DFL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRAINEES REPORT

NFL VIJAIPUR INDIA

WEEK: TWELVE

PLANT: SESSION: UREA I

GROUP: ONE S1

GROUP MEMBERS: Yunus, Muhammad Halil

Ismail, Usman
Umar, Munir Mohammad
Gaiya, Zechariah Abba
Yakubu, Abdullahi
Shehu, Baffa Jakada
Abubakar, Kabir Isah
Baba, Muhammad Bello

MONDAY 8TH – SATURDAY 13TH APRIL, 2019

GENERAL OVERVIEW
Group activities for the week includes:
 Visit to Ammonia Cooling Tower and changing from the turbine driven pump to motor
driven pump.

 Few visits to Ammonia and Urea line II as shutdown repairs and changing of equipment
are still on-going.

 Reported to Urea I based on the training module, after completing the training period in
Ammonia I on 7th April, 2019. Both Ammonia I and Urea I shares the same Central
Control Room (CCR).

 General overview of Urea I Plant, Participation and observations during the emergency
shutdown and startup on our first day in Urea I

 PFD studies and several plant visits to the High Pressure (HP) Section of the Urea Plant.
 1. Pump Switching Activity at Ammonia I Cooling Tower
Ammonia I shift in charge noticed that the on the ejectors creating vacuum in the surface
condenser of the turbine driven pump sending water back to the plant is faulty, we visited the
plant alongside the shift in charge to change from the turbine driven pump to the standby motor
driven pump, unfortunately the flapper supporting the nonreturn valve (NRV) of the motor
driven pump was broken. The shift in charge decided to manage the turbine driven pump while
the mechanical engineers fix the flap, since the faulty ejector will not cause adverse effect.
After the plant activities the shift in charge gave us a lecture on the ejectors circuit system placed
around the condenser and why it is necessary to create a vacuum in the condenser. He also said
that condensing turbines are the most efficient turbines and not back pressure turbines.

Vapor Condensate from turbine

Surface Condencer

Vent
Cond. to CPU Motive fluid

Cond. to turbine
Cond. Pump Condenser for Ejectors

Ejector
Fig 1: Ejector circuit for cooling tower water turbine driven pump
2. Shutdown activities in Ammonia and Urea Line II as Observed

 Hydro jet cleaning and soap leaking testing on most of the heat exchangers in Ammonia
II were completed, in the 2nd stage intercooler of the process air compressor, it was
observed that above 30% of the tubes were leaking and if all is plugged, it is not meet up
it cooling efficiency.

 The ID fan rotor was replaced and the new one installed.

 The insulations removed earlier were replaced with new once, and all valves were re-
calibrated and re-installed, the gland seal in most valves were successfully changed.

 Welding of leaking linings still on-going in the Urea reactor, replacing of packings, hydro
jet cleaning and manual cleaning of most equipment still on-going in Urea II.

 Loading of the Low Temperature Shift (LTS) Converter catalyst took about 3 to 4 days,
the catalyst was arranged in two beds and separated by and Grit and a Mesh as shown
below, totally of 122 m3 volume. Alumina balls are also used to create bed stability and
to protect the catalyst of high temperature

Alumina Balls
(Al2O3)
ZnO, = 52%
Al2O3 = 23% First Catalyst Bed

CuO = 25%
Alumina Balls
(Al2O3)

300mm space between the two beds

Alumina Balls
(Al2O3)
ZnO, = 36%
Al2O3 = 36% Second Catalyst Bed
CuO = 28%
Alumina Balls
(Al2O3)
 3. General overview of Urea Plant Explained and Emergency Shutdown Witnessed
On our first day at the Urea I Plant office, we introduced ourselves to Mr. R.S Sharma (Senior
Manager Urea I), who handed us over to shift in charge Mr. Pranay. Group members were
advised to be on General Shift (8am-5pm) for a week thereafter to be on Morning and evening
shifts.
We were given brief description of the urea process on the distributed control system (DCS) by
Mr. Pranay, some important sections in the urea plant includes:
1. High Pressure (HP) Section
2. Medium Pressure (MP) Section
3. Low Pressure (LP) Section
4. Vacuum (Urea Concentration) Section
5. Urea Prilling Section
6. Waste Water Section.
Some of the units includes: Compressor House, Distillation Unit, Effluent Unit, Hydrolyzer, Etc.
On our first day at Urea I, the plant experienced an emergency shut down due to power failure
and trip of the load management system (LMS) due to low supply of CO2. The following
procedures were observed during the emergency shutdown and startup.
 CO2 from Ammonia plant to Urea plant was vented immediately, a trip in the motor
driven Ammonia pump, cause the whole plant to shut down, as valves to the reactors,
stripper, separators, decomposers and major equipment in all the sections were all closed,
both from the DCS and manually.

