Nitrogen+Syngas
The magazine for the nitrogen and syngas industries

Latest issue:
July/August 2020

• Plant Manager+ Incident No. 1: Leak in nozzle in urea reactor bottom
  High pressure urea equipment often has lined nozzles. A lined nozzle is a full strength carbon steel nozzle that is protected against carbamate corrosion by a 5 or 6 mm thick stainless steel liner plate, which is welded to the carbon steel nozzle on either end. This design is however very vulnerable to fatigue cracking due to the difference in thermal expansion between the austenite liner and the carbon steel nozzle. History shows that such a design will lead to cracking in the long term. The following case study reports on a serious incident in a urea plant where a leak in a urea reactor nozzle caused a plant shutdown but could have resulted in rupture of the high pressure vessel.

  Full article: 679 words | add to basket (£25)

• Agricultural demand for nitrogen
  Agricultural markets represent 75% of nitrogen demand worldwide. Rising populations, changing crop types, moves towards sustainability and the spread of speciality fertilizers and new technologies are all changing the market for nitrogen fertilizers, but the Covid pandemic may affect markets in a variety of different ways.

  Full article: 2,313 words | add to basket (£25)

• The market for ammonia
  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.

  Full article: 1,915 words | add to basket (£25)

• Making construction sites safer
  Nitrogen+Syngas asked some of the industry's leading EPC companies what they are doing to make construction sites safer around the world in pursuit of the goal for zero incident safety performance. Read on to find out what approaches have been taken by Maire Tecnimont Group, thyssenkrupp, Toyo Engineering Corporation and Saipem.

  Full article: 5,417 words | add to basket (£25)

• Process gas boilers with bypass for steam methane reformers
  Process gas boilers with an internal bypass system are an important type of shell-and-tube heat exchanger installed in steam methane reforming units. For decades, two traditional designs have dominated the market: the "hot" and "cold" bypass process gas boiler. Today, a third option based on a new design concept is available: the "bayonet" bypass process gas boiler, with process and mechanical features that can provide superior performance, lower opex and improved reliability. G. Manenti of Alfa Laval Olmi SpA discusses the design and operating principles of the different designs.

  Full article: 1,964 words | add to basket (£25)

• Impact of heat recovery arrangement on package reliability
  Dr M. Olbricht and Dr J. Weidenfeller of Schmidtsche Schack | ARVOS (SCS) discuss the impact of the heat recovery equipment arrangement in an ammonia plant downstream of the secondary reformer on reliable boiler operation. A detailed investigation was performed by SCS in response to an operator experiencing difficulties in maintaining water quality in this critical equipment. Water quality has a crucial impact on the lifetime and reliability of the equipment.

  Full article: 2,340 words | add to basket (£25)

• Lean duplex improving on-stream times
  Many fertilizers plants are looking to reduce the overall maintenance costs of their critical heat exchangers. Barinder J. S. Ghai of Sandvik Materials Technology takes a look at the life cycle costs of tube materials for heat exchangers in ammonia plants.

  Full article: 530 words | add to basket (£25)

• Reducing the CO2 intensity of hydrogen production
  There is an urgent need to limit the rise in global temperatures to avoid severe environmental and societal impact. This can be expressed as a target to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The provision of decarbonised hydrogen at scale is an essential step in helping to achieve net zero. Johnson Matthey's Low Carbon Hydrogen (LCH) technology permits the needs of scale and urgency to be met. J. Pach of Johnson Matthey presents a serious response to a serious threat.

  Full article: 1,807 words | add to basket (£25)

• Hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles and stationary power
  As the world focuses on clean fuels for the 21st century, there is an emerging opportunity to use ammonia as a source of hydrogen. Hydrogen fuel cells are expected to play a significant role as part of a clean energy portfolio. T2M Global and its development partner, SAFCell, are collaborating to develop a modular system to produce hydrogen from ammonia using a novel solid state separation system that does not require pressure or solvents. P. Patel of T2M Global, C. Chisholm of SAFCell and V. Pattabathula of Incitec Pivot explain the challenges, the opportunities and the current status of this new technology.

  Full article: 1,461 words | add to basket (£25)