CONFERENCE PREVIEW

Nitrogen+Syngas 2025

A look at the forthcoming Nitrogen+Syngas Expoconference, to be held from 10-12 February 2025, in Barcelona

CRU’s 38th Nitrogen+Syngas Expoconference will be held on 10-12 February 2025 in Barcelona. The most respected technical event for the global nitrogen and syngas community offers an ideal platform for industry professionals to connect, do business and learn about the latest innovations in operations, technology, process and equipment. The annual meeting attracts a global audience of producers, licensors and materials and equipment providers representing an unparalleled opportunity for business networking and peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.

The most comprehensive agenda covering the entire nitrogen and syngas value chain is now available to view online, featuring 80 papers covering 25 subject areas – an increase of 5 on 2024, including a record 21 presentations from plant operators; and a full day of investment and commercial presentations. The industry-leading technical agenda showcases the latest technical advancements in operations, technology and product diversification – helping nitrogen and syngas producers working in both new projects and existing plants to optimise their processes. With a significant focus on energy efficiency, carbon capture and GHG emissions, dedicated sessions focusing on innovations in digitalisation and future fuels; and a training morning dedicated to plant safety and reliability.

Operator involvement

This year there is a particular emphasis on the involvement of operator companies, with a 3 hour Monday morning operator training session, and technical presentations from a record 21 operating companies, including Sorfert, OCI NV, MOPCO, and the Fauji Fertilizer Company.

Technical showcases

Monday morning will feature the usual technical showcases, shorter presentations by leading technology companies describing their product offerings. These will include:

Belleli Energy – applications of low alloy steels in high pressure equipment. Within the last decade use of enhanced 2.25 Cr 1.0 Mo low alloy steel has been reconsidered in case of pressure equipment designed for temperatures significantly below its ASME Code allowance (i.e. 454°C), such as in ammonia plants, allowing for wall thickness reduction, and inherent weight, though in order to grant such mechanical properties specific care must be taken be taken in design of the appropriate quality heat treatment, inherent final post weld heat treatment parameters and fabrication conditions.

BASF-OASE® connect, a digital platform for gas treatment applications. This platform provides various customer support like access to a knowledge centre with training material, analytical data, OASE® digilab and a simulation tool. The latter can be preset with plant specific settings and is the key element for analysis and for optimisation of plant operation.

WIKA Alexander Wiegand SE & Co. KG – a newly designed optical sensor technology which can be used in processes with higher media temperatures up to 600°C and potentially above. Current widely used technologies methods of pressure measurement stop at a media temperature of 400°C when measuring in direct media contact.

Paralloy – OMEGA technology for profiling interior diameters of reformer tubes, enhancing the thermal performance of the tubes using standard reforming catalyst. This application is retrofittable for all steam reformer designs and is reversable. Combining OMEGA with Paralloy’s range of micro- alloyed materials can provide additional synergie.

Commercial sessions

Monday afternoon will be devoted to the commercial session, where experts from CRU and other companies will present a snapshot of the state of markets and trends, and a summary of issues facing the industry. A highlight will be a keynote presentation by Sorfert on decarbonising the industry, followed by a keynote panel on the transformation that the nitrogen and syngas industries are going through, as well as a CRU assessment of the potential for low emission ammonia and hydrogen production.

Technical sessions

The technical sessions which will be run on Tuesday and Wednesday include 64 presentations in 3 parallel streams, covering a wide variety of topics. Important issues which will be covered include plant reliability and integrity; greenhouse emissions reduction; CO2 removal and carbon capture and utilisation; ammonia as a hydrogen carrier and ammonia ‘cracking’; the energy transition and future fuels; and novel technologies and applications. A fuller list of topics to be covered is summarised below:

EXPOCONFERENCE

LIST OF SESSIONS

10th February

• Investment And Commercial Programme
• Operator Training – Identifying Hazards With Green Ammonia/Urea Production
• Technical Showcases

11th February

• Plant Reliability & Troubleshooting
• Green Ammonia Technology
• Ghg Emissions Reduction
• Urea Plant Design
• Nitric Acid: Catalysts And Equipment
• Ammonia, Methanol And Urea Operations
• Urea Plant Safety Technology
• Nitric Acid And Ammonium Nitrate Technology And Plant Reliability
• Sustainable Fertilizer Production
• Co2 Removal And Carbon Capture And Utilisation
• Digitalisation: Technology And Innovation
• Fertilizer Finishing

12th February

• Urea Plant Safety And Integrity
• From Green Ammonia To Green Hydrogen – The Journey
• Energy Transition And Future Fuels
• Urea Production: Matreials Of Construction
• Ammonia And Methanol Plant Operations And Optimisation
• Low Carbon Hydrogen Production
• Decarbonising Urea Production
• Ammonia Plant Operations
• Asset Integrity

Investment in industry infrastructure

Monday morning’s commercial session, investment in industry infrastructure, is a C-level meeting serving as an exclusive networking platform. Supported by the largest asset owners and leading names in industry infrastructure investment, the conference will welcome institutional investors, fund managers, asset owners and asset managers, investment banks, Government representatives, consultants and advisers representing the global hard-to-abate nitrogen and syngas industries. This agenda is designed to provide a comprehensive overview and updates of the regulations, opportunities and challenges in industry infrastructure investment, focusing on decarbonisation and sustainability efforts.

Hydrogen, ammonia, methanol and urea are providing novel solutions in energy security and in net-zero energy transition, food security as well as future fuels. By 2050 demand for low-carbon hydrogen is expected to reach 350 million tons per annum. Investments needed in developing the hydrogen infrastructure alone is estimated at $12 trillion between 2025 and 2050.

Topics:

(i) Navigating the global net-zero investment landscape – outlook for 2025 and beyond

• EU policy and regulatory framework: What supporting schemes and incentives are there for investors?
• Are the new rules setting a level playing field for investment in hard-to-abate industries
• Key challenges revised: uncertainty, market limitations, transparency, and greenwashing

• What are the current allocations in emerging asset classes like ammonia and hydrogen
• Global projects pipeline: Where are the new frontiers? l What is your risk threshold?
• Financing the energy transition

(iii) Fostering investment in emerging assets.

(iv) The future of the ammonia supply in Europe

Presenters and panel sessions will include Pensions Europe, Société Generale, ING, GIZ, Oxford Energy Institute, and the Ammonia Energy Association.