 As the closing of valves is going on, Ammonia plant was instructed to reduce their and
ammonia produced is sent to storage while CO2 produce is vented.

 Drain and vent lines were opened and all solutions in various equipment drained and
vented via headers, accept for the Carbamate condenser (E-5)

 The draining of most equipment was done by observing the level in Medium Pressure
Absorber (C-1)

 After the draining was completed, the plant was immediately switched to start up mode
by opening up the valve of CO2 inlet into the compressor, but the CO2 is still being
vented while the turbine driven CO2 compressor is being started, when the required RPM
is achieved, the vent line was closed and send is purified in a knock out drum and sent to
the compressor for compression,

 The Ammonia booster pumps and the Ammonia main pump (both motors driven) were
all started and feeds (NH3 and CO2) were sent to the reactor at minimum load.
 Other equipment in the HP Section and other sections were gradually put in line as load is
being increased, until plant began to run on normal operating load.

 Changeover of urea Carbamate Pump P-5A to P-5B. The isolation valve at the suction of
pump P-5A was fully opened, the pump was switched on, and immediately the control
valve was fully opened. Then the control valve of pump P-5A was fully closed and the
pump was immediately stopped, the isolation valve at the suction side of P-5A was
closed. Pneumatic Water (kw) was sent through a water pipe to drain the accumulated
Carbamate in P-5A by opening the drain valves. The procedure was on until the
accumulated Carbamate is longer present in the pipe, then the drain valves were closed.

 Filter A of the lube oil system of the CO2 compressor was regenerated by by-passing the
filter A to filter B. After regeneration, the filter was placed in line and filter B in
generation mode.

4. High Pressure (HP) Section of the Urea Plant

 Carbamate from
bottom of MP Absorber
Condensate
LS Steam

Carbamate pump A/B

Mixer
Gases to bottom of
MP Decomposer
Carbamate condenser
Carbamate
separator

Urea Reactor

HP Decomposer
(Stripper)

Solution to MP
Pre Decomposer

Heat Exchanger
Carbamate Ejector
CO2 Delivery Drum
NH3 from Booster
Pump A/B
CO2 Compressor

NH3 Feed Pump A/B &C

CO2 from Battery Limit

CO2 Knock Out Drum

fig 2: HP Loop of urea plant
The HP Loop consist of the following equipment
 Urea Reactor
 High Pressure Decomposer (Stripper)
 Carbamate Separator
 Carbamate Condenser
 Carbamate Ejector
 CO2 Compressor
 NH3 Feed Pump
 Carbamate Feed Pump
 CO2 Delivery Drum
Reaction between NH3 and CO2 to form Carbamate and the dehydration of the Carbamate to
form Urea and H2O occurs only in the urea reactor according to the following equations:
………….. (1)
 Carbamate
……. (2)

Urea Water
The first reaction, (1) occurs rapidly and is completed, the second reaction, (2) occurs slowly and
determines the reactor volume, during normal operation, NH3 to CO2 ratio is 3.6:1, that of H2O to
CO2 is 0.67:1. NFL uses the Snamprogetti Ammonia Stripping Process in their Urea Production.
Different technologies are employed in urea production processes. These processes differ in how
the unconverted Carbamate formed is recycled back to the reactor. Two basic methodologies
used are:
i) Reduction in total pressure which is applied to the conventional processes
ii) Shift in partial pressure applied to the stripping processes.
The stripping process covers the StamiCarbon and Snamprogetti processes whereas the
conventional process defines the MTC improved and Montedision/Technimount processes.
During normal operations liquid ammonia (NH3) comes from ammonia synthesis section
(Ammonia Plant) which is collected in the ammonia receiver tank V-1 at about 16-20kg/cm2g. It
is compressed to about 23-25kg/cm2g by means of NH3 Booster Pump (P-5A/B). Which then
compressed by the NH3 Feed Pump (P-1A/B & C) to about 240kg/cm2g. This is fed into the Urea
Reactor (R-1). Gaseous CO2 from Ammonia Plant coming at 0.4-1.4kg/cm2g is compressed by
the CO2 Compressor to about 160kg/cm2g and also send to the Urea Reactor (R-1). Reaction
starts at the bottom of the reactor where carbamate is formed, the dehydration of carbamate to
form urea occurs along the trays to the over flow pipe, where the solution leaves the reactor.

