The 2024 Annual Safety in Ammonia Plants and Related Facilities Symposium was held on Sept. 9–12, 2024, in San Diego, CA. This year marked the 68th year the symposium was organized by AIChE.
“The objectives of the symposium are to improve the safety performance of the ammonia industry, and to make our plants and related facilities as safe and reliable as possible,” says Mohamad Noueiri (Yara Asia), 2024 Program Chairman. The event achieved this objective through several sessions packed with nearly 30 presentations, as well as a roundtable discussion session. More than 300 attendees from all over the globe attended the symposium.
At the symposium, attendees learned about numerous ammonia safety topics, including how green ammonia can be safely produced at a large scale, how past plant safety failures can be analyzed to prevent future incidents, and how ammonia-based systems can be upgraded to fit the latest safety criteria and become more reliable. “I think the use of artifical intelligence (AI) for process control as well as for improvements in maintenance and reliability is a definite trend that was highlighted by this conference,” says Marc Gilbertson (EDNF), 2025 Symposium Program Chair.
To kick off the week, Rob Stevens (Topsoe) presented the keynote address entitled “Ammonia as Energy Carrier. Scaling Risk. Risk of Scaling,” where he discussed the safe rollout of clean ammonia on a large scale. Following the keynote, several presentations used case studies to apprise attendees of past safety failures and maintenance strategies. For example, one case study focused on an abnormal temperature profile within an ammonia plant primary reformer. The presenter, Samuel Okulaja (Nutrien), detailed the routine inspection findings, the failure analysis, the risk management strategies, and the long-term recommendations for the...
Would you like to access the complete CEP Article?
No problem. You just have to complete the following steps.
You have completed 0 of 2 steps.
-
Log in
You must be logged in to view this content. Log in now.
-
AIChE Membership
You must be an AIChE member to view this article. Join now.
Copyright Permissions
Would you like to reuse content from CEP Magazine? It’s easy to request permission to reuse content. Simply click here to connect instantly to licensing services, where you can choose from a list of options regarding how you would like to reuse the desired content and complete the transaction.