Casale-Agropolychim sign a contract for new Nitric Acid plant in Bulgaria

Casale and Agropolychim have signed an agreement which ultimately will lead to double its nitrogen-based fertilizer production capacity up to 1,5 million ton yearly of AN, CAN, CN and UAN combined. Casale will license and engineer a new state-of-the-art DUALPURE dual pressure nitric acid plant that will also allow to enhance the local green energy production. The plant is planned to be commissioned before the end of 2027. It is a major step in the investment plan of Agropolychim, exceeding 250 million Euro in the next 5 years. This will further strengthen the company’s strategic position as one of the very few fertilizer producers in the world that operates on a carbon-neutral basis and is a further step towards becoming the benchmark for the green/blue fertilizer and ammonia platform in south-eastern Europe. Agropolychim has been operating a dual pressure nitric acid plant based on Casale technology since 1973, testifying to the reliability, ease of operation and safety of Casale technology. Furthermore, Agropolychim pioneered, already in 2004, the implementation of N₂O abatement technology in nitric acid production, which afterwards became the European norm. These new standards have caused the reduction of millions of CO₂ emissions tons  and ensured that European plants have become the cleanest nitric acid plants in the world. The new Casale nitric acid plant, with its DUALPURE technology, sustainable design, negligible emissions and zero effluents, will meet current European standards by far. Since 2018, Agropolychim has been producing steam for process needs with biomass at a rate of 36 MWh, which allowed the company to keep its production at over 100 % of its capacity in 2022, despite the gas crisis in Europe. Over the last 5 years the gas consumption of the company has decreased by 98%. The Casale nitric acid technology and deep knowledge of most critical equipment marry Agropolychim’s targets by maximizing the production of green energy available at site.