Category: Technology

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

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is developing a low temperature ammonia cracking technology (HyMACS™ ) that leverages exhaust heat from existing sources, such as boilers, steam turbines, engines, and heating furnaces. This innovative approach, which also includes the development of more efficient membrane separation technology using molecular sieves for hydrogen purification, is designed to offer a more sustainable, reliable and cost-effective pathway towards hydrogen production.

Common risks of ammonia cracking as a new technology and how these risks can be recognised and mitigated by applying an innovative approach of the technology maturation process is described as seen through the eyes of an end user/investor. Addressing those risks is pivotal to enable end users to choose the best technology for their needs. Albert Lanser of Duiker Clean Technologies discusses some of these risks and how they have been addressed in its novel technology for producing the lowest levelised cost of hydrogen via its unique ammonia cracking process.

NextChem compares KPIs and overall costs to evaluate the performance of several low carbon (blue) hydrogen production technologies. A detailed comparison of SCT-CPO, SMR and ATR technologies is reported.

Muhammad Faisal Faraz and Abdullah Al Balushi of OQBi explain how by implementing a series of technical and process improvements, OQBi has successfully extended the lifespan of its reformer tubes by six years beyond the original design life of 100,000 hours.

Together with Slovnaft, Worley Comprimo has developed a near real-time monitoring dashboard using data sharing via the Cloud. Using a two-year data set containing minute average data, trends and insights were used to optimise performance. This paper describes the main learnings and improvements with respect to energy optimisation, which supports sustainability targets for Slovnaft.

Alzbeta Klein, CEO and Director General of the International Fertilizer Association (IFA), sets the scene for IFA’s Annual Conference in Monaco, 12-14 May.