Merchant ammonia capacity, only a relatively small 10% of overall ammonia demand, has been expanding in recent years and was already in surplus even before the current Covid crisis, but longer term a shortage of new projects may tighten the market again.
We report on how the fertilizer industry and individual companies are working to mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The widespread problem of soil micronutrient deficiency has come under the spotlight in recent years. We look at the range of specialist fertilizer products able to tackle micronutrient deficits in crops and soils.
Demand from horticulture has seen the use of water-soluble phosphates rise globally to almost one million tonnes annually. We assess the market and its growth prospects, identify leading producers and highlight recent product innovations.
The fertilizer market remains a commodity market. The three major nutrients N, P and K, more often than not, are supplied through four main products: urea, diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate (DAP and MAP) and potassium chloride (MOP). Combined world consumption of these long-standing, globally-traded commodities is north of 300 million tonnes annually.
We profile a selection of innovative speciality products and agronomic technologies that have recently been brought to market.
Sulphur is becoming an increasingly important crop nutrient – due to a combination of lower sulphur emissions, the increasing prevalence of high-analysis fertilizers and higher cropping intensity.
Nutrien is the world’s largest crop nutrient company with a market capitalisation of almost $20 billion (Figure 1). This fertilizer industry giant produces and distributes over 25 million tonnes of potash, nitrogen and phosphate products for agricultural, industrial and feed customers globally. The company’s agriculture retail business also serves over 500,000 growers worldwide through a network of international outlets.
R. Kranenburg of Duiker discusses the latest applications of SCO units in refineries and petrochemical complexes. The SCO unit is typically integrated in the sulphur recovery unit and is intended for processing ammonia, while also treating the tail gases from the upstream SRU.
The UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has awarded £28 million ($36 million) of government funding to five demonstration projects for low carbon hydrogen production, as part of a larger stimulus package to cut industrial carbon emissions. The projects targeted for funding include: