Sulphuric acid is a colorless, odorless liquid made through the contact process involving sulfur dioxide, air, water, and a catalyst. It is widely used in industries like fertilizer production, petroleum refining, and battery manufacturing. India has over 150 sulfuric acid manufacturers and produces around 5% of global supply, but demand is growing faster so imports are rising. The largest uses are in phosphate fertilizer production and demand is projected to rise 2% annually in India.

1. SULPHURIC ACID
Product Characteristics:
Sulphuric acid is a mineral acid with molecular formula H2SO4. and its
molecular weight is 98.079 g/mol. It is a colourless, odourless syrupy liquid,
soluble in water. Highly corrosive, readily absorbing water vapour from
air.
Manufacturing process:
Sulphuric acid is prepared commercially by contact process. Raw material
required are sulphur dioxide, air, water and a suitable catalyst (vanadium
oxide).
Product Application:
Sulphuric aicd has many uses in different industries such as mineral
processing, petroleum refining, fertilizer production, waste water treatment
etc. It is used in the production of cleaning agents, dyes, pigments, drugs,
detergents and explosives. It is commonly used as the electrolyte in
lead-acid batteries
Indian Manufacturers
In India sulfuric acid is manufactured by more than 150 companies, the
largest are Hindalco Industries Limited, The Fertilisers and Chemicals
Travancore Limited (FACT)
1. Albright Wilson Chemicals India Ltd., Roha
2. Advance Det Chem, Silvassa
3. Amal Ltd., Ankleshwar
4. Ankur Fertilisers, UP
5. Atul Ltd., Ankleshwar
6. BEC Fertilisers, Bilaspur
7. Bharat Fertiliser Industries
8. Bodal Chemicals Ltd.

2. 9. Century Rayon, Shahad
10. Coimbatore Pioneer Fertilisers
11. Coromandel Fetilisers
12. DMCC, Ambernath/Roha
13. FACT, Cochin/Udyogamandal
14. Grasim Industries
15. GSFC Ltd., Vadodara
16. Guljag Inds., Jodhpur
17. Harshvardhan Chemicals & Minerals
18. Hindalco
19. Hindustan Copper, Jharkhand/Rajasthan
20. Hindustan Zinc
21. Hindustan Solvents 7 Chemicals, Ankleshwar
22. Jaishree Chemicals & Fertilisers
23. Industrial Solvents & Chemicals, Ankleshwar
24. Kaithan Chemicals
25. Kiri Inds, Gujarat
26. Kutch Chemical Inds.Ltd., Vadodara
27. Liberty Phosphate, Munirabad
28. Mangalore CFL
29. Nath Industrial Chemicals Ltd., Mumbai
30. New India Detergents
31. Nirma Ltd.,
32. Oriental Carbon & Chemicals
33. Rama Phosphates
34. Paradeep Phosphates
35. Rourkela Steels
36. Shree Sulphurics
37. SPIC
38. Travancore Titanium Products
39. Tata Chemicals
40. Transpek Industries
41. Virchow Chemicals
Some of the manufacturers and their installed capacities
Name of the plant Installed capacity
in TPD
CIL, Ennore, Unit I 300
CIL, Ennore, Unit II 400

3. CIL, Visakhapatanam 1450
FACT, Alwaye 775
FACT, Ambalamedu 1000
CSFC, Vadodara, Unit I 400
CSFC, Vadodara 1350
Hindalco, Dahej 4450
FFCO, Paradeep 7000
PPL, Paradeep 2000
RCF, Trombay 300
SPIC, Tuticorin 600
TCL, Haldia, Unit I 450
TCL Haldia, Unit II 300
Century Rayon, Shahad 200
Kiri Inds 500
Production capacity of Bodal Chemicals Ltd.
98% 1,50,000 TPA
70% 70,000 TPA
Import & Export Details
Qty in tonnes
Description 2016-17 2017-18 growth
Import 13,00,285 9,46,550 -27%
Export 1,72,014 3,94,474 129%
Global Scenario
Global sulphuric acid demand – Period 2015 230 million tons
Asia-Pacific accounts for the largest share in the global sulphuric acid
market with South Korea and Japan being the largest sulphuric acid
exporters owing to the prevalence of base metal smelters in the region.
In 2015, South Korea exported around 3 million tons of sulphuric acid,
accounting for 16.8% of the global total, while Japan exported around 2.7
million tons, governing a share of 15.2% in the total global export.

4. Indian Demand/Supply
India is one of the largest consumers of sulphuric acid globally, accounting
for 4% of demand while producing around 5% of all sulphuric acid.
A drastic increase in the sulphuric acid imports in India has been observed
since 2013 on account of robust demand for sulphuric acid for the
manufacturing of phosphate fertilizers.
However, the Indian sulphuric acid imports have increased from 0.65 million
tons in 2013 to 1.34 million tons in 2015, exhibiting a growth of 43.8%.
Further augmentation of the fertilizer industries of India is anticipated to
drive the demand for sulphuric acid over the next few years.
Production Capacity In India, the current installed capacity of sulphuric acid
is about 7 million tonnes per annum from 105 acid plants. All India
production of sulphuric acid was 5.72 million tonnes. Bulk of the sulphuric
acid manufactured is utilized in producing fertiliser.
Sulfuric acid is consumed mainly in the production of phosphate fertilizer
materials accounting for just over 56% of total demand
Indian sulfuric acid demand will grow at 2% a year
Sulphuric acid market by application