By
19 min ago 2 min read
Fertiliser major AGF Nitrogen is looking to reduce power and gas consumption at two ammonia plants in Germany and Austria as the firm curtails European production, blaming high gas and carbon prices.
The group’s subsidiaries LAT Nitrogen Linz in Austria and SKW Piesteritz in Germany have contracted KBR to upgrade their Linz and Wittenberg sites.
In Wittenberg, SKW is targeting a 10% reduction in energy consumption through a “comprehensive energy efficiency upgrade” of its 1,900 tonnes per day ammonia plant #2.
The Austria project could see LAT install a KBR KRES reactor within the Linz site’s 550 tonnes per day ammonia plant #2, which it said could result in a “significant reduction in natural gas consumption.”
KBR’s KRES technology uses high-grade waste heat from a secondary reformer to drive endothermic reactions to reduce fuel burning.
AGF has not confirmed a timeline for the upgrades, but said both projects would be on “similar” implementation timetables.
The group has already curtailed ammonia production across its European operations, according to Reuters, with some units shut down and others operating at minimum capacity, amid high gas prices and weakening demand.
“As natural gas prices continue to rise and emissions allowance prices remain several times higher than the rest of the world, ammonia and the fertilisers produced from it are reaching again a price level that is becoming unaffordable for European farmers,” said AGF CEO Petr Cingr in September.
It highlights growing pressure on European industrial sectors, which have only increased amid energy supply disruption caused by the Middle East conflict.
