Springtime marks the timely opening of Ravensdown’s re-commissioned Napier works site after the twin blows of a fire in late 2022 and significant flooding from Cyclone Gabrielle last February.
The multimillion-dollar rebuild and upgrade add another 30-plus years to the Awatoto site and represent a significant leap in technology and environmental improvements over the old plant, said works manager Tony Gray.
“A lot of the investment is commensurate with assets that have had their life extended. It also comes after we received a 35-year operating consent from Hawke’s Bay Regional Council with conditions around discharge to air and water.”
The two main projects on the site have been a new acidulation plant for the formulation of phosphate rock into superphosphate and a new atmospheric scrubber system that removes by-gases from the acidulation process before they can be released into the atmosphere.
“This will result in lower discharges of fluorine in particular.”
The scrubbing project has also combined three separate units into one, putting the plant on “world best” standards for environmental discharge and management.
Gray said other than the move from three scrubbing towers to one, there will be little else from the upgrade outwardly visible to Hawke’s Bay residents.
In response to the fire damage in late 2022 the company as also built a new manufacturing building, removing temporary measures put in place to keep the plant operating post-fire that year, just prior to Gabrielle forcing the plant to shut temporarily.
Along with the Pan Pac plant at Whirinaki north of Napier, which was also hit hard by Gabrielle, the two operators employ about 600 staff between them.
Rumours had circulated in the industry that Ravensdown’s Awatoto site was going to shut down for good.
But Gray said the investment was a definitive nod to the co-operative’s commitment to the region, with plant destined to deliver greater efficiencies for its farmer shareholders at a time when every cent saved counts.
Over the next few weeks on-site staff will be commissioning the plant’s processing stages with a view to being ready for processing spring fertiliser orders.
