Page 178 - CW E-Magazine (9-4-2024)

Salt Expo & ICASMC 2024

solar salt fields even without mechani- Bromine market scenario: Global
cal washing. Countries Estimated capacities
Israel 2,80,000
Speaking about the institute’s sci-
entific design capabilities, he informed USA 1,70,000
about a recent project where a bromine China 1,50,000
plant was set up within a salt work, Jordan 1,00,000
where the water is concentrated to re- India 1,35,000
move bromine and the de-brominated
water is used for salt production. Djibouti 35,000
Japan 30,000
Dr. Kumar said preliminary work is Russia 20,000
also being conducted on the generation Mr. Chetan Kamdar Laos 10,000
of pure brine in salt works for supply pointed out that changing rain patterns Source: Chetan Kamdar’s presentation
via pipelines to the chlor-alkali indus- in Kutch and Bhavnagar have been
try, instead of transporting solid salt causing problems for the salt industry. kets (soda ash, chlor-alkali industries),
to be converted into brine at the chlor- “Lesser number of sunny days com- while other valuable marine chemicals
alkali facilities. bined with more rains have led to lower remained underexplored.
evaporation rates and lower producti-
He also highlighted the utilisation vity and consequently higher prices. “There is a critical need for a prac-
of sea bittern (brine left after recovery Salt harvesting in some years have tical, integrated process for recovering
of common salt) as resource of bulk halved from 240 days to 120 days,” he highly pure NaCl while simultaneously
marine chemicals. The institute has said. Other climate change impacts in-
developed an integrated process where clude more and severe cyclones landing
salt production is followed by recovery in Gujarat region.
of sulphate of potash and magnesia
from kainite type mixed salt (composite Opportunities for marine chemicals
salt with chlorides & sulphates). Speaking about marine chemicals,
Mr. Kamdar noted that India has been
‘Productivity increase needed’ doing “phenomenally well” in bromine
Speaking about the challenges fac- with huge increase in production.
ing the salt sector in India, Dr. Kumar Dr. Sumesh Upadhyay
noted the limited saline land available Dr. Sumesh Upadhyay, Senior
for salt production, while demand is Principal Scientist, CSIR-CSMCRI, separating other marine chemicals, in-
set to increase. “Productivity needs to said that high purity sodium chloride cluding bromine, directly from dilute
be increased in existing land area from salt has dominated commercial mar- brines,” he said.
current 60 tons per acre to over 90-100
tons,” he said. Most salt production in Bromine market – Some leading Indian producers
the country is done manually through Companies Production Captive Exports Domestic
traditional methods and lacks mecha- Agrocel Industries 28,200 12,000 300 15,900
nisation, resulting in purity and yield Archean Chemicals 15,000 8,000 7,000
issues as well as posing health hazards
to workers. Satyesh Brinechem 7,000 4,000 3,000
Nirma 6,000 6,000
‘Changing rain patterns creating Tata Group 1,500 1,500
problems’ Dev Salt 1,500 1,500
In his presentation, Mr. Chetan
Kamdar, Director, Bhavnagar Salt and Others 1,000 1,000
Industrial Works Pvt. Ltd. emphasised Imports 8,000 8,000
the dependence of salt production on Total 67,500 12,000 12,300 43,900
various natural climatic factors, and Source: Chetan Kamdar’s presentation

178 Chemical Weekly April 9, 2024

Contents Index to Advertisers Index to Products Advertised