MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant's new AmoMax 10 Plus ammonia synthesis catalyst was successfully started up at the BASF ammonia plant in Antwerp, Belgium, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
German BASF, the world's petrochemical major and the inventor of the Haber Bosch process, has already installed Clariant's previous catalyst generation, AmoMax 10, at their BASF/Yara joint production plant in Freeport, Texas, USA. Based on the catalyst's highly favorable performance, BASF elected to use a Clariant catalyst again, this time the new AmoMax 10 Plus, which offers an additional boost in activity, stability, and startup speed.
Compared to the previous generation, AmoMax 10 Plus allows operation at lower pressure (up to 10 bar) and a lower recycle ratio (up to 1% more ammonia at the reactor outlet), thereby conserving more energy and reducing CO2 emissions.
AmoMax 10 Plus is Clariant's latest generation of wustite-based ammonia synthesis catalysts. It is founded on the industry-proven AmoMax 10 and is designed with a further improved promoter set. This optimization leads to higher activity, improved stability, and faster startup. The AmoMax 10 Plus allows operation with a higher per pass conversion at lower operating pressure. Consequently, it can increase ammonia production (up to 3%) and reduce energy consumption and CO2 footprint.
Compared to the previous version AmoMax 10, AmoMax 10 Plus allows significant energy savings with an expected CO2 reduction of up to 125,000 tons CO2 emissions for a 2,000 mtpd ammonia plant over the course of the typical catalyst lifetime of 15 years. On a yearly basis, this equals the CO2 emissions of more than 1,600 cars.
As MRC reported earlier, Air Liquide and BASF plan to develop world largest cross-border CCS value chain. The goal is to significantly reduce CO2 emissions at the industrial cluster in the port of Antwerp. The joint project Kairos@C has been selected for funding by the European Commission through its Innovation Fund, as one of the seven large-scale projects out of more than 300 applications.
We remind that BASF aims is to electrify its production processes for basic chemicals, which are currently based on fossil fuels.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,868,160 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 18% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 1,138,510 tonnes in the first nine months of 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymer (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of injection moulding PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
BASF is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and automotive industries.
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