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NNadir

(33,368 posts)
Wed Sep 14, 2022, 10:58 PM Sep 2022

Europe slashes fertilizer production

Here's an interesting news article: Europe slashes fertilizer production Sean Pratt, The Western Producer, September 14, 2022.

Despite everything one hears about hydrogen cars, hydrogen buses, hydrogen ships all from the solar and wind industries that people seem to think are providing all the world's energy - a thought that is similar to the delusion of a certain fat badly educated shyster with a spray on tan who will tell anyone who will listen that he won the 2022 US Presidential election - the majority of the hydrogen on this planet goes to making ammonia based fertilizers.

I've produced this graphic several times here:



The caption:

Figure 1. Global current sources of H2 production (a), and H2 consumption sectors (b).


Source: Progress on Catalyst Development for the Steam Reforming of Biomass and Waste Plastics Pyrolysis Volatiles: A Review Laura Santamaria, Gartzen Lopez, Enara Fernandez, Maria Cortazar, Aitor Arregi, Martin Olazar, and Javier Bilbao Energy & Fuels 2021 35 (21), 17051-17084

Ammonia and its derivatives, urea, ammonium nitrate, etc are still made beginning with the the Haber Bosch process discovered in the early 20th century. Although the process has improved in efficiency enormously over the years, it still relies on the hydrogenation of nitrogen gas at high temperatures and pressures using catalysts. It's energy intensive.

It appears that Europe has been closing its fertilizer plants, despite all the solar and wind junk they've installed, because Putin won't sell them natural gas, from which much of the world's hydrogen is made by steam reforming at a large thermodynamic energy loss.

From the article:

The European Union's nitrogen fertilizer output is being slashed by an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes per month, according to an Argus Media analysis. It started with shutdowns in Poland but has since spread across the region as companies such as Achema, Yara and Borealis shutter their plants.

Carnage in Europe’s nitrogen fertilizer market is exacerbating the run-up in North American prices but that could change in a heartbeat, says an analyst.

“Buckle up for the ride,” said Josh Linville, analyst with StoneX.

“I hate to say it, but I think volatility is here to stay for the foreseeable future.”

The European Union’s nitrogen fertilizer output is being slashed by an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes per month, according to an Argus Media analysis.

It started with shutdowns in Poland but has since spread across the region as companies such as Achema, Yara and Borealis shutter their plants.

The curtailment includes urea, ammonium nitrate, calcium ammonium nitrate and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) plants.

“By a conservative estimate, Europe will soon be operating less than half of its installed capacity to produce these products — unprecedented even for the seasonally low demand period over summer,” stated the company in its recent Argus Insight: Fertilizers report.

The crisis has affected some products more than others. Less than 30 percent of UAN production capacity is expected to be operating by the start of fall.

“The relative abundance of cheaper U.S. supply is replacing some of the lost volume, although by no means all of it,” said the firm.

European-wide urea production is operating at one-quarter of normal capacity. Only two million of the region’s eight million tonnes of production capacity are expected to remain operational.

Linville thinks the situation is even more dire. He believes the EU is operating at 20 percent of its overall production capacity...


...The key driver of Europe’s nitrogen fertilizer woes is Russia’s shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline. Natural gas is the most commonly used feedstock to make ammonia and urea.

But if there is a change in power in Russia and the pipeline to Europe starts flowing again, nitrogen fertilizer prices around the world would fall sharply and quickly, said Linville.

“Frankly, with the way the last two years have happened, I’m not going to sit there and say there’s no way that happens, because every time we’ve ever thought that, the market humbles us very, very quickly.”

In the meantime, Europe is going to be scrambling to source nitrogen fertilizer products from around the world and it will likely get the volumes it needs...


In other reports of this situation from other news sources, it appears that it will lead to a shortage of basic staple foods in Africa of around 30 million tons.

Don't worry; be happy. If any of this bothers you, cruise around the internet and find pictures of hydrogen buses and hydrogen cars - hell see if you can find a hydrogen lawn mower or weed wacker - and tell yourself lies that the bus and all this other fanciful stuff are all "green."

If you can't face the truth, tell yourself lies.

Have a nice day tomorrow.
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Europe slashes fertilizer production (Original Post) NNadir Sep 2022 OP
"hell see if you can find a hydrogen lawn mower or weed wacker" Caribbeans Sep 2022 #1
What these cute but insipid pictures say me, given that the food supply is threatened by a lack... NNadir Sep 2022 #2

Caribbeans

(743 posts)
1. "hell see if you can find a hydrogen lawn mower or weed wacker"
Thu Sep 15, 2022, 12:05 AM
Sep 2022




Any more requests?

How about a hydrogen powered submarine?

OK



Hydrogen powered drone?

Done



If it moves, it can be powered by hydrogen

And it's safe





NNadir

(33,368 posts)
2. What these cute but insipid pictures say me, given that the food supply is threatened by a lack...
Thu Sep 15, 2022, 06:21 AM
Sep 2022

of hydrogen because of a lack of dangerous natural gas is that there are definitely bourgeois car CULTists who value their consumer fantasies above the world food supply.

Of course I've known that for years, decades actually. I've been hearing about hydrogen cars, buses, trucks, ships, blah, blah, blah, for my whole adult life, and I'm not young.

It recalls the "ethanol will save us" fantasy I lived through decades ago. We had ethanol cheerleaders here about 15 years ago. That worked out well, didn't it?

While the moral indifference of "renewable energy" car CULTists is certainly astounding, it is familiar.

There are people who know science, who understand the difficulties of engineering, who deeply understand environmental issues and there are people who spend their days dreamily stare at slick, smug, and delusional advertising and sigh with anticipation of a nonsense nirvana..

I don't expect that car CULTists give a shit if Africans starve because Europe can't make fertilizer because with all that soon to rot solar and wind junk, they can't get hydrogen.. Car CULTists never cared about poverty before and they're certainly not likely to start now.

They seem to lack a moral education.

The news article is not an advertisement or a prediction of some fantasy future. It's a reality, here and now. Europe can't get hydrogen, the comparatively trivial amounts needed to make ammonia, not the vastly larger amounts to run cars. They can't get it because it's made from dangerous natural gas.

That's a fact.

Facts matter.

Have a nice day.

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