Ammonia synthesis catalysts have seen major improvements over the last 100 years, and they are highly optimised with respect to activity, thermal stability, and poisoning resistance. Improving such catalysts even further requires a deep understanding of their structure and the impact of different parameters on performance. Clariant, Johnson Matthey and Topsoe report on their studies and developments in ammonia synthesis catalysts.
INEOS says that it is aiming to forward its plans for a ‘net zero’ future for its Grangemouth site in Scotland by inviting major engineering design contractors to tender for the next stage of the design of a world scale carbon capture enabled hydrogen plant and associated infrastructure.
High feedstock prices and regulatory burdens continue to put pressure on European nitrogen producers to innovate.
The COP-26 summit in Glasgow last year signed into force new rules on carbon emissions trading which may gradually start to see carbon pricing spread worldwide, with knock-on effects on emissions intensive industries like ammonia and methanol.
As a quick glance through the Index of last year’s articles and news items in this issue of the magazine will amply demonstrate, 2021 was a year full of project announcements for low carbon ammonia and methanol projects of all hues; blue, green, turquoise and many other shades besides. Market analysts CRU said in December that they calculated that there have been a total of 124 million t/a of low carbon ammonia projects announced, 80 million t/a of which came in 2021 alone, equivalent to 55% of current ammonia capacity. These range from tentative pilot plants that are fully costed and often with government grants already secured to blue sky visions of vast electrolysis hubs in the deserts of Arabia with timescales towards the end of the decade – it’s often the case that the longer the proposed timescale, the less likely a project is to happen.
The International Fertilizer Association (IFA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) over collaboration to support the FAO’s vision of transformative change and innovation in agriculture. Svein Tore Holsether, IFA Chair, signed the agreement at a live virtual signing in December together with FAO deputy director general Beth Bechdol. The agreement outlines collaboration to further shared goals and objectives with regard to the promotion of sustainable food and agriculture. Both parties will work together to raise awareness about the International Code of Conduct for the Sustainable Use and Management of Fertilizers (Fertilizer Code), promote education and knowledge transfer and continue their successful collaboration on fertilizer statistics.
The Bia Energy Operating Company says that it is evaluating a $550 million blue methanol plant at the port of Caddo-Bossier in Shreveport, Louisiana. The unit would have a capacity of 530,000 t/a of methanol using natural gas feedstock with downstream carbon capture, reducing CO2 emissions by more than 90% compared to other methanol plants. The company is expected to make a final decision in 1Q 2022, with construction expected to last approximately two years, and commercial operations to begin soon after.
Last year the International Energy Agency (IEA), in conjunction with IFA, published the Ammonia Technology Roadmap, which looks at ways of achieving decarbonisation of the nitrogen fertilizer industry by 2050. In this article we look at the scenarios and technology options that will define the industry over the next three decades.
As the world looks to a lower carbon future, refineries are having to examine their operating models, and look to, for example, renewable hydrogen production for desulphurisation technologies.
Global demand for oil products has seen strong recovery in 2021, but depressed kerosene demand from the aviation sector continues to be a major barrier to full recovery, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. The company’s analysis of oil product flows suggests that when kerosene is excluded, oil product demand in Q3 2021 had fully recovered compared to the same period in 2019. However, demand for kerosene, mostly used for jet fuel, has hovered at around two thirds of pre-Covid-19 levels throughout the year, and when that is taken into account, total oil product demand was 3% below pre-Covid levels for Q3 2021. Kerosene demand saw the greatest impact from Covid-19 due to restrictions on air travel. While the sector recovered, to an extent, in the second half of 2020, recovery stalled in 2021 due to new waves of infections and restrictions, with new restrictions linked to the Omicron variant likely to have hit demand again in Q4.