Bulgarian fertilizer producer Agropolychim last month said it had resumed full capacity production after the completion of another stage of an investment program that has updated several of its production facilities and has helped it reduce natural gas consumption.
During the 50-day nitrogen production shutdown, the company said several major facilities at its production site near the northeastern town of Devnya were upgraded. One of the most important projects was the partial reconstruction of the nitric acid plant, where a new steam turbine was put into operation.
With the new equipment, internal steam consumption has been reduced by over 10%, which Agropolychim said will contribute to a further “significant” reduction in the company’s natural gas consumption. This comes in addition to the already operational steam plant using straw bales as fuel, it said.
Agropolychim in 2019 switched from ammonia production to imported ammonia after the commissioning of an ammonia import terminal, which it said made the company almost completely independent of the price of natural gas.
The company this year will increase the storage capacity of the ammonia terminal by 130%, from 10,000 mt currently to around 30,000 mt, at a cost of over €17million (approximately $17.05 million at current exchange rates).
Agropolychim said it currently imports ammonia from various suppliers in the Middle East, North Africa, and America, which in addition to its own production needs, also allows it to deliver ammonia and ammonia gas to various industries in Bulgaria and Romania.
Operating its fertilizer production facilities at full capacity will allow the company to meet the fertilizer needs of Bulgarian farmers and have for some export, it said.
The Bulgarian producer said it sells more than 1.3 million mt/y of fertilizers, of which it produces about 900,000 mt
According to data on its website, Agropolychim currently has production capacity for 400,000 mt/y of ammonium nitrate or 800,000 mt/y of UAN, as well as 300,000 mt/y of MAP/DAP production capacity or 330,000 mt/y for TSP. It also can produce about 300,000 mt/y of NPKs.
Agropolychim is a privately-owned company with Bulgarian and Belgium joint stock participation.
Fellow Bulgarian nitrogen fertilizer and NPK producer Neochim has reported a 250% increase in consolidated net profit to 75.6 million levs (approximately $38.8 million) for the first half of 2022, up from the year-ago 21.6 million levs, despite a 195% surge in raw materials expenses, according to a SeeNews report.
Neochim, which unlike Agropolychim uses natural gas as it main raw material, saw its expenses in the first-half surge to 327.3 million levs from 126.4 million levs the previous year, almost entirely from increased raw materials cost, according to the report.