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Acron to Expand Production of Nitric Acid in Veliky Novgorod

Acron Group is building two nitric acid units with a total capacity of 270,000 tonnes per year at Veliky Novgorod-based production facility.

The general designer of the project is LLC Novgorod GIAP, a member of Acron Group. Total investments in the project exceed RUB 2 billion, with delivery scheduled for 2019.

“This project is an important part of the Group's new investment strategy adopted in 2017, which is based on maximizing existing production potential. Given the strong output growth at Veliky Novgorod site in recent years, the production of nitric acid has become a bottleneck. Once we fix it, we will be well positioned to rapidly increase output of our key products – ammonium nitrate (AN), urea-ammonium nitrate (UAN) and NPK,” said the Chairman of Acron’s Board of Directors Alexander Popov.

The production of nitric acid as a primary material for mineral fertilisers was first launched at the Veliky Novgorod site in the 1970s. The new units are high-tech and state-of-the-art production facilities. With the launch of its new nitric acid units, Acron will achieve the best performance among similar facilities in the CIS in terms of ammonia consumption. The highly efficient gas turbine unit GTU-8 will save over 4.3 million m3 of natural gas annually. In addition, the expensive catalyst grids will need replacing only once a year, instead of the semi-annual replacements previously required.