(IFFCO ) 2018

TRAINING REPORT
ON
UREA MANUFACTURING PLANT
(IFFCO)

BY
AJEET SINGH
3rdB.Tech chemical engineering
H.B.T.U. Kanpur

Under Guidance of:

Mr.Subrata Sur
Sr. MANAGER (TRAINING)
INDIAN FARMERS FERTILISER COOPERATIVE LIMITED (IFFCO)
Phulpur(U.P)
 (IFFCO ) 2018

ABSTRACT
Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) was established on
3rdNovember, 1967 as a multiunit cooperative organization of board
objectivesof augmenting fertilizer production, ensuring fertilizer availability at
farmersdoor step, strengthening cooperative fertilizer distribution system
andeducating training and guiding the farmers for improving
agricultureproductivity.
Phulpur unit of IFFCO is one of the six natural gas based fertilizer plants to be
setup in the country on HBJ pipeline which runs through four states.
Theoriginal HBJ pipeline comes from Hazira.
The project consists mainly of Ammonia plant, Urea plant and Offsite
facilitieslike Water Treatment System, Inert Gas Plant, Instrument Air Plant,
BaggingPlant, Laboratory and Storage for spares consumable and products.
Inaddition of these infrastructure facilities such as railways, siding etc. are
alsocreated.
To get the maximum of the project IFFCO phulpur has two urea production
unitsUrea-I and Urea-II and each of these two units has two sub-units. Each of
thesetwo units has one prilling tower (common of two sub-units). This contains
liquid waste treatment units in approximately each plant, that’s why IFFCO
phulpur is zero liquid effluent discharge plant.

Phulpur facility is situated near the picturesque Varanasi. Due to its

close proximity to Allahabad too, it is close to the Sangam of the three majestic
rivers of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati. The plant site is located 30 km from
Allahabad on the On Allahabad - Jaunpur - Gorakhpur Road.
 (IFFCO ) 2018

Certificate

This is to certify that vocational training report titled “urea manufacturing

plant” which is submitted by Mr. Ajeet singh, to the training cell (IFFCO
Phulpur ), in partial fulfilment of requirement for award of bachelor of
technology degree in chemical engineering is a record of the bonafide work
successfully carried out by the student under my guidance and supervision. He
has exhibited sincere efforts and keen interest in the preparation of this report.

Mr. Subrata Sur

Sr. Manager (Training )
IFFCO Phulpur
 (IFFCO ) 2018

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my gratitude to all those who gave me the valuable
opportunity to understand and comprehend and complete this project report. I
would like to thank Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative Limited, phulpur for
providing me this training and for guiding throughout the training.
I am deeply indebted to MR. Subrata Sur (Sr. Manager of Training
Department, IFFCO) who permitted me to pursue my summer training at
IFFCO phulpur.
At last, I would like to thank
Dr. S.K. Gupta H.O.D. (Department Of Chemical Engineering, HBTU
Kanpur) and Dr. Ashwini Sood (faculty Incharge, Training and Placement,
Chemical Department HBTU , Kanpur ) who permitted me to pursue training
in summer vacations of third Year.
Though it was tough to collect the necessary information within a short period
of time but with the support that I got from the Operators of different plants an
most helpful library of IFFCO, I was able to complete the report with complete
analysis in due time.
 (IFFCO ) 2018

Table of Contents

I. INTRODUCTION
II. IFFCO PULPUR UNIT-2
STEAM AND POWER GENERATION PLANT
Power Generation
Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG)
Deaerator
Steam Generator
OFFSITE PLANTS
Raw Water Storage
Demineralized Water Plant
Cooling Towers
Effluent Treatment Plant
Instrument Air Plant
Inert Gas Plant
Ammonia Storage
AMMONIA PLANT
Desulphurization
Primary Reformer
Secondary Reformer
Shift Conversion
Condensate Stripping
Methanation
Ammonia Synthesis
Refrigeration
UREA PLANT
Reactions
Urea Synthesis
HP Stripper
HP Condensation
MP Section
LP Section
Vacuum Concentration
Process Condensate Treatment
Urea Prilling
 Neem coating

III. REFERENCES
 (IFFCO ) 2018

I. INTRODUCTION (ABOUT IFFCO)

Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IIFCO) is one of India’s biggest
cooperative society which is wholly owned by Indian Cooperatives.
Founded in 1967 with 57 cooperatives, we are today an amalgamation of over
36000 Indian Cooperatives with diversified business interest ranging from
General Insurance To Rural Telecom apart from our core business of
manufacturing and selling fertilisers.
Total Production
84.79 Lakh MT
Cooperative Members
Over 36,000

The total Urea Production from IFFCO Phulpur Complex was 16.84 Lakh MT
out of which 6.32 Lakh MT is from Phulpur-I and 9.92 Lakh MT from Phulpur-
II in the FY 2016-17.
 (IFFCO ) 2018

