Category: Outlook & Reviews

CRU Events will convene the Fertilizer AgriTech Forum in Texas at the Aloft Dallas Downtown, 7-9 September.

Wet process phosphoric acid plants require reliable cooling water facilities. Jan Tytgat, engineering manager, De Smet Agro, shares his insights on the design and operation of cooling water networks, pumps and towers.

The past couple of years have been quite the wild ride, with major global events dominating markets outside of the usual concerns of broad market supply and demand. It seems like a long time ago now, but this time last year, the price of a barrel of Brent crude was about $75. Go back two years, in the wake of the onset of covid restrictions, and that barrel would have cost you $40 (and just $25 a couple of months before that). In the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, you could easily have paid $130, and it has been hovering around $110/bbl for the past few months. The last time oil spent any time at that level was in 2014, just before the Chinese economy ran out of steam and prices slumped by 70%.

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

The ongoing recovery from Covid-19 has led to an uptick of sulphur from refineries in regions including the US compared with a year ago. As travel around the global improves, increasing fuel demand points to higher operating rates and improved sulphur recovery.

More than 400 representatives from across the global sulphur community convened in Abu Dhabi from 24-26 May 2022 for an exciting new event, the Middle East Sulphur Conference, devoted to exploring best practice operations across the entire sour gas and sulphur value chain.

The Sulphur Institute’s (TSI’s) annual Sulphur World Symposium was held in Tampa, Florida this year, from May 9th-11th.

Acid output is expected to increase as copper mining and smelting increases; the copper market is moving moves from deficit to surplus, with copper output expected to rise 5% in 2022 as demand increases for electric vehicles.

Condensate formation in sulphuric acid plants can cause severe corrosion problems leading to high maintenance and plant downtime. Santhosh S . of Metso Outotec discusses the importance of carrying out regular monitoring and maintaining accurate and detailed data about condensate to increase equipment life and avoid downtime. Different sources of condensate formation in the plant are discussed as well as the typical locations in the plant where the condensates end up.

Sulphur is becoming an increasingly vital crop nutrient, due to a combination of lower sulphur deposition from the atmosphere, the increasing prevalence of high-analysis fertilizers and higher cropping intensity.