Tag: Nitric Acid

Small quantities of sulphur in a refinery or gas feed can present challenges for conventional large scale sulphur recovery techniques.

Proman has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mitsubishi Corp to collaborate on the development of a blue ammonia plant at Lake Charles, Louisiana. This new facility will aim to produce around 1.2 million t/a of low carbon ammonia, making it one of the largest of its kind in the world. The plant will incorporate carbon capture and sequestration technology. Proman says that this development aligns with the company’s commitment to sustainability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The proposed ammonia plant will be located at Proman’s existing site in Lake Charles, adjacent to its gas-to-methanol plant, which is also currently being developed.

Ammonia production at Billingham in Teesside looks set to end, bringing to a close a history of production that dates back almost a century.

Plant digitalisation can contribute to increase the profitability of chemical plants by optimising performance of operation as well as maintenance. Available digital products range from visualisation of plant data for increased transparency to closed-loop AI controllers based on digital twins.

Yara International is to build a major new speciality fertilizer and biostimulant production plant near York.

Paz Muñoz and Carmen Perez of Stamicarbon discuss the strategic selection of future-proof technology for nitric acid plants. To produce nitric acid in a feasible and sustainable way, manufacturers must carefully choose the right technology and consider the capex and opex involved in the production process to ensure long-term profitability.

Although the nitric acid industry has an extensive history dating back centuries, nitric acid production continues to be a dynamic process with bespoke system solutions necessary per plant rather than a one size fits all. Kate Cardonne of Johnson Matthey discusses strategies to balance the cost and performance in nitric acid production.

Maire SpA subsidiary Tecnimont, together with Orascom Construction SAE, have been awarded a lump sum turn-key engineering procurement and construction contract for new nitric acid and ammonium nitrate plants by the Egyptian Chemical Industries Company (‘Kima’). The contract value is approximately $300 million, of which about $220 million relates to Tecnimont activities. Finalisation of the contract is subject to successful execution of the financing package. The scope of work includes mainly engineering, supply of all materials and equipment – to be performed by Tecnimont – as well as construction activities, to be carried out by Orascom Construction.

In this review article, Hatch’s Jayden Ladebruk, Lyndsay Tran, Amelia Parrenin, and Edward DeRose outline the wide range of phosphoric acid production technologies, and discuss how industry challenges are influencing the choice of phosphoric acid process.

Mining, metals and fertilizer business intelligence company CRU has launched a new low-emissions ammonia (LEA) price assessment in its Fertilizer Week price reporting service. The price takes a value-based approach, whereby a premium on the Northwest European ammonia price is calculated on an emissions-mitigated basis, and leverages CRU’s proprietary nitrogen asset emissions data combined with weekly European carbon prices to calculate the value of emissions mitigated. CRU says that it has leveraged its Emissions Analysis Tool to develop the premiums on an emissions-mitigated basis as opposed to a cost basis, allowing end-users to assess how the switch to LEA can deliver value to their business while contributing to their decarbonisation strategies. The Emissions Analysis Tool is a comprehensive asset-byasset emissions dataset for the nitrogen industry.