Paper 2d

Safety and Reliability in Operation of

Indian Ammonia and Urea Plants
High reliability of plants and equipment is essential for continuous and safe operation of plants. This
paper presents the results of a survey of 27 ammonia and 27 urea plants in India for the three-year
period of April 2005 to March 2008. The survey included data on causes of downtime, frequency, se-
verity of loss time and human injuries. The downtime data has been classified into forced (plant and
business related) and planned shutdown. Based on the nature of downtime, three operating indices
e.g. operating factor, service factor and reliability factor have been worked out. The data for plant re-
lated downtime has been analyzed in detail to identify specific sections and equipment causing forced
shutdown. A few case studies are also included. Accident frequency rate and severity rate for the ferti-
liser industry as a whole and only for ammonia and urea plants are also reported.

Dr. S. Nand and Manish Goswami

The Fertiliser Association of India, New Delhi
Email: tech@faidelhi.org

1350 MTPD. A number of these plants are now

capable of producing 1500-1600 MTPD of am-
1. Introduction monia. Similarly, urea plants with two synthesis
streams but single finishing section produce up to

C
ommercial production of ammonia started
in India about 60 years back. The first
commercial plant for production of urea
was commissioned in 1959 with the ca-
pacity of 70 Metric Tonnes per Day (MTPD). The
growth of ammonia and urea industry was slow
during the first 25 years. However, the decade of
1980s was marked by construction of large single
stream ammonia plants and rapid expansion in the
production capacity of both ammonia and urea.
The driving factors for the rapid growth during
the decade of 1980s and early 1990s were spurt in
demand for fertilisers in the country and concur-
rent availability of natural gas as feedstock. In the
recent years there has been consolidation of am-
monia industry with closure of a number of old
plants and increase in capacity of later generation
plants through debottlenecking measures. The
typical design capacity of ammonia plants com-
missioned during 1980s and 1990s was
3000 MTPD. There has been no new plant com-
missioned after the year 1999 in India. Ammonia
and urea industry is struggling now with the prob-
lems associated with aging of plants on the one
hand, and shortage in availability of natural gas
on the other.
The Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) has been
recording the performance of ammonia and urea
industry in the country for more than three dec-
ades with respect to a large number of perfor-
mance parameters which include the causes of
downtime, onstream efficiency, energy efficiency,
lost time accidents, water consumption and envi-
ronmental parameters. Analysis of causes of
downtime and frequency of loss time injuries re-
flects on the reliability of the plants. The analysis
of causes of downtime in ammonia and urea
plants is carried out every 3 years. The last report
on the analysis on downtime for the 3-year period

