Mitsubishi to set up carbon dioxide units for Iffco

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI), in collaboration with Mitsubishi Corporation, has signed a contract with the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (Iffco) for setting up two carbon dioxide (CO2) recovery units at its Aonla and Phulpur fertiliser plants. Each of these units has a production capacity of 450 tonne per day.

The switch over from gas or naphtha to liquified natural gas as the feedstock for fertiliser production normally causes CO2 shortage for fertiliser production. The CO2 recovery plants help supply enough CO2 to not only maintain the current urea production level but also for future production expansion.

Iffco's objective for undertaking this project is to increase urea production capacity and to cut down overall energy consumption in its ammonia/urea plants.

The CO2 recovery technology is currently possessed by only three companies in the world "" MHI, Fluor Daniel and ABB. The MHI constructed its first CO2 recovery plant with its own technology for an ammonia/urea plant in Malaysia in 1999.

The MHI's contract with Iffco is to provide its technology directly to Iffco as the process licensor. The plant will be constructed by Tecnimont ICB, India, in about two years.

CO2 has its uses in other sectors as well, such as capacity enhancement of methanol plants and food grade carbonated drinks. Besides, it is used for increasing oil recovery from crude reservoirs by CO2 injection technology.

Moreover, CO2 recovery could contribute to global CO2 reduction as envisaged under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change which became effective in last February.