OJSC Novomoskovsk Joint-Stock Company “Azot” is one of the largest and oldest chemical industry enterprises in Russia and Europe.
The first tonnes of coke-based ammonia, nitric acid and mineral fertilizers were produced at the plant in 1933. In 1936, chlorine production began, using local salt deposits as feedstock.
During the Nazi occupation of Novomoskovsk (then Stalinogorsk), the plant was completely destroyed. After the city was liberated in December 1941, reconstruction started immediately, and within a year Novomoskovsk chemists delivered the first tonnes of ammonia to the country.
On 9 May 1945, the workforce switched to peacetime products — mineral fertilizers. In 1949, a calcium chloride workshop was commissioned. Four years later, the plant launched a workshop for synthetic urea, a concentrated fertilizer also widely used in the production of plastics, resins and adhesives.
In 1958, Novomoskovsk chemists mastered the production of ammonia and mineral fertilizers from natural gas. Between 1959 and 1965, 28 facilities of major national importance were commissioned, including units for nitrophoska (the first in the USSR), urea, ammonium nitrate, compound fertilizers, weak nitric acid, chlorine-group products and organic synthesis. In the 1970s–1980s, large single-train capacities for ammonia and mineral fertilizers were built and mastered, making the plant the largest ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer producer in the USSR.
A new methanol workshop with a capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year was commissioned (construction had begun back in 1985). Production of a new nitrophoska grade NPK 16:16:16, new nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers and stabilized ammonium nitrate was launched. The plant also mastered the anti-icing agent NKMM and dimethyl ether — an environmentally friendly fuel of the 21st century — and reconstructed the polyvinyl chloride resin workshop.
Great importance is attached to maintaining a favorable environmental situation around the plant. Reconstruction and modernization of older units, the introduction of high-tech production lines and automated control systems, and tighter process monitoring have reduced gross atmospheric emissions and significantly lowered the concentration of suspended solids in discharges.
Today, Novomoskovsk JSC “Azot” is a highly mechanized and automated enterprise with modern production based on advanced technologies and equipment. Every ninth tonne of ammonia and nitrogen fertilizers in Russia is produced here. Over 70 years of operations, the Novomoskovsk plant has produced about 46 million tonnes of ammonia — equivalent to 4.3 of Russia’s current annual output — more than 16 million tonnes of mineral fertilizers (in terms of 100% nutrients) and 5.2 million tonnes of methanol.
Products of NAK “Azot”, located in central Russia, are in demand across the Central and Southern Federal Districts of the Russian Federation. Goods are exported to the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Baltic states and other countries.
Novomoskovsk “Azot” is a city-forming enterprise employing more than 8,500 people. Management pays close attention to social policy. Company profits support a clinic, a former station of young technicians, a library and other facilities. Employees receive partial compensation for commuting costs and benefits for health-resort vouchers for themselves and their children.
NAK “Azot” takes an active part in financing municipal social programs and regularly provides charitable assistance to children’s educational institutions, city healthcare facilities, the crew of the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine “Novomoskovsk”, and regional associations of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Association of the Council of Enterprises.
