NFCL Revamp Measures – Production to go up by 3.71 Lakh Metric Tonne per Annum Urea.

Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited is operating Natural Gas based Fertilizer Plants at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, which consists of two Units to produce Urea Fertilizer having a capacity of around 6 Lakhs MT per Annum each. Unit-I was commissioned in Aug 1992, is fully based on Natural Gas both as feed and fuel. Unit-II was commissioned in March 1998 and can operate on a mixture of Naphtha and Natural Gas in varying proportions depending upon the availability of Natural gas.

In anticipation of availability of additional Natural Gas from RIL KG Basin D-6 Block, NFCL had initiated Revamp / De-bottlenecking schemes stage-wise in the year 2006 in order to increase the Capacity, reduce Pollution and improvement in Energy & Reliability. Accordingly, in Revamp Phase-I, which mainly consisted of Installation of S-300 Ammonia Converter, replacement of Synloop Water Cooler, replacement of Air Pre-heater, replacement of HRSG-C economizer, etc., were implemented in the year 2007-08 with an investment of Rs. 55 Crores and has resulted in Production increase of 50,000 MT per Annum from Unit-I.

Revamp Phase-II was initiated in the year 2007, mainly to convert Unit-II fully operational on Natural Gas and to implement de-bottlenecking measures in order to augment the capacity and to reduce emissions. Accordingly, CDR Plant was installed and commissioned during Mar 2009. The CDR Plant recovers Carbon Di-Oxide from Reformer flue gas and there by reduces the emissions. Revamp of both the plants were also taken up and schemes have been commissioned on 23rd September 2009 in Unit-I and on 28th September 2009 in Unit-II. With the measures taken up in Revamp Phase I and Phase-II, the production capacity has increased to 15.66 Lakh MTPA from 11.95 Lakh MTPA. The investment for Revamp Phase-II was approx. Rs. 200 Crores.

Apart from de-bottlenecking for capacity enhancement, due thrust has been given for reduction of specific energy consumption and also enhancement of reliability of the existing equipment. The energy consumption shall be reduced from 5.66 Gcal / MT of Urea to 5.50 Gcal / MT of Urea.“Serving Society through Industry” was the mission of NFCL founder Shri K V K Raju.  On the same lines, NFCL taken up these measures, which will help in making more Urea available to the Farming community, besides bringing down the subsidy burden to the Govt. of India & also substantially reducing the Imports of Urea by the Country.  The measures taken up for recovery of 450 MTPD of CO2 from flue gases and reduction of energy shall also qualify as ‘Clean Development Mechanism’ projects.

Kakinada, March 24, 2009
NAGARJUNA FERTILIZERS & CHEMICALS LIMITED MOVES TOWARDS CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM BY COMMISSIOINING CARBON DIOXIDE RECOVERY (CDR) PLANT AT KAKINADA

Sri K S Raju, Chairman and Managing Director of the Company declared the Commissioning of Carbon Dioxide Recovery (CDR) Plant of 450 Metric Tonnes Per Day capacity for commercial use in the existing Urea Production facilities. This glittering Inauguration ceremony was graced by the Senior Officials of M/s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Mitsubishi Corporation (MC), Tecnimont ICB (TICB) and other Senior Executives of the Company and the Government Officials in the NFCL Plant premises. A Pooja ceremony was performed prior the Inauguration.

The Order for CDR Plant was placed on MHI, Japan and M/s Tecnimont ICB (TICB), Mumbai on Lump Sum Turnkey Basis. The scope of MHI was for Basic Know how and Licensing, while TICB’s scope was for EPC.

NFCL has two Units for the manufacture of Urea Fertilizer with a capacity of 6 Lakhs MT per Annum each. Unit-I is operated on Natural Gas while Unit-II is being operated mainly on Naphtha because of the short supply of Natural Gas from existing sources of GAIL. Anticipating additional Natural Gas from RIL from the KG Basin reserves, the Order of CDR Plant was placed in July 2007 with a completion schedule of 22 Months that is by May, 2009. The Project could be completed 2 Months in advance due to the intensive efforts of TICB, MHI & NFCL. With Commissioning of this CDR Plant, NFCL shall be recovering 450 MTPD of CO2 from the fluegas stack, thus helping the company to be eligible for Carbon Credits through Clean Development Mechanism.

