2016

INTRODUCTION TO INDUSTRIES IN PAKISTAN AND EXPLAIN CAUSTIC SODA INDUSTRY

Industry of PakistanPakistan ranks as number 43-44 among the countries of the world in nominal GDP, 26th in GDP with purchasing power parity and number 55 in the world in factory output.

Pakistan's largest industriesPakistan's industrial sector accounts for about 24% of GDP.

Cotton textile production Apparel manufacturing

Accounting for about 66% of the merchandise exports and almost 40% of the employed labour force. Cotton and cotton-based products account for 61% of export earnings of Pakistan. The consumption of cotton increased by 5.7% over the past five years while the economic growth rate was 7%. By 2010 the spinning capacity increased to 15 million spindles and textile exports hit $15.5 billion.

Other major industries

Cement Fertilizer Edible oil Sugar Steel Tobacco Chemicals Machinery Food processing.

The government is privatizing large-scale parastatal units, and the public sector accounts for a shrinking proportion of industrial output, while growth in overall industrial output (including the private sector) has accelerated. Government policies aim to diversify the country's industrial base and bolster export.

Mining and quarrying:

The country has immense reserves of various minerals and natural resources. Important minerals found in Pakistan are:

gypsum limestone chromites iron ore rock salt silver gold precious stones

gems marble copper coal graphite sulphur fire clay silica.

The salt range in Punjab Province has the largest deposit of pure salt found anywhere in the world. Balochistan province is a mineral-rich area having substantial mineral, oil and gas reserves which have not been exploited to their full capacity or fully explored, recent government policies have begun to develop this region of the country and to tap into the immense resources found there. The province has significant quantities of copper, chromite and iron, and pockets of antimony and zinc in the south and gold in the far west. Natural gas was discovered near Sui in 1952, and the province has been gradually developing its oil and gas projects over the past fifty years.

Major reserves of copper and gold in Balochistan's Reko Diq area have been discovered in early 2006. The Reko Diq mining area has proven estimated reserves of 2 billion tons of copper and 20 million ounces of gold. According to the current market price, the value of the deposits has been estimated at about $65 billion, which would generate thousands of jobs.

The discovery has ranked Reko diq among the world's top seven copper reserves. The Reko diq project is estimated to produce 200,000 tons of copper and 400,000 ounces of gold per year, at an estimated value of $1.25 billion at current market prices. The copper and gold are currently traded at about $5,000 per ton and $600 per ounce respectively in the international market.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province accounts for at least 78% of the marble production in Pakistan. Pakistan is home to some of the most finest and purest grades of marble, granite and slate found in the world. Much of the grades A Marble that is exported out of European countries like Italy actually have their origins in Pakistan which previously lacked fine polishing and processing machinery. The Government has taken steps to invest in this crucial sector with the recent establishment of a Marble City within Balochistan.

The Federal Bureau of Statistics provisionally valued this sector at Rs.211,851 million in 2005 thus registering over 99% growth since 2000.

Chemical industryThe chemical industry comprises the companies that produce industrial chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials (oil, natural gas, air, water, metals, and minerals) into more than 70,000 different products.

The process of making products by using machinery and factories

a group of businesses that provide a particular product or service the habit of working hard and steadily

Introduction and Historical Background

NFC is owned by Government of Pakistan and was incorporated as private limited company in August, 1973. At that time three small plants that is:

Pak American Fertilizers Limited, Daudkhel

Lyallpur Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited, Jaranwala

Natural Gas Fertilizer Factory

having total capacity of 306,000 m.tons were transferred to NFC by Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation.

The growing demand of fertilizer in the country, NFC undertook the policy of expansion and modernization of the existing plants and added the new plants in its inventory in next two decades. By these steps, NFC had managed following fertilizer plants:

Pakarab Fertilizers (Pvt) Limited, Multan

Paksaudi Fertilizers Limited, Mirpur Mathelo

Pak American Fertilizers Limited, Daudkhel

Pakchina Fertilizers Limited, Haripur

Hazara Phosphate Fertilizers Limited, Haripur

Lyallpur Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited, Jaranwala

As per privatization policy of Government of Pakistan, all manufacturing units of NFC have been privatized by the Privatization Commission.

