Category: Outlook & Reviews

US agricultural demand is expected to pick up in 1Q 2020, and farm inventories are low.

CRU’s Nitrogen + Syngas conference and exhibition takes place this year at the World Forum, The Hague, in The Netherlands, from 17 to 19 February 2020.

Brazil is the main centre for new nitrogen demand in Latin America, but in spite of major oil and gas discoveries in the 2000s, has failed to develop a downstream nitrogen fertilizer industry.

Liquid ammonia is one of the feeds to the urea plant. It typically comes from the ammonia plant at a pressure of about 20 bar. In the urea plant this liquid ammonia is further pumped up to synthesis pressure conditions, sometimes after passing through a buffer tank, a heater and/or a filter. According to the ammonia phase diagram, when liquid ammonia flashes to atmospheric pressure temperatures can drop to as low as -33°C under worst case conditions. In case one or more of the above mentioned items of equipment needs to be drained for maintenance, a decision needs to be made where to drain this liquid ammonia. In a urea plant the options are the ammonia water tank or the vent stack, but which is best option?

M. Wilson, J. Brightling and M. Carlsson of Johnson Matthey detail the development of steam reforming catalyst, with a focus on an operating case study, where Johnson Matthey has combined pelleted and structured reforming catalysts to deliver additional value from an existing asset.

Highlights of papers presented at the recent Ammonium Nitrate/Nitric Acid (ANNA) Conference, held in September in Vienna.

Cryogenic purge gas recovery units are very tolerant to increased flow from ammonia plant debottlenecking, especially the cryogenic cold box section. However, overload of the dehydration system upstream of the cold box can lead to fouling, loss of hydrogen recovery performance and the need for costly shutdown and thaw. Awareness of key plant parameters and some simple precautions can avoid such problems. A. J. Finn and T. R. Tomlinson of Costain provide some guidance.

Leading EU phosphate and NPK fertilizer producers are profiled, including EuroChem, Fertiberia, Grupa Azoty, ICL, Prayon and Yara.

The theme of the 26th Arab Fertilizer Association Annual Fertilizer Forum & Exhibition is ‘Reshaping the industry future’. This year’s Forum will be held at the Semiramis Intercontinental, Cairo, 11-13 February 2020. New AFA Secretary General, Raed Soub , provides a preview of what is the Arab region’s showcase annual fertilizer event.

CRU events will convene the 2020 Phosphates International Conference & Exhibition in Paris at the Marriott Rive Gauche between 8-10 March.