Internship Report by:

Tayyeba Kanwal
Nfc Institute of Engineering and Technology Multan.
Session: 2014-2018
Internship: Production Chemical.
June12 2017_ July21 2017
 Summary:

This report gives a brief detail of the internship at ammonia-1 and urea-1(production
department). The product of FFC is urea, commonly known as “Sona Urea”. Urea is
synthesized by using ammonia and carbon dioxide. Ammonia is the product of ammonia plant
and carbon dioxide is the by-product of ammonia plant. The division of plant is as follows:
I. Ammonia plant: Produces ammonia and carbon dioxide using natural gas and
atmospheric air as raw material, water is also used in the process. It mainly deals with
catalytic reforming, carbon dioxide removal and recovery of carbon dioxide for urea
production, compression section and ammonia synthesis section. Ammonia can be
directly send to plant or it can be stored in storage tank in liquid form.
II. Urea plant: Produces urea by reaction of ammonia (liquid phase) and carbon dioxide
(gaseous phase). This section comprises of urea formation and its purification using
MP, LP and vacuum decomposition and finally it goes to prilling section where 2 types
of prillers are used one in working condition and other at stand by. This unit also
contains wastes water treatment section.

Natural gas for this purpose comes from Mari gas wells and the atmospheric air is used to meet
the needs of air. Two types of water are used to fulfill water requirement, preferly canal water
is used but well water is also used which is brought from Ahmad Pur Lamma wells.
Urea produces here is 99.9% pure and other parameters which are strictly governed are biuret
(should be less than 1%), moisture content (less than 0.45%) and fine formation should be less
than 3.5%.

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 Introduction:

Fauji Fertilizer Company Limited (FFC) is the largest fertilizer producer in Pakistan as well as
in Asia with biggest market share in the country. It was established in 1978 as a joint venture
of Fauji Foundation . It was a joint venture between Fauji Foundation Pakistan and Haldor
Topsoe A/S. Fauji Foundation holds the majority shares (44.35%) and leads the Board. Its head
office is located at Rawalpindi.
The first urea plant was commissioned in 1982. After successful working of plant-1, plant-2
was built in 1993 at the same place in Goth Machhi in the year 2002. In 1980 ex Pak Saudi
Fertilizers Limited (PSFL) was acquired from NFC, which is now FFC plant-3 and located at
Mirpur Mathelo.

The initial share capital of the company was 813.9 Million Rupees. The present share capital
of the company stands above 12.722 Billion. Moreover, FFC has more than 8.3 Billion as long
term investments which include stakes in the subsidiaries FFBL, FFCEL and associate FCCL.

FFC also participated as a major shareholder in a new DAP/Urea manufacturing complex with
participation of major international/national institutions. The new company Fauji Fertilizer Bin
Qasim Limited (formerly FFC-Jordan Fertilizer Company Limited) commenced commercial
production with effect from January 01, 2000. The facility is designed with an annual capacity
of 551,000 metric tons of urea and 445,500 metric tons of DAP, revamped to 670,000 metric
tons of DAP.

Good operating practices established by FFC are consolidated in its Integrated Management
Systems (Q, OH&S and E) and aligned with the requirements of Quality, Occupational Health
& Safety and Environmental Management System International Standards. To bring
Management Systems (Q, OH&S and E) in line with the internationally recognized Standards,
FFC achieved International Standards certifications for ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and
OHSAS 18001:2007. Quality Management System certification at FFC-GM was first achieved
in November 1997. This was an honor for FFC being the 1st Fertilizer Plant in Pakistan to
achieve this certification

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 Ammonia plant:
Ammonia is divided into 2 major sections front end and back end which
are further categorized into different areas. Ammonia front end consists of 02 area and 03
area and back end contains 04 & 05 area. 02 area consists of desulphurization, catalytic
reforming and shift conversion at two different temperatures. While 03 area contains stripper,
absorber and methanator. After this process stream goes to 04 area which comprises of
compression of syn gas by using multiple compressors. This compressed gas then goes to 05
area where it is finally synthesized.
Raw materials for ammonia are natural gas and air, also water in the form of steam is used for
reforming reaction. Natural gas comes from Mari gas fields (because plant is designed for Mari
gas) while air requirement is fulfilled by atmospheric air after compression. Water came from
2 sources, one is canal water and the second one from Ahmad Pur Lamma wells, canal water
is preferred for the process because its purification is easy.

Process description:
1. Firstly, desulphrisation of gas is performed using zinc oxide catalyst and both organic
and inorganic sulfur is removed otherwise it will cause deactivation of reformer catalyst
and specially low shift converter catalyst. Following reactions occur in desulphriser:

ZnO + H2S ZnS + H2O

ZnO + COS ZnS + CO2
1. After desulphrisation this gas is mixed with steam and goes to furnace (primary
reformer), where nickel based catalyst is used and methane after reaction with steam
forms hydrogen and carbon dioxide.Here some of the methane remains unchanged
which is further treated in secondry reformer and same reactions occur in furnace and
secondary reformer which are given below:.