2009 83 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL

 of April 2002 – March 2005 was published in
2006 (1). The frequency and severity of loss time
injuries tells about the safety of plant operation.
Results of last safety survey of the data for the 5-
year period of 2000-05 were also published in
2006 (2). The present paper reports the results of
analysis of causes of downtime in ammonia and
urea plants, and safety survey for the industry for
the 3-year period of April 2005 – March 2008.
2. Downtime Analysis
The downtime data for the 3-year period was
available for 27 ammonia and 27 urea plants.
These plants accounted for a production of total of
27.3 million metric tonnes (MMT) of ammonia
and 60.2 million metric tonnes of urea during the
3-year period which constitutes 88% each of the
total production of ammonia and urea during this
period. The characteristics of ammonia plants ac-
cording to vintage, size and feedstock are shown
in Table 1. Vintage of urea plants is similar to
those of ammonia plants. Detailed data obtained
from the plants was converted into Downtime in
Days per Plant per Year (DDPY) as follows:
DDPY = Number of days of downtime / number
of plants / number of years.
3. Downtime in Ammonia Plants
3.1 Causes of Loss of Production
Table 2 shows all causes of loss of productive
days and causes of loss of production of ammonia
during the survey period. Of the total loss of pro-
duction of 1.68 million metric tonnes of ammonia
57.7% loss was due to plant related problems.
Shortage of inputs like natural gas, naphtha, fuel
oil, etc. accounted for 19.2% of total loss of am-
monia production.
AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
3.2 Duration of Planned Shutdown
Average duration of plant turnaround for main-
tenance of 27 ammonia plants was 21.7 DDPY
compared to 19.1 DDPY during 2002-05. The du-
ration of plant turn around has been around 20
DDPY for last 10 years. During the current survey
period of 2005-08, a number of ammonia plants
implemented various revamp measures for debot-
tlenecking of capacity, improving the energy effi-
ciency and switch of feedstock from naphtha to
natural gas. These units had to take a longer shut-
down than that taken for normal maintenance ac-
tivities. The plants based on feedstock other than
natural gas had a restriction on the quantum of
urea production due to the high cost of produc-
tion. These plants usually achieved their quota of
production early and had taken shutdown for pro-
longed periods at the end of production year. Ga-
sification plants had a longer duration of turna-
round of 25.5 DDPY compared to 21.0 DDPY for
the reforming plants.
3.3 Number of Shutdowns
The numbers of Shutdown per Plant per Year
(SPY) were 6.3 compared to 6.5 SPY during pre-
vious survey period of 2002-05, thus not showing
any significant improvement.
3.4 Analysis of Downtime Data
An analysis was carried out for the downtime due
to plant related problems. Downtime due to plant
related problems was segregated into groups un-
der mechanical, electrical, instrumentation,
process and miscellaneous failures. Maximum
forced downtime was 7.6 DDPY due to mechani-
cal failures. A comparison of downtime due to
plant related problems is shown in Table 3 for last
4 survey periods. It can be seen that downtime
due to miscellaneous failures has come down
drastically during the most recent survey. This is
mainly because of better identification and classi-
84 2009
 fication of data according to specific nature of
failures.
3.5 Downtime due to Mechanical Failures
Section wise downtime data due to mechanical
failures for 23 plants based on reforming process
and 4 plants on gasification process are shown in
Table 4 and Table 5, respectively. Reforming
plants accumulated total downtime of 527 days.
One of the 23 plants operated exceptionally bad
and it accumulated 119 days of shutdown due to
mechanical failures. Section wise data shows that
synthesis gas compressor alone contributed 30%
of downtime due to mechanical failures. Failures
in synthesis and refrigeration loop accounted for
almost 22% downtime in reforming plants. For
plants based on gasification process, synthesis and
refrigeration loop section was again responsible
for 45.3% of downtime due to mechanical fail-
ures. GNFC-Bharuch, MCFL-Mangalore, CFCL-
Gadepan, NFCL-Kakinada, RCF-Thal, RCF-
Trombay and IFFCO-Aonla encountered signifi-
cant downtime due to problems related to synthe-
sis gas compressor. Common problems were high
vibration and leakage in inter-stage coolers.
IFFCO-Phulpur, IFFCO-Kalol, CFCL-Gadepan,
KRIBHCO- Hazira and IFFCO-Aonla faced prob-
lems in synthesis section. Most problems in the
synthesis and refrigeration section were related to
leakage in the waste heat boiler and heat exchang-
ers. There was a case of fire in one of the units at
the top of synthesis converter due to leakage of
synthesis gas. It caused a downtime of 9 days.
In the primary reformer section, there were loss
time incidents of leakage in various heat exchang-
ers located in the convection zone of the reformer
furnace. Leakage in tubes of the process preheater
caused a downtime of 11.7 days in one of the
plants. There were also failures of reformer tubes.
One of the plants lost production of 14.8 days due
to bulging of the collector which had to be re-
placed. There were other miscellaneous reasons
for forced downtime. Prominent amongst those
had been the collapse of cooling towers in half a
dozen plants causing varying period of shutdown
2009
of ammonia plants. Preliminary investigations
showed that inferior quality of timber was respon-
sible for the premature failure of cooling towers.
Fertiliser units have become more careful about
quality of timber in repair / replacements of tim-
ber cells. Certain design modifications have also
been implemented by a few units to reduce weight
load in the tower. More attention is also being
paid to the treatment of cooling water.
3.6 Case Study 1: Leakage in Synthesis Loop
Piping
Several equipments like S-50 Converter, MP Boi-
ler etc. in synthesis section were added in an am-
monia plant of IFFCO Kalol unit during 2005-
2006 as a part of the energy saving project. There
were frequent leakage problems faced in the el-
bows of the piping loop. A shutdown was taken in
October 2007 to change the suspect elbows,
which could have otherwise led to an unplanned
loss of production or other avoidable damage. To-
tal loss of downtime due to this job of elbow re-
placement was about 11 days.
