— Integrated Solutions for Ag Chem Operations —
Agricultural chemical production sits at the intersection of highly hazardous materials, continuous public exposure, and relentless seasonal demand. Facilities producing ammonia, urea, nitric acid, and finished crop inputs operate under OSHA PSM 1910.119 and EPA RMP, often on assets that have changed hands, expanded in phases, and years of modifications. Add anhydrous ammonia inventories with offsite consequence potential, combustible dust in dry blending and bagging, and control systems well past vendor support, and the breadth of risks become difficult to manage from any single discipline.
aeSolutions helps ag chem producers understand where their real hazards are, size the protection those hazards actually require, and then we design, build, and support commissioning of the automation and safety systems. Process safety, functional safety, alarm management, combustion systems, fire and gas detection systems, and automation all come from the same team, so the hazard identified in a PHA is the same hazard traced through the SIF, into the panel on our shop floor, and out to a commissioned system on your unit.
— Ag Chem By the Numbers —
25+
Years Serving Ag Chem Clients
35
Ag Chem Sites Supported
348
Ag Chem Projects Delivered
— Where We Work in Ag Chem —
Nitrogen & Fertilizer Production
Ammonia synthesis, urea, nitric acid, and UAN units, where high-pressure reaction, fired equipment, and toxic release potential converge.
Crop Input Formulation & Packaging
Batch formulation, solvent handling, and filling operations that combine reactive chemistry with recipe-driven production.
Anhydrous Ammonia Storage & Terminals
Pressurized and refrigerated storage, rail and truck loading, and bulk transfer, where the dominant risk is offsite consequence.
Fired Equipment & Steam Utilities
Boilers, process heaters, kilns, dryers, and thermal oxidizers governed by NFPA 85, NFPA 86, and NFPA 87.
Dry Blending, Granulation & Bagging
Granulators, dryers, coolers, screening, and packaging lines, where combustible dust and material handling drive the hazard profile.
Legacy & Acquired Facilities
Recently acquired or long-tenured plants carrying incomplete process safety information and undocumented control systems.
— The Challenges We Solve —
And The Capabilities We Bring
FIRE & GAS DETECTION
Anhydrous ammonia with offsite consequence potential
Ammonia storage and transfer near property lines makes worst-case release modeling a business question, not just a compliance exercise. We run dispersion and consequence modeling, map detector coverage against it, and design detection, isolation, and mitigation systems sized to the scenario rather than to a rule of thumb.
DUST HAZARD ANALYSIS
Combustible dust in blending, granulation, and bagging
Dry fertilizer handling generates dust in dryers, coolers, elevators, screens, and baghouses. A Dust Hazard Analysis under NFPA 652 identifies where deflagration is credible, and the resulting protection has to be engineered into the equipment and the control system, not bolted on afterward.
FUNCTIONAL SAFETY
Safety functions nobody can prove still work
Interlocks accumulate across decades and expansions, often without a Safety Requirements Specification, SIL verification, or proof test record. Our CFSEs determine required SIL, verify achieved SIL, write the SRS, and build the proof test procedures that make the claim defensible under ANSI/ISA 61511.
BURNER MANAGEMENT
Burner management systems running past their support life
Dryers, kilns, and waste heat boilers often run on burner management logic that predates current NFPA 86 practice, with hardwired interlocks nobody has verified in years. Nuisance trips cost production during the seasons you can least afford them, and a real demand may not find a working safety function. We design, fabricate, and commission BMS and combustion control systems to code, and factory acceptance test them before they reach your site.
PROCESS SAFETY
PSM and RMP obligations on a plant you inherited
Acquired sites frequently arrive without complete process safety information, current P&IDs, or a defensible PHA. Closing that gap under a corporate deadline requires more than a document review. We rebuild the process safety basis, facilitate the PHA and LOPA, and carry the findings into engineering so the compliance case is supported by real design.
AUTOMATION AND CONTROL
Control systems past vendor support during peak season
Ag chem demand is seasonal, which compresses every outage window and raises the cost of an unplanned trip. We plan DCS and PLC migrations around production reality, with I/O cutover planning, staged commissioning, and documentation that survives the people who built it.
ALARM MANAGEMENT
Operators buried under alarms during upsets
When a nitric acid or ammonia unit upsets, alarm floods take away the situational awareness operators need most. Alarm philosophy development, rationalization facilitation, and advanced alarming restore a manageable alarm load and a clear operator response for each one.
— One Team, Not Five Vendors —
Most firms serving ag chem do one thing. A process safety consultant facilitates your PHA and hands you a report. An integrator programs your PLC. A panel builder ships you a cabinet. Each is competent and none of them owns the seam between the others, which is exactly where projects fail and where risk quietly survives.
aeSolutions covers the full lifecycle with one accountable team. The hazard scenario identified in your PHA becomes a Layer of Protection Analysis, which sets the required SIL, which drives the Safety Requirements Specification, which becomes a design, which is fabricated and factory acceptance tested in our own UL and FM certified panel shop in Greenville, South Carolina, and then installed and commissioned on your unit. No handoff between companies. No requirement lost in translation. One party responsible for the outcome.
