After years of preparation, the J.R. Simplot Co. is on the verge of activating an anhydrous ammonia production plant as part of an expansion at its Rock Springs, Wyo., phosphate fertilizer complex. Simplot decided in 2014 to proceed with the $350 million, 600 st/d ammonia plant adjacent to its existing Rock Springs phosphate fertilizer complex (GM Oct. 13, 2014).
“We continue to work through the process of bringing the plant up to operational capacity,” Simplot spokesman Josh Jordan told Green Markets. “We have reached a number of important milestones and are working through the final start-up aspects of the plant aimed at ensuring all equipment and employees are meeting the highest safety and performance standards. We look forward to operating at full capacity in the near future.”
The plant will use natural gas as a feedstock, and will enable Simplot to produce its own ammonia for nitrogen fertilizer production rather than importing it by rail. At a Pocatello/Chubbuck Chamber of Commerce breakfast last July, Simplot President and CEO Bill Whitacre said that once the plant is up and running, Simplot will be one of the most efficient fertilizer producers in the U.S., enabling it to better compete globally.
While Simplot’s Rock Springs plant and its Don phosphate plant west of Pocatello, Idaho, give the company a strategic advantage in the Intermountain West, Whitacre said the company must re-invest constantly in its facilities to sustain Simplot’s long-term viability. Simplot’s Don plant, which was built in 1944 and employs 350, was the company’s first fertilizer production site. It now produces more than one million tons annually of various phosphate fertilizers, feed phosphates, and industrial products.
When Simplot first proposed the Wyoming expansion to Rock Springs officials in 2014 (GM Jan. 13, 2014), it employed about 230 there. Another 25 full-time positions will be required to operate and support the new ammonia plant southeast of the city near Interstate 80 and a main Union Pacific line.
The Rock Springs complex features a storage building that can contain 80,000 tons of dry fertilizer. About 18,000 tons of ammonia would be stored onsite at atmospheric pressure. More than 100,000 pounds per hour of process steam will be produced at the plant. The phosphoric acid, MAP, and fluorosilicic acid produced at Rock Springs is primarily shipped to Midwest states such as Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa.
A new natural gas pipeline and upgraded electrical service were needed for the new ammonia plant, requiring Simplot to work with Questar Pipeline Co. and Rocky Mountain Power for rights of way with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and private land owners.
Simplot announced in 2012 (GM July 30, 2012) that it would expand the Rock Springs complex with its first phase, which increased dry phosphate production by more than 30 percent, boosting the plant’s phosphate production to 400,000 tons a year. Simplot’s Vernal, Utah, mine supplies phosphate ore to the Rock Springs plant via a 96-mile slurry pipeline, much like its Pocatello plant is supplied phosphate slurry from its Smoky Canyon Mine near Afton, Wyo., near the Idaho/Wyoming border. Also in 2012, the company initiated a $170 million phosphate expansion.
Rock Springs Mayor Carl Demshar told Green Markets that Simplot’s ammonia plant expansion has been a bright spot in recent years, as Wyoming has experienced an economic downturn. At one time, the Simplot plant’s peak construction work force exceeded 600, he said.
“I personally know several people on the senior management staff at the Simplot plant. I and the rest of the city council consider them very good corporate citizens,” Demshar said, noting that he participated in Simplot’s Wyoming industrial siting hearings and gave the company a high recommendation. “They have been a real asset to the community and will be for many years to come.”