Tag: Process Design

Nitrogen-rich wastewaters remain a major issue for fertilizer and other industries. Saipem’s new electrochemical technology, SPELL, is an important step towards the overall objective of zero industrial pollution. A complete engineering review of the technology, its alignment with all international applicable standards, and optimisation has now been concluded and the technology is ready for deployment for the removal of ammonium nitrogen from industrial waters and wastewaters. Saipem discusses the key features of SPELL and reports on the first two industrial references.

Buss ChemTech AG offers the international phosphate industry a robust solution to create added-value products from fluorosilicic acid (FSA). Thomas Dahlke, the head of the company’s process engineering department, and Emre Sen, sales manager for fluorine technologies, explain how this can be done in a sustainable manner.

BHP has finally given the go ahead for stage one of its Jansen potash mine project in Saskatchewan, Canada.

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.

Developments in sulphuric acid technology and engineering know-how are highlighted by recent project case studies from DuPont Clean Technologies, Metso Outotec and thyssenkrupp Uhde.

CF Industries has signed an agreement with thyssenkrupp to develop a commercial-scale green ammonia project at its Donaldsonville production complex in Louisiana.

In August 2020 the tragic explosion of ammonium nitrate fertilizer in the port of Beirut caused many fatalities and injuries. This was a wake-up call for the entire industry to review the design of plants and storage facilities, as well as the procedures for plant operation and the handling of products. The key factor for safe new installations is the process design: the right choice of unit operations, operating temperatures and pressures, the control of process variables and the design of key items of equipment. A modern ammonium nitrate (AN) plant design not only mitigates the environmental impact, but also reduces investment costs and contributes to the key factors mentioned. M. Pieper and P. Kamermann of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions discuss how, by using the right design, safety in ammonium nitrate plants can be easily achieved, while maintaining outstanding product quality.

With declining ore grade feed to a metallurgical smelting process comes an increase in impurity load in the gas cleaning/acid process chain. K. Hasselwander, L. Skilling and C. Bartlett of Metso Outotec discuss a range of process solutions and how to maintain high productivity while keeping costs in check.

We report on the latest potash mining and processing technology from Andritz, Ebner, Köppern, K+S and Veolia. Recent case studies for potash projects globally are also provided.

The economic conversion of phosphogypsum waste into a valuable product has been pursued for decades. Results of intensive research by thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (tkIS) in this area are presented by Peter Stockhoff, Dirk Koester, Stefan Helmle and Carsten Fabian. The approach developed by tkIS shows great potential as a controlled treatment process for phosphogypsum.