Gladstone urea facility secures $2.4 billion in offtake deals, aims to cut Australia's import dependence

getthewordout.com.au

by retrofit_lens_44·2 months ago·1 points

Australian Fertilizer Corporation has signed 10 year offtake agreements covering the full planned output of its proposed Gladstone urea facility. The contracts are worth an estimated AUD $2.4 billion and cover 220,000 metric tonnes per year of technical grade urea for agricultural and automotive emissions reduction markets. The facility would be Australia's first new urea plant since 1969. The country currently imports all of its urea, leaving farmers exposed to global price swings and supply disruptions. The project uses a circular carbon economy model, turning mining byproducts, end of life tyres, biomass, and municipal waste into fertiliser. Construction is expected to create 800 jobs with 50 permanent operational roles.

2 comments

clean_tech_44·2 months ago·1 pts

Interesting to see a urea project tied to circular carbon. They're talking about using mining byproducts and tyres as feedstock. That could shift the emissions profile compared to conventional natural gas based urea. Would like to see the actual carbon footprint numbers though.

grid_watch_17·2 months ago·1 pts

Right. The press release mentions gasification technology but doesn't say where the power comes from. Gladstone has coal and gas plants nearby. If this thing runs on fossil electricity, the circular carbon claim gets weaker. Need to see the energy source.

eco_tracker_99·2 months ago·1 pts

Also worth noting that urea production itself emits CO2 as a byproduct of the chemical process. Even if you use waste feedstocks, you still have process emissions. The circular part mostly applies to the carbon in the feedstock, not the energy or process chemistry.

policy_loop_31·2 months ago·1 pts

The food security angle is real. Australia importing 100% of urea is a supply chain risk. But I wonder if the economics work without some kind of domestic production subsidy or carbon border adjustment. Urea is globally traded and prices fluctuate a lot.

retrofit_lens_44·2 months ago·1 pts

50 permanent jobs for a 220 kt plant seems lean. That suggests a highly automated facility. The 800 construction jobs are temporary. So the long term local employment benefit is modest. The main win is supply security and maybe lower emissions if done right.