thyssenkrupp Uhde has completed the pre-FEED (Front-End Engineering Design) phase for the Portland Renewable Fuels Project in collaboration with HAMR Energy. The project, located in Victoria, Australia, will use biomass residues and renewable electricity to produce green methanol that can be used as a low carbon liquid fuel to power shipping and aviation.
Linde has received a e4.3 million ($4.7 million) funding commitment to build a new 5MW alkaline electrolysis plant in Leuna, Saxony-Anhalt, adding to the region’s growing hydrogen infrastructure. The project, which complements Linde’s existing 24 MW facility, is scheduled for commissioning by the end of 2026 and is expected to produce 450 t/a of green hydrogen for local industrial customers via pipeline distribution. The funding was formally awarded on August 13 by Saxony-Anhalt’s Economics Minister Prof. Dr. Armin Willingmann, backed by the state’s “Future Energy” programme and the EU’s European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Yara has applied for a new environmental permit in order to be able to import 275,000 t/a of ammonia by rail to its site at Tertre in the Saint-Ghislain municipality. The permit will cover ammonia to continue to operate downstream nitric acid and ammonium nitrate production at Tertre following the closure of the site’s 400,000 t/a ammonia plant. A public inquiry into the permit is expected to be completed in early September 2025. Yara says that train traffic to the site will increase to around 5 trains per week if the permit is granted.
The Deendayal Port Authority (DPA), Kandla, has issued a tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to build India’s first port-based bio-methanol plant. The 3,500 t/a plant will use oxy-steam gasification technology to convert biomass into bio-methanol. The scope covers design, engineering, procurement, construction, commissioning, and product certification, with bidders required to outline plant life, warranties, capital expenditure, and operating costs. The move follows DPA’s earlier call in May for turnkey proposals for a larger integrated plant of over 15,000 t/a, and its February 2025 agreement with Bapu’s Shipping Jamnagar Pvt. Ltd. to develop India’s first bio-methanol bunkering facility, including a dedicated bunker barge, at Kandla Port.
Shipping classification society ClassNK has formed a consortium with IHI Corporation, JFE Steel, Tohoku University, and Institute of Science Tokyo to participate in Japan’s Feasibility Study Program on Energy and New Environmental Technology. The consortium will promote the development of stress corrosion cracking (SCC) probability evaluation tools for fuel ammonia storage tanks and transportation equipment. Initially, the consortium will conduct a detailed study of the SCC mechanism involved in steel cracking due to the combined effects of mechanical stress and corrosion caused by liquid ammonia. Thereafter, the consortium plans to develop tools for easily and accurately assessing SCC probability. Finally, opinions will be solicited from stakeholders to formulate risk-based maintenance procedures for fuel ammonia storage and transportation facilities, and marine fuel tanks ultimately to promote the expanded use of fuel ammonia.
Lummus Technology says that its Novolen® polypropylene technology has been selected for a new grassroots plant in Antwerp. The plant will be part of a complex owned by Vioneo which will be the world’s first industrial scale fossil-free plastics production complex. The complex, based on green methanol as feedstock, will also be highly electrified using renewable electricity and use renewable hydrogen as key components to its operations.
Eurotecnica says that Zhongneng Chemical Co., Ltd., a major player in China’s nitrogen-based fertiliser sector, has selected Eurotecnica’s proprietary Euromel® melamine technology for a new world-scale facility with a nameplate capacity of 120,000 t/a.
A new fertilizer blending plant will provide farmers in northern Germany with better access to high-quality controlled-release fertilizers (CRFs).
BHP is now expecting first potash production from stage one of its Jansen mega project in Saskatchewan, Canada, in mid-2027.
The sale of Mosaic Potassio Mineração Ltda (MPM) to VL Mineração Ltda was announced on 13th August.