Atlas Agro, Zug, Switzerland, on Feb. 20 announced that it had awarded a dual competitive engineering contract to two engineering and construction consortiums to perform parallel competitive project engineering development for the company’s first Brazilian green nitrogen fertilizer plant in Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil (GM May 12, 2023).
After this first development phase, Atlas Agro plans to roll the project over into a Front-End Engineering Design study (FEED). The company expects to start construction in 2025 and enter commercial operation in 2028.
“We are excited to start engineering for our first plant in Brazil,” said Knut Karlsen, Atlas Agro’s Co-Founder and President of South America. “Today, Brazil imports more than 90% of its nitrogen fertilizer, all produced using fossil fuels like natural gas and coal. By leveraging the country’s natural advantages in green energy, Brazil can substitute its fossil nitrogen fertilizer imports with local, green production. We in Atlas Agro are excited to contribute to the green re-industrialization of Brazil.”
Atlas Agro’s $850 million plant will consume 2.5 TWh of renewable energy annually and is expected to produce approximately 500,000 mt/y of green ammonium nitrate to serve the region. The company also has a $1.2 billion, 625,000 mt/y green nitrate project in Richland, Wash. (GM Nov. 22, 2023). In addition to the US and Brazil, Atlas Agro is also working closely with partners on project development in Paraguay.