The following case study reports on a serious incident in a urea plant where a leak in the weld overlay in the urea reactor bottom resulted in a costly plant shutdown and near miss of rupture of the high pressure vessel. It is known that carbon steel can corrode with rates of 1000 mm/year not taking into account erosion due to flashing. The impact of the NH3/CO2 ratio on the corrosion rate is questionable.
New technology makes it possible for methanol producers to diversify their product portfolio and participate in the high growth mono ethylene glycol market. A. Shah of Johnson Matthey reports on the development of the new technology and its commercialisation.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic has been the big story in every market this year, the disruption and dislocations that this has caused have masked some of the bigger trends in the urea market, such as the revival of Chinese exports and India’s push for self-sufficiency.
Falling costs for production of hydrogen by electrolysis are encouraging more serious consideration of using recovered carbon dioxide as a feedstock for chemicals and even fuels production.