Author: meninderkaurdavies

Evonik explores the development of catalyst reuse and how recycled hydroprocessing catalysts can be successfully applied in tail gas treating units to deliver cost and performance gains.

The Sulphur Institute (TSI) held its World Sulphur Symposium in Edinburgh from April 25th to 27th.

Sulphur production continues to expand in the Middle East and China both from new refineries and major sour gas projects.

PhosAgro’s shareholders elected a new board of directors during the company’s annual general meeting (AGM), held on 24 March. The new board includes: Viktor Ivanov, Yuriy Krugovykh, Siroj Loikov, Natalia Pashkevich, Mikhail Rybnikov, Alexander Seleznev, Vladimir Trukhachev, Viktor Cherepov, Alexander Sharabaiko and Andrey Sharonov. The AGM also approved the company’s annual report for 2022, which reflected total production of 11.1 million t/a of agrochemical products (up nearly 5% year-on-year); and a one-third increase in investments to develop the company. PhosAgro CEO Mikhail Rybnikov said: “The consistent implementation of our long-term development programme enabled us to increase production last year, and we remained the leader in terms of the total supply of all types of fertilizers to the domestic market and expanded our support in the social sphere considerably. We intend to maintain this momentum of steady development. In 2023, we expect further growth in the production of agrochemical products, to 11.3 million tonnes. Our workforce laid the groundwork for this in January-February, as we increased production of phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid by 22% and 17% year-onyear, respectively, over this period.”

Worley has been awarded a contract to supply Chemetics’ CORESO2™ technology for a sulphuric acid plant and associated oxygen unit at the Arafura Rare Earths project, sited 135 km north of Alice Springs in Australia’s Northern Territory. A greenfield mine will extract and process neodymium and praseodymium to create ultra-strong permanent magnets for a range of applications, such as household electronics and high-performance motors for electric vehicles.

The production of renewable fuels by retrofitting existing refineries and their infrastructure is witnessing exponential growth. The impact on the existing amine, sour water and sulphur recovery units is inevitable. Based on several case studies, Worley Comprimo discusses the various options available to holistically review the sulphur block to determine the impact and mitigation of processing bio-feed.

Meena Chauhan , Head of Sulphur and Sulphuric Acid Research, Argus Media, assesses price trends and the market outlook for sulphur.

Bedeschi has been awarded a contract by Tecnicas Reunidas and Wison Engineering for the engineering and supply of new sulphur-handling equipment. Tecnicas Reunidas and Wison Engineering are working in a 70-30 joint venture partnership on the North Field Expansion Project (NFXP) Sulphur Project, which forms part of the overall Qatar North Field Expansion Project. Last year were awarded a $600 million contract to process and export sulphur from the projected expansion of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City. The new sulphur plant will have the capacity to process an average of 5,000 t/d of molten sulphur.

Market Insight courtesy of Argus Media. Urea: Scarcity continued to drive urea prices higher in some markets at the end of April. The US market remains short on urea and prices spiked to reflect this. Nola barges for April were trading as high as $450/st f.o.b. ($490/t cfr), 55 percent up on this year’s low point. Southeast Asia remains short on urea too, amid planned and unplanned turnarounds, with one cargo trading at around $345/t f.o.b.

Evaporation and crystallisation are widely used throughout the fertilizer industry. These powerful production processes are helping fertilizer manufacturers diversify their product portfolios, improve profitability and meet sustainability goals.