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DESIGN PROJECT 2
(PLANT & PROCESS OPTIMIZATION)
L01-P10
JANUARY 2016
This process implicated the reaction between gas and liquid. The liquid mixture of NH3
and carbamate (180C) and gaseous CO2 (140C) are fed to reactor. These two different phases
classified as heterogeneous reaction. They meet at 190C and 175 atm pressure inside the reactor
to form ammonia carbamate (NH2COONH4). The reaction taking place in the parameters of
reactor are as follows.
From the above reaction which occurs in the reactor, it can be identified as reversible
process. Whereby, the reaction between 2 mols of liquid NH3 and 1 mol of gaseous CO2 will
produce 1 mol of NH2COONH4 and 1 mol of H2O. This reaction will react reversely forming
back 2 mols of NH3 and 1 mol CO2. This reversible reaction basically evaluated at equilibrium
condition. Following are the kinetics parameter involving in the reaction inside the reactor.
However, this reaction considered as liquid phase reaction due to the outlet flow out from the
reactor in liquid form.
Parameter Value
2
The reaction rate constant, k was determined by using Arrhenius equation
60930 J/mol
= 5 1
(4.259 X 10 min ) ( 8.314 J/molK)(463.15)
= 0.05719 1
= 3.4314 1 ( )
The value and unit obtained drive to the first order of reaction. So, the appropriate rate law is
This shows the reaction obeys a non-elementary Rate Law whereas the rate equation cannot be
determined by looking at the stoichiometric coefficient. Therefore, all the features obtained
correspond to plug flow reactor (PFR).
3
Mass & Heat Balance of Reactor
C02: 0.8709
6.3.1.1 Reactor NH3: 0.1291
Stream 1(i):
3509.447527T/YEAR
C02: 0.114
Inlet Reactor
A.C: 0.675
NH3: 56668.0559/YEAR
NH3: 0.211
Reactor
1. Total,
=1+2+3
=185330.5438 MJ/day
(117)
H5= 409.34477* 103
78
H5 = -614021.5741 MJ/day
H6 = 1060.256*15.5/60* 10^3
= 273899.4667 MJ/day
Q== -
= 273899.5744+185330.5438-614021.5841
= -154791.5744 MJ/day
5
Reactor Volume
Based on Table 2, inlet each component for the reactor are converted from T/Yr to kg/hr.
The values are as follows.
Determination of inlet volumetric flowrate, V0 for each component, density inlet must be
considered.
Following are the calculation and value of V0 for each components and total.
6
Reactor Volume,
=
0
(1 )
= = = (1 )
0
=
0
=
0
=
0 (1 )
=
0 (1 )
1
= [ln ]
1
1
= [ln ]
1
36.953 3 / 1
= 1
[ln ]
3.4314 1 0.7
= 12.966 3
7
Residence time, t
=
0
12.966 3
=
36.953 3 /
60
= 0.351
1
= 21.05
8
Mechanical design of the reactor
Equipment used in urea process such as Urea reactor, Urea stripper, Carbonate condenser,
are constructed with Carbon steel lined or covered with a Protective layer of the above
mentioned Stainless steel materials. The thickness of the liner varies between 4 and 10 mm
(Brouwer, 2009). Welding is used as prominent method for fabricating such huge equipment.
Welding procedures are qualified by optimizing weld parameters in order to meet stringent. The
qualification is adopted for job, with appropriate quality checks in production welds also. Recent
developments in construction materials to curb corrosion mechanism operative in HP section is
also integrated.
Urea plant operates at high temperature / high pressure and carbonate solution, the
intermediate product is extremely corrosive. Ammonium carbonate at approximately 180-250C
and 180bar is extremely aggressive to materials. Candidate MOC for such aggressive
environments is Zirconium, Titanium, Duplex Stainless steel (SAFUREX & DP-28W) and
stainless steel (25Cr-22Ni-2Mo & 316L UG). Titanium had been used widely in the synthesis
reactor of the total recycle plants till early 1970s and the high pressure (HP) stripper of ammonia
stripping process till early 1990s. It has good passivation property with less passivation air.
However titanium is susceptible to erosion and it is difficult to weld. Other than that, The life
time of titanium is limited (Juneja, 2013).Due to this disadvantages, titanium has been gradually
taken over by stainless steel. Stainless steel has been widely used for this equipment in urea
plants. Stainless steel is almost immune to erosion and has good weldability but requires large
amount of passivation air for urea synthesis equipment compared to titanium. Type 316L UG has
been used for a long time in urea plants mainly because of its excellent weldability, fair
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corrosion resistance and relatively low cost. Requirement of huge amount of passivation air by
316L UG in synthesis and recycle sections restricts its operability.