During this shutdown, a comprehensive inspec-
tion was carried out of all the components of the
new piping loop and a total of 5 elbows, which
were found having crack-like defects, were re-
placed with new elbows. On detailed inspection
and destructive tests on samples from the failed
elbows, it could be confirmed that the failure was
attributable to manufacturing defects in the parent
material of the elbows. It was concluded that the
crack-like defects, which showed up in the elbows
soon after being put into service, could have been
due to improper heat treatment in the shop. Low
alloy steels are susceptible to cracks if not proper-
ly treated after forming operations. As a remedial
measure, stringent quality control is ensured ac-
cording to relevant ASME code, in manufacture
of new elbows for replacement of defective ones.
85 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
 3.7 Case Study 2: Fire near Naphtha
Vaporizer
Fire occurred near the Naphtha Vaporizer in 2007
causing production interruption in one of the
naphtha based plants. Process naphtha vapour
leaked from the passing bleed valve in the vapo-
rizer outlet line, it accumulated near the burners
and caught fire. One Operator got superficial
minor burn injury on his hand. The bleed valve
was replaced and the valve downstream pipe was
spaded to ensure no leakage in case of passing of
the valve.
4 Downtime in Urea Plants
Downtime data of 27 urea plants were analyzed
for the period of 2005-08. The production of urea
being dependent on availability of ammonia and
carbon dioxide from ammonia plants, the trend in
downtime for urea plants is generally similar to
ammonia plants. The figure of downtime for
planned (maintenance) turn around shows that the
duration of turn around was 19.3 DDPY which is
lower than 21.4 DDPY for the period of 2002-05.
Number of forced shutdowns per plant per year
were about same at 11.8 during the period of
2005-08 as during the last survey period of 2002-
05.
The average downtime due to forced shutdown in
urea plants for all causes has come down to 20.2
DDPY compared to 31.0 DDPY in the previous
survey of 2002-05. Table 6 shows major reasons
for loss of production of urea. Most prominent
reason was non – availability of ammonia, when-
ever there was loss of production in ammonia
plants. It accounted for 53.2% of total loss of 2.1
million tonnes of urea production. The plant re-
lated problems accounted for loss of 26.7% of the
total loss of production.
The downtime due to mechanical failures in urea
plants has maintained a downward trend for the
last several years registering a figure of 4.2
DDPY during the current survey period. This may
AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
be due to preventive maintenance carried out
whenever there is a forced shutdown due to prob-
lems in ammonia plant. Details of downtime due
to major equipment items in urea plants are given
in Table 7. The reactor, carbon dioxide compres-
sor, HP stripper, piping and valves remain the ma-
jor items contributing to closure of plants. GSFC-
Vadodara suffered a downtime of more than 27
days due to leakage in titanium lining of reactor.
CFCL-Gadepan and NFL-Vijaipur also faced the
problem of liner leakage. GNFC-Bharuch,
IFFCO-Phulpur, MCFL-Mangalore, KRIBHCO-
Hazira and RCF-Thal also encountered significant
downtime due to reactor problems. There was a
downtime of almost 12 days in one of the units
due to leakage in top manhole cover of the reac-
tor. Leakages in liner, tubes and weep holes of HP
stripper caused downtime in CFCL-Gadepan,
RCF-Thal, NFL-Vijaipur, KRIBHCO-Hazira and
IFFCO-Aonla. Leakage in carbamate condenser
also caused downtime at NFCL-Kakinada, RCF-
Thal and NFL-Vijaipur.
4.1 Case Study 1: Urea Reactor Liner
Leakage
GSFC is operating two urea plants at Vadodara
which are more than 40 years old. GSFC Urea-2
Plant is having 2 numbers of Urea reactors. In the
past, both reactors were repaired for leakage of ti-
tanium liner.
On 15/11/2007, Urea-2 plant was shutdown due to
leakage from titanium liner. Repaired spare reac-
tor was lined up, but its liner also showed leakage
during loop testing. Hence plant was restarted
again with the first reactor on 20/11/2007 with
minute leakage from liner. On 26/11/2007, lea-
kage was observed near ammonia feed nozzle in
bottom dome. Hence, plant was shut down on
27/11/2007 for attending the Ti liner leakage.
Reactor was thoroughly inspected from inside,
cracked liner was welded, hydro tested, and re-
inspected. Finally plant was restarted on
21/12/2007.
86 2009
 As remedial action, the liner of spare reactor was
repaired by putting additional titanium liner
(doublers plate) on original liner by M/s TiTaN of
Chennai. Titanium liner of first reactor is being
replaced by M/s Larson & Toubro.
4.2 Case Study 2: Leakage in HP Stripper
Urea plants (4 streams) at KRIBHCO, Hazira
were commissioned in 1984 and 1985. Due to
high pressure and high liquid velocity at the en-
trance of the tube, tube thickness has been re-
duced. Most of the tube leakages were observed
near the tube sheet and tube to tube-sheet weld-
ing. So, all four strippers were reversed to en-
hance the life of the equipment. The equipment is
in service since commissioning of the plant and
running at more than 100% plant load. Each fail-
ure of the exchanger leads to a production loss of
4-5 days. Considering the repeated failure, which
appears to be due to the aging of the equipment, it
was proposed to replace the exchanger with new
Bi-metallic stripper.
5 On-stream Efficiency
Operating stream days or on-stream days of a
plant are achieved after subtracting all the days
when production was interrupted for any reason
from 365 days. Forced shutdown could be due to
plant related problems (failures of various nature)
or other problems which could be grouped under
business related problems e.g. shortage of feeds-
tock and utility, labour problems, market con-
straints, etc. There is also downtime due to
planned shutdown for maintenance. Taking these
factors into consideration three different on-
stream efficiency factors are defined as follows:
a. Operating Factor
total operating days
= x 100
365
b. Service Factor
2009
total operating days
= x 100
365-business related downtime
c. Reliability Factor
total operating days
= 365-business related and planned x 100
shutdown time in days
The average on-stream efficiency factors for am-
monia and urea plants for last 2 survey periods are
shown in Table 8. The detailed analysis of ammo-
nia plant data shows that 25% of poor performing
