While several major nitrogen producers have held back on U.S. greenfield nitrogen plant development, one smaller player on the explosives side of the business, Austin Powder Co., Cleveland, Ohio, via its subsidiary U.S. Nitrogen LLC, is planning to break ground on its new $160 million facility Feb. 17, as Green Markets goes to press. And unlike others concerned about achieving regulatory approval, U.S. Nitrogen received zoning almost immediately and then went on to receive all permits necessary to begin construction within about one year of making its initial announcement (GM Feb. 28, 2011).
The project, in the small town of Mosheim in northeastern Tennessee, received the last of its permits in January. Site preparation has been underway for some time, and locals will gather on Feb. 17 for an official ground-breaking. Completion is now expected in 2013.
The facility is being built to produce liquid ammonium nitrate (AMSOL or ANS), with some 420 st to be produced per day. The company has assured the locals that the product is not flammable and will not be explosive at the site. Austin plans to ship it to its manufacturing sites in Ohio and elsewhere for further upgrading into explosives. Austin said the site is within a 250-mile radius of 70-75 percent of its customers, and is located one mile off Interstate 81 and not far from I-40, I-75, and I-74. A Norfolk Southern Railroad track adjoins the property, and a rail link will be built into the plant. The company expects to send some 20 truckloads of product out of the plant each day, and will also ship product out by rail.
The East Tennessee Gas Co. has a pipeline only one mile away that will provide the company’s gas supply, which will reportedly cost more than $20 million per year. Market watchers have noted that natural gas prices are so low that this has made it more economical for the company to build ammonia production rather than to source ammonia on the market.
Some five buildings, including an anhydrous ammonia (200 st/d) facility and a nitric acid plant (330 st/d), will be constructed on the 400-acre site. It will include a two-three story cooling tower. The facility will only take up about 50 acres of the site –the rest will be used as a buffer and wildlife habitat, with a plan for that being developed by the Tennessee Wildlife Federation.
The plant is expected to create some 80 full-time permanent jobs in a county that had an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent as of December 2011. The annual payroll is expected to be $4 million. S&B Engineers and Constructors, Houston, is the general contractor. The construction phase will require 120 full-time skilled workers.
The local Greene County Commission on Feb. 22, 2011, voted unanimously to approve the site’s rezoning from agricultural and industrial to heavy industrial.
Despite the quick progress, a lawsuit was filed against the project in April 2011 (GM April 11, 2011), faulting local zoning officials and county commissioners for hastily approving the plant without giving proper notice to the community. Neighboring landowners also argued that it would lower their property values. Austin officials responded that they would have no problem having their own grandchildren live next door to the plant. Although there have been a few contentious public meetings, to date neither these nor the lawsuit have stopped the plant from progressing.