SRP Industries Limited was incorporated on 13 th September, 1984. The Company carried trading activities in chemicals initially for a few years and thereafter it has taken up the project for the manufacture of Spray Dried Precipitated Silica as a part of the expansion plan

The Company has been promoted by the Lunar Group Chairman, Mr. S.L. Maloo, who is a dynamic and professionally qualified industrialist. He is supported by Mr. V.K. Malu, Mr. M.C. Malu and Mr. K.K. Agrawal as members of the Board. There is also an institutional nominee on the Board.

The project is for the manufacture of 40 TPD or 13000 TPA spray dried precipitated silica. The project can be divided into two main sections. First is to manufacture sodium silicate and the second to manufacture precipitated silica from the sodium silicate. First part of the project i.e. manufacturing sodium silicate is based on the technology developed by Shriram Institute for Industrial Research involving amorphous rice husk ash as basic raw material instead of conventional silica sand. The precipitation process involves filtration of the slurry through belt filter abandoning old batch type plate filter press. This will result in uniform wash part from less consumption of wash water. Drying of liquified slurry will be done with a spray dryer which is latest as compared with traditional and chummy tray drying technology

In its goal to achieve thorough command over the complexities of the technology as well as to develop various grades suitable for various applications, the Company has put up a one ton per day capacity commercial Pilot Plant at the site in first phase which is operating successfully. This has also helped successful seed marketing of the product. The samples of the product manufactured in the Plant have been approved by the end users from different fields. The product confirms to world standards and has been well accepted by most of the rubber processing industries. The Company holds worldwide patents for the process technology

M/s Dalal Consultants & Engineers Ltd. have been associated with the project as engineering consultant right from the conception stage. They were engaged first to witness the trials at laboratory scale at Shriram Institute for Industrial Research and collate necessary process and engineering data, prepare basic engineering documents and thereafter to design and supervise installation of the Pilot Plant. Considering their extensive experience in execution of similar projects especially in the chemical field. To take advantage of their familiarity with the process and experience gained through the Pilot Plant they have been assigned the responsibility of designing and implementing the main commercial plant.

In conventional process, spray dried silica is manufactured by fusing silica sand with soda ash in a furnace to form sodium silicate glass. The glass is dissolved with water in a digestor to obtain sodium silicate solution.

The sodium silicate solution is further diluted according to the grade to be manufactured and subjected to precipitation process by pouring sulphuric acid. The precipitate is in the form of slurry containing soluble impurities. The slurry so obtained is washed thoroughly in a filteration media where it gets converted into cake. The cake is again converted into slurry mechanically with the help of dispersing agent to make it pumpable. The slurry is fed into a spray drier to remove moisture and to achieve uniform particle site. The spray dried power is further processed to produce various grades required for different applications.

The Company has developed a novel process wherein rice husk ash is used as the basic raw material. Rice husk ash contains silica to the extent of 90%. Rice husk ash and caustic soda are fed into a digester in a fixed proportion and water is added. The mixture is then heated and continuously agitated for a few hours. The solution thus obtained is filtered for separation for unburnt carbon and sodium silicate solution. Depending on the requirement, the power is subjected to milling or compacting to obtain various physical properties.

Adhering strictly to the group philosophy of putting best quality equipment sourced through the vendors/suppliers reputed in their respective fields and having sufficient experience, the Company has procured the equipment from domestic/international suppliers like M/s Pannevis Bv, Netherland, Siemens, L&T Niro, Blue Star, Ingersoll Rand, Thermax, Rathi Industrial Equipment.

M/s Dalal Consultants & Engineers Ltd., as an engineering consultant for the project have been directly involved in the entire vendor/equipment evaluation and selection process. They have also carried out stagewise physical inspection of each equipment at Vendors' Works including approval of fabrication drawings, certification of material of construction etc.

The Company has acquired land admeasuring 14.05 acres at Village Gangehara, near Ramnagar, Dist. Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The plant is located at around 10 Kms. from Mughal Sarai Railway Station and 20 Kms. from Varanasi. The site is well connected by Rail and Road. The site is a mere 3 Kms., from the National Highway and connected with a 30 ft. wide metalled approach road.

All infrastructural facilities such as electricity, water, telephone, fax, wireless system etc. are already installed and working at site. The site is connected with STD, ISD facilities for quick communication. This apart, the site is backed by a city office for routine requirement, follow up and liaison.

While designing the plant and making the layout, sufficient provision has been made to take care of the future expansion and the plant can be easily expanded to double the capacity at a much lower additional capital cost.

