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Lovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
THE country’s sole fertiliser manufacturer, Sable Chemicals, says it will streamline its operations and import ammonia for the production of Ammonium Nitrate (AN) fertiliser as a stopgap measure to avoid total collapse. This follows the switching off of its electrolysis plant from the national grid on government recommendation in the wake of mounting power shortages.
The development might see a big chunk of the 500 plus Sables Chemicals’ workers being sent on forced leave without pay. The government announced the move to switch the company off the national grid and channel its 40MW supplies to domestic consumption. Sable Chemicals, which is currently operating at 70 percent capacity, is consuming about 10 percent of electricity monthly, alone.
The firm, a joint venture between Chemplex Corporation and TA Holdings, uses electrolysis technology, which converts hydrogen to ammonia, a process which accounts for 90 percent of power used at the Kwekwe based plant. In a statement, the company confirmed the electrolysis plant had been taken off the grid and will in the meantime resort to importing ammonia, a major component in the production of AN fertiliser.
“At a meeting held on 12 October 2015 between the government, the power utility and Sable, an understanding was reached that with the current power deficit in the country, the Sable ammonia manufacturing plants, which depend on the power intensive electrolysis technology, had to be taken off the power grid.
“At the point the electrolysis plant was taken off the grid, Sable’s obligations to the power utility were based on a preferential tariff. In the short term, Sable will immediately adopt a business model that depends on manufacturing AN using imported ammonia to ensure adequate supplies of AN in Zimbabwe,” read part of the statement signed by company secretary Victor Makoni.
Makoni said as a result of the scaling down of operations, the development “will regrettably necessitate a realignment of the manning levels to match the new business model”. The company reiterated its quest to abandon the electrolysis technology to the effective coal bed methane gas but warned that this will take some time as it is still looking for funding for the new technology, which generates its own electricity.
Sable has an installed capacity to produce 240,000 tonnes of AN per annum. This volume is produced using 115,000 tonnes of ammonia, of which 72,000 tonnes is produced at the factory in Kwekwe, and the balance of 43,000 tonnes is imported from South Africa.
Online Reporter