Products
The Company’s product sales are heavily weighted toward anhydrous ammonia and UAN, which typically make up over 80% of total revenues. Products sold include anhydrous ammonia, UAN, nitric acid, carbon dioxide and granular and liquid urea. Although anhydrous ammonia and UAN are often interchangeable, each has its own characteristics, and customer product preferences vary according to the crop planted, soil and weather conditions, regional farming practices, relative prices and the cost and availability of appropriate storage, handling and application equipment. A more detailed description of its products follows below:
Anhydrous Ammonia. East Dubuque produces anhydrous ammonia (often referred to simply as “ammonia”), the simplest form of nitrogen fertilizer and the feedstock for the production of other nitrogen fertilizers. The ammonia processing unit has a current rated capacity of 830 short tons per day. Ammonia is used in the production of all other products produced by the plant.
Nitric Acid. East Dubuque produces nitric acid through two separate nitric acid plants. Nitric acid is produced through the catalytic combustion of ammonia vapor in air over a platinum-rhodium (precious metals) gauze and absorption of the nitric oxide in weak acid. Nitric acid is either sold to trade or used within the facility for the production of ammonium nitrate solution as an intermediate of UAN.
Urea. Urea product is produced through the reaction of ammonia with CO2 at high pressure and temperatures creating a molten product (“Urea solution”) at a nitrogen concentration of approximately 70%. Urea solution can be further processed through the urea granulation plant to create dry granular urea (46.65% nitrogen concentration) for sale to trade, used for the production of UAN or sold directly to trade in its state as a urea solution.
UAN. UAN is produced by combining urea solution and ammonium nitrate solution. An aqueous solution of ammonium nitrate (“AN”), the intermediate in UAN manufacture, is produced in a separate AN unit by neutralizing nitric acid with ammonia. No solid ammonium nitrate is produced in the plant. UAN is a liquid fertilizer and, unlike ammonia, is odorless and does not need to be refrigerated or pressurized when transported or stored.
Carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide (“CO2”) is a co-manufactured gaseous product in the manufacture of ammonia (approximately 1.2 tons of CO2 per ton of ammonia) Most plants vent the gas from their ammonia production to the atmosphere. The plant has developed a market for the CO2 through conversion to a purified food grade liquid CO2. The CO2 is purified, compressed and chilled to condensing conditions. The plant is a certified producer of food grade liquid CO2 for the soft drink industry.
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