Koch Fertilizer, Wichita, has updated the status of its plant upgrades. At the $150 million Enid, Okla., upgrade (GM March 12, 2021), the construction is complete on the new rail tracks and nearly complete on the new anhydrous ammonia truck loading racks. Koch installed some of the urea expansion equipment during the June 2021 turnaround, and the remaining construction is underway. Total project completion is anticipated later this year.
These Enid improvements, combined with the previous expansion, will allow the facility to supply up to 1.8 million st of ammonia upgrade products (urea, DEF urea solution, SuperU® fertilizer, and UAN) annually, according to Koch. The previous capacity was in excess of 1.5 million st/y, according to earlier reports (GM Sept. 6, 2019).
The current Enid investment builds on the $1.3 billion Enid expansion and modernization improvements made from 2014-2017 (GM Oct. 20, 2017). The centerpiece of that expansion was a new 900,000 st/y urea plant. The company also added 90,000 st of urea storage, an electric power substation, and DEF production, and tripled its SuperU production capacity.
Koch’s $140 million expansion at Fort Dodge, Iowa, is expected to be fully operational later this year. It includes an 85,000 st/y increase in ammonia capacity (GM Nov. 20, 2020). However, Koch said that a separate project, a new two-million-gallon ammonium thiosulfate (ATS) terminal at Fort Dodge that was announced last May (GM May 21, 2021), is complete and operational.
The $90 million Beatrice, Neb., expansion was completed and commissioned in the fall of 2021. It included an additional 75,000 st/y of UAN capacity (GM Nov. 13, 2020).