Fertilizer Industry News

Fertilizer Industry News

EUROPE

Ammonia plants shutdown across Europe

A record rise in gas prices at the end of August triggered a spate of ammonia production curtailments across Europe. These included major shutdown announcements from CF Fertilisers UK, Grupa Azoty, Yara International and others.

“We have now confirmed that 50 percent of total European ammonia capacity (excluding Ukraine) is shuttered or curtailed, up from 26 percent the week prior,” CRU reported on 25 August.

CF Fertilisers UK is temporarily halting ammonia production at its Billingham complex on Teesside. The company, a subsidiary of US-headquartered CF Industries, will continue to produce ammonium nitrate (AN) and nitric acid at the site using imported ammonia instead.

It has yet to decide when Billingham’s temporary shutdown will start.

“At current natural gas and carbon prices, CF Fertilisers UK’s ammonia production is uneconomical, with marginal costs above £2,000 per tonne and global ammonia prices at about half that level. The current cost of natural gas at NBP* is more than twice as high as it was one year ago, with the NBP forward strip suggesting that this price will continue to rise in the months ahead,” CF Fertilisers UK said in a statement. (*NBP is the wholesale trading point for UK natural gas.)

However, the company said it still “expects to fulfil all ammonia and nitric acid contracts and all orders of AN contracted for delivery in the coming months” by switching to imported ammonia.

The ammonia production halt at Billingham follows the announced closure by CF of its Ince, Cheshire fertilizer production complex in June, ending more than 55 years of production at the site (Fertilizer International 509, p8).

Ammonia production at Billingham and Ince was halted on 15th September last year due to high natural gas prices, although the Billingham plant restarted a few weeks later after the UK government stepped in to cover costs (Fertilizer International 505, p8).

The cash support offered by the British government last year was designed to ensure continuing CO2 supply to UK industry, particularly the food and beverage sector. The UK relies on Billingham for the CO2 generated as a by-product of ammonia production. CF says it has notified its CO2 contract customers about the latest production halt at the site.

The 24th August announcement by CF Fertilisers UK came the day after Poland’s Grupa Azoty halted nitrogen fertilizer production at Tarnow, Poland, and also reduced production at its Pulawy site. In total, the company has the capacity to produce 524,000 tonnes of ammonia, 375,000 tonnes of urea and one million tonnes of NPKs annually.

The decision was prompted by record natural gas prices. Azoty estimates that its natural gas costs have leapt from e72 per megawatt hour (MWh) on 22nd February to e276/MWh on 22nd August.

Yara International also reacted to these record high gas prices by announcing further production curtailments on 25th August. These will reduce its total European ammonia output to around 35 percent of capacity.

The decision means that Yara has now curtailed its annual capacity by the equivalent of 3.1 million tonnes for ammonia and 4.0 million tonnes for fertilizers (1.8 million tonnes urea, 1.9 million tonnes nitrates and 0.3 million tonnes NPK) across its European production sites.

“Yara will where possible use its global sourcing and production system to optimize operations and meet customer demand, including continued nitrate production using imported ammonia when feasible. Yara will continue to monitor the situation and adapt to market conditions going forward,” the company said in a statement.

BASF also cut ammonia production in Germany over the summer in reaction to high gas prices.

“We are reducing production at facilities that require large amounts of natural gas, such as ammonia plants,” BASF’s CEO Martin Brudermueller said in an earnings call of 27th July. “We are monitoring developments very closely, particularly at our largest site in Ludwigshafen, where we use considerable amounts of gas.”

BASF said falling gas supplies from Russia were behind its decision. Ammonia production is particularly vulnerable, being responsible for one quarter of its overall natural gas consumption. The company said it would fill some of its ammonia supply shortfall with purchases from external suppliers but warned that farmers would still face higher fertilizer costs next year.

“[A cut in ammonia production] would put additional pressure on an already extremely tight market. Russia is a major exporter of ammonia and fertilisers. Exports from Russia are currently in sharp decline. A reduction in gas supplies in Germany would further exacerbate the shortage of fertilisers worldwide, reduce food production and lead to further price increases for basic foodstuffs,” a BASF spokesperson said.

