BLENDING PLANT FOR NPK PRODUCTION AT YOBE STATE-GUJBA

VISIT FROM 14TH NOV. TO 15TH NOV.-2007 TO YOBE FERTILZER COMPANY ,

GUJBA,YOBE STATE
PRESENT : General Manager : Alh. Mustapha Goggobe, Finance/Q.C. Head: Ali
Ashigar, Marketing Manager : Garba Dachia, Plant Manager: Engr Mahmood Kolo
and other Staff.
REPORT OF PLANT FACILITY IN TERMS OF: PRODUCTION, MATERIAL
HANDLING/STORAGE,
PRODUCTION :
Plant installed capacity is at 15-18 tph by M/s. GRAINTEC A/S, Denmark for fertilizer
mixing and was installed and commissioned in the year 2003. The plant is capable of
producing NPK 20-10-10, NPK 15-15-15 based on different formulations .
The plant currently produces at a capacity of 150 tons /day, 3000 bags/day, 60,000
bags/month giving an capacity utilisation of 41.67% based on installed capacity of 15tph
(minimum).
The plant can be segregated in to departments as follows :
A)Raw material feed/ Intake
B) Dosing and weighing system
C) Mixing
D) Bagging and
E) Utilities (Generator, Compressor)
A)Raw material Feed/Intake : To produce NPK of different composition the basic raw
materials used are :
a)Urea prilled 46% : used in place of granulated Urea46%
b)DAP/MAP :Di/Mono-Ammonium Phospate (DAP is commonly used)
c)MOP: Muriate of Potash and
d)Kaolin /Limestone : as a filler (kaolin is mainly used).
The raw materials are sourced from the local markets like kano and Bauchi (kaolin) and is
purchased either in bags or in bulk.
Storage of raw materials :
As told, 2 hrs is additionally required to feed the Lump crusher of the raw materials, DAP and
MOP stored at two warehouse each of equal capacity of 30 trailers (900 tons).
The Urea is stored at a location faraway from the factory site thereby leading to an
additional expense for transport and labour cost.
Moreover the pick-up vans used for carrying bags/bulk MOP and DAP within the
factory was time consuming and could lead to a significant loss in production.
**It is suggested to install a)conveyor belt system with a shed/roof on top to
transport MOP/DAP to the lump crusher, alternatively a b)Rail line and hand
operated flat trolley system could be built to carry the raw materials from the
warehouse to the crusher or a c)Feeding chute to crusher operated pneumatically
**A third warehouse be built within the factory premises to store the incoming Urea
which is currently stored in a faraway place.
As the factory is not running ,a time and motion study could not be carried out to
estimate the loss in production and increase in expenses due to raw material
handling and transport.

Lump crusher are of swing hammer type to break lumps of 5-50mm feed size and obtain
product size of 2-2.5mm.
Loss in raw material after crushing due to DUST form could not be estimated. It is
suggested that sourcing of raw materials be done appropriately and segregation &
storage at warehouse of lump material in bulk or bags be done separately to reduce
down time in production.
N.B. The crushed raw material should be ensured free of dust as much as possible
before conveying it to the Silo bins.
The crushed raw materials are fed by belt conveyors to 2-way distributor bucket
elevator via a speed guard to synchronise the feed and avoid spillage.The raw
material is then fed by the 2-way distributor bucket elevator to the three (3) Silo bins
with twin openings (each of 30 tons capacity) for Urea, DAP/ MAP and MOP
separately.
B)Dosing and Weighing System: When the silos are filled with equal quantity of raw
material (free of dust) indicated by a level indicator, are fed by opening of the slide gate
in to the hopper scale via a Volumetric dosing system operated by control of screw
feeders based on the dosing formula fed in to the control panel to get the desired
composition of NPK.
The dosed material fed in to the hopper scale (1.5 tons) is then conveyed by screw feeder
volumetrically to synchronise with the speed of the belt conveyor to the mixer.
C)Mixer : Mostly paddle type used for mixing uniformly the blend composition of dosed
raw material from silo to the hopper scale.
D)Bagging : After completion of mixing in the mixer the blend is fed continuously in to
the final NPK product hopper by a belt conveyor .The NPK product hopper operates by
pneumatical control of slide gate at the bottom to the hopper scale set to 50 kg on the
control panel.The NPK of weight 50kg in the hopper scale is then manually filled in to
woven sacks (50kg)with inner lining.
The empty bags is sourced from open market.
At present the plant is purchasing at a cost N100 per bag (inclusive of transport to
Yobe state) which is too high.
The final product is carried manually in to the NPK warehouse situated inside the factory
premises, resulting in the use of more labourers and more time.
**It is suggested to have a flat trolley (without rails) to convey finished product
rather than carrying it manually by labourers and through pick-up van to the
warehouse.
Suggestions :
1. Savings in Loading time to the lump crusher by a)Feeding chute b)Flat trolley on rails
or c) Open Conveyor belt with roof top / Closed conveyor belt
2. Building a third raw material warehouse within the factory premises will result in
transport (petrol) cost and conveying it to crusher via method (1). mentioned above.
3. Flat trolley for conveying finished NPK bags (50kgs) to the finished goods
warehouse. More bags can be transported at a time by a single labourer.
4. Sourcing of empty finished bags with Liner to be done at a cheaper rate from the open
market.

