ATOME, an international developer of green fertilizer projects, has completed the FEED study for its 145 MW green fertilizer facility at Villeta, Paraguay.
The milestone provides the foundational engineering for the Villeta Project and keeps it on track to commence construction by the end of 2024, the company said in a an investor update.
ATOME is now progressing EPC contract discussions and anticipates that these discussions will lead to the appointment of principal EPC contractors by the end of June 2024 with the definitive contract expected to be signed at the time of FID anticipated later this year.
The company said in the release that it is highly encouraged by the status of discussions on offtake and hopes to be able to announce a successful conclusion by the end of Q2 2024. Offtake is the last significant milestone before proceeding to the final phases of the ongoing project funding process.
The completion of FEED, which includes approximately 100,000 hours of engineering and comprises some 619 individual documents and reports, represents the first announced completion of FEED for any large-scale green fertilizer facility worldwide, the company said.
The FEED study confirms the Villeta Project’s design, processes, timelines and production capacity of 264,000 tonnes per year of green Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (“CAN”) fertiliser which has the potential to displace up to an estimated 15 million tonnes/CO2e over the life of the project.
The FEED study was performed by Spanish engineering firm, Urbas Energy, in cooperation with world-renowned Casale, the Swiss-based OEM and licensor for ammonia and fertiliser technologies. AECOM, the multinational Fortune-500 engineering consulting company, Owner’s Engineer for ATOME, advised and signed-off on the study together with the Company.
