Florida-based BioNitrogen Corp. has announced the signing of a supply agreement with United Suppliers Inc. for the offtake of urea fertilizer for its proposed plants in Pointe Coupee Parish, La. United Suppliers is owned by 735 locally-controlled retailers. The company provides crop nutrients to its owners in 20 states and three Canadian provinces.

This is the second agreement made with United Suppliers. In mid-2012 BioNitrogen announced a supply agreement for its first commercial plant in Hardee County, Fla. BioNitrogen announced the acquisition of 600 acres of land for the Florida plant in January. Preliminary work on a rail spur for the plant was announced in March. According to information released by the company, it has actively been raising funds for the project via convertible debenture financing and tax-exempt bonds. Once complete the facility is expected to produce 124,000 tons of urea fertilizer annually via a gasification process and catalytic conversion.

On April 4 the company announced the signing of an agreement with BioResource Management Inc. to manage the logistics and delivery of woody biomass to the Hardee County plant. BioResource specializes in the management of wood biomass resources. The company already manages a 3,000 ton per day delivery of woodchips to a cogeneration plant in Florida and has the capacity to supply more than 240,000 tons of biomass to the Hardee County facility annually.

Regarding the proposed facilities in Louisiana, BioNitrogen announced in late February that the Louisiana Community Development Authority granted preliminary approval of the issuance of up to $1.25 billion in tax-exempt bonds for the acquisition, development and construction for five plants in Pointe Coupee Parish. The company also recently signed a letter of intent to purchase approximately 250 acres of land for the construction of the facilities.

BioNitrogen is also considering the development of a Canadian project. In late March the company announced it signed an agreement with Battle River Agri-Ventures Co-op in Killam, Alberta, to conduct a feasibility study for the development of one or more plants using its urea-production technology. The feasibility study will include a market analysis of regional urea consumption and availability, viability of potential offtakers, biomass sampling and gasification analysis, analysis of logistical factors, identification of plant construction constraints and product shipping methods, and analysis and evaluation of plant operational elements.