Germany's Aurubis copper smelter back from maintenance
Germany's Aurubis today announced that its Hamburg copper smelter returned to service on 11 July from the largest maintenance shutdown in the company's history that began 7 May.
A restart is now under way following the €95mn 60-day maintenance that included an overhaul of the flash smelter, installation of heat exchangers in the contact acid plant, as well as the installation of a tap hold drill and tamping machine for improved safety of copper slag tapping. Hydrogen-ready anode furnaces were also installed as measures to improve sustainability.
Investments in automation are set to improve efficiency and extend the frequency of planned maintenance rounds to three years from two.
The Hamburg smelter's outage has exacerbated sulphuric acid tightness in Europe, and the operational restart is expected to provide some relief to the market. This comes in addition to the lack of availability of molten sulphur in the region, leading to shortages of sulphur burnt acid, which has prompted some consumers to replace burnt acid with smelter acid, lifting demand.
Aurubis produced 1.19mn t of sulphuric acid during the first six months of the 2023-24 financial year (October-March), up by 1pc on the same period a year earlier. Output at Aurubis' Hamburg smelter rose by 11pc to 512,000t in the period, while output from the Pirdop smelter saw a 6pc decline on the period to 679,000t.
For the first three months of the year, Aurubis produced 598,000t of acid, unchanged from the same quarter of 2022-23, as increased output at its Hamburg smelter offset a decline from Bulgaria's Pirdop plant. Production at Hamburg totalled 258,000t from January-March.
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Kenya’s NCPB reissues tender for 245,000t fertilizers
Kenya’s NCPB reissues tender for 245,000t fertilizers
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Indonesia to lift sulphur imports on EV battery demand
Indonesia to lift sulphur imports on EV battery demand
Singapore, 9 September (Argus) — Indonesia expects to boost its sulphur imports in the second half of the year because of increased high-pressure acid-leaching (HPAL) operations to support the growing demand for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Sulphur is used in sulphur burners to produce sulphuric acid, which is used to separate nickel and cobalt from ore in the HPAL process to produce mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP). MHP is the main feedstock to produce nickel sulphate and nickel cathode, which are the feedstocks for battery, special steel and nickel-based alloy production. Indonesia imported 41pc more sulphur in January-July this year, totalling 1.91mn t, the latest GTT data show. Deliveries from the UAE and Canada more than doubled from a year ago, reaching 478,100t and 258,300t respectively. Imports from Saudi Arabia more than tripled on the year to 609,300t. Sulphuric acid imports over the same period fell by 14pc on the year to 641,700t, after several buyers started new sulphur burners and switched to buying sulphur. Some importers also switched to buying lower priced domestic product following a rise in import offers because of supply constraints in east Asia. Sulphuric acid deliveries from China and the Philippines fell by 56pc and 47pc on the year to 175,700t and 58,800t respectively. Sulphur demand rose this year following the expansion of sulphur burning operations at Obi Island and Sulawesi. Chinese nickel producer Ningbo Lygend's Indonesian subsidiary Halmahera Persada Lygend reached full capacity at its ONC project in north Maluku province on 2 September, just two months after starting operations. This latest expansion brings Lygend's total nickel capacity by HPAL to 120,000t/yr, compared with an estimated 55,000t/yr a year ago. Chinese producer Green Eco-Manufacture's (GEM) QMB HPAL project is also expected to increase its sulphur demand by around 570,000t/yr by the end of 2024 with the start-up of two sulphur burners in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP). By Deon Ngee Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Methanex to acquire OCI’s methanol business for $2bn
Methanex to acquire OCI’s methanol business for $2bn
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Indian state approves chip, EV manufacturing plants
Indian state approves chip, EV manufacturing plants
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