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Alaska Nitrogen Products reduces emissions
Kristen Nelson
Alaska Nitrogen Products LLC said May 11 that it reduced its overall chemical releases from its nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing facility in Nikiski by 53 percent in 1998 (the latest year data is available) from the level reported in the previous year.
The company’s results were reported in Alaska Nitrogen Products’ Toxic Release Inventory filing with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Ammonia accounts for 91 percent of all emissions from the facility. The 53 percent reduction was achieved through the installation of additional water scrubbers and ammonia flares at the end of 1997. Water scrubbers trap ammonia, which is then recovered and returned to the process stream. Flares burn ammonia, converting it to nitrogen and water vapor, harmless substances that are naturally present in the atmosphere.
“Ammonia is not harmful except at very high concentrations,” said Denise Newbould, the Environment, Health, and Safety Superintendent at Alaska Nitrogen Products. “The concentrations that result from our emissions are many times less than dangerous levels.”
A 1993 study, approved by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, showed that the plant’s emissions were not harmful to the surrounding community or the environment. Since the study was completed, emissions from the plant have been reduced by nearly 70 percent, the company said.
Sale to Agrium expected to close in June Alaska Nitrogen Products LLC is owned by Unocal, and the company said in January that the fertilizer plant, along with the rest of the company’s agricultural products business, was being sold for $325 million. Unocal Alaska spokeswoman Roxanne Sinz said May 12 that the sale is currently under scrutiny by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and that the company hopes to close the sale by the end of June.
The purchaser is Calgary-based Agrium Inc.
Alaska Nitrogen Products manufactures ammonia and urea for agricultural and industrial customers in the Pacific region. Agrium is a leading producer and marketer of fertilizer in North America and a major retail supplier of agricultural products and services in both North America and Argentina.
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