As of 23rd August, ICIS was reporting widespread disruption to ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer production across Europe linked to soaring wholesale gas prices. Partial or full shutdowns or reduced production rates were reported at the following sites:

• Yara Sluiskil and OCI, the Netherlands
• CF Fertilisers Ince, UK
• BASF Ludwigshafen and SKW, Germany
• Fertiberia Huelva, Spain
• Yara Ferrara, Italy
• Petrokemija, Croatia
• Azomures, Romania
• Grupa Azoty Tarnow and Pulawy, Poland
• Achema, Lithuania.

“At least 50% of European ammonia capacity has been curtailed. The reality is likely higher than this. The repercussions could be extraordinary and expand well beyond agriculture and fertilizers,” Chris Lawson, CRU’s head of fertilizers, said on 27th August.

Additional to the above list, CRU is also reporting that Anvil has ceased production in Poland and that Duslo in Slovakia is also facing downtime.

AFRICA

Stamicarbon wins first African urea project license

Stamicarbon has been selected as the licensor for an unnamed 4,000 t/d capacity urea project in sub-Saharan Africa, its first license in the region.

The company, part of Maire Tecnimont Group, will deliver the process design package for the front-end engineering design of a urea melt and granulation plant. The urea melt plant (with pool reactor) will incorporate Stamicarbon’s LAUNCH FINISH™ MP Flash design. This improves operational energy efficiency by significantly reducing steam consumption. The new plant will also use Stamicarbon’s LAUNCH FINISH™ Fluid bed Granulation design and include an acidic scrubbing system to remove emissions. The entire synthesis section of the new plant will be in Safurex® .

The overall design, by minimising the number of equipment items, will reduce the urea plant’s footprint and its capital cost. Less equipment also translates into lower maintenance costs and operational cost savings. The plant is also designed to deliver high on-stream times and high-quality products with low formaldehyde consumption and low dust and ammonia emissions.

Pejman Djavdan, Stamicarbon’s CEO, said: ‘’We are proud to be part of this remarkable project. It is a genuinely solid project with an innovative concept that is bound to add value to the community and the region at large. With this project, Stamicarbon has increased its footprint in Sub-Saharan Africa and positioned itself as the world leader in cutting-edge technology and solutions relevant to the fertilizer industry.”

AUSTRALIA

Carbon-free production breakthrough

A team of scientists at Melbourne’s Monash University have reported a breakthrough in the electrolytic conversion of nitrogen into ammonia.

The scientists say they can now convert nitrogen from air into ammonia using renewable electricity at an unprecedented rate due to the complete selectivity of the conversion reaction. This should pave the way for sustainable ammonia generation at industrial scale in future, they suggest, and also enable carbon-free fertilizer production.

Lead scientist Dr Hoang-Long Du, and team leaders Dr Alexandr Simonov and Professor Doug MacFarlane, have developed a unique electrolyte that supports the nitrogen-to-ammonia conversion reaction by producing a high-performance layer on the operating electrode.

Their findings have just been published in the journal Nature.

Dr Simonov said the process for carbon-free fertilizer production via renewable energy had been known for some time – but was not very selective. “Typically, a significant portion, sometimes as large as half of the electricity was used in making other unwanted compounds, making the process impractical,” he said. “Our new discovery shows how ammonia can be made with complete selectivity.”

Professor MacFarlane, said that reaching 100 percent selectivity for ammonia was a vital step in making the process industrially practical. “This discovery builds on years of work in our group understanding the fundamental chemistry underpinning the process,” he said.

Dr Du said another important feature of the new electrolyte was its high process stability. “Since the electricity is exclusively used for the nitrogen to ammonia reaction, no degradation processes can occur and the process can operate stably on a long timescale,” he said.

Jupiter Ionics, a Monash University spin off company, is scaling up the newly discovered process. The company is planning to install the technology on farms, or in regional centres, to produce fertilizers locally using on-site renewable energy. It hopes to have the first prototype devices working on a farm in Victoria next year, according to the Jupiter’s CEO Dr Charlie Day.

