Acron Group has commissioned its second new unit of 135,000 tpy nitric acid at its production facility in Veliky Novgorod, Russia. The first nitric acid design unit launched production in early 2019. The construction of both units play a key role in the company’s developmental strategy adopted in 2017, which attempts to maximize existing production potential. The launch of both production sites increased Acron Group’s output of nitric acid by 270,000t to 1.8 million tpy.
“Following the commissioning of the first nitric acid unit, we reached record-high output of ammonium nitrate and UAN. The launch of the second unit will help us further boost the group’s output of key products and considerably expand our product portfolio,” said Alexander Popov, chairman of Acron’s Board of Directors. Furthermore, a third 135,000 tpy unit is to be launched in late 2019, costing an additional US$11 million for its construction. In total, Acron Group will invest around US$50 million in these three nitric acid units.
Nitric acid is used a primary material for the production of mineral fertilizers, and the Veliky Novgorod site first began producing it more than 40 years ago. These new nitric acid units will help Acron reduce its ammonia consumption to the lowest rate among similar facilities in the CIS. The company will also benefit from the highly efficient gas turbine unit GTU-8 that saves over 4.3 million m3 of natural gas annually, and also the expensive catalyst grids that will need replacing only once a year, instead of the semi-annual replacements previously required.