DISCIPLINE
APPLIED IN AG CHEM
Process Safety
PHA, HAZOP, LOPA, QRA, PSM/RMP auditing, facility siting, Dust Hazard Analysis, electrical area classification, mechanical integrity
Functional Safety
SIL determination and verification, Safety Requirements Specifications, Functional Safety Assessments, proof test procedures, functional safety management
Automation & Control
DCS and PLC migration, I/O cutover planning, systems integration, HMI design, control narratives, instrument and electrical conceptual design
Combustion Systems
Burner management and combustion control system design for boilers, process heaters, kilns, dryers, incinerators, and thermal oxidizers
Fire & Gas
Plume dispersion modeling, detector coverage modeling, conceptual and detail design, FM approved system fabrication, commissioning
Alarm Management
Alarm philosophy, rationalization facilitation, program audits, advanced alarming, implementation support
Project Development
FEL 1 through 3, total installed cost estimating, scope definition, risk planning, PMO-led execution
— Automation & Control Systems for Ag Chem —
An ag chem site is rarely one kind of plant. A nitrogen complex runs continuously. The formulation building next to it runs recipes in batches. The bagging and palletizing line at the end runs discrete. Each demands a different control strategy, and the integration between them is where visibility and traceability are usually lost.
MODE 01
Continuous
Ammonia synthesis, nitric acid, and urea units run steady-state with tight interaction between pressure, temperature, and composition loops.
Our work centers on regulatory control performance, safe operating limits, and the interface between the BPCS and the SIS, so the protective layer stays independent of the layer doing the controlling.
TYPICAL SCOPE
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DCS and PLC migration with staged I/O cutover
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Control narrative and functional requirements
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Advanced regulatory control and loop performance
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BPCS and SIS independence verification
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Safe operating limit definition
MODE 02
Batch
Formulation, reaction, and blending operations run to recipe, where the sequence itself carries the hazard. Charge order, temperature ramp, and hold time are safety parameters, not just quality parameters.
We build batch control that is structured, auditable, and able to fail safe mid-sequence.
TYPICAL SCOPE
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Structured batch control and recipe management
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Sequence and phase logic with interlock alignment
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Reactive chemistry review feeding control strategy
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Batch reporting, electronic records, genealogy
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Safe-state definition and sequence hold or abort
MODE 03
Discrete
Granulation, screening, coating, bagging, and palletizing behave like discrete manufacturing lines, with the added complications of combustible dust and equipment that is difficult to guard.
Machine safety, dust-rated design, and throughput reliability all have to hold at once, particularly during seasonal peaks.
TYPICAL SCOPE
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Machine safeguarding and safety-rated control design
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Robotic and automated system risk assessment
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Packaging and material handling integration
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Dust hazard controls in the control system
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Line performance and downtime analysis
— Platforms and Fabrication —
— Siemens —
aeSolutions has been a Siemens Solution Partner since 1999 and was the first company in the Americas to earn Siemens' PCS 7 Safety Specialist certification.
— Rockwell —
aeSolutions is a certified Rockwell Systems Integrator. This allows us to ensure we can provide the best possible solution and exceptional support with the least amount of risk for your company.
We work across Siemens, Rockwell, and other major platforms, and we fabricate, configure, and factory acceptance test complete systems in our own certified panel shop before anything ships to your site.
— The aeSolutions ResiliencePath™ Method —
We’re an integrative specialist with a proven methodology that we call ResiliencePath™ that embeds safety into every stage of the project lifecycle — from concept to closure — for compliance today and resilience tomorrow.
Empowering — Not Enforcing
Rather than checking boxes, we help you identify the right questions early to prevent costly late-stage corrections and avoid years of OpEx fixes. Each ResiliencePath™ step is driven by one goal: empowering resilient, value-aligned decisions that stand the test of time.
EPC & Subcontractor Integration
ResiliencePath™ is adaptable to collaborate seamlessly with EPCs and subcontractors, integrated into a structured workflow designed to adapt to real-world project dynamics without compromising on results.
Your Process, Our Expertise
At aeSolutions, we help clients reduce project chaos and strengthen performance by embedding safety into the full project lifecycle. This is enhanced by our PMO professionals who ensure structure, accountability, and measurable progress. Our integrated services span PHA facilitation, compliance audits, facility siting, and risk management planning, supported by domain expertise and a focus on practical implementation.
We work with your team to close gaps, clarify responsibilities, and convert fragmented practices into a unified approach that protects people, assets, and uptime. Whether you're navigating a revalidation or rethinking your strategy, aeSolutions helps you move from risk to resilience with clarity and confidence.
— DON'T JUST TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT —
Evidence-Backed Results
