Achema is the largest fertilizer producer in the

Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

. It is headquartered in

Jonava Jonava () is the ninth largest city in Lithuania with a population of . It is located in Kaunas County in central Lithuania, north east of Kaunas, the second-largest city in Lithuania. It is served by Kaunas International Airport. ''Achema'', t ...

, central

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. Its factory is located in the village of Jonalaukis by Jonava, near the confluence of rivers

Neris The river Neris () or Vilija (, ) rises in northern Belarus. It flows westward, passing through Vilnius (Lithuania's capital) and in the south-centre of that country it flows into the Nemunas (Neman) from the right bank, at Kaunas, as its ma ...

and Šventoji. In 2011, Achema employed about 1700 workers and reached 2.2 billion Litas revenues (about 640 million Euros), net profit was 96.3 million Litas (27.9 million Euros). It belongs to the business group . As of 2022, the Achema plant in Jonava was the largest natural gas consumer in Lithuania. The plant is supplied via Minsk–Kaliningrad Interconnection link to Jonava.

History

The factory construction began in 1962 as one of the state-owned enterprises, called "Azotas". It became a member of the International Fertilizer Industry Association in 1989. In 1999, production of aluminum sulfate solution began. In 2011, AB "Achema" completed the creation of a network of cogeneration power plants – a cogeneration type 47 MW gas power plant was put into operation in the autumn.

Plant operation in the conditions of high gas price

In 2021 it scaled down its operations, leaving only ammonia production, due to gas price spike. The production was suspended in September 2022, due to high costs for natural gas, which was announced to be a temporary measure in August 2022. It was resumed in early November, but halted again in December, with plans to resume operations in February. In 2022 the revenue was 937.2 million euros, which was 58.8% higher than 2021, but the profit dropped by nearly a third, to 36.1 million euros. Due to sanctions related to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, the company switched natural gas suppliers from Russia to Norway, the USA, Great Britain, Poland and Germany.„Achema“ šiemet prognozuoja 1 mlrd. eurų viršijančias pajamas
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Accidents

Over time there have been a number of accidents.

1989 environmental disaster

On 20 March 1989, a rupture of the

liquid ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pungent smell. It is widely used in fertilizers, ...

tank occurred at the chemical fertilizer factory, causing a leakage of nearly 7,500 tonnes of ammonia ( :lt:1989 m. kovo 20 d. G/S „Azotas“ avarija). The catastrophe further developed into a fire at the storehouses of NPK 11-11-11 (: nitrogen + phosphate + kalium ) and other fertilizers polluting the atmosphere with products of their decomposition:

nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or factitious air, among others, is a chemical compound, an Nitrogen oxide, oxide of nitrogen with the Chemical formula, formula . At room te ...

chlorine gas Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between ...

, etc. The toxic cloud moved towards

Ukmergė Ukmergė (; previously ''Vilkmergė''; ) is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, located northwest of Vilnius. It is the administrative center of the Ukmergė District Municipality. Ukmergė (Vilkmergė) was mentioned for the first time as a ...

Širvintos Širvintos () is a city in Vilnius County in eastern Lithuania. It is the administrative center of the Širvintos district municipality. Etymology The town's name is a place name derived from the river Širvinta, which flows through it. Širvi ...

Kėdainiai Kėdainiai () is one of the oldest List of cities in Lithuania, cities in Lithuania. It is located north of Lithuania's second largest city Kaunas on the banks of the Nevėžis River. Kėdainiai were first mentioned in the 1372 Livonian Chronicle ...

. The concentration of ammonia surpassed the permissible level 150 times in

Upninkai Upninkai is the largest village in Jonava district, Lithuania. It is situated southwest of Vepriai on the left bank of the Šventoji River. According to the 2011 census, it had population of 786. History Upninkai was first mentioned in 1442 in ...

, located 10 km from the enterprise. One day after the accident, a toxic cloud 7 km wide and 50 km long was recorded between Jonava and

. Seven people died during the fire and leakage of ammonia, 29 became handicapped, and more people suffered from acute respiratory and cardiac arrest.Bengt Orvar Andersson
LITHUANIAN AMMONIA ACCIDENT, MARCH 20TH 1989
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References

{{Authority control Chemical companies of Lithuania 1989 industrial disasters Chemical companies established in 1962 1962 establishments in Lithuania Companies based in Jonava Chemical companies of the Soviet Union