The history of the JSC “Farg‘onaazot” and main types of products
The JSC “Farg‘onaazot” is located in the picturesque Fergana Valley, replete with a variety of agricultural crops. Mineral fertilizers are needed to ensure the fertility of vast cultivated lands and to preserve the harvest. In the late 50s of the twentieth century the government decided to build a plant for production of nitrogen fertilizers, and in 1962 it was commissioned producing the first batch of ammonium nitrate. This half a century of intensive and creative work of the plant’s staff has made a huge contribution to the development of agriculture in the Fergana Valley, and ensured the supply of chemical products in demand. To date, the JSC “Farg‘onaazot” is one of the largest industrial enterprises in the structure of the JSC “Uzkimyosanoat”, the products of which not only meet the needs of agricultural demand, but also exported to foreign countries. The JSC “Farg‘onaazot” specializes mainly in production of mineral (nitrogen) fertilizers and defoliants, as well as cellulose acetates for production of acetate fibers (filaments). In addition, technical liquid ammonia, granular urea, granular ammonium nitrate, crystalline sodium chlorate, magnesium chlorate defoliant (liquid), cellulose diacetate and others are produced. However, the production of mineral fertilizers remains one of the most developed and important segments of the chemical industry of our Republic, and the JSC “Farg‘onaazot” is one of the main suppliers to the agricultural sector of the country.
The first stage of ammonia production was put into operation in 1964, the second — in 1968. In 1982, a large-capacity ammonia unit was launched, and three years later, urea production began. The JSC “Farg‘onaazot” being located in Kirgili industrial hub occupies three sites -production complexes. In addition to the main production and auxiliary units, there are workshops for production of fertilizers of such types as nitrogen-phosphorus (NFF), liquid (CAC), liquid nitrogen-calcium, “Darmon” for greenhouses, as well as sodium nitrate, sodium bicarbonate, polyethylene bags for packaging of mineral fertilizers.
Modernization of enterprise and security systems
During the years of Uzbekistan’s independence the production capacity of the enterprise has significantly increased due to the expansion and re-equipment of operating plants, the construction of new ones, introducing advanced foreign technologies and equipment.
Thus, the main production, which is a single integrated production line, is built on the basis of a large-capacity ammonia unit AM-76 with a capacity of 450 thousand tons per year. The turbine to the natural gas compressor and the block of steam reforming with system of vaporization are delivered from the Czech Republic, the compressor of a nitric-hydrogen mix ROU 100/40 — from Japan, part of instruments and meters, fittings to pipelines — from the French firm Masoneilan, the rest of the equipment is domestic. The company Technip (France) supplied the technologies and equipment for production of chlorate-magnesium defoliant that meets international standards of environmentally friendly product, which was started in 2002. The construction and commissioning of ammonium nitrate and non-concentrated nitric acid production facilities was completed, and the project “Completion of the construction of non-concentrated nitric acid and ammonium nitrate production facilities” was implemented, under which MBNS (Czech Republic) provided loans, project documentation, equipment and services. The complex for production of urea, commissioned in 2003, consists of one unit from Czech design and engineering company Chemoprojekt, and the technology of carbamide (urea) obtaining process is developed by Stamicarbon (The Netherlands).
Today the JSC “Farg‘onaazot” is also the leader among the enterprises of the chemical industry in terms of automation — all production shops are fully equipped with modern APCS. Due to the combination of advanced technologies and expert know-how from the world’s leading engineering companies, the plant has significantly improved production efficiency and safety.
Thus, the first shop of chlorate-magnesium defoliant (HMD) with 100% automation of production, launched in 2002, is equipped with PlantScape system with controllers AllenBradley (C200), which consists of two operator stations, one historical data server and remote emergency protection. Now the specialists of the enterprise are working on plans for modernization of this system.
Shops AN-72M (ammonium nitrate) and NA-72M (nitric acid) were commissioned in 2003 and in the design plan had the APCS TotalPlantScape from Honeywell (USA). Last year, this system was upgraded and reoriented to a modern and more reliable system from Yokogawa (Japan), consisting of two parts – DCS (distributed control system) CentumVP6, which performs the functions of continuous control and regulation of technological processes of production of nitric acid and ammonium nitrate due to five operator control stations and one engineering (for configuration) and ESD (emergency protection system) ProSafe-RS Yokogawa, which is certified at the level of SIL3. All controllers of both systems are double-redundant, their operation and maintenance are carried out by qualified system engineers trained in leading foreign training and research centers for the design and Assembly of APCS.
Currently, the plant management, instrumentation and metering facilities, communications, economic department, health center are fully covered with the Internet. A project of structured cable systems is being developed throughout the enterprise, the implementation of which is scheduled for 2019-2020.
Nomenclature, development of new types of products and export
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