Tag: Ma’aden

Topsoe has agreed to supply an initial 500 MW of industrial-scale, solid oxide electrolyser cells (SOEC) to First Ammonia, a US company aiming to produce green ammonia for transportation fuel, power storage and generation, as well as fertilizer, at sites in northern Germany and the southwestern United States. The companies envisage that over the lifetime of the agreement some 5 GW of SOEC electrolysers will be supplied, potentially replacing almost 5 bcm of natural gas and eliminating the emission of 13 million t/a of CO 2 emissions. The facility to manufacture the electrolyser cells will be built in Herning, Denmark, and has recently received a final investment decisions from Topsoe’s board.

The curtailment of ammonia production in Europe and reduction in export supply from Russia has led to an unprecedented year for the merchant ammonia market.

Maire Tecnimont’s innovation and licensing company Stamicarbon has been selected as the licensor for a urea project in sub-Saharan Africa, its first license in the region. Stamicarbon will deliver the process design package for the front-end engineering and design for a 4,000 t/d urea melt and granulation plant. The urea melt plant with a pool reactor will use Stamicarbon’s MP Flash design, a melt concept with improved energy efficiency, entailing a significant reduction of steam consumption. The minimal equipment items result in a significant reduction of the footprint and the overall capital cost of the plant. Less equipment also allows for a reduction in maintenance costs and OPEX savings.

Market Insight courtesy of Argus Media

Saudi Arabia’s Ras Al-Khair Industrial City has signed an industrial land agreement with local firm Gulf Copper to develop a copper smelting and casting plant at an investment $319.30 million. The project would be developed on a plot spanning more than 250,000 square metres in the industrial city. No construction timelines were given. The Saudi government has previously signed agreements with Trafigura and Saudi-based Modern Mineral Holding to develop a 400,000 t/a copper smelter at Ras Al Khair which would also include 200,000 t/a of zinc and 55,000 t/a of lead smelter capacity at a projected cost of $2.8 billion.

Market Insight courtesy of Argus Media

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has turned the sulphur market on its head, potentially removing several million tonnes of supply from Russia and Kazakhstan and sending prices skyrocketing.

CRU’s Nitrogen + Syngas conference returned to a face to face meeting for the first time in two years at the end of March this year.

Switzerland-based EuroChem Group AG says it has entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire the nitrogen business of the Borealis group, after having submitted a binding offer. One of Europe’s leading fertilizer producers, Borealis operates fertilizer plants in Germany, Austria and France, as well as more than 50 distribution points across Europe. It supplies 3.9 million tonnes of fertilizer products per year, including 800,000 t/a of technical nitrogen solutions and 150,000 t/a of melamine via the Borealis LAT distribution network. It is a market leader in melamine, with its operations in Austria and Germany supplying primarily the woodworking industry. EuroChem says that melamine and technical nitrogen solutions represent important new business lines for the company to expand its nitrogen-based product portfolio in Europe.

Import duties on phosphates from Morocco and Russia imposed by the US government in 2021 have compounded a lack of availability of phosphate fertilizer caused by Chinese export restrictions and led to higher prices for US farmers. Are there knock-on effects possible for sulphuric acid demand?