US CF to start up Port Neal urea, ammonia plants in late 2016

LONDON (ICIS)–US-based fertilizer producer CF Industries is in the process of starting up its new Port Neal plant and expects the urea and ammonia units to start production in late 2016, the company said in a press release late on Wednesday.

The producer said gas has been introduced into its new ammonia plant at Port Neal in Iowa, and production is expected to begin shortly.

The urea plant was commissioned in parallel with the ammonia plant and its granulation unit effectively tested in September 2016, said the company.

The Port Neal plant has the capacity to produce 900,000 tonnes/year of ammonia and 1.4m tonnes/year of urea.

The producer’s other major expansion has been at Donaldsonville, where urea production started up in November 2015 and urea ammonium nitrate solution (UAN) in March 2016. The ammonia plant went on stream in September 2016.

In Donaldsonville, the 1.4m-tonne/year plant is producing at 110-115% of nameplate capacity and the 1.8m-tonne/year UAN plant at 120% capacity. The 1.3m-tonne/year ammonia plant is operating at nameplate capacity with additional rate increases expected in coming weeks, the company said.

The total cost of the capacity expansion projects, at Donaldsonville and Port Neal, is estimated at around $5.2bn.

The Port Neal urea and ammonia plants are the final two plants of the company’s capacity expansion plans.