The shutdown of Sterlite copper plant in Thoothukudi may have come as a relief to people with environmental concerns.
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Chennai:
But it has left hundreds of dyeing units in the industrial hub of Tirupur in the doldrums. For, the price of sulphuric acid, a critical ingredient in treating effluents discharged from the dyeing units, has skyrocketed multiple times.
The price of sulphuric acid, a smelting byproduct in the copper plant, has been on an upward trend since Sterlite closed its operations. “Until a fortnight ago, diluted sulphuric acid was procured for Rs 4 a kg. After its closure, the price has shot four times higher to Rs 16 per kg. It has become too high for us to afford,” said S Nagarajan, president of Dyers Association of Tirupur.
To meet the requirements, the dyeing units are currently sourcing truckloads of sulphuric acid from the copper manufacturing plant in Gujarat and in small quantities from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
Demand is likely to go up further as the industrial sector has managed to find a temporary solution with hundreds of tonnes of sulphuric acid received from the defunct Sterlite unit in Thoothukudi following a leak. Once their arrival stops, the dyeing units may have to brace themselves for a further hike in the prices of acid.
Millions of litres of water are treated in 19 Common Effluent Treatment Plants and about 100 individual plants by over 400 dyeing units in Tirupur. “Daily requirement of sulphuric acid in Tirupur may be over 15 tonnes a day. A single plant needs about half a tonne of acid a month to treat the effluents. With the increase in the price of sulphuric acid, the overall cost of dying process may increase by about two per cent,” added S Nagarajan.
VT Kesavan, vice president, Dyers and Chemical Merchants Association, said that additional expense incurred in treating effluents may result in a slight hike in prices of the end textile products. “But the exact rise in the textile products will be known only later. The dyeing sector also could not do away with the sulphuric acid as it is most essential to make the effluents PH neutral before the further process to reuse the same for dyeing,” he said.