Tag: Reforming

One of the key challenges of producing RFNBO (renewable fuels of non-biological origin) compliant ammonia is managing the intermittency associated with renewable energy sources for hydrogen production. Furthermore, the additional costs associated with managing this intermittency can be significant. In this article, Dr Solomos Georgiou of AFRY Management Consulting explores those additional costs as well as potential ways to achieve cost savings and make RFNBO-compliant ammonia production competitive against conventional ‘grey’ ammonia.

Urea revamp activities are performed to achieve improvements of the urea plant. Besides the typical capacity increase there are many options to reduce operation costs, increase plant availability or reduce environmental impact. In this article Marc Wieschalla of thyssenkrupp Uhde GmbH provides an overview of some of the options from an EPC contractor point of view.

The reliability of primary reformers is a key issue for syngas plants. In this article O. Chung, N. Goodman and C. Thomas of Quest Integrity describe the damage mechanisms and material limitations that impact the reliability of reformer outlet systems and the improvements that may be implemented.

Large-scale ammonia cracking technology and catalysts will enable the full potential of ammonia to be realised as industries transition towards low carbon energy. In this feature we report on the current status of ammonia cracking processes and catalysts.

Tim O’Connell and Emily Viney of Johnson Matthey introduce KATALCO™ 71-7F, the latest innovation in Johnson Matthey’s KATALCO 71 series catalysts for high-temperature shift (HTS) reactions. With its robust innovative ‘F’ shape providing lower lifetime pressure drop, JM expects KATALCO 71-7F will enable large-scale plants to increase ammonia production in the most demanding HTS applications.

Cobalt-molybdenum (CoMo) catalysts are integral components of tail gas units (TGUs), playing a vital role in reducing harmful sulphur dioxide (SO2 ) emissions arising from Claus sulphur recovery units. Effective activation of these catalysts is essential for their optimal performance. The consequence of sulphiding at low temperatures and atmospheric pressure in low temperature TGUs is to compromise effectiveness of catalyst activation. In the first part of this two-part article, Michael Huffmaster , Consultant, explores CoMo catalyst activation at low pressure, focusing on sulphiding reaction pathways and the impact of temperature and the composition of the sulphiding media on reaction kinetics, specifically the concentration of H2 , H2 S, and H2 O.

The ammonia industry is expected to change drastically in the coming years to meet sustainability goals and to face the problem of climate change. New low carbon ammonia plants as well as fully green facilities are expected to be commissioned to meet the target of climate neutral production. The integration of an existing ammonia facility with green hydrogen to supplement or replace the grey ammonia production with green ammonia represents a low-risk solution to meet the requirement for running clean ammonia plants and offers the most competitive green ammonia production cost in the short term. In this article Sergio Panza and Marco M. Carlucci of Casale paper present different scenarios based on energy availability at battery limits.

SunGas Renewables Inc. has formed a new subsidiary, Beaver Lake Renewable Energy, LLC (BLRE), to construct a new green methanol production facility in central Louisiana. The project will have a capacity of 400,000 t/a of green methanol, using gasified biomass, specifically wood fibre from local, sustainably-managed forests as feedstock. The methanol will have a negative carbon intensity through sequestration of the nearly 1.0 million t/a of carbon dioxide produced by the project, which will be executed by Denbury Carbon Solutions. The methanol will then be used as a clean marine fuel by A.P. Moller–Maersk, which is building a fleet of methanol-powered container vessels.

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.

Hydrocarbon-based production of ammonia carries an unavoidable carbon footprint. But one of the best methods for mitigating that footprint is already here: ultra-low carbon-intensity ammonia production, also known as “blue” ammonia. With blue ammonia production, a typical ammonia plant can sequester or repurpose game-changing volumes of carbon dioxide that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere. To help foster an optimal understanding of the benefits, Ameet Kakoti and Per Juul Dahl of Topsoe A/S provide an overview of the technologies that can help any ammonia operation achieve and maintain sustainable operations – sooner rather than later.