UPDATED: 02/01/2018 — see Change Log

OWNER: Nutrien, formerly PotashCorp
PROJECT: Nitrogen plant[memberful does_not_have_subscription=”1314-ammonia-industry-annual-subscription,1311-ammonia-industry-monthly-subscription,3338-ammonia-industry-30-day-subscription”]

COST (reported): none given
JOB CREATION (reported): 138 permanent — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE (reported): 1964

CAPACITY	USGS[1]	COMPANY[2]	PERMIT[3]	ADJUSTED[4]
Ammonia	785,000 mtpy	800,000 mtpy	[Membership required]	[Membership required]
Units: stpd, stpy, mtpd, mtpy = short/metric tons per day/year. [1] United States Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Yearbook, Nitrogen gives capacity in metric tons per year, calculated as “engineering design capacity adjusted for 340 days per year of effective production capability,” rounded to three significant digits. Source: most recent year, Table 4: Domestic Producers of Ammonia, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/nitrogen/. [2] Nutrien Fact Book 2018. Sources linked below. [3] [Membership required]. Sources: linked below. [4] [Membership required]. See Methodology.

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SUMMARY STATUS: Operational
Ammonia production began at Augusta in 1964. The present plant started up in 1977, with revamps and expansions in 1996 and 2012, and a significant ammonia expansion during turnaround in 2016. In January 2018, Nutrien was formed through a “merger of equals” between Agrium and PotashCorp that was originally announced in September 2016.

COST: none given
JOB CREATION: 138 permanent — see Job Openings [LINK]
START-UP DATE: 1964

CAPACITY	USGS[1]	COMPANY[2]	PERMIT[3]	ADJUSTED[4]
Ammonia	785,000 mtpy	800,000 mtpy GROSS 16,800 mtpy NET	2,600 stpd	800,000 mtpy
Urea		500,000 mtpy	474,000 stpy prill	500,000 mtpy
Nitric Acid			730,000 stpy	662,245 mtpy
Ammonium Nitrate		600,000 mtpy NET	1,000,100 stpy GROSS	600,000 mtpy NET
UAN		600,000 mtpy NET		600,000 mtpy NET
Units: stpd, stpy, mtpd, mtpy = short/metric tons per day/year. [1] United States Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Yearbook, Nitrogen gives capacity in metric tons per year, calculated as “engineering design capacity adjusted for 340 days per year of effective production capability,” rounded to three significant digits. Source: most recent year, Table 4: Domestic Producers of Ammonia, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/nitrogen/. [2] Nutrien Fact Book 2018. Sources linked below. [3] Title V permits. Sources: linked below. [4] [4] Adjusted Capacity is in metric tons per year; based on Nutrien’s data. See Methodology.

FEEDSTOCK: Natural gas
END PRODUCTS: Ammonia, Ammonium Nitrate, Nitric Acid, Urea, UAN, Carbon Dioxide

RESEARCH NOTES:
In January 2018, Nutrien was formed through a “merger of equals” between Agrium and PotashCorp that was originally announced in September 2016.

Plans for an expansion at Augusta were disclosed in its latest air permit, approved in May 2016, which specified a significant increase in capacity to be realized during the scheduled turnaround, which I believe took place in the summer of 2016.

The turnaround is a preventive maintenance program that is executed every four to six years … As a result of this turnaround, ammonia production is expected to increase by approximately 5 percent from 2475 tons per day (ton/day) to 2,600 ton/day …

The replacement converter will have about 15 percent more catalyst which will support increase in production.
Georgia Air, PCS Nitrogen Fertilizer permit #2873-245-0002-V-03-5, 05/05/2016

The Augusta ammonia plant has been revamped and expanded a number of times over the decades; the present unit was built by Foster Wheeler in 1977. In 1996, the ammonia capacity increased from 1,500 stpd to 1,700 stpd. In 2012, it expanded to 2,400 stpd (or 876,000 stpy, which is roughly 800,000 mtpy), which was announced as an increase of 70,000 mtpy. The 2016 expansion brings capacity up to 2,600 stpd.

