Piney Point Phosphate Plant
The Piney Point Phosphate plant was constructed in 1966 by the Borden Chemical Company. Since then and until January of 2001, there have been four owners of the processing facility and the related gypsum stack system. Mulberry Corporation, the latest owner through January of 2001, filed for bankruptcy in February of that year and abandoned the plant leaving the sensitive water balance issue and the threat of environmental responsibility to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). A cast of responsible parties, including the corporations still operating in the phosphate industry locally and elsewhere, came together in planning and financial assurance to secure the more than one billion gallons of slightly acidic water at this facility.
"This is a very unusual situation," comments Herb Donica, the bankruptcy attorney charged with disposing of Mulberry's assets. "Usually we gather up assets, convert them to cash and distribute that cash to creditors. In this case, the most important thing we can do is eliminate the risk of environmental contamination and promote the public interest."
COMANCO Environmental Corporation (CEC) was contracted by the state appointed receiver to construct a geomembrane closure system designed by Ardaman and Associates.
February 2004 — Completion of 24 acre "NGS-North Pond"
April 2004 — Completion of 35 acre "OGS-South Pond"
June 2005 — Completion of 84 acre "NGS-South Pond"
The most critical element in the operation of a responsible phosphate company may be managing the water required to mine, separate and process raw material into finished fertilizer. While the industry recycles more than 95 percent of the water it uses, each of three steps taken to process phosphate is highly dependent upon water. Phosphate comes out of the ground in almost equal parts phosphate rock, sand and clay. Once it's mined, it's mixed with water to make a slurry capable of being pumped to "beneficiation" plants where the ore is separated from rock and clay.
Phosphate beneficiation requires several steps, including washing off the larger particles and flotation procedures that use water and a series of chemical reagents to concentrate the phosphate.
Phosphate rock is then trucked to chemical processing plants like Piney Point, where more than a billion gallons of water are in constant motion when a plant is operating. Water is used in the manufacturing process, then pumped to the top of stacks where phosphogypsum and other waste products are deposited. It soaks through the stacks and back into a system of ponds where excess materials settle out.
When a plant is operating, water is constantly reused. Heat generated by the manufacturing process keeps temperatures in the pond at a toasty 140 degrees, hastening evaporation and minimizing the potential for flooding, even in heavy rains. When the plant shuts down, however, the ponds cool, water no longer evaporates as quickly and rainfall becomes an issue.
Water is pumped into the stacks at a rate of 6,000 gallons per minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, whether the plant is running or not, until the stacks are closed.
For more information related to this project or any other services that CEC provides, please contact us.