ATOME announces completion of FEED study for green fertilizer project

Highlights

• Successful completion of FEED study for the Villeta Project representing the first known announced completion of FEED for a large-scale green dedicated fertiliser project worldwide.
• Marks a major milestone in the delivery of the Villeta Project with offtake and Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) negotiations now at an advanced stage.
• FID and start of construction expected by end of year.

Olivier Mussat, CEO, commented: “ATOME continues to follow its strategy and systematically deliver major milestones on the road to starting construction at Villeta by the end of this year.”

“Completion of this complex and detailed FEED study, which we believe is the first for an industrial scale, fully-green, fertilizer facility, provides the necessary foundational engineering not only for our first Villeta Project, but for ATOME to apply elsewhere, consolidating our position as an international leader in green fertiliser production. Our immediate attention now turns to offtake and EPC, both of which will allow us to move towards the delivery of FID this year.”

“We would like to thank Casale and Urbas Energy, our FEED contractors, as well as AECOM, our Owner’s Engineer, for their combined efforts over the past 18 months in bringing the FEED study to completion as we now focus on the next key deliverables of offtake and EPC in order to reach production start-up in 2027.”

Jennifer Obertino, Global Energy Practice Lead, of AECOM, commented: “We are pleased to confirm the completion of the Front End Engineering Design study for the 145 MW green fertilizer project at Villeta, Paraguay, having worked alongside ATOME, Casale and Urbas Energy over the last 18 months.”

“The Villeta Project has grown into one of the most advanced of its kind in the world. We have worked with ATOME on its unique journey in delivering zero-carbon fertilizer from 2027, bringing in our expertise in accelerating the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors and partnering with clients to bring innovative solutions to the market.”

Next steps

ATOME is now progressing EPC contract discussions and anticipates that these discussions will lead to the appointment of principal EPC contractors by the end of June 2024 with the definitive contract expected to be signed at the time of FID anticipated later this year. ATOME is highly encouraged by the status of discussions on offtake and hopes to be able to announce a successful conclusion by the end of Q2 2024. Offtake is the last significant milestone before proceeding to the final phases of the ongoing project funding process.

Completion of FEED study

ATOME has completed the FEED study for the 145 MW Villeta Project. The completion of FEED, which includes approximately 100 000 hrs of engineering and comprises some 619 individual documents and reports, represents the first announced completion of FEED for any large-scale green fertilizer facility worldwide.

The FEED study confirms the Villeta Project’s design, processes, timelines and production capacity of 264 000 tpy of green calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) fertilizer which has the potential to displace up to an estimated 15 million t/CO2e over the life of the project.

The completion of FEED concludes the foundational engineering for the Villeta Project ahead of EPC. The study will now serve as a blueprint for ATOME’s next projects as the company leverages on the significant expertise, learnings and know-how accumulated from this process.

The FEED study was performed by Spanish engineering firm, Urbas Energy, in cooperation with world-renowned Casale, the Swiss-based OEM and licensor for ammonia and fertilizer technologies. AECOM, the multinational Fortune-500 engineering consulting company, Owner’s Engineer for ATOME, advised and signed-off on the study together with the Company.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldfertilizer.com/project-news/05062024/atome-announces-completion-of-feed-study-for-green-fertilizer-project/