The first reaction is exothermic, while the second reaction is endothermic, the overall reaction in
the reactor is an exothermic process.
It is expedient to note that these conversions are done at high pressures and temperatures
(approximately 160kg & 180oC respectively) hence urea purification and concentration is an
energy consuming process. Additional energy is sourced to complete the urea production
process. Consideration to energy consumption and generation in the whole process is quite
imperative as energy is of industrial value in defining economically efficient operations.
A basic principle of relative importance in understanding urea production is the Le Chatelier’s
principle. This tells about the effect of temperature, pressure and reactants/products
concentration on the urea synthesis process. This has been used exhaustively to explain all the
side reactions occurring alongside the main reactions involved in the process. These side
reactions are represented by the equations below:
These reactions have significant effects on the urea production. For example, reaction number 3
represents the decomposition of the Carbamate, which is favored by decrease in pressure and
high temperature. It is the reason for high pressure to avoid dissociation of the Carbamate into
NH3 and CO2 in the reactor.
We took studies of the most important equipment in the Urea plant, Reactor, R1 where Urea is
produced by synthesis.
The urea reactor is 40m height and has internal diameter of 2.04m, the synthesis conditions in the
reactor are 190oC and 160 kg/cm2 temperature and pressure respectively. Urea reactor is a plug
flow type with 15 number of high efficiency stainless steel sieve trays to avoid back mixing and
to avoid escape of gaseous CO2 which must react in the lower part of the reactor. The Reactor is
provided with an over flow pipe from the top of the reactor to the 6 th tray with serves as the outlet of the
reactor and inlet to the PH Decomposer (Stripper)

The material of construction for Urea Reactor is carbon Steel for shell side while the Lining is
stainless steel.
Uneven corrosion in R1 occurs due to some of the following reasons;
i. Poor feed rate and poor feed quality
ii. High inert in the passivation air
iii. Presence of Sulphides, Chlorides and Fe precipitates
iv. Lack of passivation.
The reactor is equipped with weep holes monitoring system. Air conductivity meter is provided
to all weep holes for monitoring any leakage. Resistance is connected to end point by means of
conductivity meter. The resistance input is used to monitor leakages easily.
Resistance Measurement is within 0-20kΩ
Less than 3kΩ means there are leakages in the reactor linings, while above 20kΩ means the
weep holes are opened and between 3 ≤ 20kΩ means no leakages.
The reactor has no pressure safety valve (PSV), because its content is liquid, however, HV-3 is a
butterfly valve placed at the outlet of the reactor and it is used to maintain the reactor pressure.
About 33% urea is formed at the outlet of the reactor and the solution is sent to the top side of
the High Pressure (HP) Decomposer (Stripper) which operate at a pressure close to that of the
reactor.
  High Pressure Decomposer (Stripper E1)
The main aim of this equipment is to ensure that the Carbamate is decomposed to NH3 and CO2,
using medium pressure (MS) steam on the shell side of the stripper.
In the stripper, 70% of Carbamate is decomposed. The outlet of the reactor through the butterfly
control valve (HV-6) goes into the stripper (E1). The working principle of the equipment is
designed as a falling film evaporator (tangential flow in the tubes of the stripper).
To achieve a suitable thermal decomposition, the stripper is designed with ferrules (small
openings that allows movement of the urea solution through the walls of the tubes). The tubes
are 6m long and each of the tubes has a ferule.
The stripper operates at near reactor pressure, this helps to eliminate the difficulties associated
with the Carbamate and unconverted reactants recycling into the reactor and prevent the water
formed from escaping as vapor in the stripper.
The solutions from the reaction flows down through the tube walls where the gain heat and
carbamate decomposed into NH3 and CO2 vapor, the vapor flows to the top of the stripper and
sent to the carbamate condenser.
E1 is equipped with Pressure Safety Valve (PSV) since the top of E1 is mainly vapor NH3 and
CO2, the PSV is used to control any possible pressure build up in the stripper.
The lining of the shell side of E1 is passivated with air from compressor K2 and it is also
equipped with weep holes to monitor leakages just like in the reactor.
The overhead vapor from E1 flow to high pressure carbamate condenser (E5) through mixer
(ME-1), the bottom of E1 has a Urea concentration of about 45% and the solution is sent to the
Medium Pressure (MP) Absorber.

 Carbamate Condenser (E5)

The over head vapor from HP Stripper (E1) and the liquid bottom of the MP Absorber (C-1)
through the carbamate solution pump (P-2 A/B) are mixed in mixer (ME-1) attached to the
carbamate condenser.
The main aim of the E5 is to condensed the carbamate solution flowing through its tubes to the
carbamate separator by using a condensate to generate low pressure (LS) steam of about 3.5-
4.5kg/cm2g. the LS steam generated in used in the LS and vacuum sections of the urea plant.
The temperature of the carbamate solution leaving the tubes of E5 is determined by the shell side
steam pressure which is kept constant by a pressure controller.
The lining of the shell side of E5 is also passivated with air from compressor K3 and it is also
equipped with weep holes to monitor leakages just like in the reactor and the stripper.
The condensed carbamate leaving the tubes of the carbamate condenser contains the following
(NH3 = 51.2%, CO2 = 29.5% and H2O = 19.3%) at (155OC and 147kg/cm2g).