PRODUCTION CAPACITY

PHULPUR-1

Plant Process Licensor Annual Capacity (MT)

Ammonia MW Kellogg, U.S.A. 4 lakh MT

Urea Snanprogetti, Italy 7 lakh MT

PHULPUR-II

Plant Process Licensor Annual Capacity (MT)

Ammonia Haldor Topsoe AS, Denmark 5.7 lakh MT

Urea Snanprogetti, Italy 10 lakh MT

Properties of Urea:

 Structure:

 Physical & chemical properties of urea

Molecular weight : 60.05

N2 Content % : 46.6

Melting Point : 132.7

Sp. Gravity : 1.355

 (IFFCO ) 2018

Color : White.

Heat of solution in water : -57.8 Cal./gm

Critical relative Humidity

20oC : 81%
30oC : 73 %

Viscosity at 150°C : 2.16 CPS

Crystallization Heat : 47.0 Kcal/Kg.

Fusion Heat : 59.95 Kcal/Kg

Specific Heat (Cal/gm/°C) 20oC : 0.32

Uses of Urea:

Agriculture:

More than 90% of world industrial production of urea is destined for use as a
nitrogen-release fertilizer. Urea has the highest nitrogen content of all solid
nitrogenous fertilizers in common use. Therefore, it has the lowest
transportation costs per unit of nitrogen nutrient.

 Action of Urea in Soil:

Many soil bacteria possess the enzyme urease and the following reaction
occurs:
 (IFFCO ) 2018

UREA + UREASE ⟶ AMMONIA MOLECULES + CARBON DIOXIDE

Thus urea fertilizers are very rapidly transformed to the Ammonium form in
soils. Ammonium and nitrate are readily absorbed by plants, and are the
dominant sources of nitrogen for plant growth. Urea is highly soluble in water
and is, therefore, also very suitable for use in fertilizer solutions (in combination
with ammonium nitrate: UAN), e.g., in 'foliar feed' fertilizers .For fertilizer use,
granules are preferred over prills because of their narrower particle size
distribution, which is an advantage for mechanical application.

 Explosive:
Urea can be used to make UREA NITRATE, a high explosive that is used
industrially and as part of some improvised explosive devices.

 Chemical Industry:
Urea is a raw material for the manufacture of many important chemical
compounds, such as:
 Various plastics, especially the UREA-FORMALDEHYDE RESINS.
 Various adhesives, such as urea-formaldehyde or the ureamelamine-
formaldehyde used in marine plywood.
 Potassium cyanate, another industrial feedstock.

IFFCO PHULPUR UNIT -2

Iffco’s phulpur unit is the country’s first unit to convert naptha feed to RLNG
feed .phulpur unit 2 contain steam and power plant ,water treatment plant,
cooling tower ,inert gas generation ,ammonia storage and handling ,effluent
treatment plant.
 (IFFCO ) 2018

1. STEAM AND POWER GENERATION PLANT

To cope up the steam and power requirement of Ammonia and Urea plant, 3
coal fired boilers of capacity 125 tonnes per hour have been installed. Each
boiler, supplied by BHEL, generates high pressure steam at 110kg/cm2g,
465°C. For good thermal efficiency, maximum heat recovery from flue gas is
carried out. The flue gas is made free from ash particles by means of
electrostatic precipitator. While coal is the main fuel for boilers, a small
quantity of RLNG is used as support fuel for proper combustion of coal.

In plant power generation has been provided to ensure continuous electric

supply to process plants. One automatic extraction cum condensing steam
driven turbo generator of 12.5 MW/11KV are installed along with distribution
system with transformers for supplying power at 3.3 KV, 440V, and 220 V. The
turbo generator unit consumes high pressure steam to generate power,
Extraction steam after power generation is withdrawn to meet the internal
requirement of boilers.

An independent diesel driven Auto Mains failure set (AMF set) for power
generation upto 1MW is also provided to face emergencies due to power failure
and keep the essential services in operation to avoid keep the essential services
in operation to avoid catastrophic shut down of plants.

