Tata Chemicals Limited

Caustic soda:
TCL is able to deliver low-cost caustic soda to the market due to its adoption of energy-efficient, membrane-cell technology and the captive availability of salt and of power at the Mithapur facility. As a versatile alkali, caustic soda is used in a variety of industries, the major ones being rayon, cellophane, soap, pulp and paper.

Chlorine based products:
TCL produces hydrochloric acid and liquid chlorine at its Mithapur facility.

Brunner Mond makes and sells calcium chloride in its UK facilities.

Bromine based products:
TCL manufactures several variants of bromine and bromine-based compounds, such as liquid bromine technical, hydrobromic acid and sodium bromide (photographic grade).

Bromine is used primarily in the manufacture of organic and inorganic bromides. It is also used as a crucial reagent in preparing several organic compounds requiring bromination. Other variants are used in the preparation of photographic emulsions, for processing photographic films and paper, in lithography, as an analytical reagent, as a soil fumigant , and in the making of flame retardants, drilling fluids, water treatment, dyes, and brominated pesticides.

Gypsum:
Gypsum, formed in crystalline lumps or powder form, is yet another product from the Tata Chemicals stable.

Gypsum is used as an ingredient for Portland cement, for soil treatment, and to stabilise volatile compounds and dissolve nitrogenous ones. It also finds use as an inert filler in paints, paper, pharmaceuticals, insecticide dusts, etc.

Phosphoric and sulphuric acids:
TCL's Haldia plant produces industrial grade phosphoric and sulphuric acids; these are inputs to the manufacturing of phosphatic fertilisers at the plant, and are also a part of TCL's product portfolio.

Uses:
Phosphoric acid is a key input to the manufacture of phosphatic fertilisers. Sulphuric acid's uses include ore processing, fertiliser manufacturing, oil refining, wastewater processing and chemical synthesis. The major use of sulphuric acid globally is in the wet process for manufacture of phosphoric acid.

Alkakarb, the first animal feed grade sodium bicarbonate in India, is TCL's first step towards value-added bicarbonate business. The company desires to use the bicarbonate brands already conceived by Brunner Mond so as to have homogeneity across its business geographies.

Alkakarb is specially packed for use in poultry and ruminant diets and for general animal feed use.

The use of sodium bicarbonate as a feed additive helps poultry in following:

• Provides high purity source of chloride-free sodium
• Improves growth rate
• Alleviates of heat stress
• Prevents problems caused by poor litter quality
• Increases eggshell strength thereby minimising breakages

Alkakarb, which contains 27 per cent sodium by weight, can also be used to maintain the natural pH in the saliva of ruminants, such as dairy cattle, enabling micro-organisms to survive in the cattle gut, aiding digestion.

TCL is a pioneer in the field of crop- and region-specific customised fertilisers that provide balanced crop nutrition to the soil, boost the productivity of crops and improve the overall quality of the yield.

Sold under the brand name Paras Farmoola, these fertilisers are specially designed to contain macro and micro nutrients required by selected crops in specific regions, based on soil, crop and water sample analyses. Paras Farmoola applications promote sustainable agriculture by maintaining soil health and providing the best nutritional package for better plant growth and premium quality output. The fertilisers help correct the nutrient imbalance in the soil caused by prolonged inadequate and indiscriminate use of fertilisers, thus contributing to better crop productivity.

Paras Farmoola fertilisers have been rigorously tested on farmer fields, and at 12 Krishi Vigyaan Kendras by conducting more than 300 research experiments. The fertilisers are produced at the company's state-of-the-art production facility at Babrala, Uttar Pradesh, with a manufacturing capacity of 1,30,000MT.

Key benefits:

• Enhances crop productivity with better benefit cost ratio
• Is a one-time application of all macro and micro nutrients, except nitrogen, and is hence convenient to use
• Promotes balanced application of nutrients
• Is granulated to ensure uniform distribution of nutrients

Field trials conducted on over 20,000 samples of crops such as paddy, wheat, potato, maize and sugarcane from 25 districts in western Uttar Pradesh report a significant increase in yield over traditional fertilisers.

Nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are key agro-nutrients for crops. In India Tata Chemicals is present in all three crop nutrition groups through its fertiliser product base that spans:

• Urea (a nitrogenous fertiliser)
• DAP (contains both nitrogen and phosphorus)
• NPK complexes (contains all three nutrients)
• SSP (phosphorus based)

TCL is the market leader in the urea and phosphatic fertiliser segments. Additionally, the company imports and sells MOP and DAP and supplies organic materials and other specialty fertilisers such as calcium nitrate and zinc sulphate.

Urea:
Urea is an important nitrogenous fertiliser. The nature of the soil in many Indian regions is such that nitrogenous fertilisers are an important input for most crops. Tata Chemicals is a major manufacturer of the product in India.

The company makes urea at its fertiliser complex in Babrala. The complex has an installed capacity of 8,64,000 tonnes per year, which constitutes nearly 12 per cent of the total urea produced by India's private sector.

