well for Indian agriculture in our key operating markets,” he said. The capital expansion programme is on track, the company said in a release. It has proposed a sulphuric acid plant in Visakhapatnam and setting up a multi-purpose plant for crop protection. Coromandel International said its investment in mining company BMCC of Senegal, through wholly owned subsidiary Coromandel Chemicals, is expected to be completed in the coming quarter, which will help in securing critical phosphate rock needs. November 16, 2021 - Coromandel International, the country’s second largest phosphatic fertilizer player and part of Murugappa Group, announced plans on Tuesday to set up 1,650-metric-tonnes-per-day sulphuric acid plant at its fertiliser complex in Visakhapatnam at an investment of Rs 400 crore. Announcing the plan, the company also signed technology partnership agreements with MECS (Monsanto Enviro-Chem Systems) and TKIS (ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions). At present, India is a net importer of sulphuric acid, and the third largest buyer globally, accounting for close to two million tonnes of imports. “In line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision for import substitution and promotion of local manufacturing, Coromandel has announced the setting up of a new 1,650-TPD sulphuric acid plant at Visakhapatnam,” said Arun Alagappan, Executive Vice Chairman, Coromandel International. He added that the investment will improve the self-sufficiency and availability of phosphatic fertiliser in the country. The new sulphuric acid plant for which the investment has been announced, will add another 500,000 tonnes a year of sulphuric acid production capacity to the existing 600,000 tonnes, giving a combined capacity of 1.1 million tonnes. The investment is in line with Coromandel’s long-term objectives to secure key raw materials for its fertiliser production. The 1,650-TPD project will be set up within Coromandel’s existing Visakhapatnam plant premises. The Visakhapatnam manufacturing unit of Coromandel has a production capacity of 1.3 million tonnes per annum of complex fertilisers and a captive phosphoric acid production capacity of close to 400,000 tonnes per annum. Currently, Coromandel International is the largest private phosphatic fertiliser manufacturer and marketer in India and has been a trusted partner for farmers. Coromandel is among India’s leading agri solutions providers, offering diverse products and services across the farming value chain. It offers fertilisers, crop protection solutions, bio pesticides, specialty nutrients and organic solutions to farmers and also operates one of India’s largest agri retail chain, ‘Mana Gromor’, reaching directly to over three million farmers a year. April 27, 2020 - Indian fertilizer importer and manufacturer Coromandel International (CIL) has restarted production at one unit, following the reduction in output at the end of March amid Covid-19 restrictions. CIL announced that it has partially commenced operations at its Visakhapatnam fertilizer unit and that its Kakinada facility is still running, according to a stock exchange filing on 25 April. The firm is one of the largest domestic suppliers of phosphate-based fertilizers in India, having produced 2.94mn t in 2018-19, according to its annual report. It produced 561,000t of SSP in the same period from eight production locations. It has a total annual capacity of 3.5mn t of phosphate fertilizer, which includes DAP, SSP and NPKs, the report says. Its major phosphate plants are in southeast India, in Kakinada and Visakhapatnam, both located in Andhra Pradhesh, and two at Ennore and Ranipet in Tamil Nadu. CIL reduced manpower at its NPK facilities on 23 March in light of the Indian government's inital plan for a 15-day lockdown on 24 March to curb the spread of coronavirus. CIL then suspended operations at its NPK plants at Ennore and Visakhapatnam on 26 March. The government has since extended the lockdown until 3 May. CIL's shutdown came amid a slew of closures announced by Indian fertilizer producers at the end of March, with fellow suppliers IFFCO, Deepak, PPL, Fact, GSFC, RCF, Smartchem and Greenstar announcing plant closures or reduced operating rates. The announcement of CIL's resumption follows an uptick in raw materials purchases earlier this month. CIL has been active in securing prompt sulphuric acid at negative cfr prices. The producer was coming out of planned maintenance when lockdowns were imposed and, despite the various disruptions, discharge of sulphuric acid at Vizag and Kakinada has not been affected. CIL is still receiving its contracted ammonia shipments from suppliers, with a further 5,000t scheduled for early-May delivery. CIL sources phosphoric acid as a raw material for production from a wide array of origins, most notably Morocco's OCP. CIL received 983,000t of phosphoric acid last year, of which OCP shipped 454,000t, according to Argus' data. But OCP reports that April-loading phosphoric acid shipments to India have largely ground to a halt following the drop in phosphates production and has accordingly sought to granulate more DAP for Indian consumption. CIL bought 50,000t of Moroccan DAP for May arrival to offset its lowered output. www.argusmedia.com September 13, 2010 - Coromandel International has announced that the company has entered into a licence agreement with Shell Research for Shell Thiogro technology to manufacture sulphur enhanced fertilisers (SEF). Coromandel would initially employ the Shell Thiogro technology to manufacture SEF at its plant at Visakhapatnam and may extend it to Kakinada unit later. Shell Research is an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell plc, London and the Shell Thiogro technology is developed by Shell Sulphur Solutions, a global business unit of the Royal Dutch Shell group of Companies.

MTPD - Metric Tonne per Day STPD - Short Ton per Day
MTPA - Metric Tonne per Annum STPA - Short Ton per Annum
SA - Single Absorption
DA - Double Absorption

* Coordinates can be used to locate plant on Google Earth


Sulphuric Acid on the Web^TM	Technical Manual	DKL Engineering, Inc.