Sachin Nijhawan has been appointed as the new CEO of thyssenkrupp nucera US, and Juergen Grasinger was named Chief Operating Officer to advance the company’s international growth strategy and expand its global leadership in the manufacturing and supply of hydrogen production technology. Based out of the thyssenkrupp’s Houston office, Nijhawan will be responsible for the business activities of the US operations.
Urea revamp activities are performed to achieve improvements of the urea plant. Besides the typical capacity increase there are many options to reduce operation costs, increase plant availability or reduce environmental impact. In this article Marc Wieschalla of thyssenkrupp Uhde GmbH provides an overview of some of the options from an EPC contractor point of view.
One challenge of a green revamp by stepwise injection of green hydrogen into existing ammonia/urea complexes is to cover the nitrogen demand for the ammonia synthesis while stepwise reducing the front-end load, usually by applying a cost-intensive air separation unit (ASU). thyssenkrupp Uhde GmbH has developed an advantageous concept whereby, instead of an ASU, the nitrogen gap is closed by the introduction of pretreated reformer flue gas back into the ammonia process, with the side effect to also enhance CO2 production.
In recent years, extensive and severe internal attack has been observed of carbon steel equipment and lines in aqua ammonia service at several Yara manufacturing sites across the globe. In all cases, the damage has a distinct flow-accelerated corrosion (FAC) signature which challenges the current understanding of FAC. All features typically observed for this kind of damage mechanism, that seem to be specific to the NH3 recovery section of ammonia plant, are reported. Upgrading the material of construction for this unit, will solve this failure mode, but a leak would potentially generate health and safety problem for the release of ammonia.
One of the key challenges of producing RFNBO (renewable fuels of non-biological origin) compliant ammonia is managing the intermittency associated with renewable energy sources for hydrogen production. Furthermore, the additional costs associated with managing this intermittency can be significant. In this article, Dr Solomos Georgiou of AFRY Management Consulting explores those additional costs as well as potential ways to achieve cost savings and make RFNBO-compliant ammonia production competitive against conventional ‘grey’ ammonia.
Revamping aging urea plants with the latest urea technology brings many benefits. Not only can greenhouse gas emissions be reduced, but the overall performance and sustainability of these facilities can also be optimised. Hiroo Kunii of Toyo Engineering Corporation discusses TOYO’s approach to urea plant revamping.
Venkat Pattabathula, a member of the AIChE Ammonia Safety Committee, reports on the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE) Safety in Ammonia Plants and Related Facilities Symposium held in San Diego on 8-12 September 2024.
With a large number of green ammonia projects under development, financing remains the greatest hurdle to getting ventures off the ground.
Methanex Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OCI Global’s international methanol business for $2.05 billion. The transaction includes OCI’s interest in two world-scale methanol facilities in Beaumont, Texas, one of which also produces ammonia. The transaction also includes a low-carbon methanol production and marketing business and a currently idled methanol facility in the Netherlands.
Stamicarbon, in collaboration with KT Tech, has developed a cryogenic energy storage system, named GALCES , for green ammonia plants that addresses the intermittency challenges of renewable energy supply. The technology not only supports the sustainability goals of the ammonia production industry but also contributes to broader energy market stability and efficiency.