US CF Industries signs gasification plant deal

30 July 2007 23:22  [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--US fertilizer company CF Industries has signed an agreement with Uhde to proceed with engineering to develop a gasification plant in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, the company said on Monday.

The plant will be in CF's nitrogen complex at Donaldsonville. The planned facility will produce hydrogen and carbon dioxide from a mixture of petroleum coke and coal.

This would replace the hydrogen being produced from natural gas at two of the complex's  four anhydrous ammonia plants.

"We have identified the reduction of CF Industries' dependence on North American natural gas as a strategic priority," said CF chief executive Stephen Wilson.

"This gasification project at North America's largest nitrogen complex has the potential to reduce that dependence significantly and to provide important cost and operating advantages," he said.

The engineering agreement will include a front-end engineering and design study, which should take up to six months to complete, the company said. If the study confirms CF's financial expectations, the company will proceed with detailed engineering.

Construction could start during the second half of 2009, CF said. Operations could begin in late 2012.  No cost estimate for the plant project was provided.

By: Al Greenwood
+1 713 525 2653

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