
North American nitrogen
The US is experiencing a new boom in nitrogen projects, with a number of carbon capture ammonia plants under development.
The US is experiencing a new boom in nitrogen projects, with a number of carbon capture ammonia plants under development.
Low carbon intensity hydrogen and ammonia production schemes from KBR, Air Liquide, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Casale and Johnson Matthey.
Maire Group subsidiary MyRechemical has been awarded a feasibility study for the integration of its proprietary waste-tosyngas technology in a large-scale conversion plant that would transform solid municipal waste into 120,000 t/a of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). MyRechemical would provide the gasification unit to transform solid waste streams into synthesis gas, which would then be converted into low carbon ethanol and then to SAF.
The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) has entered into a partnership with Metso and thyssenkrupp Uhde to develop and license an integrated process to reduce carbon emissions and recycle phosphogypsum in Saudi Arabia. A framework agreement between the three partners was jointly announced on 10th January.
BHP has approved an investment of $4.9 billion (CAD 6.4 billion) in stage two of its Jansen potash project (Jansen Stage 2) in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Bruce Bodine will become the new CEO of The Mosaic Company from the 1st January 2024. He was unanimously elected by the company’s board of directors at the end of August. His appointment followed the announcement that the current CEO Joc O’Rourke will retire next year. Mr Bodine was also elected company president in August and appointed as a member of Mosaic’s board with immediate effect. He was previously the company’s SVP -North America.
The ammonia industry is expected to change drastically in the coming years to meet sustainability goals and to face the problem of climate change. New low carbon ammonia plants as well as fully green facilities are expected to be commissioned to meet the target of climate neutral production. The integration of an existing ammonia facility with green hydrogen to supplement or replace the grey ammonia production with green ammonia represents a low-risk solution to meet the requirement for running clean ammonia plants and offers the most competitive green ammonia production cost in the short term. In this article Sergio Panza and Marco M. Carlucci of Casale paper present different scenarios based on energy availability at battery limits.
While producing ammonia with hydrogen from electrolysis remains expensive, large scale lower carbon ammonia has focused on carbon capture and storage from existing plants, so-called ‘blue’ ammonia. But exactly how green is blue?
With the current focus on decarbonising ammonia production, Tom Davison of Johnson Matthey explains the important role of high activity ammonia synthesis catalyst in the production of green ammonia.
Jiangsu Sailboat Petrochemical has started up a CO2 -to-methanol plant at the Shenghong Petrochemical Industrial Park. The plant was developed in conjunction with Iceland’s Carbon Recycling International (CRI), with the plant brought to life in under two years from the initial contract signing. The methanol plant uses CRI’s proprietary emissions-to-liquids (ETL) technology, transforming waste carbon dioxide and hydrogen gases into sustainable, commercial-grade methanol. According to CRI, uses 150,000 t/a of carbon dioxide sourced from waste streams at the large petrochemical complex as feedstock, significantly reducing emissions that would have otherwise been released into the atmosphere. The plant has the capacity to produce 100,000 t/a of sustainable methanol, used primarily to supply Jiangsu’s methanol to olefins facility to produce chemical derivatives, including sustainable plastics and EVA coatings for solar panels. This is expected to reduce the reliance on fossil-based methanol to drive more sustainable value chains and carbon footprint reduction initiatives across various sectors, such as industrial manufacturing and renewable energy.