A proposed air quality permit that would allow Magnida Inc. (Magnolia Nitrogen Idaho) to build and operate a $2 billion nitrogen fertilizer plant on 540 acres near American Falls has been reviewed by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ). IDEQ has determined construction and operation according to the permit would not cause or significantly contribute to violating any ambient air quality standard and would not injure or unreasonably affect human life, animal life, or vegetation.
The plant would use 85 million standard cubic feet of natural gas per day as a feedstock to produce up to 2,500 st/d of liquid ammonia for use in making up to 4,100 st/d of granulated urea, up to 2,900 st/d of UAN, and up to 1,050 st/d of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF). DEF is 32.5 percent urea solution and 67.5 percent water by weight.
There may be periods when only ammonia is produced, the application said. The complex will include an elevated, open flare serving both an ammonia plant and a urea plant. A granular urea warehouse will be able to store 112,500 st.
The plant will include 16 storage vessels. An ammonia storage tank’s capacity will be 33,000 tons. Nitric acid will be stored in a tank of 444,000 gallons. UAN solution will be stored in four tanks, each with a capacity of about 9.8 million gallons. DEF will be stored in one tank with a capacity of about 6.5 million gallons. Three tanks will store diesel and gasoline. Six will store raw materials.
The application showed Magnida planned to start on-site construction activities later this year on land zoned heavy industrial next to ConAgra’s Lamb-Weston potato processing plant. The company plans to start operating the fertilizer plant in 2017. It acquired senior industrial water rights for about 5.5 million gallons of groundwater per day from FMC, which closed its elemental phosphorus plant in east Power County about 13 years ago.
Magnida officials have said the company has secured $500 million for a down payment, but still needs to confirm $1 billion to $1.5 billion in additional financing by December for the project to proceed.
The application noted the Magnida plant is not suitable for permanent carbon dioxide storage. Capture of CO2, however, from a stripping unit is considered technically feasible. Magnida estimates carbon capture and storage will run about $26 million per year.
Sulfuric acid will be used for treating water used for cooling purposes and as process feedstock. Two wet cooling towers would have nominal capacity of 121,000 gallons and 985 gallons per minute.
It is anticipated the project will employ an average of 1,500 workers during the three years of construction. Upon completion of construction, about 175 skilled permanent jobs will be created for the plant’s ongoing operation. Including indirect and induced job growth, the plant may increase local employment by as much as 300 to 400 permanent jobs.
Facility-wide air emissions from Magnida’s plant would include four tons per year of sulfur dioxide, 34 t/y of hazardous air pollutants, 83 t/y of volatile organic compounds, 140 t/y of carbon monoxide, 170 t/y of nitrogen oxides, 346 t/y of ammonia, 446 t/y of particulates and 1.94 million t/y of greenhouse gases, the permit application states.
IDEQ is seeking public comment on the proposed permit. A public hearing for written and oral comments will be at 5:30 p.m. April 2, at the American Falls Public Library. The deadline for submitting written comments to IDEQ is 5 p.m., April 4.