 POWER GENERATION
Power Generation in IFFCO is done by GASTURBINE GENERATOR
(GTG)The power plant is designed to produce 18 MW of power at 11 KV, 50
HZ. The power is produced by a turbo generator, driven by steam turbine. The
whole package has been supplied by BHEL, Hyderabad. The steam turbine uses
steam at 115 kg/cm2 and 515 deg. C as the motive fluid and is an extraction
 (IFFCO ) 2018

cum condensing turbine. The TG set is DCS controlled.. GasTurbine Generators

basically involve three main sections:

 The compressor, which draws air into the engine, pressurizes it, and
feeds it to the combustion chamber at speeds of hundreds of miles per
hour.
 The combustion system, typically made up of a ring of fuel injectors that
inject a steady stream of fuel into combustion chambers where it mixes
with the air. The mixture is burned at temperatures of more than 2000
degrees F. The combustion produces a high temperature, high pressure
gas stream that enters and expands through the turbine section.
 The turbine is an intricate array of alternate stationary and rotating
aerofoil-section blades. As hot combustion gas expands through the
turbine, it spins the rotating blades. The rotating blades perform a dual
function: they drive the compressor to draw more pressurized air into the
combustion section, and they spin a generator to produce electricity .
 (IFFCO ) 2018

FLOW CHART
First air from atmosphere is compressed in compressor then compressed air
enters in combustion chamber along with a fuel (In IFFCO fuel that is
commonly used now a days is Natural Gas). After combustion the mixture of
gases acquires a very high temperature and a high pressure then it rotates the
turbine, from turbine we get electricity.
So, now we have two options:
o Exhaust gases of turbine at a temperature of about 500°C could be vented
into atmosphere.
o We could also utilize the energy of these gases to generate steam. If we
follow first case efficiency of our plant would be about 27% and if we
follow second one, efficiency of our plant would be 87%. So, IFFCO
follows the second process. There is also a stack for the gases to exhaust
 (IFFCO ) 2018

that is being used in case of any problem in Heat Recovery Steam

Generating Units (HRSG).

HEAT RECOVERY STEAM GENERATORS (HRSG)

To the stream 4 in the above flow chart a HRSG unit is connected to utilize the
heat contained in the exhaust gases by converting water into HIGH PRESSURE
STEAM. Exhaust gases of HRSG is vented to atmosphere through stacks.
Gases enters in HRSG units are not sufficiently heated so as to obtain high
pressure steam. So, Heaters are provided in the HRSG units through which we
obtain desired temperature in the HRSG units.
The water that enters in the HRSG units to get converted into High Pressure
Steam , first passed through Deaerator then, through BOILER FEEDWATER
PUMP (BFW) water is pumped to HRSG units and boiler.

DEAERATOR: Deaerator is a device that is used to remove mainly Oxygen

and Carbon Dioxide from feed water of plants. Dissolved oxygen in boiler feed
water causes corrosion damage in steam systems by attaching to the walls of
metal piping and other metallic equipment and form oxides (rust). Dissolved
Carbon Dioxide forms carbonic acid which further leads to corrosion (rust).
The plant also contains a Steam Generator (SG) unit to generate HP steam.
Components of Steam Generator:

ECONOMIZER:
An Economizer for a heat recovery steam generator utilized to improve the
efficiency of the Rankine cycle by preheating the water that flows to the
evaporator section.
 (IFFCO ) 2018

BOILER:
This section simply contains two drums and two tubes connecting them. Two
drums are WATER AND MUD DRUMS. Water (Steam) through these tubes
due to Density Difference that is due to Temperature Difference.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SUPER HEATERS (PSH AND SSH):

This section has been connected after boiler and the output of secondary super
heater is the high pressure steam. The heat required in these heaters is given by
the combustion of natural gas (NG) as shown in the above flow chart.

2. OFFSITE PLANTS
Offsite Plants are to support production plants. Without offsite plants,
production plants have no existence. So, offsite plants are of great importance.
Following are the plants come under offsite section:
o Raw water system
o Water Treatment Plant (Demineralized Water Plant )
o Cooling Towers
o Effluent Treatment Plant
o Instrument Air Plant
o Inert Gas Generation Plant
o Ammonia Storage Plant

o RAW WATER STORAGE

Water obtained from natural sources like rivers, lakes, ponds or sub soil water is
not fit for use directly as boiler feed water, modern high pressure boilers need
feed water which should be of high degree of purity and conditioned with
certain chemicals.
 (IFFCO ) 2018

The surface water is generally more turbid but has comparatively less dissolved
salts. The underground water is well filtered under the crests of earth and
turbidity from 2 to 5 ppm on silica scale but dissolved salts are more and
sometimes render the water useless for industries without proper treatment.
Thus surface water, if available in plenty is preferred because of its purity and
less laborious treatment.
In IFFCO underground sub soil water is the only source of raw water.
Raw water from raw water storage is used for following purposes:
-In Water Treatment Plant
-Cooling Water Make Up
-For Fire Protection System
-For Cleaning Plant Area
-For Drinking Purpose

o DEMINERALIZED WATER PLANT

Underground water specifications:

 Turbidity – 5 ppm
 Total alkalinity – 424 ppm as CaCO3
 Total Hardness – 348 ppm as CaCO3
 Iron - 0.06 ppm as Fe
 TDS – 650 ppm
Silica – 16 to 33 ppm as SiO2
PH – 7.8

