Strong chemical sector must for industrial advancement

By Alauddin Masood

Pity the nation that fails to exploit its vast national resources and continues to live in abject poverty. This is how Khalil Jibran, eminent philosopher of the Middle East, if he was alive today, would have commented on the poor use of national resources by the successive governments in Pakistan.

The country has one of the biggest reserves of lignite coal. At about 200 billion metric tonnes (mt), it has proven coal fields worth about $6 trillion at the current market value. This huge reservoir of coal can be converted into liquid or gas and used as a substitute for crude oil.

Many countries, including China and South Africa, convert their coal through an industrial process into liquid or gas for use as a substitute for gasoline.

Pakistan is a poor country and can hardly afford to buy crude oil at current high international prices and then again, being unable to add value to one of the most important hydrocarbon ingredients, i.e. naphta, which is used by scores of downstream industries.

Pakistan’s refiners produce 1.6 to 2.0 million mt of naphta, which forms the basic feedstock for most of the large-scale activity, but the country’s entire quantity of naphta produce is exported, mostly to chemical plants in the Far East . Derived from crude oil, coal and other forms of hydrocarbons, naphta is further processed or cracked for use in a wide range of downstream industries ranging from fibers to textiles, pharmaceuticals to paints and varnishes, metallurgy to explosives, construction materials to printing, etc.

To establish a good base of chemicals industry, a quantity of about 1.5 mt naphta is said to be quite sufficient.

The chemical industry is stated to be the ‘mother of all industries, hence the need to develop a naphta cracker plant on a priority basis so that Pakistan could start producing naphta derivates for use by textile mills, pharmaceutical industry, paints and metallurgy industry, construction material industry, etc.

Presently, a majority of local oil companies, in Pakistan, are engaged only in the trading of gasoline, oils and lubricants. Till now, we do not do much with the crude that we pump out or import, except to send it to the refiners to meet the most immediate needs.

Since Pakistan produces a sufficient quantity of naphta, it needs to set-up at least one naphta cracker plant to produce this basic feedstock to inginite Pakistan interests in the world of chemistry. Since Pakistan does not have a strong base of chemical industry, most of the universities in the country do not have adequate arrangements for the teaching of chemistry at post doctorate level. Therefore, we also need to make arrangements for higher studies – post doctorate, in chemistry.

Most of the global giants of the chemical world, like BASF, Bayer, Shell and Solvary etc., have found it attractive to invest or have a major presence or stake in China and, of late, in India as well.

Pakistan can flourish. All it needs to do is to focus timely in the right direction. Without great strides in the chemical sector, Pakistan may find it difficult to emerge as an industrialised country and, therefore, it needs to take urgent steps by promptly by setting up a naphta cracker plant.

Of course, in this sector, Pakistan is presently manufacturing, among others, caustic soda and soda ash, but we need to expand further as hundreds of basic chemicals are still imported.

In view of the uncertainty surrounding the price of oil and the tremendous amounts of foreign exchange involved in the import of oil, the authorities need to engage in serious efforts to make optimum use of the indigenous coal as an alternate source of fuel.

Pakistan can substantially curtail its oil import bill, turn the wheel of economy, create thousands of new jobs and can in the process also alleviate poverty to some extent if it opts for the commercial exploitation and industrial use of its vast coal reserves.

Being a much cheaper source of energy than electricity and fire wood, commercial use of coal offers tremendous potential for accelerating economic growth. Furthermore, Pakistan is the largest producer of butter oil (Ghee) in the world. The country stands second in chickpeas production, fourth in production of cotton, apricot and sugarcane, fifth in milk and onions, sixth in dates, seventh in mango, eighth in tangerines, mandarin orange and rice, ninth in wheat and tenth in oranges. Yet, the country, at one time or the other, faces shortages, as skippers of its economy have no vision for value addition, while the bureaucracy has no hold over hoarders, black marketers or smugglers.

The nature has also gifted Pakistan with talented and hard working human resource and abundant solar energy, wind power and sea power, which can also be harnessed for energy production.

Other sources for energy production could be the various types of waste products, including damaged fruits, vegetables, corns, wet (organic) waste of urban centres, waste polythene (plastic) bags, The fructose found in fruits, such as apples, oranges, dates etc; can be converted into a fuel, which experiments have revealed, contains far more energy than ethanol, can be used to make bio-diesel fuel. Likewise, plastic bags can be converted to diesel.

We need to proceed with a focused approach to lay a solid foundation of the chemical industry by setting up the country first naphta cracker plant and tapping all possible avenues for the alternate sources of fuel. The earlier we embark on this course, the better it would be for the country and the people.