A. Bhargav and A. Krishnan of Helium Consulting Pvt. Ltd discuss how it is possible to reduce SOx emissions within the existing system setup of an oil refinery or gas plant through detailed analysis, expedited corrective actions and the use of automated algorithms in real-time, by using a digital IIoT solution to monitor, control and optimise.
Spanish fertilizer producer Fertiberia is teaming up with energy firm Iberdrola to build Europe’s largest plant for generating green hydrogen for industrial use – in this case ammonia production. The 100MW solar plant and accompanying 20 MWh lithium-ion battery system and 20MW electrolytic hydrogen production system will be built at a cost of $174 million, and electrolyse water to produce 720 t/a of hydrogen. When fed into Fertiberia’s existing ammonia plant at Puertollano, 250km south of Madrid, the hydrogen will allow a 10% reduction in natural gas use by the plant, saving the company 39,000 t/a in annual CO 2 emissions. Start-up is planned for 2021. Fertiberia will also use electrolysis-generated oxygen as a raw material for nitric acid, which is used to produce ammonium nitrate at the site.
Johnson Matthey (JM) has been selected by China’s Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group as licensor for a third methanol synthesis plant at their coal to olefins complex near Yinchuan in Ningxia province. With a planned capacity of 7,200 t/d (2.4 million t/a), the unit will be the largest single train methanol plant in the world once completed.
Air Products and Haldor Topsoe have signed a global alliance agreement. Under the terms of the agreement the two companies will use their combined market network for developing potential projects and the combination of their expertise on large-scale ammonia, methanol and/or dimethyl ether (DME) plants to be developed and built globally. It gives Air Products access to Topsoe’s technology licenses and the supply of engineering design, equipment, high-performance catalysts and technical services for ammonia, methanol and DME plants that are built, owned and operated by Air Products. It also allows for the integration of Topsoe’s technology into many Air Products’ technologies including gasification of various feedstocks, and synthesis gas processes.
Southeast Asia has been a major site for new syngas projects in recent years as countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei continue to monetise their natural gas resources.
M. Wilson, J. Brightling and M. Carlsson of Johnson Matthey detail the development of steam reforming catalyst, with a focus on an operating case study, where Johnson Matthey has combined pelleted and structured reforming catalysts to deliver additional value from an existing asset.
Antonio Sancho , Incro’s managing director, gives a personal view on the circular economy and shares his experience of manufacturing high-quality liquid fertilizers from food industry wastewater.
‘Green’ methanol means many things to different people. It encompasses low carbon emissions methanol manufacture at scale, recovery of material through waste gasification and conversion to methanol and power to liquid (e-fuel) methanol via electrochemistry and sometimes a combination of all of the above. Each route has a place in reducing the overall carbon footprint of production and subsequent use of methanol, driven by both governmental incentives or societal demand. In this article Andrew Fenwick of Johnson Matthey reviews the various routes to manufacture.
Floor prices in nitrogen markets are set by marginal producers high on the cost curve, usually using higher cost feedstocks. Recently, lower coal prices in China and the cost of imported LNG have begun to change the dynamic between producers on the margins.
Haldor Topsoe and Sasol have announced that they have entered into a collaboration agreement to jointly license their GTL technologies. For many years, the two companies have worked together on numerous GTL projects and technologies, and Topsoe’s Syn-COR™ syngas generation technology and Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch technologies have been licensed for several world-scale GTL ventures. Under the new collaboration agreement, the companies will continue to offer these core technologies, but will now also provide Topsoe’s hydroprocessing and hydrogen technologies. This gives potential customers access to a single-point licensing offering that covers the entire value chain from gas feed to liquid fuels. As single-point licensors, Sasol and Topsoe will offer customers all necessary technology licenses for a complete GTL solution and in addition provide basic engineering, catalysts, and hardware.