August 15 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian nitrogen, phosphorus and fertilisers producer Agropolychim said that it reverted to working at full capacity after overhauling several major facilities under an ongoing large-scale investment programme, thus reducing its dependence on natural gas for production.
Nitrogen production at the Devnya facility had been shut down for 50 days while the company partially rebuilt the nitric acid plant installing a new steam turbine, Agropolychim said in a statement published on Friday.
The new equipment has reduced internal steam consumption by 10%, thus lowering the need for natural gas as an energy source, in complement to the current use of straw bales as fuel, the chemical producer added.
The privately-owned company, which has Bulgarian and Belgian joint stock participation, will later this year raise the capacity of its ammonia import terminal by 130% as a result of a 17 million euro ($17.4 million) investment, according to the statement. Agropolychim will continue to deliver ammonia and ammonia water to various industries in Bulgaria and Romania, with the raw material secured and imported from several suppliers from the Middle East, northern Africa and the US.
"The production of nitrogen, phosphorus and combined fertilisers will be operating at full capacity, which is sufficient to meet the needs of Bulgarian farmers and some export. Regional farmers, understandably, are already taking steps to stock up on the quantities which they need for the upcoming autumn fertilisation campaign in view of the fact that most producers in the region have stopped working due to the price of natural gas," Agropolychim said in the statement.
The company sells more than 1.3 million tonnes of fertilisers worldwide, of which it produces 900,000 tonnes. Its current investment programme is forecast to double production, with new products to be added within the next five years.
In early 2021, Agropolychim embarked on an investment of over 54 million levs ($28.3 million/27.6 million euro) to upgrade its production facilities near the northeastern town of Devnya so as to allow the use of the steam produced as a by-product.
Agropolychim is owned by British Virgin Islands-registered firm Acid & Fertilizers Ltd, according to the Bulgarian commercial register.
($ = 0.97735 euro)
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)