All posts by hlancey@bloomberg.net

FuelPositive Updates Progress, Delays Delivery

Canada, Green Ammonia, News Briefs

Green ammonia tech developer FuelPositive Corp., Waterloo, Ont., on Feb. 6 reported that while it remains on track to deliver its first green ammonia commercial system in early Spring 2024, the updated delivery date has been pushed back to April 15 from the earlier March 31 date (GM Dec. 8, 2023) due to additional safety verification steps.

The first FP300 system (100 mt/y) has officially been moved to FuelPositive’s new 15,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for the Factory Acceptance Test (FAT). The FAT is the final approval step before delivery and on-farm installation.

FuelPositive has invited customer-farmers to visit its facilities throughout March 2024. The first customers, Tracy and Curtis Hiebert from Manitoba (GM Sept. 22, 2022), will complete the FAT and receive training on their initial FP300 system. The company has announced the introduction of a performance guarantee on operating costs (OPEX) and production output for the early adopters of FuelPositive technology.

The company said it will focus its initial sales efforts in Manitoba, capitalizing on the green grid, numerous qualifying farmers, and strong government support. The company is also focusing on commercializing the FP1500 system in response to global inquiries from farms of 10,000 acres and larger. This system produces 500 mt/y of green ammonia, five times more than the FP300, while maintaining a similar footprint and offering a more cost-effective rate per mt.

FuelPositive reported that it is developing a method to collect carbon credits in real-time while also focusing on the emission-free combustion of green ammonia. It said the monetization method will be linked to real-time trading platforms, allowing FuelPositive to help offset its customer’s operational and capital costs.

FuelPositive said it has secured an additional C$550,000 in the final tranche of its current financing, which is expected to close in the next several days. This brings the total raised in this placement to $1.9 million. It said the financing will give the company essential funding for final testing, intellectual property advancements, and growth plans.

The company said it has recently recruited its first Director of Sales, who will join the team this month. It has already added a Controller, a Senior Purchaser, an Engineer of Record, and a Senior Electrical Engineer to the team in the last two months, and is in the final stages of selecting public and media relations firms, with the announcement expected in late February.

In other news, FuelPositive said it has been selected as an International Industry Innovation Leader and a “Living Lab” by NICCEE (the Global Nitrogen Innovation Center for Clean Energy and the Environment). It said NICCEE involves collaborators from eight countries, including academia, NGOs, international organizations, government agencies, and private companies.

“NICCEE recognition highlights our innovative technology and commitment to responsible green ammonia use, showcasing FuelPositive’s holistic approach to mitigating and eliminating all agricultural greenhouse gas emissions,” said Luna Clifford, FuelPositive’s Chief Impact Officer. “The work that NICCEE is doing is vital to addressing one of the planet’s most volatile greenhouse gas emissions. It is a critical and timely undertaking.”

Pivot Bio Opens Customer Success Center

News Briefs, Nitrogen

Microbial nitrogen provider Pivot Bio, Berkeley, Calif., on Feb. 2 announced the opening of its new $14 million, 36,000-square-foot Customer Success Center in the Iowa State University Research Park. The company said the facility underscores its commitment to developing microbial nitrogen solutions that allow farmers to reduce their reliance on synthetic fertilizers.

The facility will serve as Pivot Bio’s commercial hub for its microbial nitrogen products, as well as an education and collaboration nexus for farmers, researchers, and industry experts.

The building also includes approximately 15,000 square feet of open high bay that will support work on agronomy equipment. This will include hands-on training and calibration for seed treatment equipment that supports the continued scaling of the company’s PROVEN® 40 on-seed product. Launched last year, the on-seed product now makes up most of Pivot Bio’s sales and allows corn farmers to plant seeds with up to 25% of the nitrogen fertilizer needs already in place.

Pivot Bio said it collaborated on an independent research study with ISU and the Iowa Nutrient Research and Education Council in 2022 that demonstrated how PROVEN® 40 microbial nitrogen can increase biomass in corn plants, contributing to healthier, more productive crops while reducing nitrous oxide emissions and synthetic nitrogen losses due to leaching.

Garabogaz Achieves Record Production in 2023

Ammonia, Argentina, Asia, News Briefs, Turkey, Urea

Turkmenhimiya’s Garabogaz plant, Turkmenistan’s flagship urea production facility, achieved record production of 1.032 million mt/y in 2023, according to a report by News Central Asia. Exports of urea from the plant increased by 120% in 2023, to 828,000 mt,

The Garabogaz ammonia-urea complex, located some 3.5 kilometers east of Garabogaz city on the Caspian Sea coast, has a nameplate capacity of 1.15 million mt/y of urea and 660,000 mt/y of ammonia. It was commissioned in 2018 (GM Sept. 21, 2018) and is the largest urea plant in Central Asia.