plants achieved an average of 297 on-stream days
and the best 25% plants achieved and average of
346 on-stream days (Figure 1). On-stream effi-
ciency of urea plants is dependent to a great ex-
tent on the performance of ammonia plants. Aver-
age on-stream days achieved for urea plants were
also 326 days, same as for ammonia plants. It can
be seen that average operating factors both for
ammonia and urea plants are low inspite of rela-
tively high reliability factors and need to be im-
proved significantly. The operating factors can be
improved by reducing the period of planned
(maintenance) shutdown and also reducing the
business related downtime to the extent possible.
6 Safety Performance
In order to review the safety performance includ-
ing human injury and loss of life in fertiliser in-
dustry, safety surveys are carried out periodically.
The results of the latest survey for the 3-year pe-
riod of 2005-08 are reported here. The survey in-
cluded data for 26 fertiliser sites with production
of a wide range of fertiliser intermediates and
products viz. ammonia, urea, sulphuric acid,
phosphoric acid and complexes. Only reportable
accidents are included in the analysis. An injury
which requires absence from work of minimum
24 hours is called a reportable accident. The two
indices indicating frequency of accidents and their
impact on life are presented here.
87 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
 6.1 Incident Rate
Incident rate is defined as total number of report-
able accidents per million man-hours employed. It
is also sometimes defined as lost time injury rate.
It is a simple index used for presentation of acci-
dent analysis. An average of 95 million man-
hours was employed by the plants included in this
analysis. The incident rate varied from 0.53 in
2007-08 to 0.85 in 2005-06 with an average of
0.71 (Table 9). Maximum number of 81 reporta-
ble accidents occurred during the year 2005-06.
These incident rates are lower than average of
1.27 reported for the previous survey period of 5
years from 2000-01 to 2004-05.
6.2 Severity Rate
The man-hours lost due to reportable accidents as
a percentage of total man-hours employed is de-
fined as severity rate. The severity rate varied
from 0.24 in 2005-06 to 0.53 in 2006-07 with an
average of 0.35 for the 3-year period (Table 10).
The average severity rate in previous survey pe-
riod was 0.30. The safety record of sites having
only ammonia and urea plants is better than the
average performance of all plants. The average
severity rate only for 20 ammonia and urea plants
was 0.13 for the present survey compared to an
average of 0.35 for all the plants.
6.3 Accident Free Period
The longest accident free period during the
present survey period for ammonia and urea
plants varied from 533 days to 1666 days or more
than 4 years.
6.4 Fatal Accidents
There were 3 fatalities in 20 ammonia-urea plants.
However, a total of 10 deaths occurred during the
3-year period in all the plants at 26 locations.
AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
6.5 Causes of Accidents
The detailed analysis of the accident data during
previous surveys had shown that the largest num-
bers of accidents were caused due to slip and fall,
fall from heights and falling objects. Hot conden-
sate / steam / chemical burn was the next major
cause of injury in the plants. The other major
causes included road / rail / vehicle accidents,
burn due to fire, injury due to moving machines,
electric flash, etc.
7 Conclusion
7.1 Indian ammonia and urea industry is
showing the aging effect. There have been no new
plants commissioned since 1999. The aging of
plants and frequent disruption in supply of feeds-
tock have affected continuous operation of plants.
The operating factors for ammonia and urea plants
remain about the same as in the previous survey
period of 2002-05. Continuous up-gradation of
technology and equipments are helping to main-
tain the performance.
7.2 In ammonia plants, heat exchanger in syn-
thesis loop, synthesis compressor and heat ex-
changers in other sections of the plant have ac-
counted for major downtime due to plant related
problems. Business related downtime accounted
for almost 40% of total downtime and 42% of to-
tal loss of production due to forced shutdown of
plants. The average period of plant shutdown for
maintenance also remains causes of concern. A
few plants took longer shutdown for tying up the
new facilities for debottlenecking of capacity and
improvement in energy efficiency. Others took
longer than normal shutdown due to upward limit
on the production of non-gas based fertiliser
plants.
7.3 Safety performance of the fertiliser indus-
try has been satisfactory in terms of incident rate.
But severity rate is higher due to fatal accidents.
The incident rate for the industry for the period of
2005-08 at 0.71 was much lower than 1.27 regis-
88 2009
 tered in the previous survey period. However, the
severity rate at 0.35 was higher than 0.30 mainly
due to higher number of fatalities. The record of
ammonia – urea plants is much better than that of
overall industry with incidence rate of 0.15 and
severity rate of 0.13. Three fatalities occurred in
ammonia and urea plants during the 3-year period.
7.4 Fertiliser plants have been allocated natu-
ral gas from new finds in Krishna Godavari
Bassein on priority basis. This would help to
make up for the shortfall in availability of natural
gas. Fuel oil based plants would switch to natural
gas as feedstock during next 2-3 years. The new
pricing policy for urea allows for import parity
price for additional domestic production through
debottlenecking, brown-field and green-field
projects. Further reforms are expected in the sec-
tor in near future. The production of urea at
present is lagging behind the demand by almost 8
million tonnes. All these factors should help im-
prove the operating factors of existing plants and
encourage investment in debottlenecking and
modernization projects. Capital investment in new
projects is also expected.
8 References
1. Nand, S. and Goswami, Manish, Indian Journal of Ferti-
lisers, 2(5), 15-18 (2006).
2. Swaminathan, B. and Sinha, R. A., Indian Journal of Fer-
tilisers 2(11), 11-16 (2006).
9 Acknowledgements
Authors are grateful to the management of the Fertiliser As-
sociation of India for permitting to prepare and present the
paper. Help of Shri R. A. Sinha, Deputy Chief (Technical
Services), and FAI for providing support in preparation of
the paper is also acknowledged.

