April 2025

This issue begins with regional report from Contributing Editor, Gordon Cope. Discussing the challenges and opportunities facing North America’s fertilizer sector, including the impacts of geopolitical issues, environmental regulations, and new technologies. This issue also includes articles looking at blue and green ammonia; blending, bagging, and palleting; phosphates; primary reformers; corrosion protection; granulation; and much more!

This month's front cover is brought to you by Greene Tweed.

Regional report: North America
Gordon Cope, Contributing Editor, discusses the challenges and opportunities facing North America’s fertilizer sector, including the impacts of geopolitical issues, environmental regulations, and new technologies.

Navigating the low-carbon ammonia journey
Deepak Shetty, Rolf Postma, and Nikolay Ketov, Stamicarbon, the Netherlands, explore how ammonia and fertilizer technologies, when integrated within an efficient low-carbon complex, can play a crucial role in supporting global efforts to reduce the nitrogen industry’s greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint.

The road to decarbonised ammonia
Matt Cousins, Johnson Matthey (JM), UK, and Klaus Nölker, thyssenkrupp Uhde, Germany, discuss the role that blue hydrogen can play in the decarbonisation of ammonia.

Optimising water sustainability in ammonia production
Giulia Sporchia and Elisa Brocca, Cannon Artes S.P.A., Italy, analyse solutions and technologies to effectively reduce the water footprint in ammonia production, through water recovery and reuse.

Advanced welding technology
Stefano Alberini, Belleli Energy CPE, Tosto Group, discusses the fabrication of a high-pressure ammonia synthesis converter with enhanced 2.25cr-1mo low alloy steel and advanced welding technology.

Q&A with Greene Tweed
Greg Gedney, Greene Tweed, considers how sealing solutions help to improve efficiency in the fertilizer industry.

Performance, purity, and phosphate processing
Kevin De Bois, Prayon, Belgium, explores advanced chemical benefication techniques within the phosphate processing industry.

Options for improvement
Ian K. Hancock, Bradley Pulverizer, UK, discusses classifier options for improved fertilizer milling.

Granulation in action
Alberto Militare, LB Technology, Italy, examines the benefits of fertilizer granulation within the agri-food, crop nutrition, and animal feed sectors.

Weighing up corrosion protection
Brad Hudson, Mettler Toledo, USA, outlines key considerations when designing vehicle scales to ensure adequate corrosion protection.

Advancing efficiency with AI
Brett Binnekade, Bagtech International, South Africa, discusses predictive maintenance with artificial intelligence (AI) in fertilizer blending and bagging plants, and how to make modern fertilizer plants more efficient and reliable.

Minimising the risk of dust-related explosions
Kyle Langley, Vortex Global, UK, considers methods to mitigate against the risks posed by dust accumulation.

Hot spot management
Johannes Poth, Integrated Global Services (IGS), Germany, explains how to manage the occurrence of hot spots in primary reformers at fertilizer plants.

The critical role of cooling
Igor Makarenko, Solex Thermal Science, Canada, explores the impact of thermal management on production and product quality.

April 2025

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