FEATURE
Familiar – Many people will recognise CF Fertilisers ’ iconic tower , but they may not know what the company does .
Purpose – Plant general manager Keith Brudenell says employees take pride in helping to feed the world .
It ’ s this connection with feeding the people that gives Keith and the staff at CF Fertilisers a great sense of pride in what they do .
Keith says : “ As an engineer , I could have done many things and I ’ ve always felt pleased about that connection with manufacturing something that helps to feed people around the world .”
The plant started life as a munitions factory in World War One , built upon what used to be Grange Farm in 1917 .
At that time , Billingham-on-Tees was just a small village .
“ A lot of Billingham is here because of us ,” Keith says . “ We are quite iconic on the skyline , but most people will be driving past on the A19 and see us but don ’ t necessarily know what we do .
“ The towers are known as prill towers and the process of making fertiliser pellets today comes from when they used to make lead shot – little lead bullets .
“ In the 18th century , molten lead would rain down as little pellets from the top of a tower and by the time they reached the bottom they were solid .”
Explaining how a similar process is now used to make the fertiliser , Keith adds : “ Imagine a large shower head , with 2,895 holes of 1.4mm diameter at the top of the tower raining down liquid fertiliser .
“ Going up the tower , there is a flow of air and as the liquid comes down it cools and you get a little ball – a ‘ prill ’ of fertiliser .
“ The shower head shakes a bit to control the size of the prills so they are uniform – the farmers want a uniform product , so it spreads easily .”
Keith says employees pride themselves on the quality of the product , which means farmers get the maximum yield .
“ Every minute , there ’ s a one-tonne bag of fertiliser coming off the production line , so it ’ s a very high volume of product we are
creating ,” Keith says . “ We are making it and it ’ s going out on a truck within a few hours .”
Nitric acid , which is used to produce fertiliser , is also used to make various plastics and has other uses in the UK .
The site also produces an ammonia solution used in pharmaceuticals and water treatment .
The ammonia solution is at record production and has gone from being produced in a batch operation from Monday to Friday during daytime hours to 24 hours a day , seven days per week .
It is used for nitric oxides abatement – preventing emissions of this harmful gas from burning fossil fuels for electricity or heat or from energy from waste plants .
The acid plants are some of the cleanest nitric acid plants in the world , having both nitric oxides and nitrous oxide ( a powerful greenhouse gas ) abatement .
“ We have cleaned up our emissions and all the electricity we buy in is renewable electricity ,” Keith says .
“ We also generate most of our electricity ourselves from waste heat from the chemical plants .
“ We try to support the local community through environmental sustainability , food access and security , STEM education and local community enhancement .”
The firm donates about £ 50,000 a year in local community support and every employee can use the equivalent of a day at work supporting a local good cause .
“ We also invest £ 15m a year in the plants and we are always looking at improving safety and our environmental performance ,” Keith adds .
“ In the energy crisis we ’ ve been through the last couple of years , Billingham has been one of the few fertiliser production plants in Europe to stay open and produce for British farmers .
“ That ’ s something we are very proud of .”
The firm is also making strides when it comes to improving diversity and inclusion , with more female and ethnically diverse staff being recruited as operators and engineers in recent times .
“ We want to be a good employer and a good neighbour to the local community ,” Keith says .
“ Our corporate mission is to provide clean energy to feed and fuel the world sustainably .”
The voice of business in the Tees region | 109