The water that could be used in Plant (D. M. Water) should have following
specifications:
 PH – 6.8 to 7.3
 Silica < 0.02 ppm
 Total Electrolytes – 0.1 ppm (Max)
 (IFFCO ) 2018

 Hardness – Nil
 ReH + CaSO4 ⟶ Re2Ca + H2SO4
 Re2Ca + 2HCl ⟶ 2ReH + CaCl2

Flow chart of DM Plant is given below:

o COOLING TOWERS
Most of the units of any chemical plant are Heat Exchangers (may be
condenser, Boiler or Evaporator). So, every heat exchanger requires a cold fluid
to absorb heat and one hot fluid to release heat. In most of the heat exchangers
cold fluid is water and the plant to cool water is called cooling tower.
Cooling Tower is also a type of heat exchanger and in IFFCO heat absorbing
fluid is air and heat releasing fluid is water. So, water cools down in this
 (IFFCO ) 2018

process.

A VIEW OF COOLING TOWERS OF IFFCO

Round shapes in the above photo at the top are Induced Draft (ID) Fans. ID
Fans suck air from atmosphere passes it through water, so air comes in contact
with water and heat transfer takes place as a result of which water cools
down.Chlorine (stored in yellow tanks) is also mixed in water to kill bacterias
and to increase its purity level. Hydro Chloric acid and Hydrogen Sulphate are
also mixed to maintain PH of water.

o EFFLUENT TREATMENT PLANT

Effluent treatment plant is for the treatment of waste water of Ammonia and
Urea Plant. Waste water contains a little bit ammonia, salts and several other
 (IFFCO ) 2018

impurities. The flow chart of EffluentTreatment Plant is given below:

In the air stripper air comes in at bottom and comes out with impurities at top.
In the steam stripper steam comes in at bottom and comes out with impurities at
top.

o INSTRUMENT AIR PLANT

The plant is designed to produce 3000 M3/hr of dry air. This is split flow no
loss type air drier. Supplier for this drier is M/s Gaso Energy Systems (India)
Pvt. Ltd. Pune.
 (IFFCO ) 2018

Atmospheric air can’t be used directly to open and close valves because it
contains moisture and many other impurities that could cause corrosion and
could kill the life of valves. So, Air used in plants is moisture and impurities
free and is known as instrument air. Instrument air is in use in each of the plants
and is kept in green color tanks in every plant.
Flow chart of Instrument Air Plant is given below:

o INERT GAS PLANT

In this plant inert gas (N2) is generated, which is used for purging and for
Production of Ammonia in Ammonia Plant.

Cold box (cuboidal Box) contains there units:

 Heat Exchanger
 Expansion Turbine
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 Condenser
FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION: Fractional Distillation is the method of
separating two fluids on the basis of their boiling points. Because Nitrogen is
most light here so, we get Nitrogen at the top in the gaseous form.

AMMONIA STORAGE
Ammonia is stored in Ammonia storage tanks so that in case of any problem in
the Ammonia Plant, Ammonia could be supplied from these tanks. Ammonia is
stored at a gage pressure of 400 mm water at a temperature of -33°C in liquid
form. Gaseous Ammonia iscontinuously returned back to Ammonia Plant.

3. AMMONIA PLANT
Ammonia is a important raw material to manufacture Urea. Ammonia is
manufactured in Ammonia Plant. Ammonia plant is based on HALDOR
TOPSOE TECHNOLOGY. To manufacture ammonia, we need hydrogen and
nitrogen in gaseous form. We get Nitrogen from Inert Gas (From Atmosphere)
plant and hydrogen from Natural Gas. Natural Gas is supplied at the battery
limit by GAS AUTHORITY OF INDIA LIMITED (GAIL) from gas wells
located in Bombay through HAZIRA-BIJAPUR-JAGDISHPUR (HBJ)
Pipeline. GAIL has plans to set up certain facilities for extraction of higher
hydrocarbons from the gas due to which the gas would become leaner.

Properties of Rich and Lean Gas (Gas by GAIL)

Component RICH(%) LEAN (%)
 (IFFCO ) 2018

Methane 78.84 98.39

Ethane 7.23 1.40
Propane 4.59 0.10
i-butane 0.88 -
n-butane 1.10 -
i-pentane 0.26 -
n-pentane 0.24 -
Hexane 0.26 -
Carbon dioxide 6.49 -
Nitrogen gas 0.01 0.10
Oxygen 0.10 0.01

To get the Ammonia manufactured, the following steps should be

followed:
 Desulphurization
 High Pressure Catalytic Reforming
 Water Gas shift reaction
 Carbon Dioxide absorption and stripping
 Ammonia Synthesis
 Refrigeration
 (IFFCO ) 2018

FLOW CHART OF AMMONIA PLANT

RLNG
 (IFFCO ) 2018

UREA MANUFACTURING
 REACTIONS:
Urea is produced from ammonia and carbon dioxide in two
equilibrium reactions:

2NH3 (Liq.) + CO2 (g) ⥨ NH2COONH4 Exothermic Reaction

(Ammonium
Carbamate)

NH2COONH4 ⥨ NH2CONH2 + H2O Endothermic Reaction

(Urea)

Overall reaction is Exothermic.