“This new research is opening up a novel pathway to ammonia production, over a century after Haber and Bosch first developed their eponymous process,” Dr Day said. “Importantly, it will enable production at a range of scales and in a range of settings, all powered by increasingly abundant and cheap renewable energy.”

Jupiter Ionics is receiving funding for the scale-up project from the Australian federal government’s CRC Program along with support from partners Fortescue Future Industries, WesCEF and SJDC Produce Ltd.

UAE

New Ruwais shiploader for Fertil

Bedeschi is supplying a new 1,200 t/h capacity shiploader for Fertil’s Ruwais terminal in Abu Dhabi. The tailor-made ‘luffing and slewing’ type shiploader will be delivered on site fully constructed.

The new machine will replace the existing shiploader used for fertilizer and granular urea loading operations at the terminal. It runs on rails and uses a towed tripper to divert product from a wharf gallery conveyor onto the transfer belt that, in turn, supplies the loading boom belt.

Schematic of Bedeschi’s new shiploader for Fertil at Ruwais terminal.

IMAGE: BEDESCHI

Installation of the new shiploader will not disrupt Fertil’s operations at Ruwais, according to Bedeschi.

SAUDI ARABIA

World’s first blue hydrogen and blue ammonia certification

In a world first, Saudi Aramco and state fertilizer producer Sabic Agri-Nutrients (AN) have been awarded independent certificates of accreditation for blue hydrogen and blue ammonia production at Jubail in Saudi Arabia.

The landmark certificates were awarded to the two companies by TUV Rheinland, a German-based independent testing, inspection and certification agency. The certification covered 37,800 tonnes of blue ammonia produced by Sabic AN and 8,075 tonnes of blue hydrogen produced by Sasref, a refinery wholly owned by Saudi Aramco.

To receive blue certification, verification is needed that the carbon dioxide generated by ammonia and hydrogen production is being captured and used downstream.

“Sabic recognises that hydrogen will play an essential role in decarbonisation and it is part of Sabic’s overall road map toward carbon neutrality by 2050, with a 20% reduction target in carbon emissions by 2030,” said Fahad Al Sherehy, Sabic’s vice president of energy efficiency and carbon management. The new initiatives will also support Saudi Arabia’s goal to become carbon neutral by 2050, he said.

Oil and gas giant Aramco recently announced plans to produce up to 11 million tonnes per annum of blue ammonia by 2030. This ambitious target represents around 50 percent of the current global merchant ammonia market, according to analysts Profercy.

BRAZIL

Unigel invests $120 million in green ammonia project

Unigel has announced Brazil’s first industrial-scale green hydrogen production project.

The company, Brazil’s largest nitrogen fertilizer manufacturer, will initially invest $120 million installing three standard thyssenkrupp nucera 20 megawatt (MW) electrolysers at its Camaçari industrial complex in Bahia as part of the project’s first phase.

The new 60 MW plant will have production capacity for 10,000 t/a of green hydrogen and 60,000 t/a of green ammonia. Around three quarters of the plant’s energy requirements will come from renewable sources.

Unigel will use the green ammonia generated to manufacture fertilizers and acrylics. The new plant will also supply green hydrogen to industrial customers to help steel makers and oil refiners decarbonise their production chains.

The ultimate aim, in the project’s second phase, is to quadruple electrolyser capacity to produce around 40,000 t/a of green hydrogen.

“Throughout our nearly 60-year history, we have always been attentive to technological innovations and have invested to meet industrial and agribusiness demands. With this project, Unigel takes the first step towards the decarbonization of several sectors, contributing substantially to combating climate change on the planet,” said Henri Slezynger, Unigel’s founder and chairman.

Dr Werner Ponikwar, CEO of thyssenkrupp nucera, welcomed this first-of-its-kind project: “As Brazil is one of the world-leading countries in terms of installed renewable energy, we are pleased to enter this partnership to make green hydrogen an affordable energy vector already today. Only through large-scale production with robust, reliable and cost-effective technologies at competitive renewable power prices will green hydrogen become market-ready with widespread use.”

