CF Industries Holdings Inc. announced on Dec. 16 that the new urea plant at the company’s Donaldsonville Nitrogen Complex in Louisiana has been operating since Nov. 17, 2015, and has achieved consistent, stable operation. The plant has produced more than 80,000 tons of granular urea since start-up, CF reported.
“Start-up of the new urea plant in Donaldsonville is a significant milestone in our capacity expansion projects and for the future of CF,” said Tony Will, CF’s president and CEO. “Donaldsonville will play a key role as we become an even larger global supplier of nitrogen-based fertilizer. Its increased capacity, along with its unmatched logistics capability, will allow us to serve customers in North America and around the world in the most efficient way possible while providing attractive returns for shareholders.”
This is the first plant to be commissioned and started up as part of CF’s major capacity expansion projects in North America, CF said, and the first new world-scale urea plant to be completed in North America since 1998. Upon completion of the capacity expansion project, the Donaldsonville Nitrogen Complex will be the largest nitrogen facility in the world. Output for urea at Donaldsonville in 2016 is expected to range from 2.2-3.2 million product tons depending on product mix, up from an average annual product of 1.7 million tons currently.