OREANDA-NEWS On 09 October was announced, that OJSC Novomoskovsk Joint-Stock Company Azot (NAK Azot – a EuroChem company) in Novomoskovsk (Tula Region) launched the first Russian production of calcium-ammonium nitrate (CAN). CAN is a highly efficient and safe universal nitrogen fertilizer based on ammonium nitrate and developed at the request of the RF Ministry of Industry, Science, and Technology. This fertilizer can be used in all types of soils and for all types of crops.

The new product’s main characteristics include explosion resistance and high agricultural value, especially for acidic soils. The total cost of the project was RUR 926 million. The design capacity of 420 tons per year will be fully utilized by the first quarter of 2010.

The launch of CAN production is an important step in EuroChem’s international market strategy. The new type of fertilizer is in demand in England, Hungary, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Estonia, Mexico, Canada, and the CIS countries (Ukraine and Belarus).

Until now, CAN has hardly been used in Russian agriculture, but the domestic market for this product has high potential due to the abundance of acidic soils in Russia.

The name CAN is an international abbreviation for ‘calcium-ammonium nitrate’, and thus differs from the carbamide-ammonium mix (CAM) currently produced at EuroChem facilities. The project’s feasibility study was jointly prepared by EuroChem with the Belgian firm, SNC Lavalin.

The new production was set up in NAK Azot’s reconstructed compound mineral fertilizers shop. The shop’s reconstruction was necessitated by European limitations on nitrogen content, capped at 28% for nitrates due to the high explosion hazard. This is why the 34% nitrate formerly produced at the facility could not be exported to European countries (the primary market for EuroChem products).

The CAN production implementation will enable the following achievements, starting in 2010:

for the first time in Russia, a new high quality explosion-proof product will be produced that meets international standards for storage and transportation safety;

the annual production volume of CAN will reach 420 tons;

a new scheme for aspiration and exhaust purification using a wet scrubber filter will eliminate atmospheric air pollution and ensure a reduction in the specific consumption of ammonium per ton of finished product.