Coffeyville, Kan.-Coffeyville Resources Nitrogen Fertilizers said Oct. 1 that it will move up its planned turnaround program at production facilities here after a rupture occurred in a high-pressure Urea Ammonium Nitrate (UAN) vessel shortly after 6:30 p.m. Sept. 30 (GM Oct. 4, p. 1). A biannual turnaround had been planned to begin Tuesday, Oct. 5, and run in stages through Oct. 27. Part of that work will now be pulled forward to minimize impact on production schedules. No employees were injured. Although the incident was heard throughout the area surrounding the plant, no major impacts were reported beyond the facility’s fence line. Any releases were believed to be minimal. The remainder of the plant was brought down in an orderly fashion subsequent to the rupture. Damage was centered at the UAN facility, but no damage estimates were immediately available. Early indications suggest that the gasification and ammonia synthesis plants were not materially impacted. The nitrogen plant is comprised of a 1,225 st/d ammonia unit, a 2,025 st/d UAN unit, and a dual train gasifier complex, each having a capacity of 84 million standard cubic feet per day. However, most of the ammonia goes into UAN production. The entire fertilizer facility will be offline during the turnaround. The company told Green Markets that since the fertilizer plant was already scheduled for a turnaround anyway, that lost production was already planned. The adjacent Coffeyville Resources Refining & Marketing 115,000 barrel per day refinery continues to operate normally. Coffeyville Resources Nitrogen Fertilizers LLC, and Coffeyville Resources Refining & Marketing LLC, are subsidiaries of CVR Energy Inc., Sugar Land, Texas.
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