Manufacturing

100% NZ Owned and Operated Farm Fertiliser and Feed Operations

In addition to the significant economic contribution we make to agriculture’s bottom line, we are also supporting our local communities with six manufacturing plants located right here in New Zealand.

Fertiliser

Ballance has three fertiliser manufacturing plants across New Zealand. We have two phosphate fertiliser manufacturing plants, one situated in Mount Maunganui and the other in Awarua (Invercargill). Our Kapuni (Taranaki) plant uses natural gas to produce urea, a nitrogen fertiliser.

All of our sites are ISO 14001 certified. This is an international environmental management standard which is independently verified and recognised worldwide. The standard requires environmental aspects and impacts to be identified and effectively managed, it supports the continual improvement of environmental performance through efficient use of resources and waste reduction.

Mount Maunganui Plant

Our Mount Maunganui site produces superphosphate – the most common fertiliser used in New Zealand farming. It contains both phosphate and sulphur, two nutrients that are typically deficient in New Zealand soils.

We import the phosphate rock from all around the world to use in the manufacture of fertiliser. The sulphur we use is a waste product from oil refining and comes from one main source - Canada.

We recycle the sulphur to make sulphuric acid. This is then reacted with the phosphate rock to solubilise the phosphate, making superphosphate fertiliser. The production of sulphuric acid also generates heat, which we capture and convert to electricity. We create enough electricity to power our site and the excess (which is enough to power around 3000 homes in our community) is fed back into the National Grid. Sulphuric acid is also sold into local industry for industrial cleaning, sanitation, wastewater treatment, power generation and food/pharmaceutical manufacture.

Consented activity

Our Mount Maunganui plant operates under several resource consents to manufacture fertiliser and sulphuric acid, this includes discharge to air, and stormwater/wastewater discharges to Tauranga Harbour

We have two consented ‘discharges to air’:

• Sulphur dioxide(SO₂) emissions from the Acid Plant in the production of sulphuric acid

• Fluoride and SO2 emissions from the Acidulation Plant in the production of phosphate fertiliser.

We continuously monitor emission levels at the point of discharge at our acid plant for sulphur dioxide. We run in-process checks and weekly lab tests for sulphur dioxide and fluoride at our acidulation plant.

We conduct continuous air quality monitoring for dust levels, often referred to as PM10 (PM10 is particulate matter 10 micrometres or less in diameter) across our site. We also have off-site PM10 monitoring.

Our consent data is shared below. The data was last updated in Jan 2024 and is due to be updated further in November 2024.

• Sulphur dioxide emissions (SO₂) – acid plant

• Sulphur dioxide emissions (SO₂) - acid plant (pre 2019 data)

• Sulphur dioxide (SO2) – acidulation plant

• Fluoride emissions (F) – acidulation plant

Awarua Plant

Ballance’s only South Island fertiliser manufacturing plant sits at Awarua, south of Invercargill. Like our Mount Maunganui plant, the site manufactures superphosphate fertiliser. Fertiliser produced in Awarua is distributed to farms throughout the South Island.

Consented Activity

Our Awarua plant operates under three resource consents to manufacture phosphate fertiliser. These include a discharge to air, discharge to water, and the uptake of bore water.

Our discharge to air consent is for the discharge of fluoride and sulphur dioxide from our acidulation plant stack in the production of phosphate fertiliser. As required by our consent, we run in-process checks and at least fortnightly lab tests for sulphur dioxide and fluoride at our acidulation plant.

Our consent data is shared below. The data is updated regularly Last update April 2023.

• Sulphur dioxide emissions data – acidulation plant

• Fluoride emissions data – acidulation plant

Kapuni Plant

Ballance owns the country’s only ammonia-urea manufacturing plant, which is located at Kapuni, in Taranaki. This high-tech plant operates to stringent international standards, converting atmospheric nitrogen to ammonia and then to urea. The natural gas used to power this plant is sourced from the nearby Maui gas field.

Consented activity

Our Kapuni plant operates under seven resource consents to manufacture urea. These include abstraction of water, discharge of wastewater and emissions to air.

Our discharge to air consent is for the discharge of ammonia and urea from the dust scrubber stack in our urea plant.

Our emissions to air are measured twice per year and reported to Taranaki Regional Council for inclusion in their annual report on the Kapuni operation.

Our consent data is shared below. The data is updated regularly. Last update Dec 2023.

• Ammonia emissions data

• Urea emissions data

Our water abstraction from the local river is monitored continuously and updated quarterly.