About 1500 tonnes of brown coal from Loy Yang is being tested as the first step in a 2 billion dollars project using low-value lignite to replace fertiliser imports, Latrobe Fertilisers Ltd CEO Bob Davies said drying tests finished on October 17 - cutting the water content of brown coal from about 65 percent to 12 percent. The drying process is the first step in transforming lignite into its gaseous components before converting the nitrogen gas into a solid - urea - a fertiliser used widely to boost pasture. Annually Australia and New Zealand uses two million tonnes of urea, 80 per cent imported from the Middle East, where it is manufactured using gas-based fuels. Rising gas prices have seen global urea prices soar over the past eight months. Addressing a meeting of Agribusiness Gippsland Inc in October, Mr Davies explained that farmers would also benefit from a price-stable supply of locally-sourced fertiliser.
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