4 January 2007

Zakłady Azotowe Puławy S.A. Launch Sale of AdBlue

A new product under the brand name of AdBlue has been placed on the market by Zakłady Azotowe Puławy S.A. The unit for its production was constructed on the basis of the Company’s in-house technological solutions. This new cutting-edge product was launched as part of the diversification of ZA Puławy’s production base towards more highly processed products.

The launch of AdBlue fits well with the strategy we are currently pursuing, says Krzysztof Lewicki, President of ZA Puławy S.A. We are entering a new, promising market segment. Simultaneously, we are taking a big step towards restructuring our portfolio to include more products with a smaller share of natural gas in their overall cost breakdown. Now we are going to sell urea, which is processed into fertilisers and melamine, also in the form of AdBlue.

The absorptive potential of the European AdBlue market in 2012 is estimated at 3.5m tonnes. The most important markets include Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Italy. However, given high transport costs, the domestic market will be Puławy’s key target. The domestic consumption of AdBlue in 2012 is estimated at 120 thousand tonnes.

At present, Puławy’s AdBlue annual production capacity stands at 33 thousand tonnes. If the market demand grows, we can muster the resources to build a production unit which would enable us to achieve the daily output of as much as 1,600 tonnes, which means that our annual ADBlue production volume would be 520 thousand tonnes, adds Krzysztof Lewicki, Puławy’s President. The production level we are talking about would translate into the annual urea utilisation of 190 thousand tonnes.

AdBlue is used in the new-generation diesel engines based on the SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) technology. The application of the SCR solutions in the automotive industry is a response to amended EU legislation defining the emission limits for diesel engines.