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Iowa Fertilizer on schedule for 2015 completion

  • Mercados: Fertilizers
  • 03/02/15

OCI's Iowa Fertilizer plant in Wever, Iowa, is on schedule to begin producing over 1.5mn st/yr of nitrogen products in late 2015, which will meet much of the region's demand for urea and UAN.

Commissioning of the ammonia unit is expected in August, according to Iowa Fertilizer president Shawn Rana. Engineering and procurement activities are 99pc complete. Commercial operation should begin in November ahead of the 2016 planting season. The $1.9bn project, wholly owned by Netherlands-based OCI NV, broke ground in late 2012.

Annualized nameplate capacity for the plant is 885,147 st/yr gross ammonia, 482,807 st/yr granular urea, 1.7mn st/yr UAN, and 362,106 st/yr Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF). This represents the maximum output of any one product, without running other lines.

The plant has some flexibility in its product mix, but will focus on UAN, likely because it is the most heavily used nitrogen product in that region. Iowa Fertilizer plans to have for sale 220,460 st/yr net ammonia, 1.2mn st/yr UAN, 275,575 st/yr granular urea, and 88,184 st/yr DEF.

The plant could serve most or all of Iowa's UAN and urea demand on its own. The state's UAN consumption was about 1.1mn st in 2011 and 2012, according to Association of American Plant Food Control Officials data. About 190,000st of urea was consumed.

Given the southeast Iowa plant's close proximity to nitrogen-intensive acreage in the Midwest, Rana expects 70pc or more of the plant's output to move via truck. Iowa Fertilizer is also equipped to ship liquid and dry products via rail, which will take the balance of the output.

The project has an in-house sales and marketing group, which is working with fertilizer suppliers in the region. No official offtake agreements have been announced to date.

Iowa's initial DEF output will be less than a third of capacity, but Rana believes the product has a lot of growth potential. "DEF is a product that's time has not yet come," said Rana. The plant will ramp up DEF production as demand warrants.

The project will come online at about the same time as CF Industries' expansion projects at its Port Neal, Iowa, and Donaldsonville, Louisiana sites.

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