Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL), Southbank, said it is working closely with Australia’s Federal Government to undertake a manufacturing assessment to produce technical grade urea and expand AdBlue production at its Gibson Island plant in Brisbane.
The group has mobilized “expert teams” to work on expanding manufacturing capability and increase the country’s supply of AdBlue, according to a Dec. 20 company statement.
IPL currently supplies around 10 percent of the Australian market for AdBlue solution and is the only Australian manufacturer to make the solution from urea melt. The company said earlier this month it was investigating ways it could increase manufacturing capacity of the urea used to make AdBlue (GM Dec. 10, p. 29).
Australia is facing a domestic supply crunch for AdBlue solution that is threatening to bring the country’s transport industry to a halt. The country has been turning to the international market to try and alleviate some of the deficit (GM Dec. 17, p. 17). Australia is heavily reliant on diesel trucks, which use the product as an additive to reduce levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution from their engines.
Around 90 percent of the Australian AdBlue market is reliant on imports of technical grade urea. China typically supplies around 80 percent of that urea, but supply has dried up since China imposed restrictions on its urea exports.
Worries about the current AdBlue supply shortages in the country have been compounded by the impending closure of IPL’s Gibson Island plant at Brisbane at the end of next year (GM Nov. 12, p. 1).
IPL said its plans to expand technical grade urea production will not impact its supply of fertilizer-grade urea to Australia’s agricultural sector.