Like the vital nitrogen fertilizer they handle, seasonal cheer will be in short supply for Europe’s ammonia producers and buyers this festive season, after many difficult months in which upward price trajectories showed no sign of slowing.
New innovations and the latest equipment options from FEECO International, Casale, thyssenkrupp Fertilizer Technology and Eirich are helping to perfect the fertilizer finishing process.
By utilising state-of-the-art technologies, nitric acid and ammonium nitrate producers are able to reduce the environmental impact of their production plants and make a key contribution to climate protection.
Plans to decarbonise power production and shipping are leading to increasing interest in using ammonia as a fuel, but technical and economic barriers still remain to be overcome.
Maire Tecnimont SpA says that its subsidiaries MET Development, Stamicarbon and NextChem have collectively begun work on a renewable power-to-fertilizer plant in Kenya. MET Development has signed an agreement with Oserian Development Company for the development of the plant at the Oserian Two lakes Industrial Park, on the southern banks of Lake Naivasha, 100 km north of Nairobi.
The internals of ammonia synthesis converters are generally made of austenitic stainless steel to withstand the harsh operating conditions (high temperature, high pressure and synthesis gas containing hydrogen and ammonia). Since nitriding is the most critical material degradation for the converter internals, Casale has set up a large nitriding analysis campaign. In the last decade, samples of materials operated under different pressures and temperatures and for different time spans have been tested and analysed. The data obtained has been used to increase nitriding knowledge and to establish a correlation to predict nitriding rate to allow the most suitable material and relevant thickness to be selected. L. Redaelli and G. Deodato of Casale report on how this correlation was established and provide valuable insight on this phenomenon and how to predict and control it.
We highlight the large-scale nitrogen projects that are currently under development across the globe – with a focus on ammonia and urea technology licensors and engineering contractors.
Reducing the carbon footprint in the synthesis of chemicals is a new global challenge as the world works towards providing sustainable products designed to minimise their environmental impacts throughout their whole lifecycle. This article looks at the role of blue technologies as part of a roadmap towards the decarbonisation of fuels and chemicals.
Because of the ongoing pandemic, this year’s CRU Nitrogen + Syngas conference was held as a ‘virtual’ event, in early March 2021.
The Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) has agreed new annual potash supply contracts with India and China.