Tag: Production

To comply with environmental legislations, all new and most existing nitric acid plants must implement measures to reduce N2 O emissions to the atmosphere. This article explores the opportunities presented by Stamicarbon’s tertiary abatement technology for both existing and grassroots nitric acid plants to enhance sustainability and efficiency and discover the advantages of incorporating these technologies into a green fertilizer complex.

Catalyst development for nitric acid plants is strongly dependent on operating pressures and nitrogen loading levels. Dr Hadi Nozari of Johnson Matthey provides a review of some key catalyst design principles, emphasising the critical role of operating pressure in catalyst selection and highlighting the innovative contributions of Johnson Matthey in advancing catalyst technology for ultra-high-pressure ammonia oxidation in nitric acid plants.

Pyrite roasting as a source of sulphuric acid continues to be a significant, albeit minor sector of the overall acid market.

The nickel market has been through a period of unprecedented change over the past few years due to demand for batteries for electric vehicles, with Indonesia becoming a centre for production via high pressure acid leaching.

US domestic oil production has surged during 2023, reaching 13.3 million bbl/d in December, a record not just for the US but for any single country’s oil production. Adding in natural gas liquids and biofuels takes overall liquids production to 21.4 million bbl/d. Exports are also running at record levels, around 6 million bbl/d. This is a remarkable turnaround from 2008, when production was less then 5 million bbl/d and exports essentially zero. Furthermore, non-OPEC production is continuing to expand, with Brazil reaching 3.4 million bbl/d of oil production and 4.2 million bbl/d of liquids, and Canada producing 4.8 million bbl/d of crude and 5.7 million bbl/d of total liquids, keeping oil prices moderated in spite of OPEC+ production cuts. Global oil production is expected to reach a record level in 2024, with non-OPEC+ liquids growth projected to increase by 2.7 million bbl/d, far more than demand growth of 1.6 million bbl/d. n

With increased demands to reduce SO2 emissions and lower energy consumption, Eduardo Almeida and Nelson Clark of Clark Solutions highlight the advantages of single absorption sulphuric acid plants compared to double absorption plants.

MECS, Inc. (MECS) has developed a new impaction-based mist eliminator called Brink® Prime Impact™ , which offers equivalent or improved efficiency at higher throughput and the same pressure drop as traditional impaction beds, resulting in the ability to debottleneck existing inter-pass absorption towers and final absorption towers in sulphuric acid plants or design new or replacement towers with smaller diameters, thus reducing investment cost.

“ The need for technical knowledge and insights has never been more important.”

This case study reports on the successful collaboration of two experienced partner companies to replace the problematic upper part of a co-current flow quench tower in a spent acid plant and shows the benefits of using resistant, pre-lined workshop fabricated equipment.

Axens has developed a new titania-based catalyst named CRS 41, which has a much larger porosity than its renowned predecessor, CRS 31 catalyst. Thanks to an improved catalyst manufacturing process and a new recipe, the porosity of CRS 41 has been increased while preserving the mechanical resistance for loading, allowing customers to optimise their capex by either reducing the Claus reactor size or loading volume of TiO2 catalyst.