Tag: Safety

A look at fatal incidents in the ammonia industry over the past two decades.

Pipe reactors in ammonium nitrate plants suffer from short lifetimes due to serious corrosion and erosion issues. A new solution from NobelClad could provide a unique opportunity to address the problem faced by licensors and end-users in the pipe reactors of ammonium nitrate plants. The NobelClad solution provides higher safety and reliability standards and less downtime and maintenance leading to an attractive payback time.

A reader wrote to me recently asking if I had considered the impact of general artificially intelligent systems like ChatGPT on the publishing industry. As a matter of fact I had, but only, somewhat narrowly and selfishly, on how it might impact my own job in the future. But the dramatic shift in AI capabilities that we have seen in the past couple of years is certainly food for thought, and I’ve seen no end of articles predicting the death of the creative industries.

Suncor has selected Rich Kruger to be the company’s next president and CEO, effective from April 3rd, according to the company. Kruger will also join the Suncor board of directors. The announcement follows a search process conducted by a special committee of the board. Rich Kruger previously worked for ExxonMobil for 39 years, and was the chairman and CEO of Imperial Oil Ltd from 2013 through 2019 before retiring from the company, where he focused on safety, reliability and operational excellence. Kris Smith, who has been interim CEO since July 2022, will work with Kruger to ensure a smooth transition before assuming the role of Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, at the conclusion of Suncor’s annual general meeting on May 9, 2023. Alister Cowan, the current CFO, plans to retire but has offered to remain with the company through the end of the year to support the transition to Mr. Smith and to provide advisory services. Smith replaced previous CEO Mark Little, who resigned in July 2022 following investor pressure after a series of safety incidents and fatalities.

The steam methane reformer is at the heart of most world-scale synthesis gas plants for ammonia, methanol or hydrogen production, and its optimum performance will maximise plant production and efficiency. This article studies the wide variety of parameters that need to be considered if a steam methane reformer is optimised.

Industry turnover is a reality, and keeping new employees informed of hydrogen safety procedures in sulphuric acid plants is key to keeping plants fully operational and incident free. Elessent Clean Technologies discusses the steps facilities need to take to prevent hydrogen incidents.

The world has seen a number of hydrogen explosions in double absorption plants mostly in the intermediate absorption tower (IAT). To review this increase and to determine the causes, an International Hydrogen Safety Workgroup was formed including major acid plant contractors, major acid producers, and consultants in the sulphuric acid arena. Davis & Associates Consulting explores some of the findings.

The fertilizer industry’s leading engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies, by setting zero incident safety goals, are making construction sites across world safer. In this article, we highlight the safety advantages of modular construction and digital approaches to safety at construction sites.

Operating plants in extreme environments can present unique challenges. If these challenges are not anticipated and addressed in design and commissioning, the plant will not be able to start up nor meet its specification. This article examines the challenges faced in commissioning amine plants operating in three diverse environments (extreme heat, extreme cold, and offshore) and the technical and procedural solutions employed to resolve them. Mike Sheilan, Ben Spooner, Kaiyr Tekebayev, and Philip le Grange , Amine Experts.

Venkat Pattabathula, a member of the AIChE Ammonia Safety Committee, reports on the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Safety in Ammonia Plants and Related Facilities Symposium, held at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, USA, on 11-15 September 2022.