Dakota Gasification Company (Dakota Gas) experienced a groundbreaking year in 2024, setting new records in fertilizer production and CO2 sequestration. It also marked a historic milestone as the first year ever in ammonia and urea production without a scheduled turnaround.
Over the past decade, Dakota Gas has invested heavily in ammonia infrastructure, working to improve its reliability. The addition of a urea plant in 2018 further enhanced their capabilities, and by 2024, Dakota Gas achieved a remarkable milestone: Improvements to the urea plant allowed the ammonia to run continuously throughout the year for the first time in the plant’s history. “Each year we took the fertilizer units down to perform maintenance. We’ve been working towards the goal of being able to go on a two-year cycle,” Trinity Turnbow, Basin Electric vice president and plant manager at Dakota Gas, said. “The first year we ever achieved that was 2024.”
Turnbow noted that the company installed a second 30,000-ton ammonia storage tank and replaced large pieces of equipment, including two main compressors, with more efficient models. Improvements to the CO2 compressor feeding the urea plant have further boosted reliability.
Alongside its fertilizer production success, Dakota Gas surpassed its CO2 sequestration goal, capturing 1.38 million metric tons–38% above its target. “We’ve recently invested in our CO2 compressors and their interstage trains,” Turnbow said. Once compressed, the captured CO2 becomes a product with a high netback, meaning the revenue a company earns from its sale after accounting for all associated costs. “Because of its high netback, we aim to leverage it to achieve our goals.”