According to air permit documents, there are two nitric acid and ammonium nitrate trains, with combined capacities of 730,000 stpy nitric acid and 1,000,100 tons ammonium nitrate, and the plant has a urea prill capacity of 474,000 stpy. According to the Nutrien Fact Book 2018, the complex has a solid urea capacity of 500,000 mtpy, UAN capacity of 600,000 mtpy, AN prill capacity of 600,000 mtpy.

Product ships out of the Augusta plant by truck and rail.

The Augusta ammonia plant began operating in 1964, with a capacity of 125,000 stpy. It was part of a chemical complex owned by Columbia Nitrogen Corporation, a joint venture established in 1962 by DSM and PPG Industries (“the world’s leading coatings and specialty products company,” owner of brands including Dulux and Liquid Nails).

DSM started out in 1902 as the Dutch national coal miner (De Staatsmijnen, or Dutch State Mines), but started producing fertilizer in 1930 and eventually grew into a major fertilizer and chemicals company as it wound down its coal operations. It bought out PPG Industries’ share of the Augusta plant in 1973, the year it closed its final coal mine. DSM still runs the chemicals plant at Augusta, which is its oldest plant outside the Netherlands, but it split off and sold the nitrogen plant in 1986, and exited the ammonia industry entirely in 2010, when it sold its Geleen plant in the Netherlands to Egyptian company OCI, which recently restarted the ammonia plant at Beaumont, TX and built the greenfield at Wever, IA. Royal DSM now calls itself “the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company,” and produces a range of plastics, polymers, fibers, and intermediary products (acrylonitrile, caprolactam, “Akulon”) at Augusta.

Arcadian Corporation purchased DSM’s spun-off nitrogen plant in 1986. In 1997, PotashCorp “created PCS Nitrogen by acquiring all outstanding shares of Arcadian Corporation for $563.6M and issuing eight million common shares valued at $573.3M.” At the time, Arcadian had been “the largest producer of nitrogen fertilizer in the Western Hemisphere,” with four nitrogen plants in the US and one in Trinidad & Tobago.

After the 1997 acquisition of Arcadian, PotashCorp was “the world’s largest potash company, the third largest phosphate producer and the second largest nitrogen producer in the world.” Before the merger with Agrium, the company simply claimed to be “the world’s largest crop nutrient company.”[/memberful]

View larger map with all ammonia plants.

ADDRESS: 1460 Columbia Nitrogen Road, Augusta, GA 30901, United States

WEBSITE: https://www.nutrien.com

REGULATORY SOURCES:

• USGS: Minerals Yearbook, Nitrogen [RECENT / ARCHIVE]
• EPA Emissions data: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Large Facilities: PCS NITROGEN FERTILIZER, L.P. [LINK]
• Risk Management Plan: Right to Know Network: PCS Nitrogen Fertilizer, L.P. Augusta Georgia [LINK]
• Air Permits (Title V): Georgia Air Permit Search Engine (search AIRS #24500002) [LINK]
• Air Permit data (Title V applications): Georgia Electronic Title V Permit Applications [LINK]
• US Securities and Exchange Commission regulatory filings: EDGAR Search Results, POTASH CORP OF SASKATCHEWAN INC CIK#: 0000855931 [LINK]

NEWS SOURCES:

• 01/02/2018: Nutrien press release: Agrium and PotashCorp Merger Completed Forming Nutrien, a Leader in Global Agriculture [LINK]
• 01/2018: Nutrien Fact Book 2018 [PDF]
• 11/07/2016: PotashCorp press release: Agrium and PotashCorp Provide Update on Approvals for Proposed Merger of Equals [LINK]
• 09/12/2016: Agrium / PotashCorp merger presentation: Creation of a World-Class Integrated Global Supplier of Crop Inputs [PDF]
• 09/12/2016: PotashCorp press release: Agrium and PotashCorp to Combine in Merger of Equals to Create a World-Class Integrated Global Supplier of Crop Inputs [LINK]
• 2015: PotashCorp Facility Sheet: Augusta [PDF]
• 06/07/2002: Augusta Chronicle local news story: Constant change – Foresight helps plant succeed [LINK]
• 03/06/1997: PotashCorp press release: Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. Completes Arcadian Acquisition and Restructures Internally [LINK]