NOx

Improving air quality is at the heart of our environmental initiatives. The pursuit of this goal has led to Yara being Europes largest producer of nitrogen oxide (NOx) reducing agents based on urea and ammonia. Marketed under the brand names Reduktan and Air1, via catalysts they dramatically reduce and almost eliminate the amount of NOx emitted into the atmosphere. Yara has also played a key role in creating awareness in the European Union and amongst other stakeholders of the availability of NOx emission reduction systems.

Air1^®

Air1 is Yara’s complete marketing and supply solution for AdBlue. AdBlue is a non-toxic urea solution that transforms harmful NOx emissions from heavy-duty vehicles into harmless water vapor and nitrogen.  This liquid urea solution feeds a SCR catalyst mounted on trucks and buses allowing them to meet the new Euro IV emission standard on exhaust gas emissions that came into effect in October 2006. It also complies with the Euro V standard that will come into effect in October 2009. With AdBlue, NOx emissions are cut by up to 90 percent.

Air1 provides vehicle owners and operators, as well as fuel service stations, with a range of packaging solutions, dispensing units, telemetry-based stock management, technical services, training, flexible finance solutions and bulk tanks options from 2,500 up to 30,000 litres capacity.  Our Air1 team supplies equipment from IBC Pump Systems, Mini Bulk Systems, to complete underground or above ground storage units with AdBlue dispensers on the forecourts of the major oil companies or at home depots connected to the customers Point Of Sale. Yara is the largest manufacturer of Adblue in Europe; European delivery is undertaken through a distribution agreement with Brenntag, Europe’s largest distributor of AdBlue. 

Yara has developed Reduktan to reduce NOx emissions.  It is currently used for treating the exhaust from diesel and heavy-duty fuel oil engines in ships, and flue gas from combined heat and power plants, waste incinerators, refineries and other industrial burners.

Reduktan is sprayed into waste gas containing NOx. This is performed either at temperatures of 250-450º C, using a catalyst - Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR), or at 1000-1100º C, without a catalyst - Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR). Reduktan reacts with the nitrous gases and most of the NOx is converted into harmless nitrogen, with water vapor created as a by-product.

Some NOx is generated by the production of ammonia and urea, as well as during their transport, but life cycle analysis shows the NOx produced is only 0.3 to 1.9 percent of the volume of NOx reduced. It is Yara’s policy is to supply the optimum type and amount of Reduktan chemicals to each individual customer and to assist with storage, handling and safety training advice.