Tag: Construction

An update on the latest in fertilizer ship loading, handling, bagging and blending, including new contracts, company news and advances in technology.

Anglo American is developing the Woodsmith project in northeast England. This will access the world’s largest known deposit of polyhalite, a natural mineral fertilizer containing potassium, sulphur, magnesium and calcium – four of the six nutrients that every plant needs to grow.

The UK has published its Hydrogen Strategy, setting out the government’s ambition to create a low carbon hydrogen sector, with up to one third of the UK’s energy consumption being hydrogen-based by 2050. The commitments set out in the strategy unlocks £4 billion of government investment by 2030. The government plans 5GW of low carbon hydrogen production capacity and the establishment of carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) in four industrial clusters by 2030, as well as blending of hydrogen into the existing gas network and a ‘twin-track’ approach to hydrogen production, using both electrolytic and CCUS-enabled low carbon hydrogen production in order to scale up production in time to meet the UK’s 2030 and 2050 carbon emissions targets.

Corrosion is one of the most critical aspects regarding sulphuric acid plant lifespan. One important cause of corrosion in sulphuric acid plants is acid condensation from the process gas due to inadequate drying. E. Almeida, B. Ferraro, N. Clark, V. Machida and V. Sturm of Clark Solutions discuss this problem and how it can be avoided with proper tower and internals design.

INEOS Enterprises has announced the completion of the sale of its Sulphur Chemicals business to International Chemical Investors Group, for an undisclosed sum. INEOS Sulphur Chemicals business is Spain’s largest dedicated manufacturer of sulphuric acid and oleum, serving clients in both agriculture and chemical intermediates via its 400,000 t/a plant in Bilbao. The business will become part of WeylChem’s advanced intermediates and reagents portfolio, which includes an existing sulphuric acid and oleum plant located in Lamotte, northern France. WeylChem is wholly owned by the International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG).

Preliminary engineering work has started on a renewable powerto-fertilizer plant in Kenya.

T. Hentrich and B. Nowak of VDM Metals provide an overview of the development of VDM® Alloy 699 XA, a new generation, metal dusting resistant alloy, available in a wide range of product forms, for demanding applications in the chemical process industry.

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.

Sulphur’s annual survey of recent and planned construction projects in the sulphuric acid industry includes several large-scale acid plants both for phosphate processing and to capture sulphur dioxide from smelters.

Commodity markets are often volatile, and sulphur and sulphuric acid can be more so than most, with much of their supply coming from involuntary production, and sulphur supply in particular often dependent on the timing of large scale oil and gas projects. Even so, this year’s price rises, in some cases tripling in just over a year, have been especially eye-catching.