Grupa Azoty Puławy has started continuous production of the first production line at its new granular nitrogen fertilizer plant, the Tarnów-based fertilizers and chemicals parent company Grupa Azoty SA reported.
Mechanical and technological start-up of the line began in July 2020 (GM July 10, 2020). The production line is for granulated ammonium nitrate (32 percent N) with 1,200 mt/d capacity. First orders of the new product will be delivered to customers this month, the Polish company said in a June 11 statement on its website.
A second line, for calcium ammonium nitrate production (27 percent N) with capacity of 1,400 mt/d, will be launched in the first half of 2022, Grupa Azoty said. Once operational, Puławy’s new plant will have total nitrogen fertilizer production capacity of 2,600 mt/d, or up to 820,000 mt/y.
“The production of mechanically granulated ammonium nitrate and calcium ammonium nitrate is a response to growing demand from large-scale agriculture – Polish and European,” said Grupa Azoty President of the Management Board Tomasz Hinc.
“The use of such fertilizer in granules with a larger diameter allows for a wider spreading range, which improves sowing efficiency, especially in farms with big acreages. This type of product is preferred by foreign customers, and due to the ongoing process of land consolidation in Poland and the increase in demand for these types of products, is also forecast on the Polish market,” said Hinc.
Grupa Azoty put the total investment in the project at Pln430 million (approximately $114.9 million at current exchange rates).
In addition to the new production facilities, the project included the construction of infrastructure and logistics facilities to facilitate the unloading and handling of raw materials, as well as a storage warehouse for finished products and a packaging facility. The latter is equipped with fully-automatic devices for packing product into flexible containers (“Big Bag” type), the only one of its kind in Poland, according to the company. The two packing machines have capacity of about 180 mt/h or about 4,300 mt/d.