R-501

AMMONIA CONVERTER

Uneven Bed Temperatures

Muhammad Adnan

OBJECTIVE

[ Diagnostics of Ammonia Converter uneven

catalyst bed temperatures

CONTENTS

Introduction / Layout

Flow pattern of Ammonia Converter

Problem Identification

Possible Causes & Analysis

Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

Operating
Temperature
360C 380C
Operating Pressure
260 Kg/cm
3 Bed Iron
based catalyst

Converter
capacity
1250 MeT/day

N2+3H2

2NH3 + heat

Reactor Flow Patterns

05-HIC-1002V
05-HIC-1V

05-HIC-1001V
05-HIC-1V

05-TRC-3V

Temperature monitoring of Catalyst

Bed

Thermocouples installed in four thermo wells.

Two thermo wells containing TIS.

Two thermo wells containing TRS.

Each TI & TR has a spare.

Each TI & TR have equal length.

Temperature Monitoring of Ammonia Converter Catalyst Bed

Bundle T2

Bundle T3

05-TI-01

05-TR-01

05-TR-02

05-TI-02

05-TR-03

05-TI-03

Bundle T1

Bundle T4
05-TR-04

05-TI-04
05-TI-05

05-TI-06

05-TI-07

05-TR-05
05-TR-06

05-TR-07
05-TR-08

05-TI-08
05-TR-09
05-TI-09

Failures of Valve Bodies of P101A/B/C

Catalyst Bed Temperature Profile during Start-Up

Catalyst Bed Temperature Profile during Start-Up

Failures of Valve Bodies of P101A/B/C

12

Temperature Profile Study

Uneven heating of catalyst bed which increases

especially during high flow and high
loop pressure conditions.

Possible Causes

TIs & TRs indicating false reading

Synthesis Loop Pressure is not as per design

NH3 Concentration at reactor inlet is not as per design

Non Uniform Flow Distribution

TIS & TRS are indicating

false reading?

Result of thermocouples study

Synthesis loop pressure is

not as per design?

Result of loop pressure study

NH3 Concentration at
Converter Inlet is not as per
design?

Result of ammonia concentration study

Non uniform distribution of

flow?

Result of non uniform flow study

There is non uniform flow distribution across the bed length.

the non uniform flow distribution is the basic cause of our
problem.
This is basic cause of difference in the temperature at TI & TR

Conclusion
The cause of our problem is the non uniform flow
distribution on the catalyst bed which is mainly due of

Improper degree of packing

Channeling in the catalyst bed

Quench flow is not properly mixing

Q&A

Problem Identification
uneven catalyst bed temperature can leads to following
problems if not identify its proper reason

Efficiency loss

Loss of production

Catalyst damage

Loss of equipment

Misguide us on controlling catalyst bed temperatures.

Converter provider

Ammonia casale

Capacity (MET/DAY)
Catalyst
No. of catalyst bed

1250
Magnetite catalyst activated with
K2O,CaO,Al2O3,MgO
3

Equivalent particle size (mm)

1.38

Catalyst volume (m3)

32.90

Form of catalyst

Irregular shape

Flow pattern

Axial radial type

heat exchangers included

Total converter pressure drop

2nd bed outlet

Bottom exchanger
2.36

Temperature controlling

05- TRC-3V

(for controlling of 1st bed inlet temperature)

05-HIC-1001V (for controlling of 2nd bed inlet temperature)

05-HIC-1002V (for controlling of 3rd bed inlet temperature)

AMMONIA CONVERTER TEMPEARATURE CONTORLING BLOCK DIAGRAME

BED 1
HIC-1001

BED 2

05-TRC-3

HIC-1002

F-501

BED 3

HIC-1
Bottom
Exchange
E-502

BLUE LINE
YELLOW LINE
RED LINE

E= COLD GAS
501A/B
= MEDIUM
TEMP. GAS
= HOT GAS

HIC-3V

TIS & TRS are indicating false

reading?

Each TI & TR present on same bed at 180 angle.

Each TI & TR have spare thermocouple available.

Each TI & TR, their spare thermocouple shows same reading.

TI and TR present on the same catalyst bed shows almost

same reading during shutdown condition.

Synthesis loop pressure is not as per

design?

Design pressure is 225 kg/cm2

working pressure is 257 kg/cm2 .
There can be following causes of increasing loop pressure.

I.

decrease in catalyst activity

II.

changing of H2/N2 ratio away from optimum

III.

increase in make up flow rates

IV.

decreasing the circulation rate causing increase in

inserts level

NH3 concentration at converter inlet is not as per

design?

Ammonia concentration is 2.85%

Design figure of about 4% Ammonia.
Ammonia in reactor feed gas plays a role in controlling the
temperature.
Ammonia concentration at the ammonia converter inlet is
less then the design figure.
This will cause higher rate of reaction means higher
temperature.

Result of ammonia concentration study

This is not a cause of this problem because we have run

plant by changing the ammonia concentration at reactor
inlet but the problem was remain unchanged.
Temperature changes should be same throughout the
catalyst bed.

As ammonia concentration changing at inlet cause the

temperature changing throughout the bed so this is not the
cause of our problem.

Non uniform distribution of flow?

The non uniform distribution of flow means the flow of fluid is not
equally divided throughout the bed length.
The uneven flow of gas can leads to the problem of uneven
temperature across the bed.
This can leads to the problem of uneven temperature profile
because the reign where the flow of gas is higher shows a higher
temperature than other low flow reign.
the thermocouple present on the side of higher flow reign shows
a higher temperature then the thermocouple present on the low
flow reign.

Temperature profile of catalyst bed during shutdown

This trend showing that temperature at respective TIs & TRS is almost same

Temperature profile of catalyst bed during normal operation