CH4 + H 2O CO + 3H 2
CO + H2O CO2 + H2
CH4 +2H2O CO2 + 4H2
2. We need carbon dioxide for ammonia production so carbon mono-oxide form here is
further converted to carbon dioxide using shift converters. Two shift converters are
used for this purpose one is high temperature shift converter and the second one is low
temperature shift converter. High temperature shift converter shift converter uses iron
based catalyst while low temperature shift converter’s catalyst is copper based. Same
reaction occurs in both converters which is as follows:

CO + H2O CO2 + H2

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3. CO2 from this stream is separated by absorption process. Benfield solution is used for
absorption purpose and the process takes place at low temperature and high pressure.
CO2 enriched gas is firstly cooled down and condensate is removed, after cooling it is
entered in absorber and following reaction occurs:

K2CO3 + CO2 + H2O 2KHCO3

4. This solution is then send to stripper where CO2 is stripped out of it by applying high
temperature ang low pressure. The inverse reaction of that in absorber Takes place in
stripper. Pure CO2 is byproduct of ammonia plant and from here it is sent to urea plant
where it is used in urea formation.
5. Remaining gases are passed through methanator where reverse reaction of furnace
occurs by increasing temperature. As carbon dioxide and carbon mono-oxide are
unfavorable so they are converted back to methane.
6. Syn gas -which is mostly nitrogen and hydrogen alongwith some other gases in small
proportion- is then sent to 04 area compressors and then to 05 area where synthesis and
compression takes place. Synthesis reactor consists of catalytic beds with both internal
and external heat exchangers to maintain the temperature of process. After formation
and liquefaction ammonia is either sent to urea plant and in case if urea plant is not in
working or it does not need ammonia, this ammonia is sent to storage tank.

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 Urea plant:
Raw materials for urea production are ammonia (liquid) and carbon dioxide
(gaseous phase). These raw materials are provided by the ammonia unit, ammonia is the
product of ammonia section while CO2 is the byproduct of ammonia unit. These react to form
ammonium carbamate, which is further dehydrated and purified to give urea. Urea process is
total recycle process. The whole unit is divided into following sections:
I. Urea synthesis (this is also high pressure section).
II. Medium pressure section.
III. Low pressure section.
IV. Vacuum section.

Process description:
1. Plug flow type reactor is used for urea synthesis at high temperature and pressure.
The reactor consists of 15 sieve type trays to increase residence time as well as
contacting surface. Ammonia and CO2 react here to form urea and carbamate in
residence time of 45 minutes. The formation of ammonium carbamate is
instantaneous and then this dehydrates to form urea which is slow this determines
the reactor volume. The reaction is as follows

2 NH3 + CO2 NH2COONH4 (exothermic)

NH2COONH4 NH2CONH2 + H2O (endothermic)
2. Next to reactor is the stripper which is a heat exchanger which utilizes medium
pressure steam to decompose the ammonium carbamate. The ammonia along with
some CO2 is stripped out of the exchanger and goes to condenser and are then
recycled back to reactor using ejector, which uses ammonia as carrying fluid. The
stripper is at the same pressure as the reactor.
3. The bottom product of stripper goes to medium pressure decomposer with ferrules
for better heat transfer to obtain high decomposition. The bottom product is sent to
low pressure decomposer which is same as MP decomposer. After these
decomposers a reasonable amount of carbamate has been decomposed and urea
percentage increases in bottom product. Top product is decomposed carbamate
which is condensed after each stage and sent to the previous section.
4. The urea solution after removal of ammonia and carbon dioxide contains only water
which is removed in pre-concentrator and vacuum separators. Vacuum separators
evaporate water at low temperature conditions and less steam is utilized and also
low temperature prevents biuret formation.

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 5. After removing water from urea its purity increases to 99%. The liquid urea is
pumped to the top of the prilling tower through traced linings to avoid its
solidification. In prilling tower rotating bucket is used to form ammonia droplets,
which due to gravity moves downward. As they falltheir temperature is very high
as compared to ambient air temperature so natural draft produces in tower which
solidify the droplets in the form of prills. These are collected on belts at the bottom.

6. Water evaporated in vacuum separators also contain ammonia, urea and carbon
dioxide in small quantity so neither it can be wasted openly nor it can be used for
other purposes so it is treated. First of all it is passed through hydrolyzer where urea
decomposes to its components which are further removed.

Urea produces here is 99.9% pure and other parameters which are strictly governed are biuret
(should be less than 1%), moisture content(less than 0.45%) and fine formation should be less
than 3.5%.

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Organogram:

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 Safety:

FFC gives keen attention to plant safety as well as human safety. Different
measures have been taken to keep everything safe. For plant safety DCS is used which shows
all the parameters and helps to govern and regulate them. Emergency shut down system also
known as fail safe system is also installed which shutdown plant or trip only the required
equipment to avoid failure of whole plant or damage at higher level. Control system is also in
service which operate alarms when conditions goes abnormal. Interlock system provided on
plant which ensures automatic shutdown for protection of process equipment and machinery.

To acquaint people with safety, course is being run for all plant personnel. A separate
department has built up under the name of QHSE (quantity health and safety environment)
which along with many other functions keep an eye on ammonia concentration in environment.
If due to any reason this limit exceeds alarms operate and safety measures are taken. Trucks
and other equipments are purchased from other countries to use in case of fire and these
vehicles are equipped with all necessary things. Latest panels are also inserted which gives
exact location in case of fire.

To ensure ones safety personal protective equipment are used which includes gloves,
goggles, helmet, safety shoes and other necessary equipment.

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 Conclusion:

The six-week internship at FFC production unit gave a good knowledge of urea
fertilizer production. Beyond the scope of bookish knowledge there was a wide opportunity to
observe the process, and not only process also operating logics, control systems, production
techniques and problems which can occur and their overcoming process.
The plant division and design, management and operation enhanced the concept and
perspective about safe and smooth process. Literature review from TTC library, study of PFDs,
manuals and SOP of different plant areas and equipment, discussion with engineers and
technical staff and visit to plant site added a sound potion of knowledge.
The cooperative coordination of management and staff raised the morale in the journey of
lifelong learning.