With reference to chemical fertilizers in India, consider the following statements: 1) At present, the retail price of chemical fertilizers is market-driven and not administered by the Government. 2) Ammonia, which is an input of urea, is produced from natural gas. 3) Sulphur, which is a raw material for phosphoric acid fertilizer, is a by-product of oil refineries. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Question

CollectorBabu · Accepted Answer

Correct Answer: 2 and 3 only. “Under the NBS Policy, the Government announces a fixed rate of subsidy (in Rs. per Kg basis), on each nutrient of subsidized P&K fertilizers, namely Nitrogen (N), Phosphate (P), Potash (K) and Sulphur (S), on annual basis taking into account all relevant factors including international prices, exchange rate, inventory level and prevailing Maximum Retail Prices of P&K fertilizers. Hence statement 1 is NOT correct. A typical modern ammonia-producing plant first converts natural gas (i.e., methane) or LPG (liquefied petroleum gases such as propane and butane) or petroleum naphtha into gaseous hydrogen. ... The hydrogen is then combined with nitrogen to produce ammonia via the Haber-Bosch process. Hence Statement 2 is correct. Sulfur is a major by-product of oil refining and gas processing. Processing of high-sulfur natural gas is also a large source of sulfur supply.Sulfur can also be mined from underground, naturally-occurring deposits, but this is more costly than sourcing from oil and gas and has largely been discontinued. Hence statement 3 is correct. Hence the answer is B.

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