Category: Technology

I am writing this freshly returned from the Sulphur Institute’s annual Sulphur World Symposium in Florence (for more on that see pages 24-25), where one of the topics causing some excitement was the anticipated commissioning of a demonstration plant for Travertine Technologies’ new Travertine Process. The plant is due to be commissioned at the Sabin Metals site near Rochester, New York in mid-2025 at a cost of $10.7 million. Capacity is put at “hundreds” of tonnes per year of gypsum processed, and removing “tens” of tonnes per year of CO 2 from the atmosphere.

TotalEnergies has signed an agreement with the German developer RWE to supply 30,000 t/a of green hydrogen to the Leuna refinery for fifteen years, beginning in 2030. The green hydrogen will be produced by a 300 MW electrolyser, built and operated by RWE in Lingen. Green hydrogen storage will be provided locally. The green hydrogen will be delivered by a 600 km pipeline to the gates of the refinery and will prevent the site’s emission of some 300,000 tons of CO2 beginning in 2030. This is the largest quantity of green hydrogen ever contracted from an electrolyser in Germany.

Axens says that it has completed the expansion of its Axens Catalyst Arabia Ltd site, aimed at providing local and regional partners with the latest tail gas treatment catalysts, in addition to the site’s legacy catalyst hydroprocessing manufacturing capacity. This makes Axens is the first and only company to produce tail gas treatment catalysts in the Middle East. The company says that the expansion consolidates its capacity to serve its regional customers to meet regulatory requirements and maximise sulphur recovery by up to 99.9%, minimising SOx emissions. The production site supplies the region’s refining and gas industries with the latest generation of Axens’ catalysts, capable of operating at lower temperatures than conventional catalysts, and resulting in lower energy consumption.

It is with great sadness that we report the death of Dr. Umberto Zardi, who passed away on March 17th 2025 at his home in Breganzona, Lugano, Switzerland. Dr Zardi was an innovator in the nitrogen industry and for many years the president and driving force behind Ammonia Casale, now simply Casale SA, becoming responsible for its revival and transformation into the global engineering and technology giant that it is today.

NextChem subsidiary KT Tech has been awarded a licensing contract for the implementation of NextChem’s proprietary NX AdWinMethanol® Zero technology for Pacifico Mexinol, an ultra-low carbon methanol facility near Los Mochis, Sinaloa, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, which will have a planned output in excess of 2.1 million t/a. Transition Industries LLC, based in Houston, Texas, is developing Pacifico Mexinol with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. When it initiates operation in 2028, Pacifico Mexinol is expected to be the largest single ultra-low carbon methanol facility in the world – producing approximately 350,000 t/a of green methanol and 1.8 million t/a of blue methanol annually from natural gas with carbon capture.The value of the licensing award is in the low tens of million euros, with the whole package estimated to be about e250 million, including basic engineering, proprietary and critical equipment supply, as well as assistance to commissioning, start-up and operation of the facility.

thyssenkrupp Uhde has signed a 5-year framework service agreement with Brunei Fertilizer Industries, aimed at advancing digitalisation and implementing clean technologies in the fertilizer industry. Central to these efforts is the set-up and implementation of a digital twin, which will provide a virtual representation of the plant to enable real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and data-driven decision-making. This technology, together with specialized trainings, will allow BFI to enhance operational safety, reduce downtime, and achieve greater energy efficiency.

Clariant says that its MegaMax 900 methanol synthesis catalyst has been used in the successful startup of European Energy’s green methanol plant at Kasso, Denmark. The facility uses biogenic CO2 and green hydrogen to produce up to 42,000 t/a of green methanol. Clariant’s Applied Catalyst Technology (ACT) technical service team provided on-site support throughout the startup procedure, overseeing the catalyst loading, reduction, and startup. Clariant says that the catalyst is operating with excellent activity and stability despite the challenging conditions of CO2 -to-methanol conversion.

lomarlabs, the innovation arm of Lomar Shipping, has announced a strategic collaboration with Newlight, a technology company specialising in hybrid hydrogen-diesel engine retrofits, to accelerate the adoption of cost-effective, lower-emission solutions for the shipping industry. This collaboration will focus on retrofitting conventional diesel engines to operate on a hydrogen-diesel mix, reducing fuel consumption on average by 20% and significantly lowering greenhouse gas emissions. Savings of up to 30% have already been demonstrated in workshop trials and this new collaboration will seek to replicate this onboard vessels.

Renewable capacity statistics 2025 released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) shows a massive increase in renewable power capacity during 2024, reaching 4,448 gigawatts (GW). The 585 GW addition last year indicates that renewables claimed a 92.5% share of the total capacity expansion in power generation, and a record rate of annual growth (15.1%). Even so, progress still falls just short of the 16.6% growth needed to be producing 11.2 terawatts of energy by 2030. Progress also reflects significant geographic disparities. As in previous years, most of the increase occurred in Asia, with the greatest share being contributed by China- almost 64% of the global added capacity. G7 and G20 countries respectively accounted for 14.3% and 90.3% of new capacity in 2024.

Green urea is urea based on green ammonia produced from renewable power via electrolysers and bio-based carbon dioxide and its colour is the same as normal urea. But in this round table discussion we discuss the possible causes for urea turning a green colour as found by the initiator of this discussion. We will learn that the colour of urea can be reddish or brownish in certain conditions where corrosion rates are high and/or oil fouling is high. But what can cause urea to turn green? n