All posts by mickeybarb@charter.net

NeuAG to Start AS Shipments in November

Ammonium Sulfate, Featured, News, Specialty, Texas

NeuAG LLC, Freeport, Texas, will be ready to ship ammonium sulfate products from its $90 million Freeport, Texas, storage and distribution center on Nov. 1, 2021.

“Construction is ahead of schedule and under budget,” Greg Caldwell, NeuAG VP of Operations, told Green Markets. “We will be fully operational and starting ammonium sulfate shipments via all modes Nov. 1. Our facility is state-of-the-art. We built this facility to be 100 percent focused on servicing the fertilizer markets with the highest standards of service and quality.”

On Nov. 1, NeuAG will become BASF Corp.’s new exclusive partner to distribute and market ammonium sulfate (approximate 710,000 st/y capacity), which comes from BASF’s caprolactam production (GM Oct. 9, 2020). The new facility is adjacent to the existing BASF complex in Freeport. Construction began in September 2020.

The 100,000-square-foot facility will have 80,000 stof dry ammonium sulfate storage, which will include granular, coarse, and standard grades. Two bulk load-out systems are rated at 250 st/h each. Loading capabilities include truck, rail, barge, and ocean vessel.

The facility also includes a 67,500-square-foot packaging plant and a 57,000-square-foot NPK bulk blending warehouse. In addition to bulk quantities, the facility will have blending and packaging capabilities for bag sizes ranging from 10 to 2,000 pounds. In addition to bulk NPKs, the facility can also produce turf and consumer products that can support a long list of additions, including control release technologies, nitrogen inhibitors, biosolids, soil amendments, herbicides, and insecticides to follow in 1Q 2022.

As it has been building its new facility, NeuAG has been assembling a growing staff to produce and market its product. At full production, the company expects to employ about 130.

Some Western Canada Rail Cars Halted Again on Wildfire Threat

News, News Briefs, Potash, Western Canada

Canadian National Railway Co. told its customers on Wednesday, July 14, that it is temporarily suspending operations in parts of British Columbia due to wildfires, the latest snarl to rail traffic in the region after recent track damage left thousands of cars idled.

As of July 14, CN wasn’t running trains between Kamloops and Lytton, B.C., as there were several fires in the area, according to a letter to customers seen by Bloomberg. CN did not immediately return a request for comment.

This is the second time in just two weeks that rail traffic has been disrupted in the key B.C. corridor. The bulk of exported rail cargo is transported through this area to reach the Port of Vancouver, Canada’s biggest. A June 30 fire in Lytton destroyed the village and damaged tracks operated by CN and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd.

Some train movement resumed last week after repairs to the CP track, but the CN line sustained more significant damage. Meanwhile, the port in Vancouver has been congested with vessels due to the rail car delays.

CN’s latest halt came after B.C. Wildfire Service requested that the company temporarily suspend operations in the area, the letter to customers stated.

“There are also fires raging very close to our track on the Lillooet line running from Vancouver to Prince George via Squamish, and as a result, we will not be running a train today on that line,” the letter states.

Canpotex told Green Markets on July 8 that the situation was “fluid.” At the time, the potash export organization said there have been some rail service disruptions, but that it was working closely with the railway companies to assess the extent of the impacts. The company had no update on July 14, though one knowledgeable source said so far potash delays have only been minor.

In the meantime, on July 14 Saskatchewan officials were weighing the possibility of bringing in firefighters from across the country due to the increasing fire count, according to CBC News. The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) said there were 123 active fires in the province on July 14, up from 107 on July 13.

Incitec Pivot Ltd. – Management Brief

Australia, Management Briefs

Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL), Southbank, Victoria, announced on July 13 that it is implementing changes in its manufacturing model from a global to a regional management structure, as foreshadowed by its fiscal first-half results announcement in May (GM May 21, p. 27).

IPL said the regional model will improve and drive delivery of the company’s manufacturing excellence strategy and ensure “appropriate oversight and support” is provided to its manufacturing operations, particularly while international travel restrictions remain in place.

As part of the transition, IPL Global Manufacturing & HSE President Tim Wall will be leaving IPL, and a global search for a manufacturing lead has begun. For the interim, Regional Manufacturing Vice Presidents will support Braden Lusk, Dyno Nobel Americas’ President, or Greg Hayne, Dyno Nobel Asia Pacific’s President.

The company said that over the past few months, additional resources have been added to the Americas Manufacturing Team to enable the transition to the regional model.

Incitec Pivot Confirms Waggaman Producing at Full Capacity Since June 1

Ammonia, Australia, Louisiana, News, News Briefs

Incitec Pivot Ltd. (IPL), Southbank, Victoria, confirmed on July 13 that its Waggaman, La., ammonia plant restarted and reached full production on June 1, and has since produced nameplate volumes. The Waggaman facility has a nameplate capacity of 800,000 mt/y of ammonia.

Waggaman was offline for a total of 14.5 weeks in IPL’s fiscal first-half, which runs to March 31 (GM May 21, p. 27; May 14, p. 1; April 9, p. 1; Feb. 19, p. 33). The downtime resulted from a combination of planned major turnaround activity and other unplanned outages.

Since then, the plant’s restart process – after it went down again on March 17 as a result of a dry gas seal failure and vibrations in the turbine on the induced draft fan – was halted on May 8, with the restart and subsequent repairs taking three weeks.

As previously announced by the company, an outage of up to three weeks is expected at the Waggaman plant during FY2022 or FY2023 to allow for the installation of a new ammonia cooler.

