Beatrice, Neb.—Koch Fertilizer is investing an estimated $90 million at its Beatrice, Nebraska nitrogen plant to further improve reliability and environmental and safety performance, and to increase UAN production by 75,000 tons per year.
This investment builds on recent enhancements, which improved the plant’s ammonia loadout capabilities and its environmental performance — resulting in being awarded the EPA’s 2019 ENERGY STAR® for superior energy performance.
The Beatrice team is working on the latest improvements with startup expected in fall 2021. While substantially increasing UAN production, the Beatrice facility will continue to supply ammonia for local demand.
“We are committed to serving our customers, and we continue to see greater UAN demand locally,” said Scott McGinn, Koch Fertilizer executive vice president. “This investment will improve the efficiency and reliability of our operations and add greater production flexibility at Beatrice to meet the demand of both our ammonia and UAN customers.”
In the past few years, Koch Fertilizer invested more than $7 million to substantially increase ammonia loading capacity at the site and reduce customer wait time. The company added new loading racks, which more than doubled the plant’s peak loading capacity.
“Our goal is to be the supplier of choice for our customers’ UAN and ammonia needs long-term,” said Phil Tasset, Beatrice plant manager. “We realized our loading system had become a constraint for our customers. Prior to this investment, customers would wait several hours to load on our busiest days. Now, they rarely have to wait.”
In addition to improving the loading capabilities, Koch Fertilizer developed a transportation management app, called LoadView™, to further enhance the customer experience. LoadView was introduced to the Beatrice plant in 2019.
The app allows truck drivers to pre-check into Koch Fertilizer facilities and track their training and inspection requirements, so they can load faster. With LoadView, Koch Fertilizer has reduced loading time by approximately six minutes per truck during the peak fertilizer season.
LoadView has proven especially beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it allows drivers to check in without exiting their vehicle and the quicker load time enhances social distancing.
Additionally, customers can use the
Track My Shipment tool, enabled by LoadView, to track the status and location of their shipments with real-time GPS readings and estimated time of arrival.
To learn more about Koch Fertilizer and LoadView, visit
KochFertilizer.com.
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Koch FertilizerKoch Fertilizer, LLC and its affiliates own or have interests in nitrogen fertilizer plants in the United States, Canada, and Trinidad and Tobago. The companies cover global demand through state-of-the-art terminals in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Australia. Koch Fertilizer, LLC and its affiliates have the capability to market and distribute approximately 10 million tons of fertilizer products annually. Koch Fertilizer, LLC is a subsidiary of Koch Ag & Energy Solutions, LLC. www.kochfertilizer.com