5. Urea to be used is granulated instead of prilled variety.

At installed capacity of 15tph (minimum) in Yobe Fertilizer Company :Capacity Utilisation
% was calculated at current 5 Hrs/day along with maximum 12 Hrs/day.
YOBE

STD

Hrs/day
5
6
8
12

shifts
2
2
2
2

MT/day
150
180
240
360

Bags/day
3,000
3,600
4,800
7,200

MT/month
3,000
3,600
4,800
7,200

Bags/month
60,000
72,000
96,000
144,000

Capacity Utilisation%
41.67
50
66.67
100

N.B. :- Working Efficiency (%) could not be calculated as each machine/ equipment
maximum capacity based on tons per hour was not available and its actual tons per
hour running or down time not available. It is therefore assumed that plant equipments
have been under proper and timely maintenance to ensure maximum working efficiency
and there is no delay due to lack of spare parts.
N.B. :-No data was provided for losses in production, due to raw material losses or
shortage ,downtime ,etc
The above suggestions (point 1 to 5) can result in increased capacity utilisation % from
41.67% to 66.67% by increase in nos of Hrs/day production. Thus resulting in
production increase from 60,000 bags/month to 96,000 bags/month will lead to higher
returns/gains.
1. This will require a additional working capital of Naira100Mn for production
increase from 3000MT/month to 4800MT/month
2. Raw material and empty bags inventory stock of 15 days at any given point of
time is required to be maintained by the plant.
3. To provide further working capital for subsequent months ,ensure that sales of
finished goods and value is realised by the plant in 15 days through sale of all
previous months production of finished goods.

Working Capital: The highest contributor to working capital is the consumption of raw
materials as seen from the table below:
WORKING CAPITAL based on current IMPORTED Raw material prices used in (NPK 20-10-10)
%
Production
3000 MT/month
3600 MT/month 4800 MT/month
7200 MT/month
Raw Material
95.8
(Naira)
N242,052,000
N 290,462,400
N 387,283,200
N 580,924,800
Fixed Cost
4.2
(Naira)
N 10,497,630
N 12,597,156
N 16,796,208
N 25,194,312
Total Working
100
Capital (Naira)
N 252,549,630
N 303,059,556
N 404,079,408
N 606,119,112

A)Raw Material (RM) Quantity ( % ) based on formula used in the plant :

(NPK 20-10-10)
Urea (Prilled) 46%
Di Ammonium Phosphate (DAP)
Muriate of Potash (MOP)
kaolin

RM%
35
18.5
16.66
29.84
100

(NPK 15-15-15)
Urea (Prilled)
Di Ammonium Phosphate (DAP)
Muriate of Potash (MOP)
kaolin

RM%
19.93
27.77
25
27.3
100

B)Overheads:
Fixed Cost
Empty Bags
Fuel/Lubricants
Labour
Thread
M/c Depreciation
Misc Items
Naira

Unit
Cost/MT
2000
507.41
600
16.8
300
75
3499.21

%
57.16
14.50
17.15
0.48
8.57
2.14
100

It can be seen from the table (B) that empty bags (57.16%) and Fuel cost (14.50%) (here
petrol cost for 3 pick up vans ) contribute to cost of working capital which can be
reduced as stated earlier in this report.

Conclusion :
There is a great demand for NPK 20-10-10 by the farmers of the Yobe state.
For NPK 20-10-10, Raw material consumed as per increase in production is given below in
the table 1:
TABLE: 1
Production /Month
Raw material Consumed

3000 MT/month
Raw material MT

3600 MT/month
Raw material MT

4800 MT/month
Raw material MT

7200 MT/month
Raw material MT

Urea (Prilled) 46%

Di Ammonium Phosphate
(DAP)

1050 MT

1260 MT

1680 MT

2520 MT

555 MT

666 MT

888 MT

1332 MT

Muriate of Potash (MOP)

Kaolin (as a filler)

