OCI NV, Amsterdam, via subsidiary OCI Clean Ammonia LLC, is weighing a major nitrogen production expansion at one of its two U.S. locations – Wever, Iowa, or Beaumont, Texas – according to a March 28 tax abatement application with the Texas Comptroller.
The project would involve the construction of two 3,000 mt/d ammonia units based on imported hydrogen and nitrogen. The project would be an ammonia synthesis expansion via these two additional loops.
The project also envisions a 2,200 mt/d urea plant next to the ammonia facilities, converting part of this ammonia together with carbon dioxide (CO2) from over-the-fence to urea. The end product is urea solution of 72 percent urea in water that will be converted into diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) in various concentrations.
Alternatively, the urea can also be converted into UAN when mixing with ammonium nitrate solution, with the latter created by reacting ammonia and nitric acid.
To facilitate UAN production, a nitric acid plant will also be built with a capacity of 1,530 mt/d.
Various storage tanks would be built to accommodate there fertilizer products.
Construction of the projects would take 24-30 months, with commissioning and start-up to follow.
According to the documents in Texas, OCI Clean Ammonia would save a total of $208.9 million in property taxes through 2037, with normal rates commencing in 2038.
In the meantime, OCI Fuels USA Inc. has also submitted a tax abatement application for a renewable methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) facility and a renewable syngas facility, which will feed a methanol synthesis loop to make green/bio-methanol, either adjacent to an existing affiliate methanol/ammonia production facility in Beaumont or elsewhere on the U.S. Gulf Coast, or at its ongoing operations in the Middle East, North Africa, or Europe.
The proposed facility would convert bio-methanol into bio-gasoline for shipment into the European markets. Once operating, the MTG facility production capacity will be 100,000 mt/y.
The feedstock for the bio-methanol will be produced from the renewable syngas facilities. The latter would convert biomass to bio synthesis gas. Dried biomass feedstock (local wood chips) would be used. The company said once the green syngas facilities are operating, they will produce renewable natural gas (RNG).
Using the syngas produced, the company said it proposes to construct a methanol synthesis loop capable of producing at least 2,500 mt/d or 1 million mt/y of green bio-methanol.
Construction of the OCI Fuels facility is expected to take 24-30 months, with commissioning and start-up to follow. The facilities are expected to be fully operational in 2027.
OCI Fuels is seeking a property tax savings of $154.1 million through 2037, with normal rate resuming in 2038.
The OCI Ammonia project is valued at $2.8 billion and the OCI Fuels at $2.075 billion, according to local press reports, citing the documents.
In the meantime, Arbor Renewable Gasoline Phase 1 LLC, a group composed of executives formerly involved with OCI’s Natgasoline plant in Beaumont, have sought tax incentives from Texas and Louisiana. Arbor’s plant could be adjacent to the OCI Fuels.
Arbor plans to build a renewable gasoline or renewable hydrogen plant utilizing 1,000 tons per day of wood-waste as feedstock. The plant would produce carbon dioxide on an industrial scale. The initial investment is put at $325 million with plans for eventual expansion.
The project would use GTI developed bubbling fluidized bed biomass gasification technology that processes one-inch chipped wood into syngas, which will be converted into crude methanol and finally into gasoline, LPG, and CO2. Alternatively, the syngas can be used to create hydrogen and CO2.
Arbor said the primary product will be renewable gasoline, which will be used to satisfy low carbon fuel standards in California and other markets.
In addition, Arbor said that during normal operations, the facility will produce three waste gas streams and LPG, and these can be burned in a gas turbine to generate renewable electricity for use by the facility. It expects to produce 11.5 megawatts, which the facility can use to meet over 75 percent of its power needs.
Arbor is hoping to begin construction in first-half 2022 with completion in late 2023.
Arbor said the plant will produce very few emissions, as the majority of the CO2 will be captured and sequestered in an approved storage facility, As a result, the product manufactured will be considered carbon negative, meaning that it remove more carbon from the atmosphere than it produces.
Arbor requested a tax savings from Texas of some $21 million through 2033, with normal rates applicable thereafter.