Author: meninderkaurdavies

A shortages of highly pure nickel is driving major new investment in high pressure acid leaching plants, especially in Indonesia, with a significant impact upon sulphuric acid and sulphur demand.

The fourth SulGas Conference organised by Three Ten Initiative Technologies took place 1-4 February as a virtual event. Selected highlights from some of the presentations from SulGas 2022 are given below.

With climate change looming there is an increased focus on reducing the environmental footprint of the production of fertilizers. The use of renewable energy/green hydrogen is one way to make the fertilizer industry more environmentally sustainable. In this article, Rene Dijkstra of Chemetics introduces the Green Fertilizer Complex. This practical solution integrates an oxygen-based sulphuric acid plant using the Chemetics’ patented CORE-SO2™ process with a green hydrogen and ammonia facility to deliver low cost, low emission, and carbon-free phosphate (MAP/DAP) and/or sulphate (AMS) based ammonia fertilizers.

The extensive sweep of financial sanctions against Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, coupled with Russia’s position as the leading exporter of numerous commodities means that the impact of the 2022 price shock may be worse than 2008.

German slurry handling specialist Vogelsang has just launched a new acidification technology which it claims will reduce ammonia emissions from agriculture, reducing up to 70% of ammonia to nutrient rich ammonium. Its new SyreN technology is an onboard sulphuric acid dosing system for tractors that treats slurry or digestate as it is applied to the land. It uses a front-linkage mounted unit to carry the acid, which also improves tractor weight distribution. The acid is dosed when the organic fertiliser is fed to the applicator, with a pH regulator automatically controlling and adjusting the flow. Nitrogen uptake of organic fertilizer is also increased by up to 1/3 as the ammonium is more easily metabolised by the soil. Results from a study in Germany showed that the acidifying slurry increased crop yield by up to 20%. The sulphur contained in the acid also becomes available to the plants as sulphate after spreading, eliminating the need for an additional pass over the field to administer a supplementary sulphur fertiliser, such as ammonium sulphate nitrate. At approximately 30 kg/ha, the amount of sulphur introduced into the crop with the SyreN system corresponds to the average amount of sulphur that is already applied to crops in the course of a growing season.

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

The ability to incorporate elemental sulphur within urea granules to create a fertilizer carrier has excellent potential as an answer to global soil sulphur deficiency. This technology is already available for commercial implementation and offers many benefits, as Bernd Peuckmann and Harald Franzrahe of thyssenkrupp Fertilizer Technology explain.

Efficient size preparation and ore transport are key prerequisites for successful potash and phosphate production. We highlight the range of equipment options.

EuroChem has made a binding offer for Borealis Group’s fertilizer, melamine and technical nitrogen business.

EuroChem Group recently completed the purchase of the Serra do Salitre project from Yara International for $452 million. This one million tonne capacity Brazilian phosphate project is due to be completed in 2024.