Dark sands of Pulmoddai

The announcement of last week of an intention by way of an MOU to start up a titanium dioxide enterprise between Laugfs Holdings Ltd and SLINTEC (Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology) should be seen as a major event in the calendar though many may not realise the importance.  It never made into a headline.  Yes, the journey has just begun though these were journeys that should have happened much earlier. 

Still Sri Lanka may not really understand the importance of this important event but need to and this is an attempt in that direction.  The fact a Sri Lankan enterprise entered into an agreement to develop and utilise a natural resource by considering the scientific expertise available in a local institute in itself is quite important.  Such events are rare in our landscape.  

For us a lottery won is a chance to place our hand on a nice expensive car from outside.  We do trust the external capabilities but lack the strength even to consider the strength within.  Like a plant that withers away when no attention is given Sri Lanka’s scientific landscape over the years has been subjected to this care free ignorance factor.  We may have searched for talent in cricket across the width and the breadth of the country, also looked efficiently for ideal locations to support filming etc.,  but scarcely have we searched or taken any serious effort to generate talent in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).  

The cost of ignorance is becoming evident as 93% of the schools now lack A/L science education in this island of ours.  Hardly a number to read and not to be worried considering this is a century meant for complex living.  The ability to instantly tap into Wikipedia from a smart phone may not be the criteria for measurement of understanding and ability.

Sands of Pulmoddai definitely offer much promise.  Even as sand it had propped up a state corporation with profits.  What the nature has given to us we have cleaned up a bit and had exported.  The real value lay hidden and those who understood the potential have benefitted.   The potential for value addition is immense.  With nano titanium dioxide considering today’s prices a five hundred time value addition to the base sand value is possible.  

As there is no gain without any pain there must be the ability to move on with an understanding and ably taking a risk if one is keen to realise the potential returns within.  That was a barrier that was overcome when the aforementioned MOU was signed and agreement entered into.

We have looked at mineral sands as a known source of wealth from North-east and it is no secret that many have eyes this resource with interest.  However, the modus operandi followed by us since 1962 had been that sand itself that had been sold outside with some cleaning – hardly warranting the use of the term processing.  

Selling a valuable resource without value addition is an economic crime and natural resources of this nature are essentially non-renewable.  However, walking on sand at Pulmoddai with each monsoon replenishing the sand may create an impression of renewability on the minds of the uninitiated.  They should be dissuaded from this wrong understanding.  When the natural resource has nano potential the national nanotechnology policy which is still in draft stage specifically states the mandatory need to preserve the resource in its raw form being exploited in the current manner.

One can also think of not spending some quality intellectual time in considering such situations as an intellectual crime as well in addition to the economic crime.  It was fortunate that Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology rose to the challenge and championed value addition for natural resources from the very beginning.   

Local scientific talent was available and the presence of a local scientist from University of Kelaniya who incidentally worked for his PhD on local mineral sand processing in addition to sands from South Africa and Australia – mind you not in cleaning but chemical engineering – was quite welcome. SLINTEC with its mission to ‘Made in Sri Lanka’ a proud label started with a team of local scientific talent in developing the process.  It must be understood alternate method of sourcing the process from elsewhere entails royalty payments and negotiations for intellectual property as well which can be quite costly.  

The black sand that covers the beach is rich with a variety of heavy minerals – all quite valuable.  The traditional tourist will hardly like the look of this and most certainly will not lie down and gaze upwards enjoying the sea breeze of the Indian ocean.  But a ton of this sand if real value is realised can mean more than million tourists and many million cups of tea being drunk outside in terms of value to the economy.

Of the lot titanium is the most common and another zirconium is much higher in value compared to titanium.  Titanium dioxide a material that is processed out of sand has so many opportunities and in the nano age many a new opportunity is coming to light through the efforts of research.  Hence if you are strolling on the beach at Pulmoddai you are literally walking on a gold equivalent!  If you are aware of paints and transparent sun screens you are only seeing the tip of the product ice berg possible with this as a raw material.  

It is a deposit of very high quality – the mineral content exceeds that of similar deposit elsewhere in the world – and also significant in total quantity.  It is known that this deposit is among the top 10 deposits of the world.  If you go up another step to the metal itself then you are with a metal of the future.  All these steps indeed cost money and serious investment.  These are not investments for the feint hearted especially from a developing country perspective.  That is why this initial relationship between SLINTEC and Laughs Holdings is so valuable.  

Looking at recorded history there is a comment by Eng S Nandadeva who went from being a graduate trainee to be the General Manager and now a consultant to the Mineral Sands Corporation.  He has experienced tons of exports as well as violent explosions around his operations but never had contemplated leaving as many had done before and many still do after him.  He stuck out at Pulmoddai while the world around him literally exploded showing commitment.  A stated wish by him is in making synthetic rutile – an upgraded feedstock- that is much in demand and seeing that happening right here.    Current development may be excellent news to him and may be further the news that a young graduate student whom he had helped has finally is involved in the new phase of developments.  The intentions of the Laugfs SLINTEC nexus is going well beyond synthetic rutile and positioning right within the nano zone of operations.

Recently the Mineral Sands Corporation was on record stating having had the biggest ever sale of sand during the last month – 5000 tons of illmenite sand for Rs 186 million.  The potential after the exercise of SLINTEC and Laugfs may be mind boggling.  Today the nano titanium dioxide has a chance of 500 times value addition and the world is showing an increasing appetite for nano titanium dioxide.  That is the end phase of this particular game of mineral chess that is unfolding.  Who knows if the returns are wisely reinvested titanium metal itself is within reach and we can look forward to an integrated facility.

This write up is not a declaration of a victory.  The hard work is about to happen and there may be many more other challenges seen and unseen.  However it is hoped that there would be the support and best wishes stemming from those who have the best interest of the national economy at heart.  

Let there be the courage as in many ways this operation is unique.  Sri Lanka has no significant experience with pilot plant operations.  We are well aware of infrastructure projects be they be dams or roadways.  Even from Norochcholai coal power station, classically an infrastructure project, we can witness issues surfacing due to our lack of internal abilities and readiness.   

Process Engineering operations (acid and alkali plants, fertiliser and petrochemicals, organic and inorganic product processing, food processing, bio-processing, advanced environmental operations) have been viewed as not for us or by us leaving such concepts to FDI and overseas interests.  This has delayed our economic progress and has also negated efforts in the development of relevant human capital to serve such needs.  These are planning implications as we head towards the scaling up and need to be factored in at an early stage to ensure that we will stay on course and translate this important beginning to a sustainable final result.   



(Professor Ajith de Alwis is Professor of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. With an initial BSc Chemical engineering Honours degree from Moratuwa, he proceeded to the University of Cambridge for his PhD. He is also the Director of UOM-Cargills Food Process Development Incubator at University of Moratuwa. He can be reached via email on [email protected])