
Fertilizer Industry News Roundup
A consortium of Chinese buyers has agreed the first potash contract with the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) since September 2018.
A consortium of Chinese buyers has agreed the first potash contract with the Belarusian Potash Company (BPC) since September 2018.
Evaporation and crystallisation are widely used throughout the fertilizer industry. Major applications and the types of equipment used are reviewed by Laurent Palierne and Norbert Strieder of GEA Group.
Nutrien has temporarily shut down one of the four ammonia plants at its Trinidad production site.
A look at the major factors influencing the sulphur market around the world.
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.
When producing from shale reservoirs, technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have been used successfully to access hydrocarbons that otherwise could not be. A less publicised issue in producing from certain hot shale gas reservoirs (T > 100°C) is the presence of H2 S and organo-sulphur compounds in the production fluids. In trying to understand the non-biogenic sources of H2 S, Alberta Sulphur Research Ltd has been involved in studying the decomposition of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing when exposed to high temperature and high pressure.R.A. Marriott, J.J. Marrugo-Hernandez and R. Prinsloo of ASRL discuss the findings of the study.
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.