The total project cost for setting up the 13,200 TPA (40 TPD) precipitated Silica Plant is around Rs. 60 crores. The cost of the project and means of finance as appraised by Financial Institutions are as follows :

The Spray Dried Precipitated Silica Plant being put up by the Company has the following significant and special advantages over the competitors :

Capital Cost : - The cost of project is estimated at Rs. 55.00 crores as against over Rs. 100.00 crores incurred by others for the same capacity of the plant. The low capital cost will result in substantially low burden of financial cost, on the product.

Pilot Plant :- The Company is operating a one ton per day Silica Plant at the same site successfully. The product has been well accepted in the domestic market. This also facilitates developing new grades of silica without much wastage of material on a long term basis at larger scale.

Dual Process :- The plant can operate (with a little extra capital cost) on both the processes involving basic raw materials silica sand and rice husk ash. Needless to mention, it can also operate straight with the intermediate product i.e. sodium silicate.

Sales Tax Benefit :- Apart from the above, the Company enjoys five year sales tax exemption.

Staff Colony :- We have also made staff quarters at the site for better availability of workers/junior staff.

By Product : Provision has been made to recover sodium sulphate out of the effluent coming out from the plant, as a by product which is easily saleable in the market and yields around Rs. 8,000/- per ton. On 100% capacity basis daily production of sodium sulphate is expected to be around 25 tons.

Technical :- To give technical edge to attain consistent product quality, the Company is installing a continuous belt filter imported from M/s Pannevis Bv, Netherland for the main commercial plant, as against the batch type conventional filter press adopted by other manufacturers including Insilco.

Automation :- The Company has procured PCL based system for automatic remote controlled operations. This would result in consistent product quality, reduced manpower and better product optimisation.

Dual Fuel Boiler :- The boiler installed in the plant can be run on dual fuel i.e. rice husk or coal depending on the availability and cost.

Power backup :- The Company has installed DG sets (3 X 680 KVA) for 100% power back upto take care of power failure. The DG sets are heavy duty low speed sets for continuous running.

Quality Controls :- The Company has set up a sophisticated laboratory equipped with imported instruments for testing as per international standards. Some of the instruments procured, include, Surface Area Metre, DBP Absorptometer, Auto Titrator, Infrared Moisture Balance and Precision weighing Balances.

The product spray dried silica is a fine power containing amorphous silica chemically known as Silicon Dioxide. It is white in colour, odourless and generally neutral in PH. It is hydroscopic in nature and acts as an excellent absorbant.

The product has diverse applications. It is used in a variety of industries such as tyres, rubber, rice and other types of rollers, moulded rubber goods such as, oilseals and gaskets, footwear, tooth pastes, pharmaceuticals, textiles, plastics and paper coatings, paints, inks, adhesives and greases etc.

It is used as one of the main compounding material and reinforcing agent in rubber industries, in coating formulations for viscosity control, as a carrier and diluent for high concentration agricultural chemicals, as an anticaking agent in pesticides industries and as an absorbant

The properties of silica are measured in terms of silica content, surface area, particle size moisture content etc. The product quality varies depending on the process parameters like temperature, input concentration, reaction time and ageing of the reacted slurry.

The company had engaged M/s Kirloskar Consultants Ltd., Pune, to conduct a detailed market survey for the product. In their report, they have concluded that there exists a good demand potential in the domestic market with a growth rate of around 8% per annum. Apart from this, there also exists a good export potential in view of international quality product.

The Pilot Plan product distributed for seed marketing have been well received which is an indicator of better market potential of the product-spray dried silica (SDS).

Considering the versatility of the product and its various applications existing and potential efforts are being made for further developing new usages. A vary recent R&D effort has found a major application of silica in food processing industry, particularly in edible salt for imparting free flowing property (like Captain Cook and Catch Salt). Further, in cattle feed also it is being used on a large measure.

Current average market price of spray dried silica is around Rs. 40,000/- per ton and international price is about US$ 1000 per ton.

Current demand for SDS in the country is placed at 26,000 tons which is expected to grow to about 33,000 tons by the year 2000. As against this, the present supply is around 16,000 tons leaving a gap of around 10,000 tons per annum.

There is only one Company in organised sector in this field i.e. Insilco Ltd. installed capacity of their plant is 12000 tons. The plant is running well with a capacity utilisation of more than 90%. They have a tie-up with M/s Degussa A.G. of Germany and are exporting 30-40% of their production.

This apart, there are few manufacturers in small scale sector whose total production is estimated to be around 8,000-10,000 tons. However, in the absence of proper infrastructure i.e. testing facilities, manual handling and outdated equipment, their quality is substandard and they are gradually being discarded

The other unit which has come up recently i.e. Huber Chemicals is producing only toothpaste grade and they have got their own clientele. Therefore, they are not likely to affect us.

Sunder Lal Maloo SRP Industries, Sunder Lal Maloo Lunar Diamonds, Sunder Lal Maloo Websity Infosys, SL Maloo, Sunder Lal Maloo.