The Babrala facility, among the best of its kind in India and comparable to the best in the world, has set new standards in technology, energy conservation, productivity and safety. It is the only fertiliser plant in the country to use dual feedstock: natural gas or naphtha, or a combination of both.

TCL has an established presence in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and Uttaranchal, which account for 48 per cent of the total domestic demand for urea. These states account for over 85 per cent of TCL's urea sales.

Phosphatic fertilisers:
Tata Chemicals manufactures several key phosphatic fertilisers that are leading brands in the Indian market. The company makes and sells sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), di-ammonium phosphate (DAP), NPK complexes and single super phosphate (SSP) fertilisers at its Haldia complex in West Bengal.

TCL's phosphatic fertilisers, sold under the brand name 'Paras', lead the market in West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand. The Haldia facility now has production volumes exceeding 1.2 million tonnes per annum.

Sodakarb™ is India's first-ever food grade sodium bicarbonate that fulfils the traditional need of the food industry as a raising agent. It can be used in wider applications for food processing and manufacturing soft drinks.

Sodakarb™ can be used as a leavening agent for breads, cakes, biscuits, cookies and other confectionery items. It is also used in beverages, colourants, etc.

Advantages of Sodakarb™:

• Contains high purity source of carbon dioxide and has a buffering effect.
• Offers more purity due to higher alkalinity. It is safer due to its heavy metal levels, which are lower than the industry standards.
• Manufactured under stringent quality control systems. It's in compliance with environmental and safety standards of HACCP, PFA, ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007.
• Suitable for use in water treatment due to its pH and the buffering effect of the bicarbonate ion.

Tata Chemicals is the world's second largest producer of soda ash with a global capacity of around 5.5 million tonnes per annum, of which 60 per cent capacity is from natural soda ash deposits at Wyoming, USA and Lake Magadi, Kenya. The company owns 35 per cent of the global low-cost and sustainable natural soda ash capacity.

Soda ash is manufactured synthetically at TCL's Mithapur plant in India and Brunner Mond's plant in the UK. At Mithapur, TCL uses the conventional Solway process to produce soda ash. Its product line consists of four categories:

• Soda ash light
• Soda ash dense
• Soda ash medium dense
• Soda ash granular

Apart from TCL, soda ash is also globally manufactured and supplied by General Chemical Industrial Products, Brunner Mond and Magadi Soda Company. Today, TCL is the only soda ash player with manufacturing facilities in four continents.

Uses:

This multipurpose chemical is used in a variety of industries, most prominently in the manufacture of glass, where it reduces the melting temperature of the sand used in glass formation and helps in the 'workability' or shaping of glass articles such as tableware and float glass.

Soda ash is a major ingredient in the making of soaps and detergents. Here it is employed as a builder, or filler, to give a smoother surface in formulations of soaps, detergents and other cleaning compounds.

This resourceful alkali, the least expensive of soluble alkalis, is widely used in the production of chemicals such as sodium silicate, sodium bicarbonate and pecarbonate, sodium chromate and dichromate, etc.

Soda ash is also used in pulp and paper manufacture, water treatment, effluent treatment, metallurgy and drugs.

Sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP), a key product in TCL's product portfolio, is made in two technical grades NTR and HTR.

Uses:
STPP is used as a builder in detergents, cleansing agents. It is also used as an agent in the manufacturing process for textile processing, etc.

STPP is made at TCL’s Haldia complex at West Bengal. The product competes favourably with the only other product available in the segment — zeolite — in terms of cost as well as performance as it is a more effective binder and needs to be used in smaller volumes as compared to zeolite.

Tata Chemicals' sodium bicarbonate business focuses on global markets and new business applications. The company makes sodium bicarbonate for pharmaceutical and industrial use, and as a food additive. TCL's sodium bicarbonate plant has a capacity of 50,000 tonnes per annum. Its products sell in India, the Middle East, Africa and Bangladesh.

The company produces three varieties of sodium bicarbonate that meet stringent quality standards:

• Sodium bicarbonate technical
• Sodium bicarbonate refined
• Sodium bicarbonate granular

Applications:

Industrial:
The sodium bicarbonate manufactured by Tata Chemicals meets the high standards required by the pharmaceutical industry. Sodium bicarbonate is a vital ingredient in the production of over-the-counter drugs such as effervescent antacids, analgesic tablets and powders, toothpaste and antacid gel formulations.

Food additives:
Another wide application of sodium bicarbonate is in the form of cooking soda. TCL manufactures and sells this food additive under the brand name i-Shakti Cooking Soda. Cooking soda is an ingredient already familiar to Indian consumers but so far, it has only been available in an unbranded form and is purchased either loose or in unmarked plastic pouches. i-Shakti refined food grade soda bicarbonate (NaHCO₃) is pure and unadulterated, and a value-for-money alternative to unbranded products available in the market.