
Africa’s fertilizer renaissance
New ammonia and urea plants in Nigeria and Ethiopia are part of a wave of new capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa, and may help pull up regional demand from its current low base level.
New ammonia and urea plants in Nigeria and Ethiopia are part of a wave of new capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa, and may help pull up regional demand from its current low base level.
At the Nitrogen+Syngas Conference 2020, held in The Hague, Netherlands, Haldor Topsoe launched its new TITAN ™ series of steam reforming catalysts. The company says that the new series, which consists of the RC-67 TITAN and RK-500 TITAN catalysts, offers improved performance and longer catalyst lifetime thanks to the hibonite-rich composition. The addition of titanium promoters adds exceptional mechanical strength while a seven-hole cylindrical shape yields both a very low pressure drop and a high surface area. Pressure drop build-ups in syngas plants can cause unscheduled downtime and cost millions of dollars, while thermal instability during operation can lead to operational risk and reduce plant lifetime. Topsoe says that the catalysts can mitigate these risks, ensuring lower operating costs, increased profit margins, and reduced energy usage.
This year’s Nitrogen + Syngas conference was held from 17-19 February in The Hague, Netherlands.
The Sixth Annual MESPON Forum took place 7-10 October at the Rosewood Hotel Abu Dhabi, where the global sour gas and sulphur community gathered for four days of networking, learning, and collaboration. This year’s theme highlighted new trends, innovations and best practices in the field of sour gas processing that enhance operations.
CRU’s Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid 2019 conference was held in Houston last November.
Sulphuric acid plant operators juggle multiple issues trying to keep their plants running efficiently and reliably. With the revolutionary ClearView™ process health monitoring solution, as well the DynSOx™ software for simulating dynamic operation, Haldor Topsoe strives to bring digital services with real and tangible operational benefits to the sulphuric acid industry. P. Szafran and M. Granroth discuss how together these digital services can help acid plant operators meet their daily targets.
The increased severity of operating conditions in modern steam methane reformers requires catalysts with high catalyst activity and good mechanical stability to avoid premature replacements or unplanned shutdowns. F. Morales Cano, M. Stenseng and M. Feddersen of Haldor Topsoe describe a new catalyst formulation with a very homogenous and stable carrier material delivering the high activity and high mechanical strength required for long time operation.
Haldor Topsoe and Sasol have announced that they have entered into a collaboration agreement to jointly license their GTL technologies. For many years, the two companies have worked together on numerous GTL projects and technologies, and Topsoe’s Syn-COR™ syngas generation technology and Sasol’s Fischer-Tropsch technologies have been licensed for several world-scale GTL ventures. Under the new collaboration agreement, the companies will continue to offer these core technologies, but will now also provide Topsoe’s hydroprocessing and hydrogen technologies. This gives potential customers access to a single-point licensing offering that covers the entire value chain from gas feed to liquid fuels. As single-point licensors, Sasol and Topsoe will offer customers all necessary technology licenses for a complete GTL solution and in addition provide basic engineering, catalysts, and hardware.
Leading nitrogen and phosphate producers, including ICL, OCP and Yara, have all launched major sustainable fertilizer production projects. The aim is to incorporate recovered nutrients or low-carbon feedstocks into their manufacturing processes.