news release
May 10,2024
Polymer EF Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Kunigami-gun, Okinawa Prefecture/ Founder and CEO: Narayan Lal Gharjahl; hereinafter “EF Polymer”), which develops 100% organic super absorbent polymers, announced that it will now expand and relocate its plant in Rajasthan, India and begin operations. The new plant will be put into operation on 5/11 (Sat) and mass production of products will begin.
Background and overview of this project
EF Polymer has been producing in the suburbs of Udaipur in Rajasthan since 2020. We have been selling agricultural products in Japan since 2021 and the United States since 2022, but water shortages due to climate change and the effects of droughts and the rise in fertilizer prices due to global conditions have become serious, and demand for 100% organic super absorbent polymers is also expanding in Europe, South America, and Asia. Also, due to the strengthening of environmental regulations and heightened environmental awareness, attention is being drawn to organic polymers as environmental measures for daily necessities, where superabsorbent polymers derived from petroleum have been used conventionally.
In order to meet these market needs, we are working to strengthen our productivity. The newly established factory boasts a polymer production capacity of 100 tons per month, which is about 5 times that of the previous one, and further improvements in production efficiency have been realized by reviewing and automating some production processes.
Features of the new plant
At this new plant, efficiency improvements and streamlining of the manufacturing process were carried out along with the expansion of the overall scale of the plant. PLC and SCADA systems were introduced to improve production efficiency in all processes and enhance security and confidentiality in production operations.
Complementary machines have been introduced to improve production line productivity, such as bucket elevators for filling raw materials, and machines that automatically perform bagging and labeling during packaging, reducing dependence on manual work. Furthermore, we have set up a dedicated quality control laboratory to perform quality control of raw materials and finished products, and we control that products meet our standards.
Narayan Ghaljal, founder and CEO of EF PolymerIt is stated as follows. “The primary purpose of this factory expansion and relocation is to be able to deliver our products to more farmers around the world, and it's one of the milestones for the sustainable future we aim for. In addition, the new plant will also produce polymers other than agricultural uses, such as ice packs and daily necessities. Now that we have strengthened our production base, which is the core of our business, we will continue to listen to the voices of the market and work to provide innovative products in various industries.”
EF Polymer is expected to sell approximately 400 tons per year this year, with India, Japan, the United States, France, and Thailand as focus countries. We are also raising Series B funding from this year to next, and we are working to further expand our business.
About EF Polymer
EF Polymer Co., Ltd. is a deep tech startup born in India and raised in Okinawa that develops technology globally. By upcycling fruit residues that have been discarded conventionally, such as orange peels, we have developed “EF Polymers,” which are 100% organic super absorbent polymers (SAP), and are being developed as agricultural materials. It was established in Okinawa in 2020 and is currently promoting business based in India and Japan. Furthermore, through collaboration with companies, we are developing products using naturally derived SAP for ice packs, daily necessities, cosmetics, etc. Through the dissemination of our products, we aim to solve environmental problems centered on water shortages.https://ja.efpolymer.com/
