The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
THE country’s sole Ammonium Nitrate (AN) manufacturer, Sable Chemical Industries is targeting to produce about 120 000 tonnes of fertiliser for the summer cropping season after it started importing ammonia from South Africa following the decommissioning of its obsolete electrolysis plant.
In an interview, Sable Chemicals chief executive officer Mr Bothwell Nyajeka said the company had already produced 60 000 tonnes of AN that were already on the market while they are targeting at producing similar quantities before the end of the summer cropping season.
Mr Nyajeka said Sables switched off its electrolysis plant and was importing ammonia from South Africa that would be fed into the AN manufacturing plant which has the energy consumption capacity of 10 megawatts (MW) compared to 115 MW consumed by the electrolysis plant.
“We switched off our electrolysis plant due to power challenges. We are importing ammonia from South Africa at the moment and we are using an AN manufacturing plant which consumes less energy. We have already put 60 000 tonnes of AN on the market and we are hoping that by February next year we would have produced another 60 000 tonnes.
“This would enable farmers to access their farming inputs in time and in abundance. We are confident that if we increase production we would be able to meet the bulk of the national demand of AN,” he said.
Sable Chemicals was last year forced to shut down following the announcement by Energy and Power Development Dr Samuel Undenge to reduce the country’s electricity consumption by up to 25 percent.
Minister Undenge said then the Government would employ drastic measures that include directing mining companies to load shed non-essential operations which would save the country about 25 Megawatts (MW), a development which was to see Sable Chemicals which consumed up to 40 MW of electricity monthly being weaned off the national grid. The Kwekwe-based company owes Zesa about $150 million in electricity charges.
Sable Chemicals is also in the process of shifting from the electrolysis plant to Coal Bed Methane (CBM) for the production.
CBM is a method of extracting methane from a coal deposit through a process called steam reforming. Methane absorbed into a solid coal matrix will be released if the coal seam is depressurised and hydrogen will be extracted.
CBM will generate electricity once commissioned which will be fed into the national grid unlike the current electrolysis plant which was set up in 1972 which has become expensive to run due to antiquated machinery.
Sable, at full operating capacity requires 115 MW to produce 240 000 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate Fertiliser per year.
This year, Sable Chemicals was geared towards producing 120 000 tonnes ahead of the summer cropping season.
Sable was in September 2009 forced to suspend operations as it could not pay for the high electricity tariffs charged by Zesa then.
The Government had to intervene and appoint a Special Cabinet Committee to map the way forward. Production resumed two months later after an internal arrangement between the Government and Zesa.
At its peak the company’s electrolysis plant used to consume about 12 percent of energy produced by Zesa.
The country has during the past few years been forced to import fertiliser as the local companies were failing to meet demand.
The low yields recorded by farmers over the same period were largely a result of either shortage of the fertiliser or late delivery of the commodity to farmers.
