Berezniki Potassium Combine

a large enterprise for the production of potassium fertilizers in the city of Berezniki, Perm’ Oblast. It is based on the upper Kama deposits of potassium salts. The first production line was put into operation in July 1954 and the second, on Nov. 30, 1963. It produces crystallized and flotation potassium chloride, synthetic carnallite, fertilizer mixtures (for vegetable, floral, and fruit and berry crops), ground sylvinite, industrial common salt, and brine. The combine includes a mine and concentrating mills; it is a base for the development, testing, and introduction of new techniques and technology for the potassium industry of the western Urals. New machines are tested and completed at the combine, and new technological processes for potassium plants under construction are checked out. Procedures introduced at the combine are a fan-blower process for breaking down sylvinite ore in the mine, the production of potassium chloride in uncaked form, a flotation method of obtaining potassium chloride, drying of potassium in a “fluidized bed,” and the production of coarse-grained flotation potassium chloride. Between 1954 and 1968 production of potassium fertilizers in the combine rose by a factor of 11.2