IPL also reported on July 13 that all of its fiscal first-half plant turnarounds are complete, with the Moranbah, Queensland, ammonium nitrate plant “running reliably.” The Moranbah plant began a scheduled major turnaround in early May.

The company will provide a further operational update on July 29.

IPL this week also provided an update on its manufacturing model and related management changes (see Management Briefs).

Mayo Fertilizer Rebrands as Mayo Ag Services

Florida, News, News Briefs

Mayo Fertilizer, Mayo, Fla., reported that it has completed an extensive rebranding effort to the name Mayo Ag Services. It said the rebranding was in response to accelerated company growth and renewal to its company vision.

“This is a huge milestone for our company,” said Keith Shaw, Mayo Ag Services Vice President. “With this rebrand, we are wanting to continue to grow and evolve, with the hope that this will allow us to continue to serve our valued customers and partners with excellence and confidence.”

Mayo Ag Services, based in North Florida, with operations in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, said it has grown from a small farm supply store to a national corporation that offers dry fertilizer, liquid fertilizer, seed, crop protection products, credit options, and most importantly, sound advice.

Founded in 1957, it is a fourth-generation, family-owned and operated full-service ag supply business. The company credited customers and partners as being instrumental to its success. It said it considers all of them family and continues to strive to serve them well and meet their needs.

The new logo is an evolution of the company’s previous logo, featuring a lion to represent the company’s strength, courage, and tireless determination to be the leading fertilizer company in the industry.

Quad, Kao Reach Distribution Agreement

News, News Briefs

Quad Chemical Corp., Virginia Beach, Va., announced that it has entered into a partnership with Kao Chemicals Europe, Barbara Del Valles, Spain, to create and develop a market within the U.S. for Kao´s fertilizer coating additives.

“Our partnership with Kao will allow us to provide high-performance coating additives to the U.S. fertilizer industry and will enable us to increase our portfolio with high quality products that aligns with our customer focus,” said Sarah Hall, Quad CEO.

“Quad is a great partner, and this agreement exemplifies their dedication to the fertilizer industry in the USA,” said Francesc Fossas, Kao Vice President, Sales & Marketing. “This partnership reflects our desire to expand in the U.S. market as well as underscores our commitment to high quality services for our high-performance coating additives.”

Quad and Kao said they are readily equipped to develop tailor-made solutions to meet the challenges of fertilizer production, storage and transportation. These include identification of optimum additive formulations, evaluation of key properties, and the supporting of industrial process trials and implementation to target free flowing properties. Kao said its additives are specially formulated for all types of fertilizers.

Quad is a privately-held chemical and agricultural products company, marketing and distributing products with a global reach.

Kao Chemicals Europe is a part of Kao Group. In addition to fertilizer coating additives, it also offers oleo chemicals and derivatives, surfactants, high-performance polymers, and others.

Bunge Completes Sale of 35 U.S. Grain Elevators

News, News Briefs

Bunge Ltd., St. Louis, Mo., on July 9 announced that is has completed the previously announced sale of 35 U.S. interior elevators to Zen-Noh Grain Corp., Covington, La., a unit of Japanese cooperative Zen-Noh (GM April 24, 2020).

In order to gain U.S. Department of Justice approval, Zen-Noh was required to divest nine elevators located in five states along the Mississippi River and its tributaries – Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, and Missouri. Zen-Noh agreed to sell 11 elevators to Viserion Grain LLC, Boulder, Colo., a new entrant backed by Pinnacle Asset Management, New York City, or an alternative buyer approved by the U.S. (GM June 4, p. 29).

Premier to Break Ground on New Facility

News, News Briefs

Premier Cooperative, Mt. Horeb, Wisc., plans to break ground on a new storage and distribution center in Lancaster, Wisc., in September, according to The Telegraph Herald. The 21,000 square foot facility will store more than 7,600 st of dry fertilizer and will be constructed adjacent to the company’s existing Ag Center.

The City of Lancaster is reportedly eyeing a tax increment finance district for infrastructure improvements that would include the site.

Haldor Topsoe to Build New Plant in U.S.

News, News Briefs, Scandinavia, Texas

Haldor Topsoe, Lyngby, Denmark, plans to build a new hydroprocessing catalyst plant at the company’s existing Bayport production site in Pasadena, Harris County, Texas. The plant will increase production capacity of Topsoe’s TK catalyst family to meet increasing demand, both in traditional refining and for use with Topsoe’s HydroFlex™ technology for production of renewable diesel and jet fuel. The plant is expected to be fully operational in the first half of 2023.

“We are happy to announce this significant investment, which will reduce lead time and secure stable deliveries of Topsoe’s top-tier hydroprocessing catalysts to our customers in the U.S. and globally. We see increasing demand for our refining catalysts driven by an increasing global demand for clean fuels as well as the surge in renewable diesel production using our world-leading HydroFlex™ technology and our proprietary renewable fuel catalysts,” said Amy Hebert, Topsoe Chief Commercial Officer.

Reward Changes Project Name

Australia, News, News Briefs, Specialty, Sulfate of Potash

Junior sulfate of potash developer Reward Minerals Ltd., Nedlands, Western Australia, reported on July 14 that is has changed the name of its flagship Lake Disappointment Potash Project to Kumpupintil Lake Potash Project. The move follows the formal renaming of Lake Disappointment to Lake Kumpupintil last November.

The company said the word “Disappointment” is not an appropriate description for the lake and does not reflect the native Martu peoples’ ownership and knowledge of their country. The name originated in 1896 when explorer Frank Hann discovered the lake and termed it a disappointment due to its high salinity.

The name “Kumpupintil” describes how the lake was made, and is linked to a Martu creation story where Martu warriors fought mighty giants in an epic battle.