A new burner design for the combustion of natural gas with either combustion air or pure oxygen as the oxidiser has been developed by CS Combustion Solutions. The new Oxijet® -Burner has been designed to perform both start-up and main operation functions with one burner. The key objectives, challenges, and burner design considerations are discussed.
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.
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.
The possible failure of refractory in a Claus unit is a concern to both licensors and operators of Claus units. Bob Poteet of WIKA discusses a novel and easy way to monitor the shell temperature of the Claus thermal reactor using proven technology and highlights the benefits a purge-less thermocouple system for high temperature measurement.
The use of low-chloride fertilizers is a proven strategy for managing chloride sensitivity in crops and avoiding excess chloride in soils. ICL offers a wide range of crop nutrient products for this purpose. Patricia Imas, agronomist at the company, outlines the main options.
Market Insight courtesy of Argus Media. Urea: While prices mostly fell in mid-August, the main development was the massive purchase of Chinese urea by Indian Potash Limited. IPL confirmed that, out of a total tender settlement of 1.759 million tonnes, one million tonnes will be met by Chinese exporters. This far exceeded expectations and added to the already bearish sentiment of most market players.
Many crops are sensitive to chloride due to a genetic susceptibility. Similarly, crops can become stressed when soil salinity reaches high levels, a situation that typically occurs in water scarce regions. So, when is low-chloride crop nutrition needed? Dr Heike Thiel of K+S Minerals and Agriculture GmbH provides some answers.
Applications of chloride-containing fertilizers need to be carefully managed for crops such as berries, broad beans, citrus fruits, nuts, potatoes and stone fruits. Selecting chloride-free nutrient sources instead can offer distinct advantages.
Market Insight courtesy of Argus Media. Urea: There was a general price upswing for both urea and ammonium nitrate in mid-June, while ammonium sulphate and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) prices remained weak. Urea prices were pushed up in most regions as traders sought to secure cargoes across the globe – resulting in granular urea deals from the Baltic ($260-280/t f.o.b.), Egypt ($312-335/t f.o.b.), Middle East ($253-280/t f.o.b.) and China ($308-310/t f.o.b.).