LoraxAg LLC, a small start-up company based in Marlborough, Mass., has big plans for a $1.6 billion plant to gasify low-grade coal to make fertilizer. According to LoraxAg President Mike Farina, the undertaking has already attracted a couple of local experienced technology executives, as well as Michael Sununu, the son of former New Hampshire Governor and White House Chief of Staff John Sununu.
Farina said the principals are already at work getting ready for the project engineering phase and laying the groundwork for construction, which is expected to start in two years in either Kentucky or Illinois. He declined to be more specific, but described this part of the project as “an open competition [to find] the best location for both the project and what is most valuable from an economic development aspect.” Farina said each meets the requirements of being both in the area that produces the kind of coal – high sulfur with low to medium BTU – that is required, and in the farm belt, which uses a lot of fertilizer.
Both urea and ammonia will be produced from the CO2 and the hydrogen from gasification, along with sulfuric acid for industrial users. Also, the two sites are both on navigable rivers – the Mississippi and Ohio – with busy ports already accustomed to handling both coal and fertilizer.
The plant will use coal gasification technology from Siemens AG, Farina said, adding that Siemens Financial Services Inc., the German giant’s investment arm, has been supportive. Once the initial financing is secured, he reported, LoraxAg will start building staff. They expect to have up to 18 employees on board shortly as the project moves into the project engineering phase. Ultimately, the plant will produce some of its own power as a result of the gasification process, which likewise is substantially more environmentally sustainable than conventional fertilizer manufacturing.