October 15, 2012
Germany''s ThyssenKrupp Uhde to construct US liquid fertiliser plants
Germany''s Thyssenkrupp Uhde has been selected by OCI Construction Group to construct one of the world''s largest single-train liquid fertiliser plants to be built in the US.
The German plant construction company ThyssenKrupp Uhde, part of the Business Area Plant Technologies, was awarded the contract for the design and supply of a liquid fertiliser plant, which will be built near Wever, Iowa in the USA, through its US business partner Uhde Corporation of America. The liquid fertiliser urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) is produced from ammonia and carbon dioxide, with urea solution, nitric acid and ammonium nitrate being produced as intermediates. The customer is Orascom Construction Industries (OCI), which is building the entire complex for its subsidiary, Iowa Fertiliser Company (IFCo). Commissioning is scheduled for 2015.
This will be the first new sizeable fertiliser complex to be built in the US in almost 25 years.
ThyssenKrupp Uhde will develop the engineering for six of the seven process plants, as well as supplying the required process equipment and machinery. As an additional product the plant will produce a high purity urea solution (also called Diesel Exhaust Fluid, DEF) which will be used to improve the environmental performance of diesel engines by reducing the nitrogen oxides in the exhaust. The scope of supplies also includes a plant for manufacturing urea granules which will be produced using the ThyssenKrupp Uhde Fertiliser Technology (UFT) process.
ThyssenKrupp''s equally highly efficient processes are also being used in the nitric acid, ammonium nitrate and UAN plants, whilst the urea plant will use the synthesis process from Stamicarbon in the Netherlands. In 2006-08 ThyssenKrupp Uhde successfully engineered a similar-sized plant at the Point Lisas site on the island of Trinidad and provided the plant''s key equipment. Together with the aforementioned plant in Point Lisas the new Iowa fertiliser plant with a daily production capacity of 4,300 tonnes will be the largest single-train UAN plant in the world.
"The Iowa fertiliser plant is the next chapter in our success story with OCI, which, after Egypt and Algeria, has now taken us to the US," said Michael Thiemann, Chairman of the Management Board of ThyssenKrupp Uhde. "Our outstanding technological expertise and the excellent performance of our reference plants contributed to this success against international competition."
OCI Construction Group Chief Operating Officer, Osama Bishai, commented, "We have worked well with ThyssenKrupp Uhde on several projects and believe our performance on this project, with an overall investment of US$1.4 billion, will be a landmark reference for us to grow our business in North America."
The OCI Construction Group can look back on a long-standing relationship and successful track record of working with ThyssenKrupp Uhde on various projects. These include several nitrogen fertiliser plants in Egypt and Algeria with a combined value of more than US$2 billion.
The Plant Technology business area of ThyssenKrupp Group is focused on specialised and large-scale plant construction. With over 13,000 employees and sales of EUR4 billion (US$5.2 billion) in fiscal year 2010-11, it offers its customers first-class processes and guarantees maximum productivity and profitability for the operators of industrial plants. Plant Technology is a global player in specialised and large-scale plant engineering. Subsidiaries and international partnerships offer its customers complete engineering know-how -- globally and locally.
Orascom Construction Industries is one of Egypt''s largest corporations employing more than 72,000 people in 35 countries around the globe. The OCI Fertiliser Group owns and operates nitrogen fertiliser plants in Egypt, the Netherlands, the US, and Algeria and has an international distribution platform spanning from the Americas to Asia.