SynGest Selects The Weitz Company to Build First Biomass-to-Ammonia Plant

[Fledermaus]

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SynGest, Inc. announced that it has chosen The Weitz Company to provide engineering, procurement and construction services (EPC) for its first plant to manufacture BioAmmonia (anhydrous ammonia) fuel and fertilizer from corn biomass. The new facility will be located near Menlo, Iowa, 45 miles west of Des Moines. With the addition of Weitz, SynGest has finalized the project team and is moving diligently toward construction and operations.

“Weitz is the largest construction employer in the State of Iowa, has an immaculate reputation and a track record of success in building advanced biofuels/bioproducts facilities,” said Jack Oswald, CEO of SynGest. “We are thrilled that Weitz will be our construction partner.”

The SynGest plant will process 130,000 tons of locally supplied corn cobs annually to manufacture 50,000 tons of bio-ammonia, enough to fertilize 500,000 acres of nearby corn farmland.

Ammonia, used as nitrogen fertilizer, is critical to the food supply in the USA. Today, more than half is imported. The largest exporters are Trinidad/Tobago and Russia, known for interrupting critical commodity supplies for political gains. The few remaining large ammonia plants in the U.S. are aging and no significant domestic expansion is foreseen. SynGest’s facility will be the first new ammonia production plant to be built on American soil since the decline of traditional U.S.-based production began more than five years ago as energy prices started to rise. It is widely recognized that fossil fuel-based production methods will likely never be re-built in America.
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090630005406&newsLang=en

[madrchsod]

1. good idea...

generating ammonia and bio fuels for the production of commodities in the usa. a step in the right direction

[zbdent]

2. Good ... now Rush Limbaugh will prove useful after all ...