20-02-2015

Haldor Topsoe signs contract for new fertilizer plant in Slovakia

Haldor Topsoe A/S has signed contracts with Technip and Duslo s.a. of Slovakia for a new ammonia plant that will be constructed adjacent to an existing fertilizer complex in Šaľa, a town located 65 kilometers from Bratislava, the capital of the Slovak Republic.

As part of the project, Haldor Topsoe will supply licensing and basic engineering as well as proprietary catalyst and equipment for the ammonia plant, while Technip has been awarded the contract to develop EPC for the new plant. The plant is expected to go on-stream in early 2018 and will be designed to meet a daily production capacity of 1600 MTPD. Consequently, the new plant is set to become an important part of the local economy of Slovakia by providing economic growth as well as a reliable source to downstream urea and ammonium nitrate that can benefit productivity in the agricultural sector.

The new ammonia plant will be designed based on the latest proprietary Haldor Topsoe technology, namely the Haldor Topsoe Exchange Reformer (HTER) technology that ensures an efficient and reliable conversion of the feedstock which improves plant economics significantly and minimizes the environmental impact of the plant.

From a technical perspective the HTER consists of a number of catalyst filled tubes installed in a refractory lined shell located in parallel with the main reformer and utilizing the waste heat available from the secondary reformer. In this way the layout not only reduces the size of the main reformer and its natural gas fuel consumption, but also minimizes steam generation from the plant.
 
Over the last decades ammonia related production locations have undergone a geographical shift away from Europe towards areas where abundant natural gas resources allow for ammonia production at comparatively low costs.

“The project in Slovakia is unique because it represents the first entirely new ammonia plant to be built in Europe over the last decades. The ammonia industry is highly competitive and even the slightest changes in performance can impact the bottom line significantly. Improvements in production technology such as HTER are paving the way for improved production economics. This applies to new plants, but is also relevant when it comes to revamps of older plant facilities in Europe. In fact a revamp with a HTER can enhance capacity in an existing plant with as much as up to 25%”, says Per Bakkerud, Group Vice President in Topsoe’s Chemical Business Unit.

For more information, please visit www.topsoe.com