The company in order to maintain sufficient proportion of CO2 during the manufacture of Urea and Ammonia consequent to the change over of feed stack from naphtha to natural gas has undertaken the installation of the CDR Plant. In fact CDR Plant forms part of Revamp / De-bottlenecking Phase-II, which is in the process of execution. The intended De-bottlenecking schemes under Phase-II will be in place by September 2009. The advantages of this Revamp are given below:

It is worth noting that NFCL had executed another similar Revamp in the year 2007-08, which helped to increase the Urea Production capacity by around 50,000 Metric Tonne per Annum. It was informed by NFCL sources that another Revamp, called Phase-III is in the feasibility study stage, to further augment the capacity of the Plants.

Hyderabad, November 6, 2007.

NFCL wins Environmental Protection Award from Fertilizer Association of India,

KVK Pragathi Rythu Sanmanotsavam
Hyderabad, November 9, 2006

Nagarjuna Group is a dream brought into reality by Shri KVK Raju, a first generation entrepreneur from Andhra Pradesh. Shri KVK Raju was a visionary with firm belief in his mission to "serve society through industry". It is this belief, which continues to be the guiding light of Nagarjuna Group that pioneered several core sector enterprises like Fertilizers, Energy and Petroleum.

Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL) the flagship company of the Nagarjuna Group commissioned the first Gas based fertilizer plant in South India at Kakinada in 1992 and currently has a capacity to produce 12 Lakh MT of Urea per annum.

Nagarjuna entered the plant protection business in 1994 and within a short span of time the company has grown to become one of the top five plant protection companies in India, supplying plant protection technicals and formulations to many Indian and International companies. Nagarjuna is manufacturing 8 technicals and 15 formulations with a turnover of Rs 400 crores (FY06).

Nagarjuna Group started Micro irrigation business in collaboration with Israeli companies. Nagarjuna is shouldering the responsibility in the Andhra Pradesh Micro Irrigation Project (APMIP) towards delivering effective water management solutions to the farmers of Andhra Pradesh. Nagarjuna is also the first company to introduce the concept of water soluble fertilizers in India in 1995 through tie up with Haifa Chemicals, Israel and is the market leader in India with sales of about 8000 Mt per annum.

As part of its mission, the group is actively involved in the Micro nutrient segment by supplying high quality products like Mahazinc (Zinc Monohydrate): 450 MT, Zeta (Zinc EDTA): 150 MT, Groth (Formula 4): 100 MT and Borovin (Boron): 25 MT. Nagarjuna is also sharing the responsibility of distributing Zinc Sulphate under the State Government's subsidy scheme to the farming community.

Nagarjuna is currently supplying about 50% of the State's annual urea requirement of 2 million tons. Nagarjuna has been nominated as the Lead Fertilizer Supplier (LFS) by the Government of India in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal as a coordinator between the Government and the Industry. Nagarjuna currently markets about 1.9 million tons of urea (including imports).

Apart from the efforts of both State and Central Governments, the fertilizer industry is also playing an important role in transferring technology to the farmers. Nagarjuna has taken service to the farmer as a mission since its inception in 1985 and has earned a strong brand image in Andhra Pradesh and has since become a part of the farming community of the state.

As a step towards providing a platform to facilitate technology transfer to farmers KVK KRISHI VIGNANA KENDRAM (KVK) was set up at Kakinada in 1995. The objective of the center is to transfer technology and impart knowledge on best agricultural practices like Integrated Nutrition Management, Water Management, Integrated Pest Management, Post-harvest Management, etc, to farmers, thereby contributing to improving farm productivity. The centre has state-of-the art training facilities and is headed by an experienced Agronomist with vast technical and practical knowledge.

Since its' inception, the KVK centre has trained more than 48000 farmers from about 416 villages covering all the districts of Andhra Pradesh. Nagarjuna encourages the KVK trained farmers to act as a guide to his fellow farmers by sharing their experiences through verbal communication and practice enabling knowledge dissemination and improvement in farm productivity in a short span of time.

