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World News
USA Casale to participate in green ammonia pilot project
Casale, as a member of a team that comprises RTI International, the University of Minnesota, Nutrien, GE, Shell, Nel Hydrogen, Xcel Energy, Great River Energy, Ottertail Power, Chemtonergy, Texas Tech University, Pacifi ca and Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI), will participate in a project that is working towards realising a 1 tpd green ammonia pilot plant, using water electrolysis, ammonia synthesis and ammonia separation and utilisation technologies.
RTI International will lead the consortium and the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) will provide US$10 million in funding.
The project will integrate the most promising breakthrough technologies developed in ARPA-E’s Renewable Energy to Fuels Through Utilization of Energy-Dense Liquids (REFUEL) programme into a modular demonstration facility capable of producing 1 tpd of low- and zero-carbon ammonia.
The technologies include Casale and RTI’s low-temperature, low-pressure synthesis along with flexible process control strategies that can vary ammonia production to meet available intermittent electricity, and the University of Minnesota’s (UMN) elevated temperature ammonia separation.
The demonstration facility will be located at the UMN West Central Research and Outreach Center (WCROC), Morris, Minnesota, and will leverage the site’s existing hybrid wind and solar generation in the fully integrated process.
The technology integration will also demonstrate several downstream ammonia utilisation technologies, including ammonia cracking to produce hydrogen and power generation to amplify the ability to use ammonia as an energy carrier.
Successful deployment of the technology will reduce the energy intensity and carbon emissions of ammonia production, maximise renewable energy usage by capturing generation fluctuations and matching demand and enable distributed production closer to end users.
Stamicarbon has announced the launch of Stami Green Ammonia Technology, which relies on renewable resources – instead of fossil fuels – to eliminate carbon from the production process, paving the way for sustainable and green fertilizer production. Ammonia acts as a building block for nitrogen fertilizers and plays an important role in providing optimal plant nutrition, but is responsible for 1% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The company has signed an exclusive cooperation agreement with Argentinian-based company Raybite S.R.L. for the commercialisation of their small-scale ammonia technology package. The cooperation agreement means that Stamicarbon has become an ammonia licensor for small-scale ammonia plants.
The technology can also be applied in existing plants as part of a hybrid technology solution to make existing fertilizer production more sustainable.
Stamicarbon will provide its green ammonia technology as part of the development of a renewable power-to-fertilizer plant in Kenya.
MET Development, a subsidiary of the Maire Tecnimont Group with Stamicarbon, has signed an agreement with Oserian Development Co. for the development of the plant at the Oserian Two Lakes Industrial Park, located on the southern banks of Lake Naivasha 100 km north of Nairobi.
The plant will be located near the country’s largest geothermal energy basin and will be partly powered by solar energy sources produced on-site – displacing the need for fossil fuels – and eliminating carbon from the production. The facility will reduce carbon emission by approximately 100 000 tpy of CO2, compared to a gas-based fertilizer plant. The project will also reduce dependency on imported nitrogen fertilizers.
The project is targeting production of 550 tpd of calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) and/or NPK fertilizers to meet the demand of local agricultural requirements. MET Development is currently engaging with local and international partners to set up the development consortium.
The project has started preliminary engineering works and NextChem, also a Maire Tecnimont subsidiary, is aiming to start the front-end engineering design (FEED) by the end of 2021. Commercial operation of the plant is currently scheduled to begin in 2025, which will be dedicated to local Kenyan agri-business.
The project will utilise approximately 70 MW of renewable power, will create the starting point for locally produced Kenyan fertilizer and is expected to directly generate over 100 jobs in the region.
WORLD NEWS
IN BRIEF NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
World Fertilizer Spotlight with Arkema-ArrMaz
Haldor Topsoe digital solution operational at Fatima ammonia plant Acron developing calcium nitrate unit in Veliky Novgorod OCI publishes 1Q21 results Nutrien releases 1Q21 results
Koch Fertilizer building ammonium thiosulfate terminal at Fort Dodge facility Salt Lake Potash receives environmental permit for Lake Way project
AUSTRALIA Perdaman and Incitec Pivot sign urea offtake agreement
Agrimin Ltd. has signed a binding offtake agreement with Sinochem Fertilizer Macao Ltd. for the supply of 150 000 tpy of sulfate of potash (SOP) produced from the Mackay potash project in Western Australia for sale and distribution in China.
The duration of the contract is 10 years from the commencement of commercial production.
Sinochem Fertilizer Macao is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sinofert Holdings Ltd., whose controlling shareholder is China National Chemical Corp. Ltd.
Agrimin has also awarded Primero Group, a subsidiary of NRW Holdings Ltd., the front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the project’s process plant and associated non-process infrastructure.
Primero was initially appointed in July 2019 on an early contractor involvement basis to complete the definitive feasibility study engineering design for the process plant.
