Tag: Sulphuric Acid

Members of the lower house in Chile’s Congress have unanimously approved creation of a special investigative commission to examine a series of alleged irregularities at state-owned copper producer Codelco. The issues are: overestimation of production by almost 27,000 t last year; a multimillion-dollar renovation of the company’s headquarters in Santiago; and, maybe, the collapse of a chimney at Potrerillos copper smelter in the Atacama region of northern Chile. The structural failure has forced a production suspension.

Nickel Industries announced started up the sulphuric acid plant at its new Excelsior Nickel Cobalt (ENC) HPAL project in the final week of June. The ENC Project is a massive, multi-billion dollar high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) facility located in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. It is operated by Australia’s Nickel Industries to supply battery-grade materials for the electric vehicle (EV) market. At capacity, it is expected to yield roughly 72,000 t/a of contained nickel equivalent as mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), nickel sulphate, and nickel cathode.

• The market has paused as bearish buyer sentiment has not yet translated into lower spot prices. The direction of the next major deal is now the critical test. This will either initiate a downward price correction, validating buyer caution, or force a recognition of the market’s underlying tightness and bring purchasers back to the table at current levels.

The global sulphur market has entered a holding pattern, as a wave of bearish sentiment has so far failed to move stubbornly high spot prices. The departure of a significant volume of product from the Middle East has emboldened buyers and shifted market sentiment firmly towards bearish, but at time of writing this has so far failed to translate into lower prices. With sellers in no hurry to lower prices and spot availability still tight, the market has stalled as both sides wait for the other to blink first.

Nickel is becoming increasingly important to the sulphur and sulphuric acid markets, with Indonesia now a key importer.

A new advanced treatment process from thyssenkrupp Uhde provides a viable way to convert phosphogypsum into a valuable feedstock for clinker production and to recover sulphuric acid.

A new treatment process from thyssenkrupp Uhde converts phosphogypsum into a valuable feedstock for clinker production and can generate sulphuric acid.

Ryowa II GPS Pty Ltd, a Queensland-based investment company and wholly owned subsidiary of Mayfair Australia Corporation, has taken over Dyno Nobel’s Phosphate Hill fertilizer complex in North-West Queensland, positioning itself as the new long-term owner of one of Australia’s major DAP/MAP production sites.

Metso has been awarded an order to supply key cellhouse process equipment for a zinc smelter expansion project in South Asia. The value of the order was undisclosed, as was the name of the customer, which is one of the leading zinc producers globally.

The 34th IFA Annual Conference in Monaco is not just about fertilizers in general – it is also about the sulphur and sulphuric acid value chain that underpins phosphate production.