COVID-19 NEWS ROUND-UP
Nutrien has temporarily shut down one of the four ammonia plants at its Trinidad production site.
Nutrien has temporarily shut down one of the four ammonia plants at its Trinidad production site.
Three large-scale phosphoric acid plants constructed as part of the world-class Umm Wu’al project in Saudi Arabia are now fully operational. James Byrd of Worley (formerly Jacobs ECR) describes the execution of the project from basic engineering through to plant performance tests.
The DA-HF phosphoric acid process has been successfully implemented at Grupa Azoty’s Police fertilizer production plant in Poland, as part of a revamp of the site’s existing DH plant. Sébastien Havelange and Alexandre Wavreille of Prayon Technologies outline the performance improvements achieved by this first-of-its-kind plant.
We profile the US ‘big three’ North American phosphate producers, Mosaic, Nutrien and Simplot, and disruptive market entrant Itafos.
Although North America is no longer the world’s largest sulphur exporter, it remains a major producer and consumer, and there are still significant exports and imports of sulphur into and out of the region.
After a poor 2019, when global demand contracted by nearly 2.5%, phosphate markets are expected to rebound in 2020. Saudi Arabia and Morocco dominate new capacity additions while India and Brazil continue to be the key importers. US and Chinese production is in slow decline, meanwhile.
Leading EU phosphate and NPK fertilizer producers are profiled, including EuroChem, Fertiberia, Grupa Azoty, ICL, Prayon and Yara.
The theme of the 26th Arab Fertilizer Association Annual Fertilizer Forum & Exhibition is ‘Reshaping the industry future’. This year’s Forum will be held at the Semiramis Intercontinental, Cairo, 11-13 February 2020. New AFA Secretary General, Raed Soub , provides a preview of what is the Arab region’s showcase annual fertilizer event.
CRU events will convene the 2020 Phosphates International Conference & Exhibition in Paris at the Marriott Rive Gauche between 8-10 March.
James Byrd of JESA Technologies (Worley, formerly Jacobs), Florida, looks at upcoming innovations in di-hydrate (DH) phosphoric acid plants for the 2020s.