Jayant Oil to set up plant in Padra

The Jayant Oils and Derivatives Ltd will set up a plant in Ekalbara village in Padra taluka of Vadodara district. The plant will manufacture sebacic acid, a derivative of castor oil.

The machinery of the plant has been brought from a Chinese plant which Jayant Oils had acquired earlier. The plant will manufacture 8,000 tonnes of sebacic acid per annum. The plant will begin functioning in early 2007.

Rajesh Kapadia, managing director of Jayant Oils and Derivative Ltd., who was in the city to participate in the silver jubilee celebration of Ahmedabad Commodity Exchange, said, "We are setting up a plant in Ekalbara village of Padra taluka in Vadodara to manufacture sebacic acid. The plant will be of 8,000 TPA capacity and will start functioning in early 2007." However, Kapadia refused to reveal details of investment.

"The machinery has been brought from China. We had acquired a plant in China," Kapadia said and added that a team of Chinese engineers will set up the plant and train staff.

On the castor oil derivatives market he said, "The market for castor oil derivatives is emerging and I see a bright future for the industry."

Talking on the uses of sebacic acid, Kapadia said that sebacic acid and its analogs such as azelaic acid can be used in plasticisers, lubricants, hydraulic fluids, cosmetics, candles and others. Sebacic acid is also used as an intermediate for aromatics, antiseptics and painting materials.

On castor seeds crops he said that the company is also faring well in castor seeds contract farming in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

"We have started contract farming in Yavatmal of Vidarbha region in Maharashtra. I cannot give you the exact details of the crop this year at the moment but I can say that the company has done very well in this year's crop."

The company also plans to expand its contract farming in other states too. "We are getting good signals from other states also. At the moment we are concentrating on Vidarbha. In the near future we will expand our contract farming operations to other states too. Seeing the future of contract farming, I am confident that we will become self-sufficient in a few years time," Kapadia said.