India's state-owned fertiliser manufacturer Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) is reportedly planning to reduce energy consumption at two of its urea-ammonia units in Thal, Maharashtra.

As part of the Rs3.63bn ($57.5m) project, the company intends to replace the existing steam turbine-based machinery with motor-based equipment.

The investment is part of the company's plan to comply with the new urea policy that requires production units to be more energy efficient.

"We are planning to reduce our energy consumption at two units at Thal.."

RCF chairman and managing director R G Rajan was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying: "We are planning to reduce our energy consumption at two units at Thal, to make the plants more energy efficient."

The ammonia and urea complexes, which produce more than two million tonnes, are estimated to consume 8.15Gcal / MT and 5.8Gcal / MT, respectively.

With the latest changes, the specific energy of urea is expected to be reduced by 0.354GCal / MT.

RCF expects the project to save around 10,601 standard cubic metres per hour (SM3 / hr) natural gas, 6,643 cubic metres per day (CMPD) of water and 233 metric tonne per hour (MTPH) of high-pressure steam.

The company intends to build the Thal III project with an investment of Rs45bn ($712.8m), to produce around 1.27 million tonnes (mt) of urea a year.

RCF produces nitrogenous and complex fertilisers, as well as industrial chemicals at its manufacturing plants in Trombay and Thal. It produces 230,000, tonnes of urea, 650,000 tonne of complex fertilisers and 160,000 lakh tonnes industrial chemicals a year.

Earlier this month, RCF signed a memorandum of understanding with Turkmenistan-based Turkmenhimiya to import urea until 2018.

The company will explore the possibility of purchasing muriate of potash and other chemical products later.

Anh Tuan