At the completion of the FEED works, Primero will deliver to Agrimin an engineering, procurement and construction contract to support a final investment decision.
SPAIN Highfi eld Resources delivers positive environmental report
Highfi eld Resources has delivered a positive report from the environmental department of Aragón to the mining authorities of Madrid, Aragón and Navarra, the last report required in respect of the last section of the Mining Concession documentation submitted for the Muga potash project in northern Spain.
The company has been advised that if no further clarification is required by the authorities, the next step is to send the text of the Mining Concession document to the Central Government’s lawyer for its legal review prior to the Mining Concession award being issued.
The company has said the engineering and design work for the project is ready and that it is currently progressing the last stage of the Mining Concession.
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Incitec Pivot Ltd.’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Incitec Fertilizers Pty Ltd. (IPF) has entered into a 20-year offtake agreement with Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers Pty Ltd., with a commitment to take up to 2.3 million tpy of granular urea fertilizer from Perdaman’s proposed urea plant at Karratha in Western Australia.
The AUS$4.3 billion plant is scheduled to start production in 4Q25, with construction due to begin in 1Q22. It will be Australia’s first world-scale urea plant.
The offtake agreement remains conditional upon Perdaman finalising its project finance for construction of the plant.
WORLD NEWS
DIARY DATES
GPCA Supply Chain Conference
26 – 27 May 2021 Online
gpcasupplychain.com
65th Annual Safety in Ammonia Plants and Related Facilities Symposium
29 August – 02 September 2021 San Diego, California, US
aiche.org/conferences/annualsafety-ammonia-plants-andrelated-facilities-symposium/2021
Ammonia 2021
15 September 2021 Online
worldfertilizer.com/ammonia2021/
Sulphur + Sulphuric Acid 2021
01 – 03 November 2021 Online
events.crugroup.com/sulphur/ home
15th Annual GPCA Forum
07 – 09 December 2021 Dubai, UAE
gpca.org.ae/events/15th-annualgpca-forum-2/
Turbomachinery & Pump Symposia 2021
14 – 16 December 2021 Houston, Texas, US
tps.tamu.edu/
To stay informed about the status of industry events and any potential postponements or cancellations of events due to COVID-19, visit World Fertilizer’s events page: www.worldfertilizer.com/events
CANADA Government of Saskatchewan backs SOP expansion project
The Government of Saskatchewan has said it supports Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals Inc.’s (SMMI) decision to upgrade its sodium sulfate plant in Chaplin.
SMMI’s CAN$220 million sulfate of potash (SOP) fertilizer production upgrade, once complete, is expected to result in a 50% increase in jobs at the Chaplin facility and more than 360 construction jobs. The upgraded facility is expected to produce 150 000 metric tpy of SOP, which will be sold to North American and international markets as a fertilizer and plant nutrition product. Further expansion is planned to increase SOP tonnes and utilise reserves at Ingebrigt Lake.
The project has been conditionally approved for the government’s new Sodium Sulphate Incentive, which provides a 10% credit for capital projects that diversify products or improve operating efficiency. In addition, the provincial government has reduced the royalty rate for sodium sulfate production from 4% to 3%.
The upgrade has also received conditional approval under the province’s Saskatchewan Chemical Fertilizer Incentive (SCFI). The SCFI is a non-refundable, non-transferable 15% tax credit on capital expenditures valued at CAN$10 million or more for newly constructed or expanded eligible chemical fertilizer production facilities in Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment has determined that the expansion is not a development and therefore will not require further environmental approvals.
Construction is scheduled to begin by late 2021. The upgraded facility is expected to be complete by the end of 2023.
SMMI has been producing sodium sulfate at Chaplin for over 70 years. The current site is situated on the TransCanada Highway and the Canadian Pacific main east-west line.
AUSTRALIA Yara Pilbara and ENGIE to build renewable hydrogen plant for renewable ammonia production
Yara Pilbara and ENGIE are to build a renewable hydrogen plant to produce renewable ammonia.
As part of the ARENA Renewable Hydrogen Deployment Funding Round, the Australian government is supporting the project with a AUS$42.5 million grant.
Scheduled for completion in 2023, the facility will be one of the world’s first industrial-scale renewable hydrogen production operations.
The project, which builds on the Pilbara’s renewable energy potential, comprises the development, construction and operation of a renewable hydrogen plant within the existing Yara Pilbara ammonia plant to deliver green ammonia to customers for decarbonising emissions from power generation, shipping, fertilizer or mining explosives.
The key elements of the project are a 10 MW electrolyser; an on-site facility of photovoltaic panels; and a battery storage system that will allow the plant to operate without being connected to the main electrical grid.
Scheduled to commence production in 2023, the first concrete phase of the project will produce up to 625 tpy of renewable hydrogen and 3700 tpy of renewable ammonia. This initial first phase is key to enabling the facility to become the ‘Pilbara Hydrogen Hub’, building on the existing export infrastructure.
