Azot, also known as Cherkaskyi Azot after

Cherkasy Cherkasy (, ) is a city in central Ukraine. Cherkasy serves as the administrative centre of Cherkasy Oblast as well as Cherkasy Raion within the oblast. The city has a population of Cherkasy is the cultural, educational and industrial centre ...

, the location of its

chemical plant A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transfor ...

, is one of the biggest manufacturers of

nitrogen fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

s in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

Ukrainian oligarch Ukrainian oligarchs () are business oligarchs who emerged on the economic and political scene of Ukraine after the 1991 Ukrainian independence referendum. This period saw Ukraine transitioning to a market economy, with the rapid privatization of s ...

Dmytro Firtash Dmytro Vasylovych Firtash (; born 2 May 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman who heads the board of directors of Group DF. He was highly influential during the Yushchenko administration and the Yanukovych administration. As a middleman for the R ...

's chemical-industry holding corporation, Ostchem Holding, manages the company as well as several other fertilizer manufacturers in Ukraine and other

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

. Azot serves both the

domestic Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

and

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is a ...

markets. Products are primarily

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

and ammonium salts, but also include certain specialty

ion-exchange resins An ion-exchange resin or ion-exchange polymer is a resin or polymer that acts as a medium for ion exchange, that is also known as an ionex. It is an insoluble matrix (or support structure) normally in the form of small (0.25–1.43 mm radius ...

. The plant's name, Azot, is Ukrainian for "

nitrogen Nitrogen is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol N and atomic number 7. Nitrogen is a Nonmetal (chemistry), nonmetal and the lightest member of pnictogen, group 15 of the periodic table, often called the Pnictogen, pnictogens. ...

Overview

The plant began construction in 1962. On March 14, 1965, it released the first batch of liquid ammonia. By 2011, the company controlled 43 subdivisions on at the southern outskirts of

city. These facilities have the capacity to produce up to 3 million tonnes of fertilizers per year, which can then be exported worldwide. Products include: * weak nitric acid * granular

ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, but does not form hydrates. It is predominantly us ...

* ammonia,

liquid Liquid is a state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. Liquids adapt to the shape of their container and are nearly incompressible, maintaining their volume even under pressure. The density of a liquid is usually close to th ...

aqueous An aqueous solution is a solution in which the solvent is water. It is mostly shown in chemical equations by appending (aq) to the relevant chemical formula. For example, a solution of table salt, also known as sodium chloride (NaCl), in wat ...

* prilled

urea Urea, also called carbamide (because it is a diamide of carbonic acid), is an organic compound with chemical formula . This amide has two Amine, amino groups (–) joined by a carbonyl functional group (–C(=O)–). It is thus the simplest am ...

* urea-ammonium nitrate solution * ammonium sulphate, aqueous or crystalline *

caprolactam Caprolactam (CPL) is an organic compound with the chemical formula, formula (CH2)5C(O)NH. This colourless solid is a lactam (a cyclic amide) of caproic acid. Global demand for this compound is approximately five million tons per year, and the vast ...

, crystalline or liquid * liquefied carbon dioxide, and *

ion-exchange resin An ion-exchange resin or ion-exchange polymer is a resin or polymer that acts as a medium for ion exchange, that is also known as an ionex. It is an insoluble matrix (or support structure) normally in the form of small (0.25–1.43 mm radiu ...

s, including annionite AV-17-8 and cationite.

Effects of the 2022 invasion

The

2022 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 ...

restrained export and import (the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

harbours are blocked by the

Russian Navy The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...

) of raw materials, and finished products. It has also reduced domestic demand for fertilizers, due to a reduction in crop planting.

Philanthropy

The company's ultimate owner,

, has developed the "Save Your City " brand for his philanthropic endeavours. The company financed renovation of the "Friendship of Peoples"

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...

and public plaza in downtown Cherkasy. In the surrounding area, it has paid for road repairs and

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

transfer center improvements; renovated schools; and manages a

children's hospital A children's hospital (CH) is a hospital that offers its services exclusively to infants, children, adolescents, and young adults from birth up to until age 18, and through age 21 and older in the United States. In certain special cases, the ...

specializing in

neurological disorders Neurological disorders represent a complex array of medical conditions that fundamentally disrupt the functioning of the nervous system. These Disorder of consciousness, disorders affect the brain, spinal cord, and nerve networks, presenting unique ...

References

Chemical companies of the Soviet Union Fertilizer companies of Ukraine {{ukraine-company-stub