Tag: Saipem

CRU’s Nitrogen + Syngas conference convened at the Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower in Barcelona, from March 5th-8th.

CRU Events will host the 2023 Nitrogen + Syngas conference and exhibition at the Hyatt Regency Barcelona Tower in Barcelona, 6-8 March.

Maire Tecnimont’s innovation and licensing company Stamicarbon has been selected as the licensor for a urea project in sub-Saharan Africa, its first license in the region. Stamicarbon will deliver the process design package for the front-end engineering and design for a 4,000 t/d urea melt and granulation plant. The urea melt plant with a pool reactor will use Stamicarbon’s MP Flash design, a melt concept with improved energy efficiency, entailing a significant reduction of steam consumption. The minimal equipment items result in a significant reduction of the footprint and the overall capital cost of the plant. Less equipment also allows for a reduction in maintenance costs and OPEX savings.

Italy’s Maire Tecnimont Group has named Alessandro Bernini as its chief executive officer (CEO) and chief operating officer (COO). The announcement was made following the resignation of Pierroberto Folgiero , the company’s previous CEO and COO, with effect from 15th May.

CRU’s Nitrogen + Syngas conference returned to a face to face meeting for the first time in two years at the end of March this year.

Maire Tecnimont has announced the resignation of Pierroberto Folgiero from the positions of Director, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Company, effective from May 15, 2022. Interim appointments to senior positions are subject to article 2386 of the Italian Civil Code, with a list drawn up at the time of appointment. However, with designated successor Alessandra Conte unwilling to accept the position, it has passed to Alessandro Bernini, previously Group Chief Financial Officer of the company since 2013, who will now also become the new Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Maire Tecnimont. The company board has also conferred on Bernini executive powers for the management and coordination of the Group's activities. The resolutions will be effective from 15 May 2022. Alessandro Bernini will remain in office, according to the law, until the next shareholders' meeting of the Company.

Saipem, Stamicarbon, Toyo Engineering Corporation and KBR showcase recent projects and latest technology for urea and nitric acid plants.

The CRU Nitrogen + Syngas Conference returns to Berlin for a live event from 28-30 March 2022. The conference will be run as a hybrid event giving participants the option to attend live in-person or online via the virtual platform.

Rapidly escalating natural gas prices forced plant closures across Europe during September. Worst affected was the UK, where a fire at a cross-Channel electricity cable and low output from wind energy has, combined with low domestic storage capacity led to a surge in demand for gas for power stations and wholesale gas prices reached a record 350 pence per therm (equivalent to $46/ MMBtu) in October. On September 15th, CF Industries announced that it was halting operations at both its Billingham and Ince fertilizer plans due to high gas prices. Although ammonia prices have also risen, they have not kept pace with gas price rises, and there is a limit to what farmers could be expected to pay. CF CEO Anthony Will said: “$900 is the gas cost in a tonne of ammonia and the last trade in the ammonia market that was done was $700 a tonne”. As these plants supply most of the UK’s carbon dioxide for food and drink manufacture, the government said it would provide “limited financial support” to keep the Billingham plant operational, and that plant re-started on September 21st. Meanwhile, BASF closed its Antwerp and Ludwigshafen plants in Belgium and Germany due to what the company called “extremely challenging” economics. Fertiberia ceased production at its Palos de la Frontera site in Spain, and Puertellano remained down for scheduled maintenance. Yara shut 40% of its European ammonia production in September, and OCI partially closed its Geleen plant in the Netherlands. Achema in Lithuania decided against restarting its ammonia plant following maintenance in August, and OPZ in Ukraine shut one ammonia line at Odessa, with Ostchem and DniproAzot likely to follow. Borealis in Austria also reduced production.

Nitrogen-rich wastewaters remain a major issue for fertilizer and other industries. Saipem’s new electrochemical technology, SPELL, is an important step towards the overall objective of zero industrial pollution. A complete engineering review of the technology, its alignment with all international applicable standards, and optimisation has now been concluded and the technology is ready for deployment for the removal of ammonium nitrogen from industrial waters and wastewaters. Saipem discusses the key features of SPELL and reports on the first two industrial references.