leak detection

system
the essential
safety feature for
Urea hp equipment
 casale leak detection system for urea hp equipement

urea leak Carbon steel

detection system
the essential SAFETY feature
for Urea hp equipment
The high-pressure equipment items in urea plants usually have an internal lining of weep holes
corrosion-resistant-material which separates the process fluid from a carbon steel Corrosion-resistant
pressure shell. interior lining
This mode of construction is considerably less costly than the alternative in which
the entire vessel would have to be fabricated in the corrosion-resistant material and
is actually stronger, but only as long as the process fluid does not come into contact
with the carbon steel.
If that does happen, the pressure shell is liable to severe, rapid corrosion which,
if not immediately checked, may threaten the integrity of the entire vessel.

1 Section of HP vessel

Usually the vessel shell is provided with a series of weep holes, also lined with corrosion-
So it is of paramount importance to have a safe and reliable means of detecting any leakage
resistant material, through which any process fluid that finds its way into the space between
into the space between the vessel lining and the pressure shell as soon as it occurs.
the liner and the pressure shell will drain to the outside, where it can be monitored.

2 3
 casale
ADVERSE EFFECTS
OF LEAKS
Leaks from vessel liners may be gaseous or, less commonly, liquid.
The main cause of corrosion is ammonium carbamate, which
is present as such in the liquid process medium and therefore
constitutes an immediate corrosion threat when there is a liquid
leak through the vessel liner.
Worse, the ammonium carbamate, urea and any by-products
of condensation such as biuret and triuret in the process medium
tend to crystallize as they cool, clogging the leak detection lines
and impairing operation of the leak detection system.
Even when the leak is only gaseous, the ammonia and carbon
dioxide it contains will combine as they cool to form ammonium
carbamate.
If that chokes the leak detection lines, the back-pressure can build
up to the point where liquid ammonium carbamate is formed
between the vessel liner and the pressure shell, so the effect is just
as bad as that of a direct leak of process fluid.
It can take as little as 24-48 hours after a leak starts for the leak
detection holes to become choked and serious corrosion of
the pressure shell to begin.
4 5
leak detection system for urea hp equipement
ESSEnTIAL FEATURES
OF A LEAK DETECTOR
Devising a reliable and efficient system for detecting leaks in HP urea
equipment has always been a technical challenge on account
of the extremely corrosive fluids, the high operating pressure,
and the mechanical complexity of the vessel liner.
Essential attributes of a reliable system are that it should respond quickly
and not be susceptible to clogging. Various systems are available today,
which fall into two main categories: visual detection by plant operators
or automatic detection.
Visual Detection has been widely used in the industry for many years.
Each weep hole is connected to a local indicator, in which the leaking
medium bubbles through an indicator fluid such as phenolphthalein.
This system relies entirely on careful regular checking by an operator
and is thus highly at risk from human error. In actual fact, a number
of catastrophic failures have resulted from past lapses in operator vigilance.
Automatic detection system are equipped with an electronic
detector, such as an ammonia analyzer or a conductivity meter, that trips
an alarm in the control room when it detects ammonia or some other
process species in the fluid exiting from the weep holes, enabling
the operator to take immediate action.
 casale leak detection system for urea hp equipement

the casale leak

detection system
Casale HP equipment leak detection system is designed to avoid the shortcomings
of existing systems. It uses an ammonia analyzer to monitor the ammonia content of a flushing
gas that is inert towards the process medium (air or nitrogen), which is passed continuously
flow direction

reactor
through the weep holes.

This not only reduces the risk of choking but

also provides a stable gas flow through the
analyzer, which improves accuracy. It can be
configured to operate in either an open or a
closed circuit. In either case, the gas from the
weep holes is passed through a small cooler
to bring it all the way down to ambient tempe-
rature before it is introduced into the analyzer.
A very small flow of flushing gas (30-40 Nl/h)
rv
is used for each weep hole. In the open-circuit
option, this gas is vented to atmosphere after
2 Automatic leak detection system common header
(open loop). analysis. A complete open-circuit system
monitoring all the weep holes in the reactor,
stripper and carbamate condenser consumes
typical arrangement about 3 Nm3/h of instrument air or nitrogen.
In the closed-loop system, the flushing air
pi pcv
or nitrogen is washed downstream of the
continuous analyzer to completely remove any ammo-
nh3 detector instrument
air/n2
nia it contains and is then recycled to the HP
equipment by a small air compressor. The net
consumption of instrument air or nitrogen is
thus limited to the make-up requirement.
cooling Air/nitrogen flow rate and pressure are kept
Water
return under control by appropriate instruments and
there is a pressure safety valve in case of an
emergency.
cooler strainer The analyzer gives both a local and a remote
cooling water supply
(control room) indication. It can be designed
to be placed in classified areas.
6 7
 FEDERICO BOLLARINO SRL
Via Giulio Pocobelli, 6 | 6900 Lugano | Switzerland (CH)
tel. +41 91 6419200 | fax +41 91 6419291
www.casale.ch | info@casale.ch

In the world

Sister company

Prague, Czech Republic

Network of Representatives
China | Egypt
India | Indonesia
North America | Russia