Category: Outlook & Reviews

The fact that biuret is toxic to plants has been known for a long time – since the middle of the last century. Very sensitive (pineapple, citrus), moderately sensitive (cereals, legumes) and resistant (conifers) plant species were identified. The maximum concentration of biuret in urea for each species has been established for soil application and foliar application. Most field crops easily tolerate foliar fertilization with urea, which contains 1 wt-% biuret. Potatoes and tomatoes are more sensitive – for foliar feeding of these crops, it is advisable to use urea with an admixture of biuret of no more than 0.5 wt-%. Citrus fruits and pineapples are so sensitive that biuret in urea for foliar feeding should be no more than 0.35 wt-%.

The first half of 2021 has been characterised by tight supply in the ammonia market, exacerbated by plant outages in Europe, Trinidad, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. At the same time, higher spot demand has fuelled significant price increases in both the eastern and western hemispheres. Low inventories and reduced export availability in the Far East forced Indian phosphate producers and industrial consumers of ammonia to source product from other locations.

Arun Murugan and Mike Antony of FITIRI and Venkat Pattabathula of SVP Chemical Plant Services discuss the COORS Analytics system for more accurate prediction of the performance of a CO 2 removal system.

Although the stranded gas boom that led to the construction of the region’s nitrogen capacity in the 1980s-2000s may be largely over, the Middle East remains the largest nitrogen exporting region in the world.

China is the world’s largest importer of sulphur, mainly to feed domestic phosphate production. Sour gas in Sichuan and new refinery production, coupled with rationalisation in the phosphate sector are all leading to reduced imports, while new smelters are increasing sulphuric acid production and reducing the need for pyrite-based and sulphur burning acid production.

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

Tightening regulations and growing global competition are increasing the pressure felt by sulphuric acid plant operators to reduce emissions and improve energy output. Conservation of energy is a continuous focus for operators, and environmental communities have grown more vocal in their desire for greater emissions oversight. In this article, DuPont Clean Technologies examines simple, tried, and true tactics, as well as new products and designs that can be incorporated into existing plants to address operating efficiency and emissions and to help to prolong the life of the plant.

ASRL has conducted studies on ammonia destruction in the sulphur recovery unit (SRU) for over a decade1-5 . Other studies at ASRL have investigated mechanisms for ammonium salt formation and deposition downstream in the Claus plant, as well as the potential sources of ammonia (NH3 )in a gas plant7 . A less understood subject is addressing how much residual NH3 is tolerable or at what temperature will residual NH3 cause ammonium salt deposition. In this study, existing knowledge on thermal stability of ammonium salts and new measurements have been used to identify the gaseous components required for deposition, through reversible vapour pressure expressions.

As well as Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia all have major phosphate industries, and all of these countries have plans to expand their capability to extract and process phosphates, though Algeria and Tunisia remain hampered by political instability.

The processed phosphates market view is supporting sulphur demand. The average DAP price for Morocco f.o.b. is forecast to rise significantly on 2020 levels. As the leading end use for sulphur consumption and trade, this has implications for pricing. The expected downward correction in DAP in 2022 will likely lead to a parallel decline in sulphur, at a time when supply is expected to improve in the oil and gas sector, adding further pressure for prices to ease.