Acron Group, one of the world’s leading fertiliser producers, continues implementing the Urea-2000 project to increase production capacity for one of the Group’s most popular products.
Acron (Veliky Novgorod) commenced a new stage of the Urea-2000 project to upgrade four production units launched in 1969-1970. Rotating equipment is being replaced. The first 25-tonne Sundyne centrifugal ammonia pump was launched and the second ammonia pump was assembled on its foundation; installation of pipelines has started. The new pumps will increase the efficiency of production units and improve process safety. Specialists are getting ready to install two new carbon dioxide centrifugal compressors.
Acron brought its fifth urea unit on stream in 2012. This advanced unit produces over 1,000 tonnes of urea per day. Following this round of upgrades, the overall capacity of the five units will increase to 3,000 tonnes per day, with annual output of over 1 million tonnes.
Replacing this equipment will minimize the petroleum content of the finished urea. “Urea demand is going up because it is an ingredient in AdBlue solution, which is used in modern diesel engines to purify the exhaust gases from nitrogen oxides. Our solution will be exceptionally pure. The new equipment will ultimately solve the problem of petroleum content in finished urea. Potentially the shop might focus solely on Aus-32 urea for AdBlue production,” said Vladimir Gavrikov, Executive Director of Acron (Veliky Novgorod).
The next stage of the Urea-2000 project will be to install new engineering equipment in the synthesis and distillation shop. The retrofitting and upgrading, including upgrades to the integrated wastewater treatment unit, will maximize the environmental safety of the production process and the finished product.