499.8 MT

599.76 MT

799.68 MT

1199.52 MT

If we consider the maximum capacity the plant can produce = 4800 MT/month of NPK 2010-10 i.e. (240 MT/day @ 8 hrs/day x 2 shifts) , 96,000 bags / month at a capacity
utilisation of 66.67%
Imported Raw material required to run the plant for the following months is given below in
table 2: N.B. Raw material prices are subject to changes due to International prices
TABLE: 2
Raw Material
Quantity (MT)

2 Months

Naira

3 Months

Naira

4 Months

Naira

5 Months

Naira

6 months

Naira

Urea (Prilled)
46%

3,360 MT

376
Mn

5,040 MT

564 Mn

6,720 MT

752 Mn

8,400 MT

941 Mn

10,080
MT

1.13 Bn

1,776 MT

227
Mn

2,664 MT

341 Mn

3,552 MT

455 Mn

4,440 MT

568 Mn

5,328 MT

682 Mn

Di Ammonium
Phosphate
(DAP)

Muriate of
Potash (MOP)
Total Value of
Imported Raw
Mtls (N)

1,600 MT

128
Mn

2,400 MT

730.9
Mn

192 Mn

3,200 MT

1.098
Bn

256 Mn

4,000 MT

1.643
Bn

320 Mn

4,800 MT

1.829
Bn

384 Mn
2.079
Bn

Utilising the above imported raw materials to produce final product of NPK 20-10-10 (50 Kg
Bags)
Period
Total Nos of
MT produced
Total Nos of
Bags
produced

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

9,600 MT

14,400 MT

19,200 MT

24,000 MT

28,800 MT

192,000 Bags

288,000 Bags

384,000 Bags

480,000 Bags

576,000 Bags

N.B. :- Kaolin as the fourth raw material is sourced locally from Bauchi
It will be highly economical for M/s Barbedos Group to import in large quantities to
have the benefit of economies of scale.

26TH November, 2007.

His Excellency
The Executive Governor,
Yobe State.
Your Excellency,
Re: PROPOSALS FROM M/s. BARBEDOS VENTURES LTD. FOR FERTILIZER
After a visit to Yobe State Fertilizer plant on 14 th to 15th Nov.07 and analyzing the details we are submitting our
findings and immediate proposal of Fertilizer for the next season .The proposal is in two parts A) Blending with
raw material imports and (B) Direct Imports of NPK 20-10-10.
A) LOCAL BLENDING AT YOBE FERTILIZER COMPANY WITH IMPORTATION OF RAW
MATERIALS :
Each Raw material Importation requires 3 to 4 months to reach Yobe
At Installed Capacity of 15 tph plant Production plant
TARGET to achieve :
NPK 20-10-10 (50Kg bags)
After raw material has reached after
Price*
3 months it takes 6 Months
MT/ Bags/ MT/
Bags/
Capacity
* / bag
Production will yield to Yobe State
shifts day day
month month Utilisation % (Naira) quantity of
2
240 4800
4800
96000
66.67
4209
28,800 MT / 576,000 bags

Hrs/
day
8
* * Price / 50 kg bag is subject to change due to rising cost of imported raw materials used in blending.

The time required to produce 28,800 MT is 3 to 4 months of Raw Material Imports and further 6-7 months of
production, i.e. 9-11 months of total time for producing 28,800 MT.
Also the production process should start 7-8 months before the farming season, although the cost of producing a 50 Kg
bag looks low at N4209 at current raw material prices.
The current consumption in the Yobe state is 20,000 MT to 25,000 MT of NPK 20-10-10 .
The potential demand of fertilizer in Yobe State is more than 30,000 MT per year , NPK being used mainly in
wet season. The Yobe fertilizer Company is producing @3000 MT/month with 41.67 % utilisation ,it will take
10-11 months to achieve the target of 30,000 MT required by the State.
B ) IMPORTATION OF NPK 20-10-10 (50 KG BAGS) FROM UKRAINE / RUSSIA.
If we consider 30,000 MT shipload of NPK 20-10-10
NPK 20-10-10 (50Kg bags)
Booking of Cargo
Discharge at Lagos port and
and voyage to
transport of 1000 trailers to Yobe
Lagos Port
State
2 months

5 weeks

Price /
bag
(Naira)
5600

Time required to deliver

30,000 MT NPK 20-10-10 to
Yobe State
3 months

From the date of booking 30,000 MT of NPK , it takes 3 months to deliver all 1000 trailers each of 30 tons to Yobe state.
Thus time is saved and the state is able to meet the demands of farmers before the season starts.

Yours Faithfully
For: BARBEDOS VENTURES LIMITED.
AUTHORIZED SIGNATORY