Swedish green technology company Cinis Fertilizer will invest 1 billion Swedish kronor ($89.4 million) in a new 300,000 mt/y sulfate of potash (SOP) production plant in Hopkinsville, Ky., after signing a 10-year agreement with US battery material manufacturer Ascend Elements, Westborough, Mass.
Ascend is currently building a new battery plant in Hopkinsville and it will supply Cinis with 240,000 mt/y of input sodium sulfate starting in 2026.
Cinis expects to begin SOP production in 2026. It has signed a letter of intent with Germany’s K+S Minerals regarding the offtake of the finished product. In addition, K+S will supply potassium chloride from its mine in Saskatchewan.
Cinis and K+S also have offtake and supply agreements in Sweden (GM Sept. 8, p. 26; July 1, 2022), where Cinis is currently building its first production facility, which has a planned start early next year. A second Swedish facility, in Skelleftea, is scheduled to start production in mid-2025. Cinis plans to have 1.5 million mt/y of SOP capacity by the end of 2030 at six facilities, three of which are now designated.
“In the past year, we have experienced massive international interest in our environmentally friendly fertilizer, where circularity and fossil-free production are key,” said Cinis Founder and CEO Jakob Liedberg. “For manufacturers of batteries, it is important that the entire production chain meets high requirements for resource efficiency and environmental friendliness. The agreement with Ascend Elements in addition with the letter of intent with K+S, which includes the purchase of our full plant production capacity, gives us the confidence we need to establish Cinis Fertilizer on the American market.”
The facility will be built in close vicinity to Ascend’s operations in Hopkinsville, which entails cost-effective logistics solutions. Cinis has entered into an agreement with the city of Hopkinsville regarding the purchase of land for the plant and has begun discussions with a regional power supplier regarding the supply of fossil-free electricity.
“The fast growth of industrial in connection with the Inflation Reduction Act, currently taking place in USA contributes to our decision to carry out Cinis Fertilizer’s expansion in North America,” Liedberg added. “This was further strengthened by the great interest shown by prominent investors in their recent investments in Ascend Elements.”
Cinis said it will produce the world’s most environmentally friendly mineral fertilizer by recycling industrial waste products from the car battery manufacturing industry as well as the pulp and paper industry. It said the patent protected technology will use half as much energy as today’s production methods, resulting in a fertilizer with a close to zero carbon footprint.