Production of AdBlue, a special additive for diesel engines used to reduce NO (nitrogen oxide) emissions, was launched by Ostchem on the basis of Cherkassy Azot
“Today, Cherkassy Azot is capable of producing volume that provides 80% of the Ukrainian market and, if necessary, can ramp up production to cover all domestic consumption and for export to EU markets,” the company said in a press release on Friday.
It is specified that the market volume in Ukraine in 2022 was 23.4 thousand tons, and it decreased by more than 10 thousand tons due to military actions. Growth potential of Ukrainian market after introduction of standard Euro-4, Euro-5, Euro-6 exceeds 250 thousand tons, as the company believes.
Project on AdBlue production at Cherkassy “Azot” was announced in February 2022, in May 2022 the plant began to produce the first batches of product, and today the volume of urea solution production accounts for 30% of Ukrainian market needs.
“We are capable of becoming a major national player and gradually displacing imports. Our plans are to become a strong player in the EU markets, where demand for AdBlue is at a high level,” said Sergey Pavlyuchuk, head of Ostchem’s nitrogen business.
According to the release, the new production facility passed an international audit and this week received all required certificates confirming the quality of the product and allowing to use the AdBlue trademark and enter the EU markets, where, according to Ostchem, Ukrainian AdBlue has good prospects.
It is stated that at the first stage the company intends to fill the Ukrainian market by planning wholesale sales of AdBlue directly from the facility, as well as sales through retail chains, service stations and petrol stations and is already negotiating with a number of petrol stations to install their own AdBlue stations.
According to Ostchem, a large consumer of AdBlue will also be the agro-industrial complex, which uses modern machinery of the new generation.
A separate direction will be sales of the product in small containers of 10 and 20 liters.
The second stage will involve export to the neighbouring EU countries – Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Hungary and Poland, as well as major AdBlue consumers – Germany (consumption level of 2.4 m t/year), France (2.1 m t/year), Italy (1.3 m t/year) and Turkey (726,000 t/year). According to Group DF estimates, the European market volume exceeds 7.2 million tons per year.
It is also stated that Cherkasy Azot will be the only Ukrainian producer of AdBlue by “direct method”, i.e. method of urea melt production, while the other producers use so called “blending” method, i.e. technology of mixing granulated urea with water. According to the company, its method ensures very high and stable quality at a low price, and in order to distinguish its AdBlue reagent on the Ukrainian and European markets, Ostchem has already registered its own trademark “Ukrblue”.
The use of the reagent is stipulated by EURO 6 standards and is aimed to reduce emissions of harmful substances. VDA (Verband der Automobilindustrie e.V., German Automotive Industry Association) owns the rights to the AdBlue trademark.
Group DF consolidates assets in the gas distribution, chemical, titanium and port industries, as well as in agriculture and media. The founder and owner of Group DF is Ukrainian businessman Dmitry Firtash.
Ostchem is the nitrogen holding of Group DF. It includes Rivneazot, Cherkasy Azot, as well as Severodonetsk Azot and Stirol (not operating and located in the occupied territories).
Cherkasy Azot PJSC has been a part of Group DF since 2011. The design production capacity of PJSC “Azot” is 962.7 thousand tons of ammonia per year, ammonium nitrate – 970 thousand tons per year, urea – 891.6 thousand tons, UAN – 1 million tons per year.
