For some years the fastest growing sector of the methanol market was Chinese olefins production. However, with growth there flattening out, it is traditional chemical uses which are taking over again as drivers of demand growth, with, longer term, a major prospect from fuel and energy applications.
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.
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.
Reducing carbon footprint in the synthesis of chemicals is a new challenge, a necessary requirement in the pursuit of sustainable products designed to minimise environmental impacts during their whole lifecycle. So-called “green” technologies for ammonia, methanol and hydrogen are being developed to meet these challenges. Casale, Linde, thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions, Toyo Engineering Corporation, Haldor Topsoe and Stamicarbon report on some of their latest developments.
Johnson Matthey and MyRechemical have formed an alliance to commercially develop waste to methanol technology. In this article, two different approaches to waste disposal and chemical production are analysed: a post combustion scenario with waste incineration and hydrogenation of the CO2 recovered from flue gas to produce methanol, and a precombustion approach with waste gasification followed by conversion of synthesis gas into methanol.
Maire Tecnimont SpA says that its subsidiaries MET Development, Stamicarbon and NextChem have collectively begun work on a renewable power-to-fertilizer plant in Kenya. MET Development has signed an agreement with Oserian Development Company for the development of the plant at the Oserian Two lakes Industrial Park, on the southern banks of Lake Naivasha, 100 km north of Nairobi.
Gasification technology offers the promise of being able to convert the increasing volumes of municipal waste generated by society into useful chemical products. In spite of a patchy commercial record, interest in the process remains high.
Georgy Eliseev , Principal Analyst at Fertecon for IHS Markit, looks at the medium to long term outlook for both ‘green’ and ‘blue’ ammonia production.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says that it plans to build a $3 billion methanol plant on Brass Island in the Niger Delta to produce up to 10,000 t/d of methanol using from gas supplied by Shell. A final investment decision was made by NNPC, DSV Engineering and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, a state agency set up to ensure Nigerian involvement in oil and gas projects. Around 70% of funding for the project will come from international lenders, including the China Export-Import Bank, the African Development Bank and international commercial banks, with the rest funded from an equity issue. BP has signed a 10 year offtake deal for the plant’s output with the Brass Fertilizer & Petrochemical Company, the entity set up to operate the plant. Construction of the plant is expected to be completed by 2025.
Natural gas pricing remains the dominant component of ammonia production costs. The fall in global oil and gas prices due to the Covid outbreak and the continued growth in the LNG market is continuing to break the hold of oil indexation on gas pricing. Meanwhile, reform of gas markets continues, in places as diverse as Brazil, China and India.