Shaping a Sustainable Future
Ammonia is not only essential for eco-friendly fertilizers and the global food chain but also marine transportation fuel and hydrogen for a clean-energy future. The shift to sustainable production of ammonia is now. As leaders in automation and clean carbon solutions, Yokogawa offers asset monitoring and control of critical process parameters. When you need to capture CO2, integrate various production stages, reduce electricity usage, ensure plant performance, and reliability, Yokogawa is your partner for sustainable ammonia production.
 |
Bending the Ammonia Curve Welcome to better productivity and sustainability. Yokogawa can seamlessly integrate with your existing production facilities leveraging our experience in ammonia processes and systems. By leveraging advanced solutions, we can identify areas for optimization, enhance efficiency, and reduce carbon footprint. Our custom tailored automation strategies can streamline your production workflows, improve safety standards, and ensure regulatory compliance. |
|
Blue Insights Blue ammonia, produced by integrating carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies into conventional ammonia manufacturing, significantly reduces the environmental impact by capturing and sequestering a substantial portion of the CO2 emissions. This innovative approach not only supports sustainable agriculture through its use in fertilizers but also holds promise as a clean energy source for transportation fuel, power plants, and other heavy industry applications. By ensuring the CO2 is permanently sequestered, blue ammonia helps mitigate climate change and promotes a greener future for all.
|
 |
Industry Factors. Yokogawa Responds.
|
Bright Ideas a Clean Future Capital investment in clean production becomes more secure by reducing costs, scaling up electrolyzer capacity, and deploying carbon capture and utilization (CCUS). While both blue and green ammonia production costs present challenges, rising demand from new sectors like mobility and power is set to drive ammonia decarbonization forward. |
Technology & Infrastructure Our advanced process automation systems ensure precision and efficiency in ammonia synthesis, reducing operational costs and minimizing waste. Real-time data analytics and asset monitoring, enable continuous optimization and predictive maintenance, improving plant reliability and performance. |
Emission Reductions & Greener Production Environmental concerns have led to stricter regulations and the cost of low-emission ammonia can vary significantly. Green production premiums will be challenging. Yokogawa has answers for operational excellence, emissions, and cost-effective energy production. |
Enhancing Control, Capability, & Security Advances in production technologies and processes enhance efficiency and reduce costs. Yokogawa has a commitment to sustainability, safety, and meeting growing demands. We have the capability to retrofit existing production with CCUS, energy efficiency measures, and CO storage and transport. |
Details
Managing Ammonia Challenges
Accelerating the suitable transition of the Ammonia Industry
 |
Manage the Unexpected in the Ammonia IndustryIn the ammonia industry, managing the unexpected is crucial for maintaining efficiency and minimizing costly disruptions. Peter F. Drucker once remarked that “a well-managed factory is boring,” where crises are anticipated and routine. Yet, many plants still face unplanned shutdowns, process upsets, and downtime, risking a significant portion of annual production. The surprising truth is that much of the data needed to predict these issues is already available—but it's often overlooked. Why do we struggle to prioritize the “boring” but reliable plant, where things are managed before they break? |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
Ammonia Applications
Yokogawa helps manufacturers of methanol products such as traditional chemicals and fuels use automation solutions that enable plant-wide integration and lifecycle optimization. Here is a quick list of applications for which Yokogawa has a global network of experts at your service, providing comprehensive automation solutions for the methanol process to produce hundreds of everyday products, including plastics, paints, car parts and construction materials and clean energy resource used to fuel cars, trucks, buses, ships, fuel cells, boilers and cook stoves. This list is just a few of the thousands of products and fuels made with methanol.
Chlorine
- Construction (PVC windows, water pipes, flooring, roofing materials)
- Energy (batteries, solar panels, wind turbine blades)
- Food (crop protection, thickening agents)
- Health & personal care (bleaches, cosmetics, detergents, dental treatments/cements, deodorants, dry cleaning, textiles)
- Home Care (paints, adhesives, refrigerants)
- Paper (inks, coatings, pulp)
- Pharmaceuticals (cancer treatment)
- Safety (water treatment)
- Sport (exercise equipment, clothing)
- Technology (circuit boards, fiber-optics, semiconductors, smartphones)
- Transportation (car parts, brake fluid, anti-freeze)
Caustic soda
- Construction (carbon fiber, mining, metal plating)
- Energy (oil refining, wind turbines)
- Health & personal care (soaps, toothbrushes, anticoagulants, shampoo, vitamins)
- Household (cooking equipment, foils, doors and windows)
- Sport (bicycles, tennis rackets, sails)
Aerosols
- Caustic potash
- Disinfectants
- Fragrances (air fresheners)
Solvents
- Paint Varnishes
- Shellac
- Brake parts cleaner
- Antifreeze
- Windshield washer fluid
- Adhesives
- Resins
- Inks
Resources
In 2011, Pandora Methanol acquired petrochemical production facilities in Beaumont, Texas that had been mothballed since 2004. These two plants, a 13-year old ammonia plant and a 50-year old methanol plant, had received only marginal maintenance during this extended shutdown and had suffered direct hits from two major hurricanes.
