The recently-published IEA Ammonia Technology Roadmap sets out a future pathway for decarbonising the nitrogen industry. New technology options for low-carbon ammonia production are emerging and project activity is on the rise.
Heat recovery systems at sulphuric acid plants have been providing carbon-free energy for decades now and continue to improve. There is also potential to combine the clean power generated at acid plants with hydrogen production from water electrolysis. This could provide the basis for green fertilizer production.
Erika Niino-Esser of thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions explains the importance of thyssenkrupp’s technologies for sustainable hydrogen and ammonia value chains in the global energy transition, and how they are contributing to a climate-neutral world. Several novel green hydrogen projects are also highlighted.
The COP-26 summit in Glasgow last year signed into force new rules on carbon emissions trading which may gradually start to see carbon pricing spread worldwide, with knock-on effects on emissions intensive industries like ammonia and methanol.
As all industries come under pressure to decarbonise, are there ways to reduce the carbon footprint of sulphur recovery operations?
Ricardo L. Sepulveda of PegasusTSI reviews options to decrease the CO2 footprint of a fertilizer industrial complex and illustrates the technical and economic feasibility of utilising clean energy from a sulphuric acid plant in a fertilizer complex to produce green hydrogen, which in turn can be used to produce green methanol or green ammonia.
State-of-the art technologies offered by thyssenkrupp, Casale and Stamicarbon are helping make nitrates production more secure and sustainable.
Last year the International Energy Agency (IEA), in conjunction with IFA, published the Ammonia Technology Roadmap, which looks at ways of achieving decarbonisation of the nitrogen fertilizer industry by 2050. In this article we look at the scenarios and technology options that will define the industry over the next three decades.
Decreasing the carbon intensity of sulphur recovery is one of the many actions that operators can take to help meet their climate ambitions. It is also becoming increasingly rewarding financially because of the rising cost of carbon emissions. In this article, G. Kidambi of Shell Projects & Technology demonstrates the potential to cut the carbon intensity of tail gas treating units by more than 50% through swapping to the latest SCOT ULTRA amine solvent and catalyst technologies.
Nitrogen-rich wastewaters remain a major issue for fertilizer and other industries. Saipem’s new electrochemical technology, SPELL, is an important step towards the overall objective of zero industrial pollution. A complete engineering review of the technology, its alignment with all international applicable standards, and optimisation has now been concluded and the technology is ready for deployment for the removal of ammonium nitrogen from industrial waters and wastewaters. Saipem discusses the key features of SPELL and reports on the first two industrial references.