CF Fertilisers UK Limited, a subsidiary of CF Industries, says that it plans to permanently close the ammonia plant at its Billingham fertilizer complex in order to secure the long-term sustainability of its business in the UK. The Company intends to continue to produce ammonium nitrate (AN) fertiliser and nitric acid at the Billingham site using imported ammonia, as it has for the last 10 months following its decision to temporarily idle the plant in August 2022.
Plant digitalisation can contribute to increase the profitability of chemical plants by optimising performance of operation as well as maintenance. Available digital products range from visualisation of plant data for increased transparency to closed-loop AI controllers based on digital twins.
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 in Munich, Germany, from 20-24 August 2023.
Maire SpA subsidiary Tecnimont, together with Orascom Construction SAE, have been awarded a lump sum turn-key engineering procurement and construction contract for new nitric acid and ammonium nitrate plants by the Egyptian Chemical Industries Company (‘Kima’). The contract value is approximately $300 million, of which about $220 million relates to Tecnimont activities. Finalisation of the contract is subject to successful execution of the financing package. The scope of work includes mainly engineering, supply of all materials and equipment – to be performed by Tecnimont – as well as construction activities, to be carried out by Orascom Construction.
Gas Chemical Complex MTO Central Asia LLC has signed an agreement with Air Products to build a new methanol production facility. Known as Methanol Island, the facility would have a capacity of 1.34 million tons per year, as a part of the Methanol-to-olefin (MTO) gas chemical complex in Uzbekistan. The facility, to be built in the Karakul Free Economic Zone situated in Uzbekistan’s Bukhara region, will cover 15 hectares. It is planned to enter operation in 2025 for an expected operational life of 25 years.
Yara International is to build a major new speciality fertilizer and biostimulant production plant near York.
Advances in clean hydrogen and ammonia production is fuelling worldwide interest in a new market for hydrogen and ammonia to provide a reliable low-carbon energy future. Ammonia cracking, the dissociation of ammonia back into hydrogen, delivers a pathway to large-scale sustainable hydrogen production. In this article KBR, Johnson Matthey, thyssenkrupp Uhde, Duiker, Proton Ventures and Casale report on their technologies and approaches to ammonia cracking in a low carbon economy.
With the market for green ammonia set to grow significantly in the coming years, modularisation of ammonia plants can bring many benefits to new projects, including optimised cost, speed of delivery and reducing overall risks. thyssenkrupp Uhde is committed to further develop standardised, modular solutions for its clients. Tobias Birwe and Dustin Mayor explain the company’s modularisation concept.
Mining, metals and fertilizer business intelligence company CRU has launched a new low-emissions ammonia (LEA) price assessment in its Fertilizer Week price reporting service. The price takes a value-based approach, whereby a premium on the Northwest European ammonia price is calculated on an emissions-mitigated basis, and leverages CRU’s proprietary nitrogen asset emissions data combined with weekly European carbon prices to calculate the value of emissions mitigated. CRU says that it has leveraged its Emissions Analysis Tool to develop the premiums on an emissions-mitigated basis as opposed to a cost basis, allowing end-users to assess how the switch to LEA can deliver value to their business while contributing to their decarbonisation strategies. The Emissions Analysis Tool is a comprehensive asset-byasset emissions dataset for the nitrogen industry.
The first global review of phosphate rock resources since 2010 has reported that technically recoverable reserves should last for more than 300 years.