- IFCo chose Omegaland operator training system to make ready for a flawless and safe plant start-up.
- Omegaland is contributing to operator training prior to completion of the greenfield fertilizer plant.
NH3 injection lowers NOx in stack flue gas, boosts dust collection efficiency, and prevents erosion. Precise measurement and control of NH3 are crucial to avoid excess use, which increases costs and causes odors. The TDLS8000 solves these issues with direct measurement for effective NH3 management.
Control of sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration at a salt dissolver where solid salt is dissolved in water, is highly important because of the electrolysis efficiency. A conventional way of measuring the concentration of supersaturated NaCl solution had been performed by using non-contact type sensors (e.g., γ-ray density meter) since NaCl, impurities, and precipitates are in the solution.
The plant still has legacy OT systems that pose significant challenges in a modern ammonia manufacturing environment due to their limited functionality, which can prevent the adoption of advanced technologies and tools needed to keep up with current production demands. These systems often require costly and hard-to-find maintenance and support as they age, and they lack robust cybersecurity measures, making them vulnerable to cyber threats.
This white paper provides an overview of how Yokogawa believes its customers can best prepare for and position themselves to benefit from IIoT-enabled technology and solutions and digitalization in general to emerge as the successful connected industrial enterprises of the future.
Industry 4.0 represents a transformative era set to revolutionize global industries signifying a seismic shift in productivity, leveraging digital technologies for enhanced efficiency and sustainability. Key components include automation, machine learning, real-time information, and interconnectivity. Ensuring that maintenance receives real-time information at the right time is crucial, requiring an operation technology infrastructure that integrates from sensors to enterprise systems.
Yokogawa’s industrial automation (IA) product and service offerings, industry domain knowledge, and VigilantPlant approach – which emphasizes safe, secure, and uninterrupted operations -- provide a solid foundation for an Industrial Internet of Things that specifically addresses the requirements of process automation, particularly for the OT side of the equation. To be able to provide an equally solid foundation for the IT side, Yokogawa is partnering with Cisco Systems and other industry leaders.
Digital twins are dynamic digital representations that enable companies to understand, predict and radically reorient their business processes.
Blue ammonia represents a significant opportunity for the ammonia industry. Unlike “green” ammonia, which relies on renewable energy and is still in the early stages of development, blue ammonia can be produced using much of the same infrastructure already in place for grey ammonia.
Kind of. Calibration itself will not extend the life of a sensor, however, a sensor that is not calibrated properly can cause unreliable measurements - that are often misdiagnosed leading to unnecessary replacements.
Optimizing the maintenance cycle is not always straightforward. In some cases, cleaning once a week is sufficient and other processes may require every 8 hours.
Learning these four lessons will help you improve your engineering skills and most importantly extend the life of your pH sensors.
Select the correct pH glass and reference type to improve your pH sensor lifetime and you can limit or even eliminate the effects of temperature and pressure on especially the reference sensor.
The lifetime of a pH sensor has a significant impact on the overall annual costs of a pH measuring loop. Optimizing four key factors will decrease these costs and optimize process control and overall plant efficiency.
Downloads
Brochures
Videos
What is the best way to reduce unplanned downtime? Visibility is a key factor. A lack of visibility is the main cause for unplanned downtime.
In this video learm how Yokogawa addressed this problem.
Watch this on-demand webinar to learn about field wireless and IIoT, the fundamentals of wireless sensor networks, and how a wireless strategy can help transform your business.
Whether you are a safety professional, an industry leader, or someone passionate about fostering a culture of safety excellence, this on-demand webinar is a must-attend event. Join us to unlock the potential of digital technology in driving safety culture forward and ensuring the well-being of your workforce.
Here come our experts discussing the Visual MESA® Energy Management System, anticipating the future of energy management technology to reduce carbon footprints and cash outflows.
Looking for more information on our people, technology and solutions?
Contact Us