Due to ever stricter legislation towards lower SO2 emissions, superior catalyst shape and composition has become ever more important. Jochen Willersinn of BASF SE explains how BASF’s high-performance catalyst O4-116 Quattro combines the benefits of an increased surface area with a superior caesium-promoted active phase composition enabling significantly lower ignition and operating temperatures and thus reducing SO2 emissions.
While there is still a considerable push for use of biomass waste as a lower carbon feedstock for chemical production via gasification to syngas, biological processes such as fermentation are increasingly gaining traction as an alternative.
Methanex Corporation has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OCI Global’s international methanol business for $2.05 billion. The transaction includes OCI’s interest in two world-scale methanol facilities in Beaumont, Texas, one of which also produces ammonia. The transaction also includes a low-carbon methanol production and marketing business and a currently idled methanol facility in the Netherlands.
The prospect of a drastic expansion in potassium sulphate production has been linked to a plethora of projects in Australia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. These have sought to take advantage of market tightness and high price premiums. Yet investor interest in supposedly promising projects has waned over the last few years. In this insight article, CRU’s Alexander Chreky explains the reasons behind the high project failure rate, as well as highlighting some limited successes.
Emerging evidence suggests that by-products used as fertilizers, particularly ammonium sulphate, may emerge as winners from the EU’s implementation of the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). In this article, Franck Boher of Upgraid investigates whether by-products can help reshape sustainable fertilizer production in Europe.
CRU’s 2025 Phosphates Conference – now in its 16th year – will be held in Orlando, Florida, 31 March - 2 April next year. The 2024 event convened in Warsaw was one of the most successful to date (Fertilizer International 519, p4).
A report on CRU’s annual Sulphur+Sulphuric Acid Conference, held in Barcelona, in early November.
Join us at the CRU Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid 2024 Conference and Exhibition in Barcelona, 4-6 November, for a global gathering of the sulphur and sulphuric acid community. Meet leading market and technology experts and producers, network, share knowledge, and learn about market trends and the latest developments in operations, process technology and equipment.
Hanwha Corporation and INEOS Nitriles have announced their intention to collaborate in a study for a new low-carbon ammonia facility with carbon sequestration in the USA, with a capacity of more than 1 million tonnes per annum. The location of the plant is yet to be determined. The two companies have agreed heads of terms, under which Hanwha and INEOS will jointly explore the feasibility of a facility to meet the growing global demand for ammonia with low-carbon emissions. A final investment decision is planned for 2026 with planned commercial operation in 2030.
Representatives from across the global sulphur and sour gas community convened in Abu Dhabi from 20 to 23 May to discuss and debate the key strategic themes that are driving the industry. The Middle East Sulphur Conference (MEScon) is a premier event that brings together representatives from the entire sour gas and sulphur value chain to promote technology and innovation, lessons learned, best practices, knowledge transfer and R&D.