Four Sites Earn 2024 Energy Star Certification

A long-term focus on reliability and reinvestment earned four Koch Fertilizer sites ENERGY STAR® certification for 2024.

Koch Fertilizer’s Enid, Oklahoma; Wever, Iowa; Brandon, Manitoba; and Fort Dodge, Iowa plants all achieved certification for reliable operations and energy management practices. These facilities rank in the top 25% of nitrogen fertilizer facilities when compared against the industry’s energy efficiency benchmark and meet strict energy efficiency performance levels set by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency and Natural Resources Canada.

Each day, Koch Fertilizer strives to deliver quality products while consuming fewer resources and respecting the environment, and this outstanding achievement is only made possible by the commitment of its employees to use resources responsibly.

Koch Fertilizer Enid

Enid achieved Energy Star certification for the fifth consecutive year in 2024.

Since its first Energy Star recognition in 2020, Enid has continued to maintain reliability and identify opportunities to improve efficiency through proactive energy management activities.

Over the past three years, they have made significant strides in improving steam usage through system upgrades and optimization efforts to connect and automate the steam systems across the five different product plants on-site.

With the addition of new piping, a high-efficiency boiler and a dashboard to monitor steam conditions and venting, Enid operators can redirect steam across the plant as needed to avoid unnecessary venting. By connecting, stabilizing and controlling the steam systems, Enid has increased reliability, enhanced operational flexibility and reduced natural gas usage.

Enid’s plant vision is to be the best fertilizer plant in North America, and Plant Manager Jed Redman said they can’t achieve that vision if they are wasteful with natural resources by venting unnecessary steam.

“As with most initiatives to improve, you have to challenge the status quo,” Jed said. “Connecting the organization to the value of the change and how it will benefit both the company and the employees is vital to success.”

Koch Fertilizer Wever

For our Wever facility, 2024 marked the fourth year in a row it is Energy Star certified.

Over the past few years, Wever has focused on their reliability in both the ammonia and their upgrade plants. Their diligence has resulted in great strides for ammonia and nitric acid reliability as well as urea capacity utilization.

Additionally, Wever has performed targeted work to improve the efficiency of their reformer burner and boiler, installed a large amount of LED lighting, and completed a project to reduce steam venting in the urea plant.

Plant Manager Ev Shishkin said Wever is proud of their achievements in site energy management and the positive impact they have on their communities and long-term stewardship efforts.

"These accomplishments are a direct result of actively managing our energy usage,” Ev said. “By empowering our teams to address energy efficiency opportunities and fostering a culture of continuous improvement, we strive to finish each day better than we started it.”

Koch Fertilizer Canada

For the fourth consecutive year, Koch Fertilizer Canada in Brandon, Manitoba earned Energy Star certification.

Plant Manager Rodi Sveistrup said Koch Fertilizer Canada takes stewardship very seriously and strives to ensure the plant is being efficient with the energy it takes to make their products.

“’Running what we have well’ is a mental model we have adopted to make sure we run our equipment within the parameters it was designed for,” Rodi said. “We also work hard to have the right asset strategies for our critical equipment so we can monitor equipment health, complete the appropriate maintenance at the right time and strategize to replace equipment before it is at the end of its life. Performing these things well is key to our long-term success, from both a business and stewardship perspective.”

In addition to ongoing equipment and structural investments, the ability to upgrade its primary product, ammonia, into other products such as urea, nitric acid, ammonium nitrate solution, ammonium polyphosphate and ammonium thiosulfate, enables Koch Fertilizer Canada to operate efficiently, which in turn helps improve plant reliability and energy efficiency.

Koch Fertilizer Fort Dodge

Adding to its 2021 certification, Fort Dodge is now a two-time Energy Star certified plant.

With the expansion of their ammonia capacity in 2022 came configurations that helped the plant optimize its energy per unit of production. However, it was the improved operating reliability of the ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate upgrade plants during 2023-2024 that moved Fort Dodge into the top quartile of performance again in 2024.

Plant Manager Melissa Meisgeier said it isn’t always specific efficiency-related projects that make the biggest difference.

“Improved reliability in the UAN plant definitely helped us achieve Energy Star certification,” Melissa said. “But in general, our focus on long-term strategy around making repairs and replacing equipment was the biggest factor.”

Energy Star recognition is a testament to the dedication and hard work of every team member. From maintenance to operations and everyone in-between, Koch Fertilizer is committed to responsible stewardship.

Learn more about Energy Star Certifications here.