Vintage
Years No. Size
40 or more 1 MTPD No. Feedstock
30 or more 7 < 900 4 Type No.
20 or more 10 900 to < 1500 11 Gas 9
10 or more 9 ≥ 1500 12 Gas + Naphtha 10
Total 27 Total 27 Naphtha 4
Fuel Oil 4
Total 27
Table 1. Characteristics of Ammonia Plants

2009 89 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL

 Category Loss of Production (‘000 MT) Loss of Production (%)
1. Plant Related Problems 972.0 57.7
2. Power Plant / Supply 48.0 2.9
3. Shortage of Raw Materials 323.0 19.2
4. Labour 0.0 0.0
5. Water 25.0 1.5
6. Others 315 18.7
Overall 1683.0 100.0
Table 2. Causes of Loss of Production of Ammonia (2005-08)

Reasons 1996-1999 1999-2002 2002-2005 2005-2008

1. Mechanical 14.7 14.7 5.9 7.6
2. Electrical 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.6
3. Instrumentation 1.1 1.0 1.4 1.4
4. Process 1.6 1.9 0.6 0.6
5. Miscellaneous 10.3 11.9 6.1 0.9
Total 28.3 30.2 14.8 11.0
Table 3. Plant Related Downtime in Ammonia Plants for Various Survey Periods
(All the Plants) - (DDPY–Downtime in Days / Plant / Year)

