Farming, mining and natural gas prices

Natural gas prices on way up. It's time to review other sources of fertiliser and hydrogen.

Natural gas is used as a source of hydrogen in the manufacture of ammonia - to make fertiliser for farming and explosives for the mining industry. Natural gas is also used as a source of energy in these manufacturing processes.

The price of natural gas is expected to double next year. This will lead to much higher costs to farming and mining.

Alternate sources of hydrogen and fertiliser need to be examined to keep farming and mining costs in check.

Incitec Pivot's Anhydrous Ammonia, Queensland, Australia

"Ammonia is manufactured by combining hydrogen extracted from natural gas..."

Anhydrous Ammonia is manufactured by combining hydrogen extracted from natural gas and nitrogen from the air to form liquid ammonia.

Incitec Pivot's ammonia plants are located at Phosphate Hill and Gibson Island in Queensland.
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Incitec Pivot's Ammonium Nitrate, Queensland, Australia

"long-term competitively priced gas supply..."

Incitec Pivot Limited’s new Dyno Nobel ammonium nitrate plant at Moranbah in Queensland is in the heart of Australia's largest metallurgical coal region, the Bowen Basin.  Close to some of the largest coal mines in Australia, the plant’s entire output is committed to Dyno Nobel customers under long-term contracts.

The Moranbah project is a fully integrated ammonium nitrate plant with an annual capacity of 330,000 tonnes. As a result of its strategic position, integrated processes and long-term competitively priced gas supply from local coal producers, the world-scale plant is expected to operate at the bottom of the cost curve in comparison with its international competitors.
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Incitec Pivot's Ammonia Plant, Louisiana, U.S.

"The new plant will upgrade natural gas to value-added chemicals."

The ammonia plant, with a production capacity of 800,000t per year, is expected to start production in 2016. The feasibility studies for the project commenced in May 2012 and construction works commenced in May 2013

The new plant will upgrade natural gas and natural gas liquids to value-added chemicals. The project is a result of the growth in the production of shale gas in the US and increased global demand for ammonia, which stands at about 3.3 million tonnes of new capacity since 2002.
(Read more ...)

Incitec Pivot Phosphorus Fertilisers

Ammonia Molecule

DAP (Diammonium Phosphate) is manufactured by reacting ammonia with phosphoric acid. Because it has a high nitrogen and phosphorus content, DAP allows savings to be made in storage, freight and application. It is a very economical nitrogen and phosphorus fertiliser and is widely used throughout the world. In Australia, DAP is used in cropping and on grass pastures, both on its own and in blends, e.g. for sugarcane and horticulture.

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Fertiliser costs soar

A $40 a tonne increase in the US in December has led Australian farmers paying up to $200 a tonne more for DAP.
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U.S. natural gas ends above $6 after hitting five-year high

U.S. natural gas futures sprinted past $6 on Wednesday to their highest price in more than five years, ending up nearly 11 percent on forecasts that more late winter cold weather across the United States will increase heating demand and deplete increasingly thin supplies.
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Santos confident gas prices will rise

SANTOS says it is so confident Australian east coast gas prices will rise that it is using prices close to $9 a gigajoule - which is two or three times current gas prices - to assess its gas reserves.
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Struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) Recovery

"Ostara’s Pearl® technology created at the University of British Columbia recovers ammonia and phosphate from nutrient rich fluids."

Ostara’s proprietary wastewater treatment technology, called the Pearl® Nutrient Recovery Process, recovers phosphorus and other nutrients from sludge liquids preventing the buildup of struvite scale in plant infrastructure and converting the recovered nutrients into a premium commercial fertilizer (Crystal Green®)

The pellets are then harvested from the reactor and formulated to become Crystal Green®, a high-quality environmentally friendly, slow-release, commercial fertilizer that provides revenue for the system’s operator.

Ostara’s Pearl® technology is based on a proprietary fluidized bed reactor that recovers ammonia and phosphate from nutrient rich fluids. The technology, created at the University of British Columbia, uses a proprietary fluidized bed reactor design which removes approximately 85% of the influent phosphorus, but also results in the formation of a fertilizer in granular form consistent with that used in the fertilizer industry.
(Read more ...)

Hydrogen Production by Solar Reforming of Natural Gas

"Hydrogen from natural gas by the use of solar energy."

A hybrid process with the use of fossil and solar energy: the solar steam reforming of natural gas. It comprises the production of hydrogen from natural gas by the use of solar energy. Using the solar reformer technology for generation of hydrogen, we expect fuel savings of up to 40 percent compared to a conventional plant.
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Hydrogen production from surplus renewable wind energy

"Hydrogen from surplus wind energy."

On August 28, 2013 E.ON inaugurated commercial operations at its Power-to-Gas (P2G) facility in Falkenhagen, Germany. The plant uses surplus wind power and Hydrogenics' electrolysis equipment to transform water into hydrogen. The facility which has a capacity of two megawatts produces 360 cubic meters of hydrogen per hour.
(Read more ...)

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