China has been the major market for base metals, including copper, nickel, lead and zinc over the past two decades as the country rapidly industrialised. But with China’s growth slowing due to demographics and market saturation, where are metals markets and production of/demand for sulphuric acid likely to go next?
Chinese domestic sulphur supply growth remains strong. Production is expected to rise in 2023, putting pressure on import demand potential. In 2022 total imports were 7.6 million tonnes, with a stable view for the year ahead.
SulGas, South Asia’s sulphur recovery and gas treating conference, returned to a live event in 2023, providing participants with a platform to interact with experts in the field, share best practices and troubleshooting tips with fellow refiners and discuss advanced technologies and operating procedures with technology providers, vendors and licensors.
SO2 breakthroughs remain an ever present threat to the successful operation of reductive, quenchamine-based tail gas clean-up units (TGUs). Effects can range from mild and annoying to quite severe, including failure to comply with environmental permit regulations and refinery shutdown. G . Simon A. Weiland, Nathan A. Hatcher, Prashanth Chandran, Daryl Jensen, Ralph H. Weiland, Jeff Weinfeld of Optimized Gas Treating, Inc. and Michael Huffmaster , Consultant.
Mathijs Sijpkes, Nuria Pascual Vasco and Jan Hermans of Sulphurnet discuss the importance of a whole life cycle cost analysis at the conceptual design phase when making investment decisions about new sulphur processing facilities.
Following the success of VectorWalls™ in the reaction furnace of sulphur recovery units over many years, VectorWalls™ are now delivering similar benefits in SRU thermal incinerators. Uday N. Parekh of Blasch Precision Ceramics reports on the deployment of VectorWalls™ to improve the performance of the SRU thermal incinerator and provide benefits such as lower fuel gas consumption and lower CO2 emissions.
Gerald Bohme and Joe Brindle of Sulphur Experts Inc. combine new learnings, historical data, and recent onsite experience from operating companies to show what factors really impact ammonia plugging risk and what can be done to control them in order to allow for a wider operating range for SWS processing in the refinery SRU.
A complete listing of all articles and news items that appeared in Sulphur magazine during 2022.
Meena Chauhan, Head of Sulphur and Sulphuric Acid Research, Argus Media, assesses price trends and the market outlook for sulphur.
Processed phosphates pricing will be a major influence in the coming months. A gap remains between historical levels of sulphur and DAP pricing that points to the potential for sulphur prices to recover to higher levels during 2023.