FAIRFIELD, Ill. — Ohio Valley Resources LLC (OVR) filed an air permit application with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management Sept. 17, to construct a billion-dollar nitrogen fertilizer facility in Spencer County, Ind.
The new ammonia plant will be the first new facility of its type to be constructed in America by a U.S.-based firm in more than a quarter-century.
U.S. major importer
As global demand for nitrogen fertilizer has increased, the U.S. has become one of the world’s largest importers of this important commodity. This has resulted in America’s farmers and food supply becoming more dependent on foreign sources of essential fertilizer products.
According to data from the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 54 percent of the U.S. nitrogen supply — or approximately 10.79 million tons — was imported in 2011.
According to Doug Wilson, president/CEO of Ohio Valley Resources, this project represents a major step forward in reviving domestic production of critical nitrogen fertilizer products to serve the Eastern Corn Belt.
“Our goal is to restore jobs to the United States that have been lost for years by displacing imported sources of fertilizer products,” Wilson said.
Tentative plans call for the nitrogen fertilizer plant to be located on approximately 150 acres in Spencer County north of Rockport. Its location will allow convenient rail and highway access, as well as the potential for river access.
Other competing sites in Kentucky are still being evaluated.
Production
The high-tech facility will produce approximately 2,420 tons per day of ammonia and 3,000 tons per day of urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) solution for fertilizer.
Some of the ammonia production will serve the local utility markets for NOx control (known as selective catalytic reduction units or SCRs), which reduces emissions in coal-fired power plants and industrial facilities.
In addition, the plant will produce 300 tons per day of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), a urea solution used to reduce emissions in diesel engines.
depends on the cost of building it.. sometimes its better to import goods, when the quality of the product is really good and the price is good too. it will cost an arm and a leg to build the plant and run it soon :/