Junior phosphate technology developer Novaphos, Fort Meade, Fla., announced on April 22 that Navy Vice-Admiral Andrew “Woody” Lewis (ret.) has been promoted to President of the company. Lewis will continue to report to Novaphos CEO Timothy Cotton.
Lewis was appointed Chief Development Officer (CDO) at Novaphos late last year (GM Dec. 15, 2023), his first executive position since retiring from the US Navy after a 36-year military career as a three-star senior officer. He most recently served as Commander of the US 2nd Fleet and NATO Joint Force Command in Norfolk, Va.
As Novaphos President, Lewis will lead the company’s day-to-day operations, oversee long-term organizational strategy, and development of infrastructure and processes across all company departments. In addition, he will manage the development of Novaphos’s new facility in rural Florida, which was recently supported by USDA through a $3.9 million grant under its Fertilizer Production Expansion Program (GM April 5, p. 27).
Novaphos is a privately-owned company that has developed proprietary processes allowing phosphate producers to use low-quality phosphate rock to make high-quality phosphoric acid for use in agriculture and industry without producing any phosphogypsum wastes. The company said the process is scalable, energy-efficient, and produces a useful construction aggregate byproduct – J-Rox™ – instead of phosphogypsum. When fully operational, the Florida facility will produce about 22,000 tons of superphosphoric acid and 90,000 tons of J-Rox annually.
“I am thrilled I could continue my passion for service by using my skills and experience to bring this important project to the marketplace. Phosphate is one of the most important minerals in the world, yet the way it is currently produced is outdated and has seen minimal technical change through the years,” Lewis said.
“Recently, our country’s phosphate needs have been disrupted several times because of export restrictions in China, the Ukraine war, and US FTC-imposed anti-dumping duties. If we fail to take decisive action, there will be profound repercussions throughout the energy, transportation, and national security sectors, and scarcity of phosphate could trigger a domino effect with far-reaching consequences,” he continued. “The bottom line is that Novaphos has developed a solution to address this impending crisis, but we need to be more than a strong and proven idea – we must move forward with well-executed implementation of our technology.”