Turkmenhimiya also produces urea at the Mary plant in the south of the country. The plant has a nameplate capacity of 400,000 mt/y of ammonia and 640,000 mt/y of urea. Due to the country being landlocked, Turkmen granular urea is exported via the Georgian ports of Poti and Batumi, with top destinations including, Turkey, Argentina, Uruguay, and the EU.

Reward Minerals Calls Trading Halt

Australia, News Briefs, Sulfate of Potash

Junior Australian sulfate of potash (SOP) producer Reward Minerals Ltd. has been placed in a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), at the request of the company, pending the release of an announcement in relation to its proposed acquisition of the Beyondie SOP project and the associated entitlement offer.

The voluntary suspension commenced at the start of trading on Feb. 7 and will remain in place until the earlier of the release of the company announcement or Feb. 12, according to Reward’s Feb. 7 ASX filing.

Reward on Jan. 25 closed a 2-to-1 renounceable entitlement offer seeking to raise A$22.785 million (approximately $15.3 million at current exchange rates) before costs to fund the acquisition of the SOP project, located some 160 kilometers southeast of Newman in Western Australia (GM Jan. 12, p. 30).

The SOP junior in early December signed a binding share sale agreement with McGrathNicol, the receivers and managers of Beyondie’s former developer, Kalium Lakes Ltd., to acquire the project for a total consideration of A$20 million (GM Dec. 8, 2023).

NeuRizer, Samsung Eye Potential Urea Offtake

Australia, News Briefs, Urea

Aspiring Australian urea producer NeuRizer Ltd. (formerly Leigh Creek Energy) reported on Feb. 6 that it has signed a term sheet for “the negotiation in good faith” of a sales and marketing agreement with South Korea’s Samsung C&T Corp. for the Australian urea market.

The proposed deal covers a five-year term from first production at NeuRizer’s Leigh Creek urea plant under development in South Australia, and provides for, among other things, the marketing by and sale to Samsung of up to 100,000 mt/y of granular urea, which by mutual agreement may be increased to up to 300,000 mt/y.

The proposed deal is in addition to the already signed offtake agreement NeuRizer has with South Korea’s Daelim Co. Ltd. subsidiary DL Trading for up to 500,000 mt/y (GM July 8, 2022) for the export market. Daelim Co. is a long-term strategic partner and shareholder in NeuRizer.

NeuRizer said the agreement with Samsung “is complimentary to the agreement with DL Trading,” and means that the combined amount of production accounted for will be up to 800,000 mt/y of urea upon signing of a definitive agreement with Samsung. The Adelaide-based company said there is no guarantee that a definitive agreement will be reached with Samsung, and the term sheet will remain valid until execution of a definitive agreement or termination of the term sheet.

The Leigh Creek plant is planned to have an initial capacity of 1 million mt/y of urea and would utilize in-situ gasification (ISG) based on coal from the decommissioned Leigh Creek coal mine some 550 kilometers north of Adelaide (GM Aug. 5, 2022).

NeuRizer said it is nearing the completion of the Bankable Feasibility Study for the project, with the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) finalized. Upon completing the Final Investment Decision criteria, detailed plant design will start under the company’s EPCC contract with Daelim subsidiary DL E&C.

Shell, Partners to Supply Gas to Dangote

Natural Gas, News Briefs, Nigeria

The Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria (SPDC) has made a final investment decision to build a natural gas facility in Lagos which will supply some 100 million standard cut feet per day to the Dangote Fertilizer and Petrochemical complex for a ten-year period.

The gas will come from the Iseni gas field in the state of Bayelsa. SPDC venture partners include the Nigerian National Petroleum Co. Ltd., TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Ltd., and Nigeria Agip Oil Co. More details as to cost and a timeline were not immediately available.

EPC Deal Progresses for Kore Potash Project

China, News Briefs, Potash

Junior miner Kore Potash plc, which is developing the Kola and DX Potash Projects in the Sintoukola Basin in the Republic of Congo, announced on Feb. 9 that PowerChina International Group Ltd. delivered its Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) proposal and draft EPC contract for the Kola Project.

Kore said the initial EPC contract price aligns with expectations and reconfirms the capital cost detailed in an earlier optimization study (GM July 1, 2022). The EPC was delivered on Feb. 6.

Kore Potash and China’s SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corp./PowerChina will now further negotiate the EPC proposal and draft the EPC contract, targeting signing full EPC documentation by the end of April 2024.

