The refinery was built in 1906 by the National Refining Company, which was then the second largest oil company in the United States. Built on, the refinery processed of crude oil, compared to today's processing capacity. In 1944, National Refining Company sold the refinery to Cooperative Refinery Association. The nickname COOP would remain for years afterward. In 1982, CRA merged with Farmland Industries. In 2000, Coffeyville Resources LLC purchased the refinery. The plant includes a nitrogen fertilizer plant adjacent to the refinery, owned and operated by Coffeyville Resources Nitrogen Fertilizers, LLC. Construction began on the nitrogen fertilizer facility in 1998. The initial build of the nitrogen fertilizer plant included shipping an existing gasification plant to Coffeyville from the West Coast. A Texacocoal gasification plant, originally located in Cool Water, California, was disassembled, refurbished, and its technology converted to be able to gasify petroleum coke instead of coal. It was then reassembled to form the heart of the nitrogen fertilizer operations. The plant is only one of two fertilizer plants in North America which does not rely on natural gas as a raw material. It first began production in late 2000. It operates using a petroleum coke gasification technology, formerly licensed by Texaco, as well as other technology, to produce approximately of ammonia and of Urea Ammonium Nitrate Solution per year, and is among the lowest cost producers and marketers of upgraded nitrogen fertilizer products in North America.
Production Process - The technology and processes used to produce ammonia and UAN are complex. The gasifier converts low priced petroleum coke into a hydrogen rich synthesis gas. The syngas is then converted into anhydrous ammonia in an ultra high efficiency ammonia plant. Subsequently, the ammonia is further upgraded into UAN in a fully integrated UAN plant. The majority of the petroleum coke used in the state-of-the-art gasification process is supplied by the Coffeyville Resources Refining & Marketing, LLC, refinery located adjacent to the fertilizer operations which is owned its parent company CVR Energy. Historically, petroleum coke has been significantly less expensive than natural gas on a per ton of fertilizer produced basis and prices have been more stable when compared to natural gas prices. By using petroleum coke as the primary raw material feedstock instead of natural gas, CVR Partners’ nitrogen fertilizer business has historically been the lowest cost producer and marketer of ammonia and UAN fertilizers in North America. In 2011, Coffeyville Resources Nitrogen Fertilizers produced 116,800 tons of ammonia available for sale, and also produced 714,100 tons of UAN.
