Orascom Construction announces start of production at Iowa Fertilizers Co.

Orascom Construction announced late yesterday the start of production at Iowa Fertilizers Co., the first world-scale greenfield nitrogen fertilizer plant to be built in the US in more than 25 years. “The plant has a nameplate capacity of 2,200 metric tons per day (mtpd) of ammonia, 2,200 mtpd of urea synthesis, 1,200 mtpd of granular urea, 4,300 mtpd of urea ammonium nitrate and 900 mtpd of diesel exhaust fluid, with a combined sellable capacity of 1.5 to 2 mn metric tons per annum of products,” the company said in a statement (pdf), noting that Iowa Governor Terry Branstad attended the inauguration of the facility, “one of the largest private sector construction projects in Iowa’s history.” OC, the Nasdaq Dubai- and EGX-quoted engineering and construction contractor, is number 34 on ENR’s 2016 Top 250 International Contractors list.