The KVK centre organizes training programs both On-campus and Off-campus. In On-campus programs, the selected progressive farmers are brought to the centre in Kakinada, travel, accommodation and food is provided at the centre for three days. These farmers are given training on the crop / subject of their choice by senior scientists pooled from industry, institutions and universities. The Off-campus programs are organized by arranging visits to the farmer fields by the Scientists. Based on the observations / specimens, the Scientists provide advise to farmers enabling them to take immediate preventive / correction measures for their crops.

The company has undertaken several extension activities for the benefit of the farming community. A wide range of technical crop films on paddy, sugarcane, maize, cotton, chilli and benefits of Zinc usage in crops have been developed over the past few years enabling the concept of "Seeing is Believing". The films on Zinc, Sugarcane and Chilly have been adjudged for awards by the Fertilizer Association of India consecutively for the past three years. Programs like crop seminars, demonstrations, film shows, soil analysis etc are extensively organized for transferring enabling technology to the farmers. Tools like LCD projectors, Slide projectors, AV vans, flip charts, crop literature etc are widely used for effective communication.

Nagarjuna is strongly committed to the well being of the farming community of the state and will continue its efforts towards achieving this objective.

NFCL is organizing KVK Pragathi Rythu Sanmanotsavam, to felicitate farmers who were trained at KVK Krishi Vignana Kendram and who have played an important role in improving farm productivity and knowledge sharing. The programme will be held on Friday 10th November 2006 at 10 am in NFCL premises, Kakinada, which would be graced by the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Honourable Dr. Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Honourable Ministers from the Centre and the State, along with other distinguished public representatives and officers.

NFCL Facility Achieves 113% Urea Production
Hyderabad, April 18, 2006

The Kakinada facility of Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL), has achieved a record Urea production of 113.1%, producing a total of 13.79 Lakh Metric Tonnes of Urea during 2005-06. The Plant has repeated this phenomenal feat, producing Urea more than its capacity, for the consecutive second year. NFCL produces Urea in two units. While the Unit one produced 7,03,645 Metric tonnes, Unit two also surpassed its capacity by producing 6,75,571 Metric tonnes making this phenomenal feat repeated during 2005-06 too. Total capacity of the Plant is 11,94, 600 Metric tonnes.

The Plant also has achieved this record production at a very optimal utilization of energy of 5.662 MKcal/MT of Urea against internal target of 5.670Mkcal/MT, which is already much lower than the standard Fertilizer Industry Coordination Committee's (FICC) norm of 5.712 MKcal/MT.  NFCL has one more reason to celebrate that full production of Urea i.e. 13.79 Lakh Metric Tonnes has been dispatched to the farmers.

Along with the production, NFCL has also done well in sales and distribution wings. It's products, which include Mahazinc, Zinc Sulphate, Zeta, Speciality Fertilizers besides Urea have been sold out fully during 2005-06.

NFCL wins Gas Conservation Award from GAIL
Hyderabad, December 14, 2005

Fertilizer facility of Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited in Kakinada has been selected for the ‘Award for Excellence in Natural Gas Conservation’ in the ‘Fertilizers Sector’ category for it’s outstanding contribution to natural gas conservation in the country during 2004-05. The Hon’ble Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Panchayat Raj, Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar Presented the award to Mr. KS Raju, Chairman, Nagarjuna Group and Mr. RD Mall, Vice-president, Plant Operations, NFCL, today in Delhi.

This annual award has been instituted by Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) as a recognition of the excellent work done by the organisations in Gas Conservation. GAIL has been conducting a nation-wide Natural Gas Conservation Programme, meant to spread the word of conservation of this precious natural resource. All the natural gas using industries like power, fertilizer, steel, sponge iron, transport, glass, ceramic and petrochemicals, would be considered for this award.

This is the 4th achievement of NFCL for it’s excellence in different departments during 2005. These include; 5 Star rating in O H & S Audit from British Safety Council, UK. Commendation Award in “Leadership and Excellence Awards in Safety, Health & Environment (SHE) 2004”, by Confederation of Indian Industry, Southern Region, Chennai. Re-certification for ISO 9001:2000 by Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI) for quality management systems. And NFCL also received Environment Protection Award from Fertilizers Association of India.

Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL) the flagship company of the Nagarjuna Group has won the prestigious FAI (Fertiliser Association of India) Environment Protection Award in the Nitrogenous fertilizer plants category for the year 2004-05. NFCL had won the same award for 2001-02 also. Going much beyond the statutory requirements of law for environment protection, NFCL has implemented a comprehensive protection plan in its plant at Kakinada. NFCL has been widely acknowledged for its Commitment to the betterment of Environment and this award further adds to the long list of recognition.

NFCL has also won two more awards from FAI. A video film titled “The Sugarcane” produced by NFCL was adjudged Runner-up in the Annual Video Film Competition by FAI for the year 2004 – 2005. The video film has been developed with the objective to transfer technology and to enhance the yield of sugarcane farmers in Andhra Pradesh. For NFCL, this is the second consecutive year of winning in this category. An article titled "From Products to Solutions - Exploring Opportunities" published in the September 2005 Issue of the Indian Journal of Fertilizers was awarded the Second prize in the category of Shriram Award for Best Article in Marketing. The article was co-authored by Mr. N Sambasiva Rao, Head - SNB Marketing and Mr. Gyanendra Narayan Pati, Asst. Manager (Sales Planning).

The Awards were presented by Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Hon’ble Union Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India, at the inaugural function of the FAI Golden Jubilee Celebrations and Annual Seminar in New Delhi.

Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI) awards re-certification of ISO 9001 : 2000 for Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited.

Hyderabad, April 20th 2005

Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL) has been re-certified of ISO 9001:2000 by Bureau Veritas Quality International (BVQI), for its Quality Management Systems. The Flagship Company of the Nagarjuna Group has already been an ISO 9001: 2000 organisation since 1995. This re-certification, which is valid up to February 2008, is only an extension of recognition for company’s excellent quality management systems.

BVQI team has done the re-certification audit during February at NFCL plant Kakinada. After conducting audit in Plant Operations and Area Marketing Offices BVQI sent a certificate to NFCL in which it mentioned ”Quality Management System of the Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited has been audited and found to be in accordance with the requirements of the standards ISO 9001: 2000”.

BVQI is today the most widely recognized certification body in the world, offering solutions in the key strategic fields of companies operations: Quality, Health & Safety, Environment and Social Responsibility. It is recognized by more than 30 national and international accreditation bodies across the world to deliver ISO 9001 certification. As a consequence, BVQI is a world leader with over 50,000 certified companies in 100 countries with a team of 2,800 specially trained auditors. BVQI offers the possibility of combined certifications to the largest range of recognized standards, bringing consistency, optimization and efficiency.

Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited Awarded the prestigious 5 Star Rating by the British Safety Council, U.K.

Hyderabad, February 17, 2005

Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL), the flagship company of the Nagarjuna Group has been awarded the highly coveted 5-Star rating by the British Safety Council, U.K. After a detailed Health and Safety Management System Audit conducted during the month of January 2005, the British Safety Council has awarded an 'Excellent' rating (Score of 92.39%) to NFCL's manufacturing facility at Kakinada. The audit covered eight areas of NFCL's management systems leading to best practices, which include Safety Organisation, Management Control Systems, Fire Control Systems, Measurement and Control Systems, Workplace implementation, Verification, Best practice and Continuous improvement.

According to Mr. R S Nanda, Director and Chief Operating Officer, "This indeed is a testimony to our unstinted efforts to bring world class practices of safety, health and environment to our plant at Kakinada. This achievement further reiterates our philosophy of Serving Society through Industry.

Though we have always been committed for having the highest levels of health and safety management systems, such an internationally acclaimed independent certification has reinforced our belief in following the best practices. Striving for Excellence in every area of our operation, as a next milestone, we would very much like to attain the 'Sword of Honour' in the coming days."

The British Safety Council (BSC) is one of the world's leading occupational health, safety and environmental organisations. BSC's Five Star Health and Safety Management System Audit is a benchmark for best practices. It provides a detailed examination of the organisation's current practices, and gives a comprehensive report and plan for implementing, monitoring and achieving continuous improvement. It is based on the Business Excellence Model and goes beyond HS(G)65 and OHSAS 18001 to measure how far an organisation has gone towards achieving best practice.