LSB Industries Inc. said Feb. 6 that its chemical plant facility located in Pryor, Okla., completed a planned improvement project to increase anhydrous ammonia production levels. This project began on Jan. 3, 2012 and was completed on Feb. 3, 2012 during which time the plant was not in production.
LSB said the permitted production level of ammonia at the plant is 700 short tons per day, but due to production limitations caused by restrictions in the flow of process gas through heat exchangers and other mechanical restrictions, the ammonia plant was unable to sustain production above 500 st/d during 2011. The primary purpose of the improvement project was to correct those restrictions. Management believes this was accomplished and that production lost during the improvement project should be more than offset during the balance of 2012. During this period, Pryor took advantage of the downtime to correct certain other identified mechanical issues which should minimize downtime later in the year.