Reaction 1 is favored when solution pressure is greater than decomposition

pressure. Decomposition pressure is the pressure at which carbamate
decomposes into ammonia and carbon dioxide.
NH2COONH4 ⥨ 2NH3 + CO2
Decomposition pressure is a function of concentration of Ammonia and
temperature. The urea manufacturing process, is designed to maximize these
reactions while inhibiting biuret formation:

2NH2CONH2 ⥨ NH2CONHCONH2 + NH3

(Biuret)
This reaction is undesirable, not only because it lowers the yield of urea, but
because biuret burns the leaves of plants. This means that urea which contains
high levels of biuret is not suitable for use as a fertiliser.
 Uses of Urea
 More than 90% of urea world production is destined for use as a fertilizer
 A raw material for the manufacture of plastics, to be specific, Urea –
formaldehyde resin.
 (IFFCO ) 2018

 A raw material for the manufacture of various glues ( urea—

formaldehyde Or urea melamine—formaldehyde); the latter is
waterproof and is used For marine plywood.
 A flame—proofing agent ( commonly used in dry chemical fire
extinguishers As urea potassium bicarbonate).
 A reactant in some ready-to-use cold compressors for first-aid use, due
to The endothermic reaction it creates when mixed with water.
 A cloud seeding agent, along with salts, to expedite the condensation
of water In clouds, producing precipitation .
 Feed for hydrolyzation into ammonia which in turn is used to reduce
emissions From power plants and combustion engines.
PROCESS IN PLANT (selection)
Several processes are used to urea manufacturing. Some of them are used
conventional Technologies and others use modern technologies to achieve high
efficiency. These Processes had several comparable advantage and disadvantage
based on capital cost, Maintenance cost, energy cost, efficiency and product
quality. Some of the widely used urea production processes are.
1.Once-Through Urea Process
It is a conventional process in which the unconverted carbamate is decomposed
to NH3 And CO2 by heating the urea synthesis reactant effluent mixture at low
pressure. The NH3and CO2 is separated from the urea solution and utilized to
produce ammonium Salts by absorbing NH3.
Advantage
 Simple process
Disadvantage
 Large quantity of ammonia salt formed as a co product
 Overall carbon dioxide conversion is low
 High production cost
 (IFFCO ) 2018

 High energy cost

 High environment pollution

Typical once-through urea process

2 .Partial Recycle Process

 Part of the off gas is recycled back to the reactor
 The amount of ammonia is reduced to 15% to that of once-through that
must be used in other process
 High CO2 conversion
 High energy cost
 High environmental pollution
 High production cost
 (IFFCO ) 2018

Typical partial recycle urea process

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3 .Stripping Process Based Plants (Internal carbamate recycle)

The unreacted carbamate and the excess ammonia are stripped from the urea
Synthesis reactor effluent by means of gaseous CO2 or NH3 at the reactor
Pressure, instead of letting the reactor effluent down to a much lower Pressure.
The NH3 and CO2 gas recovered at reactor pressure, is condensed And
returned to the reactor by gravity flow for recovery.
A.Snamprogetti Process (Italy)
 Synthesis and high pressure (HP) recovery (154 bar)
 Medium pressure (MD) purification and recovery (18 bar)
 Low pressure (LP) purification and recovery (4.5 bar)
 Vacuum concentration ( 2 steps: 0.3 and 0.03 )
 Process condensate process
 Finishing: prilling and granulation

Snamprogetti urea process

 (IFFCO ) 2018

B. Stamicarbon CO2 Stripping Process :

NH3 and CO2 are converted to urea via ammonium carbamate at a pressure of
140 bar and a temperature of 180−185 C°, an NH3:CO2 molar ratio of 3:1 is
Applied. The greater part of the unconverted carbamate is decomposed in the
Stripper, where ammonia and carbon dioxide are stripped off using CO2 as
stripping agent. The stripped off NH3 and CO2 are then partially condensed and
recycled to the reactor. The heat evolved from this condensation is used to

stamicarbon CO2 stripping process

 (IFFCO ) 2018

produce 4.5 bar steam some of which can be used for heating purpose in the
downstream sections of the plant. The NH3 and CO2 in the stripper effluent are
vaporized in 4 bar decomposition stage and subsequently condensed to form
acarbamate solution. Further concentration of urea solution takes place in the
Evaporation section, where 99.7% of urea melt is produced. Figure
stamicarbon CO2 stripping process

