Nitrogen+Syngas
The magazine for the nitrogen and syngas industries

Latest issue:
January/February 2020

• Plant Manager+ Problem No. 58: Should liquid ammonia be drained to the ammonia water tank or vent stack?
  Liquid ammonia is one of the feeds to the urea plant. It typically comes from the ammonia plant at a pressure of about 20 bar. In the urea plant this liquid ammonia is further pumped up to synthesis pressure conditions, sometimes after passing through a buffer tank, a heater and/or a filter. According to the ammonia phase diagram, when liquid ammonia flashes to atmospheric pressure temperatures can drop to as low as -33°C under worst case conditions. In case one or more of the above mentioned items of equipment needs to be drained for maintenance, a decision needs to be made where to drain this liquid ammonia. In a urea plant the options are the ammonia water tank or the vent stack, but which is best option?

  Full article: 983 words | add to basket (£25)

• Feedstock pricing and marginal producers
  Floor prices in nitrogen markets are set by marginal producers high on the cost curve, usually using higher cost feedstocks. Recently, lower coal prices in China and the cost of imported LNG have begun to change the dynamic between producers on the margins.

  Full article: 1,651 words | add to basket (£25)

• Brazil's nitrogen industry
  Brazil is the main centre for new nitrogen demand in Latin America, but in spite of major oil and gas discoveries in the 2000s, has failed to develop a downstream nitrogen fertilizer industry.

  Full article: 1,641 words | add to basket (£25)

• Indian self-sufficiency in urea: miles to go?
  Dr MP Sukumaran Nair, former Secretary to the Chief Minister and Chairman of the Public Sector Restructuring and Audit Board for the Government of Kerala, provides an update on India's plans to achieve self-sufficiency in urea production by 2022.

  Full article: 1,661 words | add to basket (£25)

• Nitrogen + Syngas 2020
  CRU's Nitrogen + Syngas conference and exhibition takes place this year at the World Forum, The Hague, in The Netherlands, from 17 to 19 February 2020.

  Full article: 1,768 words | add to basket (£25)

• Influence of flame velocity on secondary reformer design
  The different flame velocities of reactants in the combustion space of a secondary reformer have a significant impact on the gas inlet temperature of the catalyst and the methane conversion in front of the catalyst. Based on this fact, Hanno Tautz Engineering introduces an alternative secondary reformer design. Compared with the state-of-the-art-technology, the alternative design shows advantages for hydrogen production efficiency and product capacity.

  Full article: 1,486 words | add to basket (£25)

• Ammonia plant upgrade and purge gas recovery
  Cryogenic purge gas recovery units are very tolerant to increased flow from ammonia plant debottlenecking, especially the cryogenic cold box section. However, overload of the dehydration system upstream of the cold box can lead to fouling, loss of hydrogen recovery performance and the need for costly shutdown and thaw. Awareness of key plant parameters and some simple precautions can avoid such problems. A. J. Finn and T. R. Tomlinson of Costain provide some guidance.

  Full article: 2,002 words | add to basket (£25)

• Methanol routes to a lower carbon footprint
  'Green' methanol means many things to different people. It encompasses low carbon emissions methanol manufacture at scale, recovery of material through waste gasification and conversion to methanol and power to liquid (e-fuel) methanol via electrochemistry and sometimes a combination of all of the above. Each route has a place in reducing the overall carbon footprint of production and subsequent use of methanol, driven by both governmental incentives or societal demand. In this article Andrew Fenwick of Johnson Matthey reviews the various routes to manufacture.

  Full article: 4,852 words | add to basket (£25)

• Renewable methanol
  thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions (tkIS) offers and builds Power-to-X plants and can provide all processes of the value chain, from water electrolysis and CO2 recovery to green ammonia, green methanol and green SNG. Renewable methanol production, which combines the application of carbon capture and utilisation with chemical energy storage, is a particularly promising sustainable solution.

  Full article: 1,757 words | add to basket (£25)

• Emission-free methanol
  BASF has filed a patent application for a greenhouse gas-free method for producing methanol. If successful on a large-scale, the process could eliminate carbon dioxide emissions throughout the entire production process from synthesis gas generation to pure methanol.

  Full article: 1,112 words | add to basket (£25)

• Reforming catalyst under continuous development
  M. Wilson, J. Brightling and M. Carlsson of Johnson Matthey detail the development of steam reforming catalyst, with a focus on an operating case study, where Johnson Matthey has combined pelleted and structured reforming catalysts to deliver additional value from an existing asset.

  Full article: 3,160 words | add to basket (£25)

• Novel carrier improves performance
  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.

  Full article: 1,582 words | add to basket (£25)