PepsiCo to produce Carrageenan in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Cola and snack food major PepsiCo India Holdings Private Limited has decided to expand its experimental seaweed project in Mandapam, Tamil Nadu to a commercial scale.

The company has decided to build a Carrageenan plant either in Mandapam or in Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu, sometime next year.

While Carrageenan, a biopolymer extracted from red seaweed is used as a thickening agent in the food processing and pharmaceutical industries that will be exported, the byproduct sap, a plant nutrient will be sold in the domestic market.

Says Abhiram Seth, executive director, exports and external affairs, ''We are yet to finalise the plant capacity and the outlay. The numbers are dependent on the volume of seaweed available.''

According to him, investment in the plant will also depend on the level of sophistication required, like whether the seaweed is to be sun dried or machine dried.

''A plant that could process 5,000 ton per annum of dry weed will be the minimum economic size. It would involve a capex of around Rs10 crore,'' he added.