Volga will be Cleaner

For 40 years now, Togliattiazot PJSC, one of the largest chemical enterprises in the Samara Region and the leading ammonia producer in Russia, has been taking care not only of the economic and social development of the home region, but also of the reduction of the negative impact on the environment, including the Volga River, the most important waterway of our country. The main tool for improving the environmental performance of the company is the large-scale modernization programme started by Togliattiazot back in 2012 and designed to run till 2021. It is aimed at upgrading and improving the equipment not only to increase the overall efficiency and productivity of TOAZ, but also, of course, to reduce harmful emissions from the plant.

For 40 years now, Togliattiazot PJSC, one of the largest chemical enterprises in the Samara Region and the leading ammonia producer in Russia, has been taking care not only of the economic and social development of the home region, but also of the reduction of the negative impact on the environment, including the Volga River, the most important waterway of our country.

The main tool for improving the environmental performance of the company is the large-scale modernization programme started by Togliattiazot back in 2012 and designed to run till 2021. It is aimed at upgrading and improving the equipment not only to increase the overall efficiency and productivity of TOAZ, but also, of course, to reduce harmful emissions from the plant. The total investment in the programme through its implementation has already exceeded 32 billion rubles. And objective data shows that the approach chosen is justified: at the end of 2018, the indicator of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere showed only 33% of the permitted level determined by the Administration of Rosprirodnadzor for the Samara Region.

Thanks to TOAZ’s significant investments in environmental protection measures and equipment modernization, the company's environmental performance is improving from year to year. Over the last five years, the volume of air emissions has fallen almost three times. At the same time, it is important to note that the policy also has a tangible economic effect: due to the modernization of production facilities and improvement of the efficiency of treatment facilities, environmental protection costs in each area of activity decreased by 20% in 2017.

As one of the largest producers of chemical products, Togliattiazot intends to remain among the world's leaders in terms of environmental parameters. The design of all the company’s new facilities is based on the latest environmental protection solutions and the best available technologies.

Located in the Samara Region, Togliattiazot depends on the availability of water resources. That is why the improvement of the environmental condition of the Volga River is one of the most important aspects of the company's environmental protection activities. At TOAZ, water recycling systems for ammonia units are used, in which water is treated with reagents that restore its characteristics for further use. The plant also has water recycling systems, in which water is used repeatedly without special treatment. The functioning of these technological systems makes it possible to significantly reduce the consumption of water resources from natural sources. TOAZ PJSC takes a responsible attitude to water consumption, and the consistently high rate of reusable water proves it: in 2017 it was 99.44%.

Prior to sending waste water to the Saratov Reservoir, it is treated at the TOAZ treatment facilities which have been proving their efficiency by accepting and processing waste water not only from the Togliattiazot industrial site and the enterprises of the Northern Industrial Hub, but also from household consumers throughout the Komsomolsky District of Togliatti, including the Povolzhsky Microdistrict, since 1978.

The TOAZ water treatment plant was originally designed as a biological plant using microorganisms feeding on nitrogen-containing substances. In order to obtain almost pure river water from the muddy mass of waste water, waste water undergoes several stages of treatment – mechanical (grates, sand traps, primary sedimentation tanks), biological (aerotanks, secondary sedimentation tanks), additional treatment with sand filters and ultraviolet disinfection (the UV installation was introduced in 2011). Water treatment is carried out for thirty different components, including ammonia, water-dissolved urea, methanol, nitrogen and phosphates.

The waste water treatment plant processes 52–54 thousand m3 of waste water per day, which is quite easy for its capacity. The designed capacity of the facilities is 104 thousand m3 of wastewater per day, which means that they are used only by 50% and have great potential.

After multistage treatment, the water becomes even cleaner by some parameters than it was initially in the Volga River. Each stage of water passage through the biological treatment plant is controlled by Togliattiazot specialists.

In 2017, a set of measures was taken at the treatment plant to reduce the negative impact on water bodies. These measures have significantly improved the quality of water supplied to the Saratov Reservoir.

“We plan to install membrane filters on the territory of the treatment facilities, which will allow to return the purified water – about 800-1000 m3 per hour – to the technical process,” explains Viktor Kazachkov, Deputy General Director, Director of Technical Policy of Togliattiazot Corporation CJSC.“It will have the properties of desalted water, which is used in the units. The cost of the project is more than five billion rubles. Meanwhile, now we have several stages of chemical treatment to get distilled water from the river water. It is also a costly mechanism, which can be halved in price. We have already made the feasibility study and we understand how to do it, what equipment should be used.”

The company plans to invest its own funds into modernization. Thanks to these developments, river water consumption will be reduced by half.

In addition to taking care of water quality, TOAZ is actively implementing a programme to reproduce biological resources of the Volga River. Fry of carp and other fish species are annually planted in the water area of the Saratov Reservoir. In 2018, the Srednevolzhsky Territorial Administration of the Federal Agency for Fishery included Togliattiazot’s environmental program in the action plan for artificial reproduction of aquatic biological resources.

Thanks to the plant’s environmental policy, not only TOAZ but the whole Samara Region has an opportunity to look into the future with confidence: one of the main enterprises of the region not just continues its operations, but also develops, renews and becomes more efficient, significantly reducing its impact on the environment.