Tecnimont wins $1.5B in EPC work on new Illinois ammonia, urea facility

Cronus Fertilizers has executed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract with Tecnimont for the Cronus Fertilizers plant in Tuscola, Illinois, officials announced on Monday.

The lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) EPC contract is valued at approximately $1.5 billion and is pursuant to the memorandum of understanding signed by Cronus and Tecnimont S.p.A. (Italy) in November 2014.

Tecnimont S.p.A is the main subsidiary of Maire Tecnimont.

Construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2015 following financial closing and will be completed in approximately three years.

Cronus Fertilizers will be a major new source of fertilizer for US farmers with the capacity to produce 2,200 tpd of ammonia using KBR’s technology and 3,850 tpd of granular urea using technology developed by Stamicarbon, Maire Tecnimont Group’s licensing and IP center.

The Cronus plant will also produce diesel exhaust fluid. 

"We are very pleased to have successfully completed this further achievement with our partner Cronus following the signature of the MOU in November 2014," said Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO of Maire Tecnimont. "The collaboration with them is perfectly in line with the challenging path we expected to follow.”

The plant’s strategic location will give farmers access to domestically produced fertilizer that can replace imported products.

Cronus Fertilizers is a project of Cronus Chemicals. Headquartered in Chicago, Cronus is a company led by industry veterans with decades of experience in the development, manufacturing and marketing of fertilizer products.

“We are delighted to have reached this important milestone; we look forward to working with Maire Tecnimont to create a state-of-the-art facility that will provide US farmers with locally produced nitrogen fertilizers,” said Erzin Atac, CEO of Cronus Chemicals.