Producing Units ProductCapacity (M.Tons)

Year of Operation

Date of Privatization

Pakarab Fertilizers, Multan

UREA 92,400 1980 14.07.2005

CAN 450,000 1980 14.07.2005

NP 304,500 1980 14.07.2005

Paksaudi Fertilizers, Mirpur Mathelo

UREA 557,000 1980 31.05.2002

Pak-American Fertilizers, Daudkhel

UREA 346,500 1999 15.07.2006

Pak-China Fertilizers, Haripur

UREA 95,700 1982 26.05.1992

Lyallpur Chemicals, Jaranwala

SSP (P) 72,000 1976 09.02.2007

Hazara Phosphate, Haripur

SSP (G) 90,000 1989 28.11.2008

2,008,100

The Head Office of NFC is located at Lahore. The Corporation is headed by a Chairman who is assisted by General Managers responsible for the Finance, Personnel & Administration, Commercial and Technical & Planning Departments.

NFC has its own marketing company which has an elaborate network spread throughout the country. The agronomic services and advice offered by the marketing company to the farming community has played a vital role to promote and popularize the use of fertilizers in the country.

NFC acts as a holding company which directs, co-ordinates and control the group activities, lays down guide-lines for economic and technical development of the Corporation and coordinate the plans for their implementation. Apart from establishing additional fertilizer production facilities and developing distribution / marketing network, other functions of NFC are to promote / produce quality engineers through its engineering institutes.

NFC is presently operating one fertilizer marketing company and two educational, research and training institutes:

National Fertilizer Marketing Limited, Lahore.

NFC Institute of Engineering & Technology, Multan.

NFC Institute of Engineering & Fertilizer Research, Faisalabad.

Caustic Soda INDUSTRYalso known as Sodium Hydroxide, forms a strong alkaline solution when dissolved in water. ICL produces Caustic Soda in the form of flakes, solid, liquid (31 and 50 concentration). In solid form, it is hygroscopic and as such readily absorbs water from the air.

Caustic Soda is used in a wide variety of industrial applications. It is used as a reactant for the manufacturing of other sodium components, which themselves may be intermediate or end- use products, such as Sodium Hypochlorite, having its use as a household Bleach and Disinfectant and Sodium Phenolate, required for making antiseptics and for the manufacturing of Aspirin. It is used in the manufacturing process of Soaps and Surfactants used in soap powders and also in the Textile Industry to remove containments. As a bleach, it is used in the treatment of scoured cloth and to improve luster and dye absorption. 

Caustic Soda Liquid (31% and 50% conc.)Caustic Soda Liquid is manufactured commercially by the electrolysis of brine in electrolytic cells, where 31% membrane grade and 50% Rayon grade Caustic Soda liquid is produced.

Caustic Soda (Solid / Flakes)It is produced by evaporation of liquid Caustic Soda solution to the anhydrous state, and subsequent conversion to either a Solid or a Flakes form.

CAUSTIC SODA SPECIFICATIONS

Liquid (50%)

Liquid (31%) Solid Flakes

Physical AppearanceColorless liquid

Colorless Liquid

White Deliquescent fused mass

White Deliquescent Flakes

Concentration (NaOH) % Min. 50 ± 0.2 31 97.0 ± 1 97.0 ± 1

Sodium Chloride (NaCl) % Max 0.02 0.012 0.04 0.04

Sodium Carbonate (Na2CO3) % Max. 0.5 0.3 1 1

Iron (Fe) ppm Max. 3.0 1.0 10 10

Nickel (Ni) ppm Max. Nil - Nil - 6.0 6.0

Packing & Transportation In M.S. In M.S. In 250 Kg. In 25 Kg Net,

Road Tankers of 10-30 M.T. capacity

Road Tankers of 10-30 M.T. capacity

Net, M.S. 26 SWG Drums

Woven Polypropylene Bags (Sleeved inside with low Density Polythene liner)

Production process of caustic soda and chlorine by electrolysis

The processing of brine electrolysis to produce caustic soda, chlorine, and hydrogen is called the electrolytic (chloralkali) process. This is further classified into the membrane, diaphragm, and mercury processes. As of October 1999, all Japanese chloralkali plants use the membrane process.

