The beginning of 2011 marks a big step in the history of Alchimex as we started operating the first plant in Romania ever to produce granulated herbicides. As a consequence the new range of Rival products is already available on the market: Rival 75 GD, Rival Star 75 GD and Rival Superstar 75 GD.

The appreciation we received from our customers concerning the Rival products encouraged us to proceed with this project despite the present difficulties in the economic climate.

The investment which topped 2 million euros was completely supported from our funds. Having a capacity of 80 to/year, the new plant is able to ensure the entire need for cereal sulfonylurea herbicide of the domestic market in just 3 months. The available capacity is intended to sustain our plans of extending the product registrations in other European countries such as Bulgaria and Poland, as well as non-EU countries.

The appreciation we received from our customers concerning the Rival products encouraged us to proceed with this project despite the present difficulties in the economic climate. We acted according to our commitment towards our customers to provide them with the newest products on the market based on the latest formulation types at competitive prices. This project is a result of the good collaboration between our company and DuPont, which agreed to supply active ingredients for the formulation of Rival products and we are proud with this partnership.

The principle which governed the design of the building, equipment selection and building compartmenting was eliminating any contamination risk. We are considering superactive sulfonyurea herbicides with an application dose of 10 – 20 g/ha which trigger red alert for cross-contamination. The works on the new facility took over a year to make sure that everything was done according to the good manufacturing practices in the field. The ‘engine’ of the two plants is air that comes into contact with the product during the production process and is then exhausted into the atmosphere. It comes naturally that the purification of air and complete removal of product particles is an essential aspect in the good functioning of the plant, for which they are equipped with two layers of high efficiency filters which retain all product particles.

The production areas are in the middle of the building so that the access inside requires passing through succesive filter rooms: changing rooms for streetwear, showers, changing rooms for work equipment and pressurised buffer room for stopping impurified air leaking in from production areas.

Although the equipment is very complex, it takes only two people to operate due to the automation systems. This feature ensures a strict control over the product quality and eliminates the risk of cross-contamination.

The equipment is high-end purchased from renowned suppliers from Germany and England.

What’s next?

In the near future we are looking at investing in a granulated fungicide and insecticide producing unit. With this facility we will be able to perform all types of solid and liquid formulations. We prove once again not only that we are the biggest plant protection products supplier in Romania but also a trustworthy partner for farmers.