The smallest commercial ammonia plant in North America broke ground last week, in Geneva, NE.

(Smallest? Probably. Similar scale to Green Valley Chemials in Creston, IA.)

A new trend is now underway toward smaller, easier-to-finance ammonia plants, although these projects remain in the shadow of mammoth world-scale projects.

Like other small projects still in planning stages, Fortigen’s plans involve a trade-off between efficiencies of scale and reduced transportation costs. Small projects also have the pronounced benefit of being fundable without billions of dollars of debt and multiple financing partners.

You can find video of the ground-breaking here, or full project information in my Research Note for Fortigen in Geneva, NE, including details on the plant’s proposed capacity, schedule, and technology.