Salt is first dissolved in the dissolution tank. The obtained saturated brine is then sent to a purification tank to remove impurities, and to a chelate resin tower for purification before being fed to an electrolytic cell. Industrial water is also purified before entering the cell.

The anode chamber of the electrolytic cell is filled with the brine, and the cathode chamber with pure water (dilute caustic soda). Application of direct current to the cell produces chlorine gas at the anode, and caustic soda plus hydrogen at the cathode. The latter goes to the separator to produce a caustic soda solution with a concentration of about 30%.

The chlorine is washed and cooled to remove salt, and further dehydrated before being delivered as is, or liquefied.

Caustic soda is further concentrated in a vaporizer to a concentration of about 50% for delivery. Hydrogen is washed and cooled, as chlorine, before being shipped.

Principle of the chloralkali process

The electrolytic processes of brine to produce caustic soda, chlorine, and hydrogen may be categorized into three types: the membrane, diaphragm, and mercury processes. Here, the membrane process is described, since it is the only process presently operated in Japan.

This technology uses an ion-exchanging membrane separating the anode and the cathode. The membrane is made of a special resin which permits anions (negative ions) to pass through but not cations (positive ions).

As shown in the figure, the anode chamber of a membrane electrolytic cell is filled with brine, and the cathode chamber with water (see figure). Application of an electric current leads to the formation of chlorine, caustic soda, and hydrogen.

The brine in the anode chamber contains sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-) ions. These ions migrate when a current is applied: the positively charged sodium ions pass through the membrane to the cathode chamber, while the negatively charged chloride ions are discharged on the anode surface to form chlorine gas (Cl2).

Water in the cathode chamber partly dissociates into hydrogen (H+) and hydroxide (OH-) ions. The hydrogen ions capture electrons on the cathode surface to form hydrogen gas (H2). The hydroxide ions are attracted to the anode, but blocked by the membrane, and react with the sodium ions from the anode chamber to form caustic soda (sodium hydroxide, NaOH).

Over 95% of the capacity to produce chlorine and essentially 100% of the capacity to produce caustic soda (sodium hydroxide, NaOH) are based on the electrolysis of brine. In this process a sodium chloride (NaCl, salt) solution (brine) is electrolytically decomposed to elemental chlorine (in the anode compartment), and sodium hydroxide solution and elemental hydrogen (in the cathode compartment). A chemical facility which co-produces caustic soda and chlorine is typically referred to as a chlor-alkali (C/A) facility.

The overall reaction for the electrolytic production of caustic soda and chlorine is:

The electrolytic route to making caustic soda, by using sodium chloride as a raw material, is a co-product process, i.e., for each 1.1 pounds of sodium hydroxide produced, one pound of chlorine is also produced. This ratio is referred to as an electrochemical unit (ECU).

Dow utilizes two electrolytic processes to produce caustic soda solution and chlorine. These processes are:

Diaphragm cell

Membrane cell

Diaphragm Cell

Using diaphragm cell technology, chlorine, caustic soda and hydrogen are produced simultaneously. Saturated brine enters the anode compartment of the cell, where chlorine gas is liberated. The function of the diaphragm is to separate the brine from the caustic solution (called cell effluent) at the cathode side, which is also where hydrogen gas is released.

Membrane Cell

Membrane cell technology is a relatively recent development. It differs from diaphragm cell technology in that the solutions surrounding each electrode are separated by a membrane rather than a diaphragm. The membrane is very selective and primarily allows the migration of sodium ions from the anode chamber to the cathode chamber. Saturated brine enters the anode compartment of the cell where chlorine gas is liberated. Since only sodium ions can pass through the membrane to the cathode (brine cannot pass through the membrane), the caustic

soda (cell effluent) contains substantially less sodium chloride. No salt removal capabilities are required as in the diaphragm cell process.

Laboratory procedure

Electrolysis can be done with beakers, one containing a brine solution (salt water) and one containing pure water connected by a salt bridge. Anodes are made ideally from platinum metals, which resist corrosion. Since corrosion is less severe at the cathode, it can be stainless steel or silver.

REERENCES:

WWW.FRIENDLYMELA.COM

WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM

HIMALA SOUTH ASIAN, PAKISTAN EDITION

DAILYTIME- LEADING NEWS RESOURCES OF PAKISTAN