 Carbamate Separator (MV-1)

The inlet of the carbamate separator is the same as the outlet of the carbamate condenser. The
main of the separator is to remove the non-condensable gases including inert gases present in the
carbamate solution.
The separated gases are sent to the bottom of the medium pressure decomposer (MV-2) to
condense the little NH3 and CO2 present in the inert by the coming medium pressure urea
solution.
The bottom of the separator is sent to the carbamate ejector at the same composition and
conditions to with it left the carbamate condenser (E5).
Carbamate separator (MV-) is also equipped with a pressure safety valve (PSV) to maintain
pressure in the vessel.

 Carbamate Ejector (EJ-1)

The main purpose of the ejector is to create a vacuum that allows the sucking of the carbamate
solution by the NH3 coming at higher pressure.
The NH3 from the reactor feed pump is coming at a pressure of about 240kg/cm2g and it is used
as a motive fluid to suck the carbamate solution coming at about 147kg/cm2g. the solution is then
fed into the reaction where they reactor with gaseous CO2 to form carbamate and then
dehydrated to form urea.
The ejector is a PSV to maintain the pressure of the ejector, the inlet pipe of the carbamate
solution into the ejector and the inlet of the NH3 into the ejector have control valves to control
the flows into the ejector.

 CO2 Compressor
The CO2 compressor is a four (stage) centrifugal compressor with two (2) low pressure (LP)
sides and two (2) high pressure (HP) side, it also has three (3) inter stage coolers and separators
on the 1st, 2nd & 3rd stage outlets.
The major function of the CO2 is to compress the CO2 coming from battery limit after passing
through the CO2 knock Out (KO) Drum (to remove condensate) from 0.5kg/cm2g to about
160kg/cm2g
The compressed CO2 through a delivery drum it sent to the reactor, the main function of the CO2
delivery drum is to serve as a temporary storage tank for the CO2 and to protect the CO2
Compressor from immediate surging problem when they is an instant failure of the non-return
valve (NRV) place at the CO2 pipe inlet to the reactor by preventing an immediate back flow to
the compressor.
Compressed service air from the air compressor (K2) is added to the CO2 going into the CO2
Compressor (K1) for passivation. The temperature of CO2 at the outlet of the 3rd stage of the
CO2 compressor is maintained above its supercritical temperature to prevent the CO2 from
forming crystals.
The CO2 Compressor is driven by two stage HP and LP) extraction and condensing steam
turbine using pneumatic steam (KS) i.e. steam at 110kg/cm2g and 520OC
Both the compressor and the turbine have a lube oil system used to the lubricate the moving parts
and air is used for sealing.
The. HP sides of the compressor is provided with a gear box to increase the RPM of its rotating
shaft and subsequently the blades.

 Reactor Feed Pumps (P-1 A/B & C)

The reactor feed pumps also known as Ammonia feed pumps is used to deliver ammonia from
the ammonia booster pump (P-5) to the reactor, by compressing the liquid NH3 from about 23-
25kg/cm2g to about 159-160kg/cm2g.
Pump P-1C is a high pressure positive displacement pump with 5 plungers which makes it a 5
stage reciprocating pump, it only has the capacity to just 25m3 of the liquid NH3, it is capable of
compressing NH3 to about 24okg/cm2g so it is then used to reduced to load on the main pump P-
1A/B. P-1C has no torque converter, but has a suction and discharge damper to maintain and
balance the inlet and outlet pressures and to reduce vibration and prevent cavitation. P-1C is a
motor driven pump with gear box and a crankshaft and it is always in operation.
During normal operation one of either P-1A/B is in operation while the other will be on standby,
to pump the remaining NH3 from P-5A/B) to about 240kg/cm2g same as P-1C, P-1A/B is also a
positive displacement pump with have 3 plungers which makes it a stage reciprocating pump.
Each of P-1A/B has a torque converter, a gear box, a crankshaft and a suction and discharge
dampers, and they are both motor driven pumps.
Lube oil system is used to lubricate the moving parts and pneumatic water (KW) coming at
120kg/cm2g is used for sealing the pumps.

 Carbamate Solution Pump (P-2A/B)

The carbamate solution is used to move the carbamate solution from the bottom of medium
pressure (MP) Absorber operating at 18kg/cm2g, it is used to increase the pressure of the
solution from 18kg/cm2g to about 147 kg/cm2g and sends it to the carbamate condenser (E5)
mixer (ME-1) through a gate valve (HV-6).
During normal operation on of the pumps is in operation while the other is on standby, both
pumps are motor driven centrifugal pumps with a gear ratio of 1:1 and a drain system in case of
emergencies.
Lube oil system is used to lubricate the moving parts and pneumatic water (KW) coming at
120kg/cm2g from pump (P-36A/B) is used for sealing the pumps.