Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore


The Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited or FACT is a fertiliser and chemical manufacturing company headquartered in Kochi, Kerala, India. The company was incorporated in 1943, by Maharajah Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma of Travancore Kingdom It is the first fertiliser manufacturing company in independent India and also the largest Central public Sector Undertaking in the State of Kerala.
The company has 2 production units - Udyogamandal Complex at Eloor, Udyogamandal, and Cochin Division at Ambalamedu. In 1947 FACT started production of ammonium sulphate with an installed capacity of 50,000 MT per annum at Udyogamandal near Cochin. The Caprolactam plant in Udyogamandal was commissioned in 1990. Main products of the company include Ammonia, Sulphuric Acid, Ammonium Phosphate-Sulphate, Ammonium Sulphate, Zincated Ammonium Phosphate, Caprolactam, and also complex fertilizers. Gypsum, Nitric acid, Soda Ash and coloured Ammonium Sulphate are major by-products.

History

The factory commenced production of ammonium sulphate in 1947 at the dawn of Indian independence using wood as the raw material for production of ammonia. With the effect of time, wood gasification became uneconomic and was replaced with naphtha reforming process. Through a series of expansion programmes, FACT soon became the producer of a wide range of fertilizers for all crops and all soil types in India. It became a Kerala State public sector enterprise in 1960 and in 1962, it came under the Government of India. Diversification to full-fledged engineering servicesin the fertilizer field and allied areas followed. The next major step towards diversification was into petrochemicals.
FACT has formed a joint venture company with Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited, named FRBL for manufacturing load-bearing panels and other building products using phosphogypsum. .