Urea Production Resumes at CUFL in Anwara After 27 Days, Fertiliser Worth Tk 4.5 Crore a Day
Production has resumed at the state-owned Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) in Anwara after being closed for 27 days due to a mechanical fault. Urea production restarted at the plant at around 3am on Friday (13 November).
The two main raw materials of urea fertiliser are liquid ammonia and carbon dioxide. On average, more than 1,000 metric tonnes of urea fertiliser are produced at the plant in 24 hours, with a market value of Tk 4.5 crore.
CUFL Managing Director (MD) Mizanur Rahman confirmed the matter. He said, 'Our fertiliser plant was closed for about 27 days due to a mechanical fault. One day of closure means an average production loss of Tk 3 crore.'
In reply to another question, he said there is currently no gas supply crisis. The plant is getting adequate gas as per its demand.
It is known that earlier, on the night of 17 October, urea production stopped when a mechanical fault appeared. Before that, CUFL production was closed for a long six months due to a gas crisis. After receiving gas supply, production started at the plant on 15 September. But within 48 hours of starting, production stopped again due to a mechanical fault.
After 12 days, the fault was fixed and the plant returned to production at the end of September, but after a few days it closed again due to a mechanical fault. Mechanical faults appear at various times at the nearly 40-year-old plant, causing production to stop suddenly.
Once production stops, it takes considerable time to identify and repair the fault and return to production. It is also known that when a fertiliser plant remains closed, parts are damaged and rust in pipelines causes leakages.
Chittagong Urea Fertilizer Limited (CUFL) is an institution of Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation under the government's Ministry of Industries. The plant was established at Rangadia in Anwara upazila of Chattogram district, at the mouth of the Karnaphuli River, to produce nitrogen-rich prilled 'urea fertiliser' from natural gas.
Construction of the CUFL plant began in October 1985 and the plant started trial production on 29 October 1987. CUFL went into commercial production from February 1988. The plant's general contractor was Japan's Messrs Toyo Engineering Corporation.
The CUFL plant has a jetty 170 metres long and 25 metres wide. Besides CUFL, the jetty is also used for unloading DAPFCL's raw material phosphoric acid. There is also a local jetty for supplying fertiliser by small lighter vessels to different places in the country.
In recent years, although normal production has been disrupted for various reasons including mechanical faults and gas crises, the plant is playing an important role in the country's agriculture sector through fertiliser production.
