CF Fertilisers UK Limited, a subsidiary of CF Industries, says that it plans to permanently close the ammonia plant at its Billingham fertilizer complex in order to secure the long-term sustainability of its business in the UK. The Company intends to continue to produce ammonium nitrate (AN) fertiliser and nitric acid at the Billingham site using imported ammonia, as it has for the last 10 months following its decision to temporarily idle the plant in August 2022.
The CO2 emissions in a hydrocarbon fed hydrogen plant occur largely during the energy intensive syngas production step. Hydrogen production is therefore a major factor in the CO2 emission balance of an ammonia plant. BASF’s OASE® technologies for CO2 capture are capable of achieving cost-effective 99.99% carbon capture at scale. In this article Elena Petriaeva and Bernhard Geis of BASF investigate different grey and blue hydrogen production technologies.
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.
Prior to the covid pandemic, sub-Saharan Africa had been the fastest growing market for new fertilizer demand. However, the combination of pandemic related disruption, followed by the dislocations caused by the war in Ukraine, have pushed up prices and led to falling demand across the continent.
Venkat Pattabathula , a member of the AIChE Ammonia Safety Committee, reports on the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Safety in Ammonia Plants and Related Facilities Symposium, held in Munich, Germany, from 20-24 August 2023.
Lithium ion battery production is driving major expansions in nickel and cobalt extraction, but lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery use is growing rapidly.
With the aid of a rigorous kinetic model for TGU hydrogenation reactors, incorporating catalyst deactivation mechanisms, designers and operators can forecast the life expectancy of reactor catalyst beds.
CRU’s Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid 2023 Conference and Exhibition takes place at the Sheraton New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 6-8 November. Take part in this leading annual forum for the global sulphur and sulphuric acid community to learn, connect and do business. Hear from industry leaders and subject experts from around world and across the industry.
Adani Enterprises says that its new greenfield copper smelter at Mundra in Gujarat, being developed by its subsidiary Kutch Copper Ltd, will begin operations in March 2024. The $1.1 billion project will have an annual production capacity of 1 million t/a of copper once the second phase is complete, but the March 24 start-up will be for the first, 500,000 t/a phase. The plant will also produce 25 t/a of gold, 250 t/a of silver, and 1.5 million t/a of sulphuric acid and 250,000 t/a of phosphoric acid as by-products. India currently imports roughly two million t/a of sulphuric acid since the closure of the Vedanta smelter in Tamil Nadu.
Comprimo and Ametek now offer the Analyser Air Control Technology (2ACT) Solution to the industry in which the information for the SRU air control is available 6-7 minutes earlier with the installation of an acid gas feed analyser-based feed forward control. This improvement to conventional SRU combustion air control systems enables operating companies to control their assets closer to design capacity at higher recovery efficiency and with fewer unscheduled outages.