CF Industries announced Thursday that the new urea plant at the company’s Donaldsonville nitrogen complex in Louisiana has been operating since November 17, 2015 and has achieved consistent, stable operation. 

The plant has produced over 80,000 tons of granular urea since start-up. 

This is the first plant to be commissioned and started-up as part of CF’s major capacity expansion projects in North America, and the first new world-scale urea plant to be completed in North America since 1998.

“Start-up of the new urea plant in Donaldsonville is a significant milestone in our capacity expansion projects and for the future of CF,” said Tony Will, president and CEO of CF Industries. 

“Donaldsonville will play a key role as we become an even larger global supplier of nitrogen-based fertilizer," he added. "Its increased capacity, along with its unmatched logistics capability, will allow us to serve customers in North America and around the world in the most efficient way possible while providing attractive returns for shareholders.”

Output for urea at Donaldsonville in 2016 is expected to range from 2.2-3.2 million product tons depending on product mix, up from an average annual product of 1.7 million tons currently.

Upon completion of the capacity expansion project, the Donaldsonville nitrogen complex will be the largest nitrogen facility in the world.