Tag: Sulphuric Acid

In this case study Johannes Derfler of AGRU Kunststofftechnik reports on how a new condenser design, engineered by OMV and INWA AG using PFA sheets from AGRU, was implemented at OMV refinery in Austria to address maintenance problems due to corrosion of the wet sulphuric acid (WSA) condensers and the follow-up units. As a result of the renovation, maintenance costs have been cut in half, while both maintenance intervals and overall operational safety has increased.

While phosphate fertilizer production represents the main slice of demand for elemental sulphur and sulphuric acid, sulphur fertilizers continue to be a growing sector of demand due to changes in the way that we use sulphur.

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.

We profile leading European NPK fertilizer producers. Major ownership changes have taken place within the EU during the last three years. Europe’s NPK producers have also needed to adjust their raw material sourcing in response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Leading companies such as Ballestra, Buss ChemTech, Elessent Clean Technologies (MECS) and Prayon Technologies are working together to solve the numerous production challenges facing the operators of integrated phosphate fertilizer production plants.

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.

Metso is launching an advanced sustainable battery black mass recycling process as part of its battery minerals technology offering, which covers concentration and hydrometallurgical processing as well as related services. Demand for battery minerals is increasing sharply with the ongoing transition to clean energy sources. An electric car battery weighs approximately 200 kg. Recycling of black mass from batteries with Metso’s process can reduce up to 60% of embedded carbon compared to use of virgin materials and enables the treatment of mechanically separated and shredded batteries for recovering battery raw materials like nickel, cobalt, and lithium, as well as manganese and copper.

The recovery of waste heat from Aurubis’ copper smelting operation in Hamburg is already helping to reduce global carbon emissions and has the potential to provide heat for up to 20,000 homes through the district heating network in Hamburg’s HafenCity. The energy for the network comes from waste heat that Aurubis recovers from their sulphuric acid plant, using unique Alfa Laval plate heat exchanger technology.

This June marks a milestone for this magazine; a platinum jubilee since the very first issue of the magazine was printed in 1953. It began life as the Quarterly Bulletin of the Sulphur Exploration Syndicate. The Syndicate was created in 1952, and was backed by nine major chemical producers, mainly in Britain and the US, who were concerned about dwindling world supplies of sulphur. Though some of these companies have vanished by the wayside over the years, including F.W. Berk and Co. Ltd, British Titan Products, Brotherton & Co., and Charles Tenant & Sons Ltd, others remain household names to this day, including Monsanto, Courtaulds (now part of Akzo-Nobel), and Dunlop (now owned by Goodyear), while Fisons’ fertilizer division was sold to Norsk Hydro in 1982 and today trades as part of Yara.