Venkat Pattabathula , a member of the AIChE Ammonia Safety Committee, reports on the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Safety in Ammonia Plants and Related Facilities Symposium, held in Munich, Germany, from 20-24 August 2023.
Highly efficient ammonia synthesis and subsequent cracking to hydrogen are key processes in the transition to the green hydrogen economy. Catalysts play an important role in the ammonia cracking process. Clariant offers both nickel and precious metal catalysts for this application and research on robust catalysts that allow lower temperatures for increased energy efficiency is ongoing.
Previously, recuperative reforming has been mostly applied for capacity increase revamps, but nowadays it is a key enabler for efficient low carbon hydrogen and syngas production. Jan-Jaap Riegman of Technip Energies, Francesco Baratto of Casale and Stefan Gebert of Clariant discuss the benefits of recuperative reforming for reducing the carbon footprint of existing assets.
CRU’s Nitrogen + Syngas conference convened at the Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower in Barcelona, from March 5th-8th.
Air Liquide presents the results of an internal study to identify preferred natural gas-based plant configurations at a methanol capacity of 250 t/d. Delivering small capacity plants requires a focus on the total cost of ownership (TCO) for the economics to be successful, in addition to the CO 2 footprint of the operation. As found by this study, SMR concepts are naturally power balanced for standalone greenfield operations and show no particular advantage for power import in a brownfield setting. POX and ATR cases are greatly improved and even advantaged in a brownfield setting compared to SMR when shifting from power balance to power import cases.
CRU Events will host the 2023 Nitrogen + Syngas conference and exhibition at the Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower in Barcelona, 6-8 March.
At the organisation’s first face to face meeting since covid, in Vienna in early October, OPEC+ ministers agreed to cut global oil supplies by 2 million bbl/d in November. OPEC+ is a group of 24 oil-producing nations, made up of the 14 members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and 10 other non-OPEC members, including Russia. In a statement, the group said the decision to cut production was made “in light of the uncertainty that surrounds the global economic and oil market outlooks.”
Venkat Pattabathula, a member of the AIChE Ammonia Safety Committee, reports on the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Safety in Ammonia Plants and Related Facilities Symposium, held at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, USA, on 11-15 September 2022.
Most nitric acid is used for production of fertilizer nitrates and ammonium nitrate explosives, but it is also used in polyamides, polyurethanes and aniline dyes as well as a number of industrial processes including ore treatment. High ammonia prices have pushed nitric acid prices to record levels this year, but growth predictions remain robust.
Clariant has announced a reorganisation into three global business units instead of the previous five, with the business unit presidents to be located in the regions with the largest customer base and highest growth potential for the respective businesses. It will also create a new executive steering committee that will include the CEO, the CFO and the presidents of the new business units.