New Dual Pressure Nitric Acid Plant to Be Licenced and Built by Casale

Switzerland: Casale and Agropolychim have signed an agreement that will ultimately double Nitrogen fertilizer production capacity up to 1.5 million tons per year (AN, CAN, CN and UAN combined). Casale will license and build a new, state-of-the-art, dual-pressure Nitric Acid plant that will promote local green energy production. The plant is expected to be operational before the end of 2027. This is an important step in Agropolychim's investment plan, which will amount to over 250 million euros over the next five years.

This will help the company maintain its leadership position as one of the few carbon-neutral fertiliser producers in the world and will take it one step closer to setting the standard for the green/blue fertiliser and Ammonia platform in south-eastern Europe.

For almost 50 years, Agropolychim has been operating a dual pressure Nitric Acid plant using Casale technology, which is a testament to its reliable, user-friendly, and safe nature. Furthermore, Agropolychim was the first to adopt N20 abatement technology in the manufacturing of Nitric Acid in 2004, which later became the standard in Europe. Millions of tonnes of CO2e have been reduced because of these new requirements, and European facilities are now the cleanest Nitric Acid plants in the entire world. The new Casale Nitric Acid plant will adhere to current European requirements thanks to its dual pressure technology, sustainable architecture, minimal emissions, and zero effluents.

Agropolychim has been using biomass to generate steam for process demands at a rate of 36 MWh since 2018, which has allowed the business to maintain production at more than 100% of its capacity in 2022 despite the European gas crisis. The company's petrol use has dropped by 98% during the last five years.

Due to the relatively low synthesis pressure utilised in this method, the product Ammonia was captured as an aqueous solution, which would then go through additional purifying stages to produce pure Ammonia.

Italian chemist Luigi Casale came up with an original plan and chose to run the Ammonia synthesis at a far greater pressure than the one used by BASF, resulting in the direct production of liquid Ammonia.

As a result, the initial business, Ammonia Casale, was founded in 1921 in Lugano, Switzerland, with the intention of licencing the recently patented method.

Casale is a privately held Swiss corporation with its corporate headquarters in Lugano (Switzerland). Casale Holding owns 100% of the company. Casale may be traced back to the early 20th century, the pioneering era when the Ammonia industry was founded. At that time, only Badische Anilin and Soda Fabrik ("BASF") produced Ammonia industrially in Germany using its unique Haber-Bosch method.

Over the many years of the Company's existence, Lugi Casale's innovative flair has been kept, consistently cultivated, and is still strongly ingrained in the Casale culture today. Casale is currently able to deliver, for plant retrofits and new plants, thanks to major investment in the development of core technologies and know-how to generate Ammonia, Urea, Melamine, Methanol, Syngas, Nitrate fertiliser, and Phosphates fertilisers.

Leading producers of Ammonia, Nitrogen fertilisers in Southeast Europe and Phosphorus fertilisers on the Balkan Peninsula are Agropolychim AD. Leading manufacturer of Ammonia, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and combination fertilisers in support of cutting-edge agriculture is Agropolychim AD.

State-owned since its inception in 1974, the company had 63% of its capital sold by the Bulgarian Privatisation Agency in 1999. Agropolychim AD, a 1,000-person corporation with joint equity involvement from Bulgaria and Belgium as of 2021, is totally private. The company's fertiliser plant is in the Industrial Zone of the town of Devnya, close to the port of Varna-west, and it has a direct rail connection to the entire country.