Type 25Cr-22Ni-2Mo SS is being used due to its better corrosion resistance than 316L
UG and excellent weldability. This type of metal has been used in reactor and strippers but it is
susceptible by chloride to SCC and costly. Duplex SS shows excellent corrosion resistance in
both Weld metal and HAZ. They possess better resistance to Stress Corrosion Cracking, hence
used in chloride environments as well. In oxygen free carbonate solutions, duplex has proved to
be more corrosion resistant than much more costly materials such as Titanium and high nickel
alloys. Various MOC used in urea plants worldwide, their advantages and disadvantages are
depicted in Table 1.
10
Accessories of the reactors
1. Cooling jacket.
There are different cooling jackets are available in the market depending the operating
conditions. However in order to find the right jacket, several factors need to be considered, for
example, cost, heat transfer rate required and pressure as a rough guide. Half pipe cooling jacket
can withstand pressure up to 70 bar (Sinnot & Towler, 2009, pp. 956-957) and less pressure
drop than other jackets. In order to fulfil the design operating conditions (140bar and 453K), half
pipe cooling jacket can be used as it can withstand high pressure. Standard sizes of the half pipe
jacket are 2 3/8, 3 and 4 -in.o.d. Thickness can be used as 3/16-in. for 2 3/8-in.od. and in
for both 3 and 4 1/2 in.od (McKetta, 1992, pp. 423-424) however cooling jacket diameter
and thickness can be slightly varied in order to accommodate the higher pressure and
temperature conditions and will be shown in the below calculations. Half pipe cooling jacket is
normally fabricated by 304 stainless steel to avoid problem like differential thermal expansion.
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Heat transfer device
= 2.6845 KJ/sec
= 2.6845 KW
m = (2.6845*1000)/2105.466
Area A = Q/(U*LMTD)
L= 4.83m
12
COLD FLUID TUBE SIDE
13
Instrumentation and Process Control
Level Controller Flow Controller Output Valve Output Flow Reactor Level Liquid
Process
level
Output Flowrate
Liquid Level
Control Strategy: handle reactor level by adjusting the flow rate of the product output.
If a disturbance in output flow rate occurs, FC will act quickly to hold the output flow rate at its Set Point.
Control system measures Reactor level and compare it to set point level of the reactor. Then uses the resulting error signal as the input to
a controller for output flow rate.
Temperature Control inside the Reactor ( Cascade control )
Steam Flowrate
Control Strategy: handle reactor temperature by adjusting the flow rate of the steam on the steam jacket.
The hot steam is used by MASTER controller (TC) to establish the set point for SLAVE loop controller.
If a disturbance in steam supply occurs, FC will act quickly to hold the Steam flow rate at its Set Point.
Control system measures Jacket Temperature and compare it to set point temperature of the reactor. Then uses the resulting error signal as
the input to a controller for steam makeup.
PRINCIPAL: the 2ndmanipulated variable is located closed to potential disturbance & react quickly
Pressure control inside the Ractor ( Cascade control )
Gas Flowrate
Reactor Pressure
Control Strategy: handle reactor pressure by adjusting the flow rate of the gas.
If a disturbance in gas flow rate occurs, FC will act quickly to hold the gas flow rate at its Set Point.
Control system measures Reactor pressure and compare it to set point level of the reactor. Then uses the resulting error signal as the input
to a controller for gas flow rate.
Overall Process Control at Reactor Gas
FC PC
PT
TC TT LC
steam
Heat Exchanger
TC
FC
FC
Gas
FC PC
PT
steam
TC
FC
FC
Cascade is desired when the single loop performance is unacceptable and a measured
variable is available. Besides that, the secondary variable must indicate the occurrence of an
important disturbancein the system. Furthermore, the secondary variable also must have a
faster response than the primary which is 4 times faster than the primary in order to get a
better control.
The cascade control is an improvement of the feedback and feed forward control
system because the conventional feedback usually take the corrective action for disturbance
after the control variable deviates from set point. Besides that, the feed forward requires to
calculate the disturbance explicitly and hence available to calculate the control variable.
Furthermore, employment of secondary measurement point and secondary feedback controller
are required for recognizes the upset condition sooner.
In conclusion, cascade control system are much more applicable in the reactor control
system because it have large improvement in performance when the
secondary is much faster than primary, simple technology with PID algorithms, use of
feedback at all levels since primary has zero offset for step-like disturbances.
Furthermore, plant operating personnel find cascades easy to operate because opening
cascade at one level cause all controllers above to become inactive.