Magazine: Sulphur

Evonik explores the development of catalyst reuse and how recycled hydroprocessing catalysts can be successfully applied in tail gas treating units to deliver cost and performance gains.

ADNOC Sour Gas highlights the best practices implemented in the newly commissioned liquid sulphur pipeline.

A reader wrote to me recently asking if I had considered the impact of general artificially intelligent systems like ChatGPT on the publishing industry. As a matter of fact I had, but only, somewhat narrowly and selfishly, on how it might impact my own job in the future. But the dramatic shift in AI capabilities that we have seen in the past couple of years is certainly food for thought, and I’ve seen no end of articles predicting the death of the creative industries.

New sulphur burning capacity in India is expected to come online in the coming months at fertilizer producer operations. This will lead to an increase in sulphur import demand but also impact sulphuric acid imports to the country.

Incorporating sulphur into polymers is known to improve their properties. New research is looking into the varied world of sulphur co-polymers, unlocking new materials for batteries, structural applications and clean technology.

BASF is challenging traditional catalyst shapes and performance relationships using 3D-printing technology and is using sulphuric acid catalysts as the pilot to pioneer new ground.

Sulfur Recovery Engineering shares the lessons learned from an emergency shutdown of an MCRC sulphur recovery unit in the middle of a cold Canadian winter.

Liquid fuels will be with us for decades to come, but refiners will be pushed to decarbonise their activities, via greater use of biofuels, and green/blue hydrogen use.

Suncor has selected Rich Kruger to be the company’s next president and CEO, effective from April 3rd, according to the company. Kruger will also join the Suncor board of directors. The announcement follows a search process conducted by a special committee of the board. Rich Kruger previously worked for ExxonMobil for 39 years, and was the chairman and CEO of Imperial Oil Ltd from 2013 through 2019 before retiring from the company, where he focused on safety, reliability and operational excellence. Kris Smith, who has been interim CEO since July 2022, will work with Kruger to ensure a smooth transition before assuming the role of Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, at the conclusion of Suncor’s annual general meeting on May 9, 2023. Alister Cowan, the current CFO, plans to retire but has offered to remain with the company through the end of the year to support the transition to Mr. Smith and to provide advisory services. Smith replaced previous CEO Mark Little, who resigned in July 2022 following investor pressure after a series of safety incidents and fatalities.

Arafura Rare Earths Ltd has awarded Worley subsidiary Chemetics Inc the contract to install Chemetics CORE-SO2™ sulphuric acid technology at its Nolans Project in the Northern Territory of Australia. The scope of the contract is to deliver the detailed engineering and supply of the sulphuric acid plant plus associated oxygen plant on a lump sum basis. The acid plant at Arafura’s Nolans Project will be designed to meet future emission performance and clean energy transition goals, utilising CORE-SO2’s high turndown capability and the potential to idle the plant while keeping the catalyst warm for extended periods of time, allowing the acid plant to operate with 95% reduced SO 2 emissions when compared to traditional double contact double absorption (DCDA) plants. High pressure steam production within the process will allow CO 2 - free electrical power to be generated. By removing the use of a diesel or natural gas start-up burner, further greenhouse gas emissions will be prevented.