Danish technology firm Haldor Topsøe this week reported Acron Group’s Ammonia-4 plant at the Veliky Novgorod site in northwest Russia is now operating with a capacity of over 2,500 mt/d following a revamp and the passing of guarantee test runs.
This latest upgrade of the Ammonia-4 unit was materially completed last November (GM Dec. 18, 2020). The project has increased the unit’s production capacity by 70,000 mt/y to 900,000 mt/y, and takes total current ammonia production capacity at Veliky Novgorod to 2.2 million mt/y.
The plant’s heat exchange reformer (HTER) reactor was the first to be put into operation in the FSU region, according to Haldor Topsøe.
Acron currently is working on revamps of the Ammonia-2 and Ammonia-3 units at Veliky Novgorod, which on completion will increase each of the plant’s production capacity by over 30 percent, to 2,300 mt/d each. The revamp contracts were awarded to KBR, Houston, last month (GM March 26, p. 34).
The completion of the first revamp project, including commissioning and start-up, is expected in March 2023.
“Boosting the [production capacity] of the Ammonia-4 plant is an important project of Acron Group’s investment program. Increasing its capacity will allow us to sufficiently increase production of nitrogen and compound fertilizers at our Veliky Novgorod site,” said Acron Group Chairman Alexander Popov .
The Russian group expects to bring on stream its Urea 6+ urea project at Veliky Novgorod in the current quarter, which will increase the urea unit’s production capacity by 520,000 mt/y (GM April 23, p. 30).
It launched another nitrogen project at the site in March to build a calcium nitrate production facility – its first – with 100,000 mt/y capacity (GM March 19, p. 34).The project is scheduled for commissioning in 2022.