Nutrien buys ag retailer Casa do Adubo

Canadian fertilizer giant Nutrien Ltd has entered into an agreement to acquire the Brazilian fertilizer retailer and distributor Casa do Adubo S.A.

The purchase includes 39 retail locations, under the brand Casa do Adubo, and 10 distribution centres, under the brand Agrodistribuidor Casal. These sites are widely distributed throughout Brazil, supplying the states of Acre, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Pará, Rio de Janeiro, Rondônia, São Paulo and Tocantins.

The acquisition of Casa do Adubo is part of Nutrien’s retail growth strategy for Brazil and is expected to generate additional yearly sales of approximately $400 million. This should increase Nutrien’s total annual sales in Latin America, through its Nutrien Ag Solutions retail arm, to around $2.2 billion.

“The acquisition expands our footprint in Brazil from five states to 13 and supports growers in a key region of the world that will increasingly be relied on to sustainably increase crop production and feed a growing population, especially with the current global food insecurity challenges,” said Ken Seitz, Nutrien’s president and CEO. “We expect that integrating Casa do Adubo will further enhance our ability to provide whole-acre solutions for all customers in the region while delivering quality earnings in this large and growing market.”

“We appreciate the reputation Casa do Adubo has earned for delivering strong financial performance, attracting top talent and offering quality products and services,” said André Dias, Nutrien’s regional leader in Latin America. “With the acquisition, we will strengthen our existing presence and expand to serve additional growers with innovative solutions that help sustainably feed the world.”

Once complete, the acquisition will increase Nutrien’s Latin American presence to 180 commercial units, including customer-facing retail branches and ‘experience centres’, five industrial plants and four fertilizer blenders.

The transaction does, however, still require the approval of CADE, Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense.

MOROCCO

Green ammonia pilot plant for Jorf Lasfar

Plans to construct a green ammonia pilot plant at OCP Group’s massive Jorf Lasfar phosphate complex were agreed in mid-July.

The agreement, between Morocco’s Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) and Dutch company Proton Ventures, covers the construction of a four tonnes per day capacity green ammonia unit. The front end will incorporate a PEM electrolyser and an alkaline electrolyser for green hydrogen production. These will both have a capacity of two megawatts.

The latest agreement follows an earlier contract for the turnkey construction of the pilot plant signed in November 2021 by UM6P, OCP Group and the Institute Research Energy Solar et Energy Nouvelles (IRESEN) as part of the ‘Green H2A’ initiative.

The pilot plant will be operated in preparation for larger industrial projects. The unit will be equipped with an emulator that can simulate the different electrical load profiles, with varying amounts of photovoltaic and wind energy, of sites in Morocco and other global locations. The knowledge and know-how gained from these pilot tests will be used in a larger scale exploitation phase scheduled to begin in the first-quarter of 2024.

Paul Baan, CEO of Proton Ventures, said: “It is an important step to design and build this green ammonia plant in order to bring the energy transition to reality! We are looking forward to work with UM6P, OCP and IRESEN and all subcontractors to deliver a successful project.”

“Through this agreement, the UM6P confirms its desire to make green hydrogen an industrial reality in Morocco,” said Mohammed Bousseta, a director at UM6P.

“Through this installation, the partners of the ‘Green H2A’ platform, which are OCP, UM6P and IRESEN, …can shed light on larger-scale projects that are currently being developed by several international players in our territory and internationally,” said Samir Rachidi, scientific director and acting general Manager of IRESEN.

ISRAEL

ICL and PlantArcBio develop novel biostimulant

Fertilizer producer ICL and biotech company PlantArcBio have developed a novel biostimulant.

The new product uses RNAi technology to maximise the natural yield-increasing mechanisms of plants. It has been shown to successfully improve crop yields while having a minimal impact on the environment.

The biostimulant has significantly increased seed weight per hectare for canola crops in early-stage field trials. ICL and PlantArcBio are planning larger-scale field trials for later this year. These will test the new biostimulant technology using both commercial sprayers and standard farming practices. Greenhouse trials for soybeans and rice are already in progress, with early results showing good potential.

