RUSSIA: MHI to license CO2 capture technology to major Russian chemical company Metafrax

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has concluded an agreement to license technology for its flue gas carbon dioxide (CO2) capture plant to PJSC Metafrax, a major Russian chemical company.

Metafrax will use recovered CO2 to produce ammonia, urea, and melamine from the byproducts of a methanol plant. The plant will provide recovery capacity of 1,200 t/d, and will be installed at a facility in Perm, located on the western side of the Ural Mountains, scheduled for completion in 2021.

MHI received the order through Casale SA, a Swiss engineering firm, which obtained a contract from Metafrax for engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) of the overall ammonia production, CO2 capture, and urea and melamine production facilities. MHI will grant a technology license for CO2 recovery technology to Casale SA, which will sublicense it to Metafrax.

Ammonia will be synthesized by combining surplus hydrogen from the existing methanol plant with nitrogen from a newly constructed air separation plant. Urea and melamine will be then produced from CO2 recovered from flue gas emitted by the methanol plant. The facility will have capacity to produce 894 t/d of ammonia, 1,725 t/d of urea, and 40,000 t/y of melamine.

Source: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. website, Tokyo; 25 Dec 2017
(Syed Rashid Ali, Karachi, Pakistan)