(2002-05) (2005-08)
(24 Plants) (23 Plants)
Major Sections
Downtime Downtime
Days % Days %
1. Pre-treatment Sections 8.0 1.8 20.3 3.9
2. Pre-reformer 15.8 3.6 11.2 2.1
3. Primary reformer 72.4 16.4 85.6 16.2
4. Secondary reformer 48.7 11.1 13.6 2.6
5. Purification 46.0 10.5 49.6 9.4
6. Synloop & Refrigeration 21.2 4.8 116.7 22.1
7. Syngas Compressor 68.0 15.4 158.7 30.1
8. Other Compressors & Turbines 87.0 19.8 30.5 5.8
9. Miscellaneous Major Equipments 73.0 16.6 41.2 7.8
Total 440.1 100.0 527.4 100.0
Table 4. Details of Plant Related Downtime due to Mechanical Failures in Ammonia Plants
(Based on Reforming Process)

AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL 90 2009

 (2002-05) (2005-08)
(4 Plants) (4 Plants)
Major Sections
Downtime Downtime
Days % Days %
1. Gasifier 1.0 16.5 0.3 0.3
2. Air Separation Unit 12.0 20.7 18.0 18.7
3. Purification 7.0 12.0 15.1 15.7
4. Synloop & Refrigeration 2.0 3.4 43.7 45.3
5. Syngas Compressor 23.0 38.9 4.1 4.3
6. Other Compressors & Turbines 2.0 2.9 0.2 0.2
7. Miscellaneous Major Equipments 12.0 20.2 15.0 15.6
Total 59.0 100.0 96.4 100.0
Table 5. Details of Plant Related Downtime due to Mechanical Failures in Ammonia Plants
(Based on Gasification Process)

Category Loss of Production (‘000 MT) Loss of Production (%)

1. Plant Related Problems 563.0 26.7
2. Power Plant / Supply 143.0 6.8
3. Shortage of Raw Materials 1120.0 53.2
4. Labour 0.0 0.0
5. Water 0.0 0.0
6. Others 280.0 13.3
Overall 2106.0 100.0
Table 6. Causes of Loss of Production of Urea (2005-08)

2009 91 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL

 Equipment Items 1996-99 1999-2002 2002-05 2005-08
1. Ammonia pre-heater 0.3 0.1 0.1 0.1
2. Ammonia Pump 0.8 0.1 0.1 0.1
3. Carbamate Pump 1.8 0.1 0.3 0.1
4. Slurry & Other Pumps 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0
5. CO2 Compressor 1.7 1.1 0.4 0.4
6. Autoclave/Reactor 1.1 1.6 0.6 0.5
7. Heat Exchangers 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.4
8. Decomposer/Stripper 0.8 1.3 1.4 0.8
9. NH3/CO2 Recovery Column 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
10. Absorber/Recovery Vessels 0.6 0.1 0.2 0.0
11. Evaporator/Crystallizer 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
12. Centrifuge 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0
13. Steam Ejector/Vacuum Generator 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.0
14. Dryer/Cooler 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.0
15. Blower/Fan 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0
16. Conveyer/Elevator 0.6 0.1 0.0 0.1
17. Prill Tower 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.0
18. Piping/Valves 0.5 0.4 0.4 1.1
19. Miscellaneous 0.6 0.6 1.2 0.4
Total 10.5 6.2 5.9 4.2

Table 7. Details of Plant Related Downtime due to Mechanical Failures in Urea Plants
(DDPY = Downtime Days / Plant / Year)

Operating Factor % Service Factor % Reliability Factor %

2002-05 2005-08 2002-05 2005-08 2002-05 2005-08
Ammonia 90.3 89.3 91.9 91.0 97.1 96.9
Urea 85.0 89.3 91.7 92.8 97.9 98.3
Table 8. Operating, Service and Reliability Factors for Ammonia and Urea Plants

Million Man-hour Number of Reportable Incident Rate

Year Worked Accident (RA)
2005-06 95.1 81 0.85
2006-07 100.9 76 0.75
2007-08 104.1 55 0.53
Yearly Average 100.0 71 0.71
Table 9. Incident Rate of Accidents in All Fertiliser Plants

AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL 92 2009

 Year Million Man-hour Million Man-hour lost Severity Rate (%)
Worked due to Reportable Ac-
cidents (RA)
2005-06 95.1 0.22 0.24
2006-07 100.9 0.54 0.53
2007-08 104.1 0.30 0.29
Yearly Average 100.0 0.35 0.35
Table 10. Severity Rate of Accidents in All Fertiliser Plants

On-Stream Days
350 346
340 336
330 323 326
320
310
297 On-Stream Days
300
290
280
270
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Overall

Figure 1: Quartiles of On-Stream Days of Ammonia Plants

2009 93 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL

AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL 94 2009