ICL and PlantArcBio have already filed a joint patent for the biostimulant covering its application on multiple crops.

“The use of novel biostimulants based on RNAi technology helps promote sustainability, by reducing the use of chemicals in agriculture,” said Hadar Sutovsky, ICL’s VP for external innovation and the general manager of ICL Planet. “[it] does its work, then rapidly disappears from both the plants and the environment, lasting no more than a few days, as it is highly biodegradable and also leaves no residual footprint.”

“The positive canola field trial results constitute another milestone in strengthening PlantArcBio’s capabilities in the development of RNAi-based products,” said Dror Shalitin, the founder and CEO of PlantArcBio. “ICL, a market leader in crop nutrition products, is a great strategic partner for us to commercialize this sustainable technology worldwide.”

The value of the global biostimulants market was estimated at $3.2 billion in 2021, and is projected to grow at 12 percent per annum to reach $5.6 billion by 2026, according to ReportLinker.com.

SPAIN

Fertiberia acquires biotech firm Trichodex

Spain’s Grupo Fertiberia has acquired Trichodex, a biotechnology company located in Seville.

Founded in 1991, Trichodex manufacturers products based on patented biological processes. These improve crop protection and boost profitability by using microorganisms to produce ‘bioactive’ compounds. The company currently markets its biotech products in a dozen countries in Europe and Latin America.

The purchase of Trichodex is part of Fertiberia’s strategy to offer high added-value biofertilizers and biostimulants as part its product portfolio.

“The combination of Trichodex biotechnology with the development of innovative products from Grupo Fertiberia will provide farmers with cutting-edge sustainable tools to improve their crops,” said Javier Goñi, president of Grupo Fertiberia.

ETHIOPIA

Yara sells stake in Dallol SOP project

Yara is selling its longstanding ownership stake in the Dallol SOP project in Ethiopia to XLR Enterprises Limited via a share purchase agreement.

Yara had previously been the majority shareholder in the sulphate of potash mining project in Ethiopia’s Afar region, with XLR Enterprises Limited and Liberty Metals and Mining Holdings being the other partners. The project has been on hold since 2019.

“The divestment supports Yara’s transformation by reallocating capital and risk appetite towards its strategic focus areas. Yara’s full legal ownership interest in the project together with all economic rights and all obligations and liabilities attaching or relating thereto will be transferred to XLR Enterprises at closing,” Yara said in a statement.

Costs associated with the Dallol project and its sell-off will not affect Yara’s 2022 financial results, as the company had previously declared an associated $232 million impairment loss in the fourth-quarter of 2021.

Yara announced the Dallol divestment in July. The transaction is conditional on local regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

BELGIUM

SQM launches Ultrasol® ine K Plus

SQM launched Ultrasol® ine K Plus, a new potassium nitrate product that incorporates iodine, on the European market in mid-July.

Ultrasol® ine K Plus is designed for fertigated crops. It allows growers to apply iodine as a plant micronutrient in a form that is guaranteed to be safe and at an effective science-based dose. The new speciality fertilizer combines iodine with two essential plant macronutrients – potassium and nitrate nitrogen.

Its European launch follows several years of scientific investigation and grower trials (Fertilizer International 509, p18). These have revealed that iodine deficiency in plants is associated with yield losses, similar to the deficiency effects observed with other plant nutrients.

SQM is recommending that iodine should now be supplied to crops at the right dosage for optimal crop production. The Chilean-based company says that co-application of iodine with potassium nitrate makes it easy for the grower to maintain an effective and safe concentration of iodine in the root zone. As a result, Ultrasol® ine K Plus can prevent iodine deficiency in crops without the risk of excessive iodine application.

The product has already been extensively tested globally and is backed by more than 100 well-documented crop trials with growers. Results have confirmed that iodine can deliver distinct benefits, including improvements in:

• Root growth
• Above-ground plant growth
• Photosynthesis l Nitrogen metabolism
• Tolerance to abiotic stress
• Flowering and fruit quality with less fruit rot and better shelf life.