Saskatchewan company pitches decarbonized fertilizer

Corporate backers of a planned fertilizer plant in Saskatchewan say they will one day sell fertilizer with lower greenhouse gas output than is usually associated with synthetic fertilizer production.

The plant, to be built in Belle Plaine in central Saskatchewan, is the brain child of Saskatoon’s Genesis Fertilizers and CARBONCO, a South Korea-based green consultancy company. Once complete, it will produce low-carbon ammonia and urea nitrogen fertilizer.

The fertilizer manufacturing process will employ standard industry practices, according to the two companies. Then CARBONCO’s technology will kick in. Using a proprietary amine-based solvent, the company says it will capture post-production carbon dioxide so it can be put underground.

“Our urea production is no different than anyone else’s urea production,” said Jason Mann, chief executive officer of Genesis Fertilizers. “The difference is, we’re capturing the rest of the CO2 instead of just putting it out into the atmosphere. So, just by that, we have a lower carbon intensity fertilizer than anybody else if they’re not doing carbon capture.”

Gas from production will be discharged through a flue, which will be installed with an absorber where carbon dioxide reacts with the solvent. The CO2 remains behind and remaining components escape into the air.

The captured CO2 then moves to a stripper, which separates it from impurities and the solvent.

“That CO2 is all collected, compressed and you send it over to a carbon trunk (pipeline),” said Mann.

At that point, another company will transport it to a sequestration site — a saline aquifer — near the plant and 3,000 metres underground, said Mann.

“It ends up binding with the (permeable) rock within the aquifer. And that’s the permanent storage that everybody’s looking for.”

The company says it will be able to capture about one million tonnes of CO2 annually. The result will be a carbon-neutral process, said Sang-il Kim, general manager and head of the business development team for CARBONCO.

“Whatever CO2 comes from their fertilizer plant will be captured and sequestered back. So this will be carbon neutral to the emissions to the atmosphere (with) no harm to the environment.”

Location, location, location

Success of the plant hinges on availability of the saline aquifer that will lock in the CO2.

“Not everywhere in the world has these kinds of geological formations,” Mann said. “We’re lucky in Western Canada. We have them. The U.S. Gulf Coast has them. Maybe some places in the Arab Gulf, so there’s a lot of places in the world that can’t even do permanent CO2 sequestration underground.

“So, where we are just lends to this type of activity and that’s why you see a lot of these projects in Western Canada that are looking towards carbon capture and permanent sequestration underground.”

Belle Plaine, a village between Regina and Moose Jaw, was chosen because it is close to the aquifer and is also home to Yara’s nitrogen plant.

“If you look at Yara’s financials, you see how profitable that plant is for them,” Mann said. “To make nitrogen fertilizer, you need three ingredients. You need water, you need gas and you need nitrogen. You need the air because you (get) nitrogen out of the air.

“We’ve got all the gas lines there. We’ve got the water supply there. We have both railroads adjacent to the property there. The Trans-Canada Highway’s two miles away. We have a great workforce in both Moose Jaw and Regina. We’re in the heart of the agriculture area. We’re close to the U.S. for proximity for export. There’s lots of reasons on that side of it.”

The need

Mann predicts a “trickle-down” effect through the value chain that will interest food companies and consumers seeking a lower carbon footprint in the food they sell and buy.

Government policy, such as the federal government’s carbon pricing scheme, adds another layer of attraction for decarbonized fertilizer, he added.

“If you don’t have a decarbonization plan, you’re setting yourself up for taxation on carbon emissions. So, it’s hard to imagine any new plant being built without some form of decarbonization.”

The plant has a long way to go. It will be an estimated five years before the lights go on. Even with that lengthy time, Mann believes his company will be at the forefront of post-production carbon capture technology.

“All the work we’ve done on this new generation of fertilizer plants, we’re probably right at the front end of that.”