3.

4 Complete Process Description

Bosch-Meiser process which uses ammonia and carbon dioxide is the common process used in
commercial urea production. The chosen unreacted raw materials reutilization process is carbon
dioxide stripping process. Pre-treatment of the feedstock is not required in this process scheme as
the carbon dioxide supplied is in pure form. The proposed urea production plant consists of few
sections:

1. Synthesis section
2. Rectifying section
3. Evaporation section
4. Finishing section

The four processes will be described in detail in the following section.

Synthesis section

Urea synthesis section consists of 3 main unit operations; urea reactor, carbon dioxide stripper
and high-pressure condenser.

The reaction to produce urea is essentially a two-step reaction. The first step involves the reaction
between ammonia and carbon dioxide to form an intermediate, ammonium carbamate which is a
highly exothermic reaction. On the other hand, the second step involves the dehydration of
ammonium carbamate to form urea which is an endothermic reaction. The reactions occur
according to the equations below.

Chemical equation

Formation of ammonium carbamate : 2𝑁𝐻3 + 𝐶𝑂2 ⇌ 𝑁𝐻2 𝐶𝑂𝑂𝑁𝐻4 𝛥𝐻 = −117 𝑘𝐽/𝑚𝑜𝑙

Formation of urea : 𝑁𝐻2 𝐶𝑂𝑂𝑁𝐻4 ⇌ 𝑁𝐻2 𝐶𝑂𝑁𝐻2 + 𝐻2 𝑂 𝛥𝐻 = +15.5 𝑘𝐽/𝑚𝑜𝑙

The first reaction which is the formation of ammonium carbamate will happen in the high-pressure
condenser whereas the second reaction which is the formation of urea will happen in the reactor.
In order to maximize urea yield per pass through the reactor (190 ⁰C and 140 atm) [1], the molar
ratio NH3 : CO2 is set at 3 : 1 [2]. Firstly, compressed carbon dioxide fresh feed enters the synthesis
section through the bottom of the high-pressure stripper (190 ⁰C and 140 atm) [1]. The stripper is
in the form of falling film evaporator that consists of parallel tubes heated by steam on the shell
side. Another effluent stream from the reactor containing urea, ammonium carbamate, carbon
dioxide, excess ammonia and water will enter the stripper as well. Most of the unconverted
carbamate from reactor effluent is decomposed to ammonia and carbon dioxide in the stripper. At
the same time, ammonia and carbon dioxide are being vaporized to gaseous phase. These unreacted
materials are stripped off by the countercurrent flow of carbon dioxide from the bottom of the
stripper.

From the stripper, the gas stream with ammonia and carbon dioxide that has been stripped from
the reactor effluent flows to the high-pressure condenser (170 ⁰C and 140 atm) [1]. The stripped
solution containing urea and water together with a small amount of carbamate flows to the
rectification section of the plant. The gas stream from stripper enters the top of the high-pressure
condenser together with the fresh ammonia feed through the ejector. In the high-pressure
condenser, condensation of ammonia and carbon dioxide gases occurs. The condensed carbon
dioxide and ammonia will lead to reaction 1 and form ammonium carbamate. The condenser is
continuously cooled by cooling water to remove the excess heat generated by carbamate formation.

From the high-pressure condenser, the effluent stream which consists of ammonium carbamate as
well as uncondensed ammonia and carbon dioxide will be passed to the reactor. In the reactor,
reaction 2 which is the decomposition of carbamate to urea will happen. Reaction 2 is an
equilibrium reaction and will attain equilibrium in the reactor. In the reactor, the conversion of
carbamate to urea is achieved at 81% [3]. The solution from the reactor consists of urea, water,
unreacted carbon dioxide and ammonia will then enter high-pressure stripper and the cycle in the
synthesis section is completed.

Rectifying section
Urea solution leaving the synthesis section from the stripper contains urea, water and unreacted
carbamate is passed to the low-pressure rectification column. The solution is first treated at an
intermediate pressure of about 4.2 atm and 118 ⁰C [company] in the rectification column and heat
is supplied to decompose the remaining carbamate to carbon dioxide and ammonia in the solution
as well as vaporizing the ammonia and carbon dioxide. The gas stream from the rectification
column is sent to the low-pressure condenser (65 ⁰C and 3atm) [1] while the solution from the
rectification column is sent to the evaporation section. In the low-pressure condenser, unreacted
ammonia and carbon dioxide are condensed to form low pressure carbamate solution. The
carbamate solution from low-pressure condenser is recycled back to the synthesis section via a
high-pressure carbamate pump to reach the synthesis pressure. The uncondensed off-gases from
the low-pressure condenser will be discharged to a low-pressure scrubber for further treatment
before being vented to the atmosphere.

Evaporation section

There are 3 methods which can be employed for concentrating the urea solution; vacuum
concentration, vaporization and evaporation [4]. The method chosen depends largely on the final
purity of products. The most common method for concentrating urea solution is via evaporation.
In the evaporation section, the effluent from rectification column which contains essentially urea
and water is passed to the vacuum evaporator (99 ⁰C and 0.03atm) [5][1] for water removal. In the
vacuum evaporator, water is removed from the urea solution to produce a urea melt of up to 0.2 to
5% final moisture [evaporation purity]. The evaporated water vapor is passed as off-gas to further
water treatment system. On the other hand, urea melt is then passed to the finishing section.

Finishing section

In finishing section, prill tower is used to produce urea prills as final products. The concentrated
urea melt from evaporation section is fed to the top of the prill tower (139 ⁰C and 1atm) [journal].
Liquid droplets form that drop down the prill tower is solidified and cooled on free fall through
the tower against a forced or natural countercurrent of ambient air. Formation of urea prills is
completed at the bottom of the prill tower.