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November 5, 2012
Uhde wins mega contract for fertilizer plants in the U.S.
Gerald Ondrey
ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH (Uhde; Dortmund, Germany; www.uhde.eu) has, through its U.S. business partner, Uhde Corporation of America (Pittsburgh, Pa.), been selected by CF Industries, one of the world's leading fertilizer producers, to provide engineering and supply services for two fertilizer complexes in the U.S.
CF Industries announced on 1 November 2012 that it will construct new ammonia and urea/UAN production units at its complex in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, and new ammonia and urea units at its complex in Port Neal, Iowa. Overall expenditure on the projects will total $3.8 billion.
The $2.1-billion project budget for expansion of the fertilizer complex in Donaldsonville encompasses an ammonia plant with a capacity of 3,300 metric tons per day (m.t./d) of ammonia, a urea plant with a capacity of 3,500 m.t./d of urea, a nitric acid plant with a capacity of 1,520 m.t./d of nitric acid and a UAN plant with a capacity of 4,500 m.t./d of UAN solution. The ammonia, nitric acid and UAN plants will be based on the highly efficient Uhde processes while the urea plant will employ the synthesis process belonging to Stamicarbon of the Netherlands. The urea and UAN plants are scheduled to come on stream in the second half of 2015 and the new ammonia plant in 2016.
Alongside expansion of the fertilizer complex in Donaldsonville, CF Industries is also increasing its fertilizer capacities in Port Neal, Iowa. Here, it plans to build an ammonia plant with a capacity of 2,200 m.t./d, a urea plant with a capacity of 3,500 m.t./d and a urea granulation unit with a capacity of 3,500 m.t./d. Port Neal is a strategically important location in the center of the U.S. bread basket in western Iowa. The budget for this capacity expansion is $1.7 billion with the new plants scheduled to come on stream in 2016.
For both fertilizer complexes Uhde will be responsible for the basic engineering, detail engineering, procurement and supply services, as well as providing services during construction and commissioning.
