Safety in digitised ammonia plants
Digitalisation brings with it a fresh set of issues as well as opportunities for safety management.
Digitalisation brings with it a fresh set of issues as well as opportunities for safety management.
Graham Roeber, CEO, Orono Spectral Solutions, looks at how to test the oil content limit in anhydrous ammonia specifications.
The ammonia market continues be divided on a regional basis during August. In northwest Europe, prices remained high, holding above the $700/t CFR mark, underpinned by high Dutch TTF gas prices, which stood at €63.93/ MWh ($21.5/MMBtu) as of 20 August. The spot market was active, with two cargoes destined for CF Fertilisers in the UK, one an ex-Trinidad cargo supplied by Koch and the other an ex-Algeria cargo supplied by Trammo. Trammo was also linked to a separate, unconfirmed, sale into Poland for Grupa Azoty.
• Prices are expected to hold firm in Europe, though values elsewhere could well undergo further pressure, with Tampa also expected to decline for September.
Maire Group subsidiary Tecnimont has been awarded a contract by Fértil Pampa SAU, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pampa Energia SA, for a large-scale fertilizer complex in Argentina. The facility will include a large-scale ammonia plant and two parallel ultra-low energy urea trains, each with its own granulation unit, with a combined capacity of 6,000 t/d (2.1 million t/a), making it the largest urea plant in Latin America by production. It will occupy an 80-hectare site within the Bahía Blanca Industrial Complex, in Buenos Aires province. The location is adjacent to Pampa’s existing power generation assets, benefiting from direct access to key infrastructure, including gas pipelines, high-voltage transmission lines, water intake systems, and a deep-water export port, enabling efficient logistics.
Algeria’s Sonatrach and the Algerian Fertilizers Company (AFC) on 12 August signed engineering, procurement and construction contracts with Italy’s Saipem and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) for the first phase of the country’s Integrated Phosphate Project (PPI). The ceremony at Sonatrach’s Algiers headquarters was chaired by Hydrocarbons Minister Mohamed Arkab and attended by the Chinese and Italian ambassadors.
Price trends and market outlook, 20th August 2026.
ControlRooms deployed an AI troubleshooting system at a world-scale ammonia plant, identifying early issues missed by existing alarms.
KPI explains why steam and power balances must be assessed early to ensure low-carbon ammonia and methanol project feasibility.
Algeria and Oman have made a final investment decision to expand fertiliser production at the Algerian-Omani Fertiliser Company (AOA) plant in Arzew, in Algeria’s Oran province.