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Acron to Increase Ammonia-4 Unit Capacity to 2,500 tpd

Investing USD 25 million in the project

Acron Group is launching a project at its Veliky Novgorod site to increase the capacity of the Ammonia-4 unit to 2,500 tonnes per day, or 21% more than the initial design capacity. Investments in the project will total USD 25 million.

At present, debottlenecking measures have ensured the unit’s stable operation at 2,300 tonnes per day even in high temperature conditions. The majority of the project involves installing two VOC-14 and VOC-14S cooling towers (cooling water circuit), additional air cooling units, new heat exchange equipment and a production ammonia pump. In order to improve energy efficiency, the PAR-100 boiler (steam generator) has been modified. In cold weather conditions, Ammonia-4’s production buildings will be heated by captured condensate heat.

Acron Group has already invested USD 5 million in this project. In 2019, main process equipment (a large KRES reactor) will be installed. The unit, weighing more than 150 tonnes and standing 18 meters high and 3.2 meters in diameter, will arrive at Acron’s production site in Veliky Novgorod in summer 2019.

Specialists from HTAAS, the Danish company creating the basic design for the unit’s modernisation, are currently developing the main process solutions. Detail engineering for the Ammonia-2500 project is being carried out by Novgorod GIAP LLC.

Completion of the Ammonia-4 unit modernisation project and start-up operations under increased load are scheduled for mid-2020. The upgrades will be combined with the first major overhaul of the unit, which operates on a four-year running cycle.

In H1 2018, ammonia production at the Ammonia-4 unit was 417,000 tonnes, up 7% year-on-year. Since the start of production in late July 2016, the unit has produced a total of 1,625,000 tonnes of ammonia. Bringing the unit’s capacity to 2,500 tonnes per day will boost capacity throughout Acron’s entire production site in Veliky Novgorod and increase output of nitrogen and complex fertilisers.