Elektrokhimprom Chirchik Production Association

Elektrokhimprom Chirchik Production Association 

(until 1975, the Chirchik Electrochemical Combine), a unit of the Soiuzazot All-Union Association of the Ministry of the Chemical Industry, located in the city of Chirchik, Tashkent Oblast. It manufactures ammonium nitrate, urea, ammonia water, liquid ammonia, nitric acid, various catalysts, and other products.

The combine was one of the first chemical enterprises in the USSR to be designed by Soviet engineers and outfitted with equipment manufactured in the Soviet Union. Construction was begun in 1936. The first product to be manufactured (November 1940) was ammonium nitrate. The second stage of production facilities was put into service in 1944. It manufactured ammonia by gasifying local coal; since 1961 it has produced ammonia by cracking natural gas from the Bukhara gas fields. A catalyst production plant was put into service in 1949, and a urea production shop in 1964. The main shops have been enlarged and rebuilt several times.

Between 1940 and 1975, production volume increased by a factor of 30, and labor productivity rose by a factor of 9.5. The increases were achieved mainly by introducing new technologies and inventions and by following the recommendations of efficiency experts. The total annual production of the association is valued at 100 million rubles. Products are exported to 12 foreign countries. The association was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1971 and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1943.