KOCHI: Travancore Cochin Chemicals Ltd (TCC), a heavy chemical industry engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of caustic soda, chlorine and allied chemicals, at Udyogamadal, is finding new ways and means to reduce power cost at its plant, thereby reducing the cost of production to attain a steady growth rate.
The company is aiming to achieve this goal by consuming more energy during off-peak hours and less energy during peak hours, wherein the power tariff is almost double during peak hours to that of off-peak hours. But, for utilising this benefit to the maximum, there should be sufficient flexibility in the production capacity to go high during off-peak hours and minimal during peak hours, but without compromising on the existing production rate.
During 2002-2006 period, as part of the modernisation drive, the company has been able to switch over from the traditional mercury cell technology to the membrane cell technology in a phased manner.
According to TCC Chairman and Managing director N R Subramaniam, “our prime area of concern is finding a solution to bring down the power cost thereby reducing production cost. For that we have adopted the modernisation track by switching over to the membrane cell technology which is less power consuming, compact and at the same time can reduce pollution to a significant level. As part of continual improvement strategy, we are now incorporating the latest zero gap technology in our electrolysers which is with still lower specific energy consumption.”
“The open access power sourcing adopted by the company last year was a successful model in cutting the cost of production. But this time, the KSEB has not evinced interest in releasing permission for open access power sourcing from the southern/national grid which is very much available and of low cost,” says the managing director.
This in fact will be a boon to the KSEB which is finding it difficult to cater to the power requirements of the state from its own generation. “The lack of abundant power supply is a worrying factor. The cost for power accounts for around 50 per cent of the cost of production. To tackle this crisis, power at a reduced rate must be made available to the TCC,” Subramaniam said.
Green Mission
Striving towards a green mission, the company will start using hydrogen for the functioning of boilers instead of furnace oil to the extent possible by August. By switching over to the green fuel, TCC could save up to `50 to `70 lakh per month in terms of fuel cost.
The company has also installed a chlorine gas recuperator at its main plant to recover the heat in the chlorine gas coming out of the electrolysers so as to reduce the requirement of steam in the plant by around 20 tonnes per day. The savings from this alone come to around `70,000 per day apart from being a green initiative of reducing the usage of carbon fuel.
Surging Profit
TCC, over the years, had been posting profit and marking a stable growth performance. “The first two-month performance of the company during this fiscal is promising. The company could achieve a decent profit during the current fiscal,” says Subramaniam.
TCC-ISRO Mission
In 2013, a plant to produce sodium chlorate, a raw material for the production of ammonium perchlorate for the use in fuel propulsion system of rockets to be deployed by VSSC, was commissioned at Udyogamandal.
With around 650 staff and a powerful leadership, the TCC is all set to play the role of a model for other PSUs to follow.