C. (ACES Process )
ACES ( Advanced Process for Cost and Energy Saving ) process has been
developed by Toyo Engineering Corporation. Its synthesis section consists
 (IFFCO ) 2018

of the reactor, stripper, two parallel carbamate condensers and a scrubber all
operated at 175 bar. The reactor is operated at 1900 C° and an NH3:CO2 molar
feed ratio of 4:1.
Its consist of five main sections
 Synthesis section
 Purification section
 Concentration and prilling section
 Recovery section
 Process condensate treatment section
 Selection Of The Process
Snamprogetti ammonia-stripping urea process is selected because it
involves a High NH3:CO2 ratio in the reactor, ensuring the high
conversion of carbamate to urea. The highly efficient ammonia stripping
operation drastically reduces the recycling of carbamate and the size of
equipment in the carbamate decomposition. Snamprogetti differs from
other methods in being based on The use of excess ammonia to avoid
corrosion as well as promote the Decomposition of unconverted
carbamate into urea. The success of any urea manufacture process
depends on how economically we can recycle carbamate to the reactor.

NH2COONH4(s) = 2NH3(g)+CO2(g) ΔH= +37.4 kcal/gmmol

This reaction involves increase in volume and absorption of heat. Thus

this Reaction will be favored by decrease in pressure and increase in
temperature Moreover decreasing the partial pressure of either of the
products will also favor the forward reaction. The process based on
increase/decrease of partial pressure of NH3 or CO2 is called stripping
process. According to the above equation we have:
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K= (PNH3)2*(PCO2)[where, K= equilibrium constant]

The stripping is effected at synthesis pressure itself using CO2 or NH3 as

Stripping agent. If CO2 is selected, it is to be supplied to the decomposer
/stripper as in stamicarbon CO2 stripping process. While if NH3 , is to be
obtained from the system itself because excess NH3 is present in the
reactor as in snam's process. At a practical temperature K is constant so
when (PNH3 ) is reduced to keep K constant, carbamate will reduce
much fast decomposition as (PNH3 ) appear in the equilibrium
equation with a power of two. Selection of 1st decomposition should be
in such a way that minimum water evaporates because the recovered
gases go along with the carbamate to reactor again and if water enters
reactor production will be effected adversely due to hydrolysis of urea.
So , stage wise decomposition of carbamate is done.

Process Description

The Snamprogetti urea process is known worldwide.

The process is divided into six sections:
• Synthesis and high pressure (HP) recovery
• Medium pressure (MP) purification and recovery
• Low pressure (LP) purification and recovery
• Vacuum concentration
• Process condensate treatment
• Finishing: prilling
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UREA PLANT FLOW CHART

Urea is manufactured by direct synthesis of gaseous CO2 and liquid

NH3. The process consists of following operations:
Urea Synthesis
High Pressure Recovery
Medium Pressure Recovery
Low pressure Recovery
Urea Concentration
Waste Water Treatment
Urea Prilling
UREA SYNTHESIS
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Both the raw materials are supplied by ammonia plant. Liquid Ammonia along
with carbonate solution pumped in the reactor at bottom. CO2 along with
atmospheric air in also pumped in reactor.

UREA REACTOR
Following reaction occurs in this reactor:

2NH3 (Liq.) + CO2 (g) ⥨ NH2COONH4 Exothermic Reaction

(Ammonium
Carbamate)
NH2COONH4 ⥨ NH2CONH2 + H2O Endothermic Reaction
(Urea)

Overall reaction is Exothermic.

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Oxygen in the air (supplied with carbon dioxide) forms a passive oxide layer on
the insides of vessel surfaces to prevent corrosion by carbamate and urea. The
Reactor product contains 38 % by weight Urea.
HIGH PRESSURE STRIPPER
Urea enters the tube of HP Stripper operating at 147 atm/190 °C which is falling
type heat exchanger. The stripper tubes are provided with liquid dividers also
called ferrules. Urea reactor supplies a mixture of urea, ammonia, carbon
dioxide, water and carbamate. In the HP Stripper unconverted is converted into
ammonia and carbon dioxide by using Henry’s Law.
HENRY’S LAW in HP stripper:
Excess of ammonia is passed due to which partial vapour pressure of ammonia
increases, by Henry’s law concentration of ammonia should increase in solution
that could only be achieved by decomposition of ammonium carbamate.
Following reaction occurs in HP stripper:

NH2COONH4 ⥨ 2NH3 (Liq.) + CO2 (g)

HIGH PRESSURE CONDENSATION AND SEPARATION

Gases from high pressure stripper enter in HP Carbamate condenser
in which most of the ammonia and carbon dioxide reacts to form
ammonium carbamate. Condensate from HP Carbamate condenser is
passed to HP Carbamate Separator which passes liquid carbamate
again to Urea Reactor and urea to MP Decomposer.

