Magazine: Sulphur

In January, Kazakh uranium producer Kazatomprom warned of potential adjustments to its 2024 uranium production due to challenges with sulphuric acid availability and construction delays at new uranium mining operations. In a statement the company said that its projected uranium output for 2024 will be between 21,000 t/a and 22,500 t/d U3 O8 , around 20% lower than the amount it had been expecting to be able to mine. Kazatomprom’s uranium output was 21,100 t/a U3O8 in 2023, down 1% on 2022 figures, with output flat during 4Q 2023. While it said it had sufficient inventory in stock to cover contracted deliveries in 2024, there could be problems for 2025 deliveries.

More than 155 attendees, representing more than 68 companies gathered in Mumbai, India, from January 31 to February 2, 2024 for the annual SulGas® conference, organised by Three Ten Initiative Technologies LLP. We report on the key highlights of the event.

Sasol and Topsoe have appointed Jan Toschka as CEO of the joint venture established by the two companies to develop, build, own and operate sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) ventures and to market the products. Previously Toschka was president of Global Aviation for Shell, responsible for Shell’s global network of operations, joint ventures and sales of fuels, lubricants and sustainable solutions to the aviation industry. During his tenure at Shell, he has led teams across sales, mergers and acquisitions, trading, and retail businesses globally, spanning various industries including Marine and Retail. Toschka will assume his new role as CEO on 1 March 2024 and the joint venture will be launched during the same month. The new company will be headquartered in The Netherlands.

Already the world’s largest exporter of sulphur, Abu Dhabi continues to expand its sour gas production and sulphur output.

CRU expects sulphur prices to be supressed in early 2024 by high port inventory and limited phosphate export business. However, affordability continues to support raw materials purchases and leaves room for price increases, especially if downstream production picks up as expected and sulphur stock drawdown slows.

A complete listing of all articles and news items that appeared in Sulphur magazine during 2023.

CITGO Petroleum Corporation has named Dennis Willig as the company’s new Vice President of Refining, where he will oversee operations at the company’s three refineries located in Lake Charles, Louisiana.; Lemont, Illinois; and Corpus Christi, Texas. Willig most recently served as Vice President and General Manager of the Corpus Christi Refinery, and prior to that was the Vice President and General Manager of the Lemont Refinery, where he spent the majority of his 28-year career with CITGO. Replacing Willig as the new Vice President and General Manager Corpus Christi Refinery is Ryan Vining , who spent the last 24 years at the CITGO Lake Charles Refinery, most recently as General Manager Operations, Maintenance and Reliability. Both appointments are effective from February 1st, 2024.

Pyrite roasting as a source of sulphuric acid continues to be a significant, albeit minor sector of the overall acid market.

Cobalt-molybdenum (CoMo) catalysts are integral components of tail gas units (TGUs), playing a vital role in reducing harmful sulphur dioxide (SO2 ) emissions arising from Claus sulphur recovery units. Effective activation of these catalysts is essential for their optimal performance. The consequence of sulphiding at low temperatures and atmospheric pressure in low temperature TGUs is to compromise effectiveness of catalyst activation. In the first part of this two-part article, Michael Huffmaster , Consultant, explores CoMo catalyst activation at low pressure, focusing on sulphiding reaction pathways and the impact of temperature and the composition of the sulphiding media on reaction kinetics, specifically the concentration of H2 , H2 S, and H2 O.

The nickel market has been through a period of unprecedented change over the past few years due to demand for batteries for electric vehicles, with Indonesia becoming a centre for production via high pressure acid leaching.