Calgary—Agrium Inc.’s Carseland, Alberta, nitrogen plant, which has been down for maintenance, returned to production March 23, 2012. The company said it is currently operating at 80 percent of capacity and lost some 56,000 mt of urea due to the five-week outage. In other news, Agrium confirms that there has been positive movement toward the start-up of the MOPCO nitrogen complex in Egypt, which was idled late last year due to local unrest and complaints about environmental concerns regarding the expansion at the facility. However, to date, there is not an official start-up date for the complex, which is 26 percent owned by Agrium.

Carlsbad, N.M.—The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), after taking more than two years assessing the environmental impacts, has given the go-ahead to Intrepid Potash Inc.’s plan to extract by solution mining the potash remaining in an inactive underground mine in the Carlsbad area. No one was available at Intrepid’s Denver headquarters to comment, but before the BLM decided the project required an environmental impact study (EIS), company officials indicated that the HB Solar Solution Mine, located 20 miles northeast of Carlsbad in Eddy County, could yield 150-200,000 tons of additional low-cost potash production in approximately two years. According to BLM, approval of the project was based on all of the alternatives analyzed in the project’s environmental impact statement and public comments received. The main environmental concern involved the source of and impact of water supplies required for the project’s solar ponds, which at peak usage is estimated to be approximately 2,000 gallons per minute over seven years. “Obviously the project required a lot of water, and we had to determine how much and what would be the impacts,” reported BLM Project Manager David Alderman, pointing out that some small amounts could be recovered and reused in the processing plant, but the majority would be lost from the evaporation ponds. BLM agreed in the EIS that the remaining potash in the underground pillars and walls of the inactive workings is no longer accessible through conventional methods. The Intrepid plan calls for injecting saline water into the mine workings and extracting the saturated mineral solution. This mineral-rich solution will then be pumped to the surface and transported through a series of surface pipelines to evaporation ponds. Once the solution evaporates in the ponds, the potassium-bearing salts will be harvested from the ponds and transported to a newly constructed mill for ore refinement. “The BLM has carefully reviewed the proposed project and determined that this project meets BLM’s requirement for balanced management of public lands” said Jim Stovall, BLM’s Carlsbad Field Manager. “The project allows for the development of potash minerals while protecting other resource values including air quality, water quality, wildlife, cave resources, and cultural resources.” Intrepid earlier indicated that it planned to hit the ground running with respect to developing the solutions mine once BLM approval was received.

Miami—BioNitrogen Corp., the upstart company with big plans to build modular biomass-to-urea plants, is on the global prowl. Last week the company signed a non-circumvent and non-disclosure agreement with Manuelita Corp. S.A.S., of Cali, Colombia, relating to a potential partnership arrangement. The purpose of the agreement is to provide Manuelita technical and economic confidential information in an upcoming visit to Texas and Florida, which Manuelita will then utilize to evaluate, analyze, and potentially sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) containing terms and conditions for a joint venture regarding the production of fertilizers in Latin America. Earlier in the month, BioNitrogen contracted Granherne Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of KBR Inc., for the engineering development of the inaugural urea plant in Lubbock, Texas. It is anticipated that the project will take about 12 weeks at a cost of approximately $380,000, and will establish finalized guidelines and templates for BioNitrogen’s urea production plants worldwide. Granherne’s scope of work for the basic engineering will be to incorporate BioNitrogen’s existing patent pending engineering and technical work to establish the next-steps and protocols required for BioNitrogen to construct their planned Lubbock plant.

Houston—Two workers overcome by fumes March 27 while inside a 2,000-gallon truck-mounted hydroseeding tank were rescued and taken to a hospital by emergency responders, apparently with only minor injuries. A brief statement from the Houston fire department said that the two men were overcome by fumes while conducting mechanical repairs inside the tank at Aqualawn Hydromulch. The tank is apparently used to transport a mixture of mulch, seed, and fertilizer for commercial landscaping projects. One worker was able to get out on his own, while fire department rescue teams had to assist the other individual out of the tank. Hazardous material teams determined the chemical was hydrogen sulfide. The two men were given oxygen and washed off; although injuries at first appeared not serious, both men were transported to the hospital for a checkup. Officials said the men were semi-conscious, but there was no word from the hospital on their conditions or when they would be released. No other problems were reported, and the scene was cleared a little over a half hour later.

Dublin, Ohio—Nearly one year after buying the Scotts Professional unit, Israel Chemicals Ltd. (ICL) held a grand opening of its new headquarters and research and development facility for the renamed specialty business – now Everris – in Dublin, Ohio, on Feb. 27. Yossi Zidon, CEO of ICL Specialty Fertilizers, Fred Bosch, CEO of Everris, and Ariana Cohen, president of Everris Americas, presided over a ribbon cutting ceremony. Steve Lombardo, manager of research and development for Everris Americas, led tours of the new facilities, including an in-depth look at the laboratory’s capabilities. “This new lab will serve as a key resource for both field technical services and field salespeople,” Lombardo said. “This space has all the features we need to conduct both present and future product analysis and development.” Everris will formulate its new and existing plant protection products at this lab, as well as coat and blend its new and improved controlled release fertilizers. Technical specialists will also benchmark release profiles for products from Everris and its competitors at these facilities, leveraging their findings to develop new formulas and optimize existing ones. “This marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Everris,” Zidon said. “These new facilities reflect ICL’s long-term commitment to Everris, its team members and its customers. I have every reason to believe that this grand opening is just one of many successes we will have to celebrate.”

Pasadena, Calif.—Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has received a contract from Teck Metals Ltd. to design and supply a new sulfuric acid plant for its Trail operation located in British Columbia, Canada. Officials estimate the contract value to be approximately $50 million. The new acid plant is replacing two aging plants at the site and is expected to improve operating reliability and flexibility, reduce downtime and maintenance costs, and improve environmental performance. The contract includes the design of the complete sulfuric acid plant contact section, including a catalytic DeNO(x) system, as well as supply of all equipment and the majority of materials. The plant includes Jacobs’ proprietary Chemetics® equipment throughout, including stainless steel converter (with dual internal exchangers), radial flow gas-gas exchangers, acid coolers, and SARAMET® distributors and piping. The bulk of the proprietary equipment is being fabricated at Jacobs’ facility in Pickering, Ont. “We have been working together with Teck Trail Operations for many years on a variety of projects, and we are delighted that Teck has selected our technology for its new acid plant,” said Andy Kremer, Jacobs Group vice president. “We look forward to expanding our relationship with Trail Operations as the project is executed.” Trail Operations includes one of the world’s largest fully integrated zinc and lead smelting and refining complexes, a two-thirds interest in the Waneta hydroelectric dam, and ownership of the dam’s transmission system. The metallurgical operations produce refined zinc and lead, as well as a variety of precious and specialty metals, chemicals, and fertilizer products.