ATOME on June 5 announced the completion of its front-end engineering design (FEED) for the 145 MW green fertilizer plant located in Villeta, Paraguay (GM Jan. 19, p. 25). The FEED study was performed by Spanish engineering firm, Urbas Energy, in cooperation with Casale, the Swiss-based OEM and licensor for ammonia and fertilizer technologies.
“Completion of this complex and detailed FEED study, which we believe is the first for an industrial scale, fully green, fertilizer facility, provides the necessary foundational engineering not only for our first Villeta Project, but for ATOME to apply elsewhere, consolidating our position as an international leader in green fertilizer production,” said CEO Olivier Mussat. “Our immediate attention now turns to offtake and EPC, both of which will allow us to move towards the delivery of FID this year.”
ATOME intends to appoint principal EPC contractors by the end of June 2024 with the definitive contract expected to be signed at the time of FID anticipated later this year. Paraguay granted the project Free-Trade Zone status in November, providing major tax exemptions (GM Nov. 17, 2023).
The plant’s planned production capacity is 264,000 mt/y of green calcium ammonium nitrate, which has the potential to displace up to an estimated 15 million mt of CO2 over the life of the project. Construction is on track to start by the end of 2024 and the project aims to deliver its first low-carbon fertilizer in 2027.