First ammonia piped to Yara Pilbara’s plant

Yara Pilbara’s technical ammonium nitrate plant has achieved a major milestone, with the first ammonia being piped from the company’s adjacent operations on the Burrup Peninsula.

The wet commissioning of the USD$800 million facility is being carried out by engineering and construction contractor Técnicas Reunidas and involves the introduction of the key feedstock for the new plant, followed by the sequential start up of TAN production units.

Yara Pilbara plant manager Rob Stevens said the wet commissioning of the plant represented a critical phase in the final stages of preparing the facility for full-scale production.

“An incredible amount of hard work and ingenuity has gone into building this world-class TAN facility and the approaching start up will be extremely exciting for everyone at Yara Pilbara, our project partners and the local mining industry,” he said.

Mr Stevens said the latest activity had been carefully planned to reduce any impact on the neighbouring area.

“We have let our neighbours and the local community know that there may be some increased noise at various times during this phase of the commissioning process and we will have a monitoring program throughout this stage,” he said.

“From a visual perspective, water vapour may be seen rising from the plant as part of the wet commissioning and the venting of steam is likely to appear as white or greyish plumes.”

The wet commissioning of the Yara Pilbara TAN plant started last Friday under the supervision of Técnicas Reunidas and Yara Pilbara’s projects and health, environment, safety and quality team.