MEDIUM PRESSURE SECTION

The MP Decomposer consists of three parts. The top part is MP Separator, the
middle is MP Decomposer and bottom one is MP
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Urea solution holder. The urea from stripper is let down to 18 atm from 147
atm. As a result of pressure let down somesolution flashes, producing vapors of
ammonia carbon dioxide and water. The heat of vaporization is taken from 207
to 140 °C. This solution is then distributed over bed of pall rings in the MP
Separator. The vapors rising from the MP Decomposer below come into
intimate contact. Thus more carbamate is decomposed by hot vapors. These
vapors now filled out of MP Condenser. The MP Absorber consists of two
sections. The top section sis called the rectification section and the bottom
portion is called absorber section. The liquid and vapor mixture from medium
pressure condenser enters the absorber portion of MP absorber comes out
through a sparer. A liquid level is always maintained above the sparer to absorb
vapors of ammonia carbon dioxide and water. The purpose of this section is to
partially strip out the
reactants, ammonia and carbon dioxide from the urea solution and, after their
condensation in water, to recycle the obtained solution to the reactor, together
with the ammonia and carbon dioxide aqueous solution resulting from the
downstream sections of the plant. The ammonia excess is separated in this
section and recycled to the reactor separately. A distillation column is provided
for this purpose. The operating pressure is 17 bar g. A particular feature is
included in this section. Ammonia and carbon dioxide are partially condensed in
the shell of a preheater within the vacuum section, thus recovering some energy
in the form of 200kg of steam per ton of urea. Another particular characteristic
of the MP section is the washing of the so-called inerts (CO, H2 and CH4
contained mainly in the carbon dioxide and the passivation air). As already
emphasized, the quantity of passivation air in the Snamprogetti technology is
very small (one third compared with other technologies). It is therefore easy to
recover ammonia from the inerts without the risk of explosion mainly due to
H2/O2 mixtures. No hydrogen removal from carbon dioxide is required.
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LOW PRESSURE SECTION

Further stripping of ammonia and carbon dioxide is made in the LP section,
operating at 3.5 bar g. The vapors, containing ammonia and carbon dioxide, are
condensed and recycled to the reactor via the MP section. An appropriately
sized tank is provided in this section to collect all the solutions from the plant
when it is shut down for long time. Therefore, in no circumstances are solutions
discharged from the plant.

VACUUM CONCENTRATION
The urea solution leaving the LP section is about 70% b.w. and contains small
quantities of ammonia and carbon dioxide. The final concentration of the urea
solution (99.8% b.w.) is made under vacuum in two steps at 0.3 and 0.03 bar
abs. for the prilled product, and in one or two steps for the granular product,
according to the granulation technology chosen. An important feature of this
section is the pre concentration of the urea solution to about 86% b.w. The
necessary heat is provided by partial condensation of the vapors (ammonia and
carbon dioxide essentially) from the MP section evaporator. Particular care is
taken in the design of this section to minimize temperatures and residence times
so as to keep the biuret at minimum values. A simple solution has been found to
the problem of lump formation in the second vacuum separator: lump formation
is prevented by wetting the internal walls of the separator by means of a small
recycle of molten urea.

PROCESS CONDENSATE TREATMENT
The excellent result achieved by Snamprogetti Technology in the treatment
of waste water from urea plants has received worldwide recognition.All
possible and convenient heat recoveries have been introduced into this section
in order to minimize energy consumption.
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UREA PRILLING
Prilling is the easiest technology tomanufacture solid urea with commercially
valid chemical and physical characteristics. Molten urea (99.8% b.w.) is sprayed
at the top of the prilling tower, at a height of 55-80 m(may be more), according
to climatic conditions; at the bottom, essentially spheroidal urea particles
,namely prills, are collected and sufficiently cooled in order to be sent to storage
ordirectly to the bagging section without screening, coating or any other
treatment. In a few plants based on the Snamprogetti technology, plant owners
have requested that formaldehyde (0.2-0.3% b.w.) be addedto the molten urea
just before the prilling section in order to improve the free-flowing
characteristics of the prilled urea and to achieve a slight increase in hardness.
Arising draught of air inside the prilling toweris the cooling medium that
removes thesolidification heat and cools the prills.
The prilling process, although it is a simpleone, conceals some critical
problems:
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• The bucket must be specially designed tolimit the quantity of fine and oversize
prills to a negligible value. In fact, theGauss distribution curve must be
asnarrow as possible to avoid severe cakingproblems in storage;
• Too much air can cool the product excessively resulting in undesirable
absorption of humidity from the air inhumid climates, again with possible
serious product caking problems in storage;
• Too much air can entrain too much urea dust at the top of the prilling tower.
This last problem constitutes an increasein consumption of specific raw
materials ,which not only means plant inefficiency, but principally represents a
serious pollution problem. With regard to urea dust, Snamprogetti has its
patented dedusting system, already applied in some plants,which is able to
reduce urea dust from 40 to15 mg/Nm3 of air. In the case of ammonia,the
problem is not so easily solved due to theextremely low partial pressure of
ammoniain the air from the prilling tower. As for the abatement of ammonia,
the only possiblemethod is to wash the air with slightly acidified water.
Unfortunately, dueto the large quantity of air, such a system has a rather high
investment cost as well asa considerable operating cost. Snamprogetti has
patented and applied a very simplesolution in one plant that consists ofthe
addition of an inorganic acid to the urea melt, just before the prilling tower, in
order to drastically reduce the quantity of ammonia in the air from the prilling
tower. The values obtained are20-70 mg/Nm3. An interesting side-result
of this method is that the quantity of free ammonia in the prills is greatly
reduced and there is a drastic reduction in the presence of ammonia in the work
environment(conveyor belt chutes, storage). Of course the prilled urea contains
about 2,000 ppm of relevant salt, with no detrimental effecton the use of urea
as fertiliser and other industrial uses.
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PRILL TOWER
Bucket rotated with the help of motor. Due to centrifugal force, urea in liquid
form comes out of bucket through holes of surfaces. Natural Draft fan converts
urea in the solid form, during the air time (time of urea droplets in air) of urea
granules
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.
UREA AT BOTTOM OF PRILL TOWER