Kore said the Summit Consortium has advised that the financing proposal for the total construction cost of Kola will be provided to the company within six weeks of EPC documentation terms finalization. Kore inked a Memorandum of Understanding with Summit in 2021 (GM April 9, 2021).

The Kola Project, which is to be designed and constructed as a conventional underground potash mine and processing plant, will have capacity to produce 2.2 million mt/y of granular potash over an initial 31-year life. The granular potash produced will be at a minimum quality of 95.3% KCl in line with international standards.

The capital cost to construct Kola has been put at $1.83 billion, with a construction period of 40 months, according to Kore Potash.

Tecnimont Awarded FEED for Portuguese Plant

Europe, Green Ammonia, Green Hydrogen, News Briefs, Nitrogen

Milan-based Maire SpA announced that Tecnimont (Integrated E&C Solutions) has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract by the MadoquaPower2X consortium to develop an integrated green hydrogen and green ammonia plant located in the industrial zone of Sines, Portugal.

MadoquaPower2X is a consortium comprised of Portuguese company Madoqua Renewables, The Netherlands-based Power2X, and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), through its Energy Transition Fund.

The project is targeting the production of green hydrogen using alkaline-water electrolyzer technology for the production of up to 1,200 mt/d of green ammonia through the Haber-Bosch process. The green ammonia will be transported by pipeline to the Port of Sines and loaded for export to northwestern Europe and/or used as maritime fuel.

Tecnimont’s scope of work entails the design of the electrolyzers’ integration, air separation unit for nitrogen production, ammonia production plant, as well as storage and ship loading facilities, Maire announced on Feb. 5.

As part of the agreement, Tecnimont will also submit an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) proposal for the construction activities of the plant. Maire said the Final Notice to Proceed is expected by March 22 this year. The award follows a PRE-FEED carried out by NextChem Tech, Maire’s Sustainable Technology Solutions subsidiary.

Stamicarbon Gets Contract for China Urea Plant

China, News Briefs, The Netherlands, Urea

Italy’s Maire SpA reported that its NextChem (Sustainable Technology Solutions) subsidiary, through its Netherlands-based nitrogen technology licensor Stamicarbon BV, has been awarded licensing and equipment supply contracts for a urea melt plant in China by Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co.

The plant, to be located in Zhangjiagang in the Jiangsu province, will have a capacity of 1,860 mt/d and use Stamicarbon’s Ultra-Low Energy (ULE) design.

Maire said the proprietary ULE design, launched in 2012, allows for heat supply in the form of high-pressure steam to be used three times instead of two. According to Maire, this heat recovery scheme results in a 35% reduction in steam consumption and a 16% decrease in cooling water use compared to the traditional CO2 stripping process.

The Jinjiang Xinlianxin and Hubei Sanning plants in China already use the ULE design and have been in operation since 2021.

Bayer Loses Roundup Appeal

Germany, News Briefs

Bayer AG on Feb. 5 suffered a blow to its efforts to put a lid on the expensive and long-running litigation over its Roundup weedkiller. In an opinion issued in John D. Carson v. Monsanto Co., the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the German company’s argument that federal law on pesticide labels trumps state court claims from plaintiffs who say Roundup should come with a cancer warning.

The decision makes it harder for Bayer to overcome thousands of outstanding lawsuits that are complicating new CEO Bill Anderson’s efforts to turn the company around. Bayer’s shares fell as much as 1.7% in early trading on Feb. 6, bringing their decline over the past 12 months to 52%. They were up 0.5% to €28.72 ($30.82) at 3:30 p.m. in Frankfurt.

The ruling is a setback to Bayer’s hopes that the US Supreme Court will review the matter and could raise pressure on the company to change its litigation strategy and settle more suits, according to Bloomberg Intelligence’s Justin Teresi. The total cost of the Roundup litigation is likely to grow beyond the $16 billion that Bayer earmarked for it, he said.

Bayer still has an appeal pending before the 3rd Circuit, where it is also arguing that federal law preempts state-based claims. The argument is based on the EPA’s finding that glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient, isn’t a carcinogen and the fact that EPA approved the Roundup label without a warning.

Bayer disagrees with the 11th Circuit decision, the company said in a statement, arguing that it contradicts Supreme Court precedent and Congress’s “objective of uniformity in pesticide labeling.” Bayer, which maintains that Roundup is safe, is considering its options in the case and will continue to seek a Supreme Court review, the company said.

The case stems from a lawsuit filed by a consumer who used the popular weedkiller for decades and then developed cancer, alleging that Roundup caused his disease and claiming failure to warn of the product’s risks.

Brent Wisner, a California-based attorney who has helped several plaintiffs win Roundup cases against Bayer, said in a statement that the decision was expected. “Hiding behind the EPA is not valid,” he said.