Skip to main content

Fertilizer International 523 Nov-Dec 2024

30 November 2024

People

People

Dr Burkhard Lohr, the chair of the executive board of K+S Aktiengesellschaft, will retire at the end of May next year, after more than 12 years in the role, having decided not to extend his current mandate.

His replacement, Dr Christian H Meyer, the company’s current CFO, will take over from Dr Lohr, effective 1st June 2025. The supervisory board of K+S made the decision on 23rd October.

Dr Andreas Kreimeyer, chair of K+S’s supervisory board said: “Since 2017, Burkhard Lohr has demonstrated exemplary entrepreneurial foresight and decisiveness in his role as the company’s leader. His strategic focus on the core business, the sale of the American salt business, and the reorganization of the company have successfully steered the company through significant challenges over the past few years.

“K+S has once again established a solid financial basis and is now debt-free. Upon assuming his position, he promptly devised a long-term, sustainable solution for the disposal of K+S wastewater and terminated the injection.

“He has consistently emphasized the importance of personal engagement and constructive dialogue with the company’s stakeholders. By engaging with political representatives at the federal, state, and site community levels, he has highlighted the systemic importance of the domestic raw materials industry and its role in value creation, particularly in the context of current geopolitical challenges.

“The implementation of Werra 2060 project and the continuous ramp-up of production in Canada have set the course for the company’s sustainable growth in the coming years. The company has been committed to the ambitious course of energy transformation towards greenhouse gas neutrality.

Dr Christian Meyer will take over as the chair of K+S at the start of June next year.
PHOTO: K+S

“On behalf of the entire supervisory board, I would like to thank Burkhard Lohr for his outstanding achievements over the past more than 12 years in his role.”

Dr Kreimeyer continued: “As CFO, Christian Meyer is highly familiar with K+S. He has known the company many years. In him, we have an excellent manager who, in addition to his extensive experience in the financial sector, also stands for consistent corporate leadership and steering as well as cost discipline. We are firmly convinced that, as chairman of the board of executive directors, he will successfully continue to drive the transformation of the company forward.”

Ahmed El-Hoshy is continuing as Fertiglobe’s CEO, while stepping down as the CEO of OCI Global. Mr El-Hoshy spent 15 years growing OCI’s US and European business in ammonia and methanol, as well as generating shareholder value by executing several recent divestments.

El-Hoshy has been CEO of Fertiglobe since 2021, playing a critical role in preparing the company for its initial public offering (IPO) and helping to consolidate ADNOC’s ownership of the company (see page 11). Fertiglobe’s wider executive leadership also remains in place, including Haroon Rahmathulla in his position as COO and Andrew Tait as CFO.

Sachin Nijhawan has become the new CEO of thyssenkrupp nucera US, working alongside Juergen Grasinger who has been named COO. In his new role, Mr Nijhawan will seek to advance the company’s international growth strategy and expand its global leadership in the manufacturing and supply of hydrogen production technology. He will work out of thyssenkrupp’s Houston office and be responsible for US operations and business activities.

Commenting on the appointment, Werner Ponikwa, thyssenkrupp nucera CEO, said: “Sachin brings to our US team the right blend of expertise and commercial relationships to advance our international growth strategy and continue our market leadership in the large and growing hydrogen market.”

Mr Grasinger, in an expanded COO role, will meet the needs of thyssenkrupp’s blue-chip customers and large-scale clean energy projects by ensuring continuity across all operations. Ponikwar added: “Together, Sachin and Juergen have the full support and resources of thyssenkrupp nucera and its advisory board, and we are excited for the path forward as we jointly collaborate to unlock the huge market potential for driving towards decarbonisation and climate neutrality.”

Latest in Europe

Green hydrogen to decarbonise Leuna refinery

TotalEnergies has signed an agreement with the German developer RWE to supply 30,000 t/a of green hydrogen to the Leuna refinery for fifteen years, beginning in 2030. The green hydrogen will be produced by a 300 MW electrolyser, built and operated by RWE in Lingen. Green hydrogen storage will be provided locally. The green hydrogen will be delivered by a 600 km pipeline to the gates of the refinery and will prevent the site’s emission of some 300,000 tons of CO2 beginning in 2030. This is the largest quantity of green hydrogen ever contracted from an electrolyser in Germany.

Offtake deal for Barents Blue project

Horisont Energi says that it has secured a non-binding offtake deal with “a European energy group” for ammonia sales from its Barents Blue clean ammonia plant at Markoppnes in northern Norway. Sales and purchase agreements are targeted for completion in 2026. Horisont is pressing ahead with the 1 million t/a project in spite of the withdrawal of project partner Fertiberia, and the exit of Polish company Orlen from a related CCS project. Front end engineering and design work has not yet been completed, but the project has been working on commercial agreements for the supply of gas, offtake of clean ammonia and storage of CO2 . Carbon capture is projected to be above 99%, and it is expected to be the most energy-efficient clean ammonia plant in the world. Barents Blue is supported by a $48 million grant as part of the EU IPCEI hydrogen program, Hy2Use. The project is targeting a final investment decision (FID) in 2026 and estimated production start in 2029/2030.

Achema to suspend ammonia production

Achema says that it plans to “temporarily” suspend ammonia production at its site at Jonava from May 15th, due to the volatility of natural gas prices and competition from cheaper foreign imports. It currently plans to resume production in 3Q 2025. The facility has been operating at reduced capacity since 2021, and Lithuanian lawmakers have discussed converting the site to explosive grade ammonium nitrate production as part of a European rearmament programme.

Start-up for green methanol plant

Clariant says that its MegaMax 900 methanol synthesis catalyst has been used in the successful startup of European Energy’s green methanol plant at Kasso, Denmark. The facility uses biogenic CO2 and green hydrogen to produce up to 42,000 t/a of green methanol. Clariant’s Applied Catalyst Technology (ACT) technical service team provided on-site support throughout the startup procedure, overseeing the catalyst loading, reduction, and startup. Clariant says that the catalyst is operating with excellent activity and stability despite the challenging conditions of CO2 -to-methanol conversion.