 NEEM COATING OF UREA

The government of india decided that all urea produces in the india should
be neem coated
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 ADVANTAGES OF THE NEEM COATED UREA CAN BE

ENUMERATED AS FOLLOWS:

1. Saving of 10% of the losses of urea would amount to 2 million tons of urea or
a reduction in subsidy component to the tune of ` 1,700 crores per annum
(considering total subsidy on urea to be `18,000 crores per annum).
2. Proportional saving in the consumption of naphtha or natural gas.
3. Increased crop yields due to better nitrogen utilization.
4. Reduction in environmental pollution of ground water due to leaching of
nitrates and gaseous emissions.
5. Opportunity for entrepreneurs to commercialize local Neem Resources and
Development of Small Scale Industries in rural areas.

 UREA PRODUCT QUALITY

 Controlling agency
 GOVERNMENT OF INDIA (GOI)

 THE FERTILISER CONTROL ORDER (FCO)

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 Safety Aspects

Safety is the state of being ''safe'', the condition of being protected Against
physical , social, financial , emotional ,physiological , educational Or other
consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any Other events
which can be non-desirable. This can take the form of being Protected from the
event or from exposure to something that causes Health or economic losses. No
industry can afford to neglect the Fundamentals of safety in design and
operation of its plant and Machinery. It is important that all the people
responsible for management and operation of any industry should have a good
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knowledge of industrial safety.

 Accident factors
1 a personal accident injury occurs as a result of accident
2 an accident due to un safe act and/or unsafe condition
3 unsafe act/unsafe condition exists due to faults of persons
4 faults of persons due to negligence
GY
 Safety Precaution
1. when taking sample of anhydrous ammonia and when operating or working
on ammonia valves, equipment containing ammonia such as ammonia feed
pumps, operators laboratory and maintenance personal must wear safety
overalls.
2. goggles and rubber gloves. If any part of the skin has been exposed to
ammonia , wash immediately and thoroughly with water
3. work on the ammonia equipment should be done from the upwind side of the
equipment to avoid or minimize contact with escaping ammonia.
4. the location of fire hydrants, safety showers , eyewash fountains ammonia
canisters gas mask, emergency air breathing apparatus should be well known to
all person's
5. instruments containing mercury must not be used if ammonia is likely to
come in contact with mercury

 T List of safety equipment

A. respiratory protective equipment

1. self—contained breathing apparatus sets of 30 min and 10 min
2. continuous airline mask
3. trolley mounted self contained breathing apparatus set 2.5 hours
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4. canister gas mask

5. dust mask/cloth mask (air purifying respirator)
B. non—respiratory protective equipments
1. helmets
2. ear muff and ear plugs
3. goggles
4. face shield
5. hand gloves
6. aprons
7. safety shoes
8. suits
9. safety harness

C. warning Oinstrument
1. oxygen, carbon dioxide , chlorine, ammonia indicator with replaceable
sensors.
2. explosive meters for measuring explosive range
3. fire fly instrument for confined space entry

D. Gas Leak Instruments

1.safety showers
2. manual water sprinklers
3. communication systems
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III. References
 Ammonia-2 Training Manual, IFFCO Phulpur .
 Offsite Plants Training Manual, IFFCO Phulpur .
 Power Plant Training Manual, IFFCO Phulpur .
 Urea-2 Training Manual, IFFCO Phulpur .
 Urea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia,
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urea
 The Urea Technology, Snamprogetti Training Manual.