Tag: BASF

BASF has announced some changes to its leadership team. The company has appointed Dr. Stephan Kothrade , President, Intermediates, as a member of the board of executive directors from March 1st, 2023. Stephan Kothrade has been with BASF since 1995 and has led BASF’s Intermediates division since 2022. Dr. Kurt Bock, Chairman of the Supervisory Board said: “Stephan Kothrade has proven himself in several leadership roles in Germany and abroad. He has worked successfully for many years at our Verbund sites in Europe and Asia and will complement the Board of Executive Directors in an excellent way.” Kothrade succeeds Saori Dubourg , who left the company as from February 28, 2023, by mutual agreement. The board thanked Dubourg for her successful work and wished her all the best for her future career.

ExxonMobil has awarded the contract for front-end engineering and design (FEED) of what it describes as the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen production facility. A final investment decision for the project is expected by 2024, subject to stakeholder support, regulatory permitting, and market conditions. Technip Energies will conduct the FEED for the Baytown integrated complex, which will produce up to 1 bcf/d of low carbon hydrogen, while capturing more than 98% of associated CO2 emissions, totalling around 7 million tCO2 e/year. Offtake agreements are reportedly under discussion with third party customers. Start-up is planned for 2027-2028. The carbon capture and storage network being developed for the project will also be made available for use by third-party CO2 emitters in the area in support of their decarbonisation efforts.

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.

Fulcrum BioEnergy says that it has successfully produced low-carbon synthetic crude oil using landfill waste as a feedstock at its Sierra BioFuels Plant, the world’s first commercial-scale landfill waste-to-fuels plant. Located outside of Reno, Nevada, Sierra will produce approximately 11 million gallons of renewable, low-carbon transportation fuels each year from approximately 175,000 t/a of landfill waste.

CRU Events will host the 2023 Nitrogen + Syngas conference and exhibition at the Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower in Barcelona, 6-8 March.

Cansu Doganay of Lux Research takes a look at the current technology landscape for methane pyrolysis for producing low-carbon hydrogen from natural gas.

A report on CRU’s annual Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid conference, which returned to being face to face meeting at the end of October 2022.

Topsoe has agreed to supply an initial 500 MW of industrial-scale, solid oxide electrolyser cells (SOEC) to First Ammonia, a US company aiming to produce green ammonia for transportation fuel, power storage and generation, as well as fertilizer, at sites in northern Germany and the southwestern United States. The companies envisage that over the lifetime of the agreement some 5 GW of SOEC electrolysers will be supplied, potentially replacing almost 5 bcm of natural gas and eliminating the emission of 13 million t/a of CO 2 emissions. The facility to manufacture the electrolyser cells will be built in Herning, Denmark, and has recently received a final investment decisions from Topsoe’s board.

An eclectic mix of delegates from established fertilizer companies and technology start-ups gathered in Dallas, Texas in September for CRU’s inaugural AgriTech Forum. We report on the highlights of this lively networking event.

Maire Tecnimont subsidiary MyRechemical has been awarded a basic engineering contract for a waste to methanol and hydrogen plant to be located in Empoli, Tuscany. The scope of work includes the basic engineering design of the plant and the provision of necessary documentation to start the plant’s public authorisation process with the Tuscany region. The basic engineering phase is expected to be completed by the end of 2022. Once completed, the plant will process 256,000 t/a of non-recyclable waste and will produce 125,000 t/a of methanol and 1,400 t/a of hydrogen. The plant will use MyRechemical’s chemical conversion technology which allows the recovery of waste that cannot be mechanically recycled, or other types of unsortable dry waste. The carbon and hydrogen in the waste are converted via gasification into synthesis gas, which is used to produce low-carbon methanol and hydrogen.