This new plant will double EMAPHOS 'annual production capacity, going from 140,000 T P2 O5 / year to 280,000 T P2 O5 / year from the 4th quarter of 2022, says the Group in a statement, adding that this project is part of OCP Group's and its partners strategy to establish their world leadership in the production of Purified Wet Process phosphoric acid, a technology recognized as BAT (Best Available Technique) in terms of CO2 emissions.

It will thus make it possible to respond to the developments in the world market for purified phosphoric acid intended for specialized uses, the same source stresses, noting that this capacity doubling will also make available to OCP Group a part of capacity for producing, in the future, niche products based on purified acid, thereby strengthening the Group's status as a global producer of specialty phosphate products.

Given its location within the Jorf Lasfar platform, this project will benefit from major synergies and economies of scale thanks to its direct access to the infrastructures, shared services and raw materials made available to it by OCP within this platform, the statement underlines, adding that beyond these economic advantages, this new plant will rely on and capitalize on the expertise and know-how developed over more than two decades by the technical staff of EMAPHOS.

After the completion of the basic engineering studies in March 2020, the project is now at the stage of detailed studies. Equipment with a long manufacturing lead-time will be ordered from the 3rd quarter of 2020 and the start of construction works is scheduled for the 1st quarter of 2021.