Internship Report

Dawood Hercules Fertilizers Limited

Ammonia Unit Catacarb Section

Muddassar Sultan
School of Chemical & Materials Engineering NUST, Islamabad

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am thankful to Allah Almighty who has blessed me with the courage, strength and wisdom so that I have been able to complete this internship report.

I want to acknowledge the efforts but specially the positive consideration of Senior General Manager Mr. Arshad Mehmood, Production Manager Mr. Shafique Ahmad and Assistant Production Manager Mr. Amin Saleem.

The assistance and guidance of Training and ISO Manager Mr. Nasir Iqbal Toor throughout the internship duration and especially for this internship report has positioned me as a knowledgeable, hardworking and flexible personality so that we can perform better in the practical field life. I am also thankful to Incharge Training Mr. Imtiaz Ahmad for injecting practical knowledge in our minds and for the guidance, he has given to me. I want to acknowledge the efforts of my mentor Mr. Tauseef Basit who was every time ready to give us guidelines in spite of his busy schedule.

Here I must not forget to thank the USEs who were also supportive especially Mr. Imran, Mr. Mauzam & Mr. Ahmed Shah who always welcomed our questions. I also want to give some credit to operators especially Mr. Maqbool & Mr. Rafaqat.

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Table Of Content Content Plant Overview Catacarb Section -High Temperature Shift Converter -Heat Exchangers -Low Temperature Shift Converter -Desuperheating & Condensate Removal -CO2 Absorber -Rich Solution Flasher -Power Recovery Turbine -CO2 Stripper -The Flow of Semi Lean -Knock-out Drums Page # 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 13 13 14 16 16

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PLANT OVERVIEW

There are 4 sections of DHFL plant:

Ammonia unit Urea unit Utility unit Bagging & shipping unit

The topic studied during the internship duration was Ammonia Unit with special attention to the details of Catacarb Section.

The further division of Ammonia Unit is as follow: Reforming Section. Catacarb Section. Synthesis & Refrigeration Section.

Reforming

Catacarb

Synthesis

Refrigeration

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CATACARB SECTION
The functionality of the Catacarb section is in fact the purification of the synthesis gas from CO & CO2 up to a purity level of 1000 ppm CO2. At first, the CO is converted to CO 2 because of the fact that CO cannot be removed from the gas simply as CO2. Afterward, all the CO2 is removed from the synthesis gas with the help of Catacarb solution, which is mainly K2CO3. Following are the principal equipment in the Catacarb Section: High Temperature Shift Converter Low Temperature Shift Converter Desuperheater Absorber Stripper Rich Solution Flasher Drum Knock Out Drums

Throughout the process, the flow is equipped with diverse kind of instrumentation to have a better degree of control over the process. This instrumentation includes high & low level alarms, temperature alarms & indicators, flow recorder controllers, level indicator controllers, high & low pressure alarms and differential pressure alarms. Certain precautions, considerations and preferences are also to be followed during the process and during the start-up & shut down procedures.

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o High Temperature Shift Converter (104-D):

The HTS is the first reaction vessel in the Catacarb section. Here the temperature of the gases is about 675oF to 725oF. Design level is 700oF. Only some of the reaction is allowed to proceed. Complete reaction cannot be achieved because the reaction is exothermic and if the reaction is allowed to proceed, the temperature rises above than the limit of 950 oF which can destroy the iron catalyst. The reaction being carried out is: CO + H2O CO2 + H2

The reaction is also not allowed to complete because the rise in temperature results in so much increase in temperature that the reaction goes backward and the conversion achieved is nullified. Following are some operating conditions: Inlet Temperature: 675oF - 700oF Outlet Temperature: 750oF Catalyst: Iron Pressure Drop: 5psi

The catalyst is placed over a bed through which the gas flow is maintained and the reaction proceeds. Following is the comparison of the Synthesis gas composition at the inlet and outlet of the HTS: Composition H2 CO CO2 Inlet % 56.25 12.38 7.96 Outlet % 60.25 2.18 16.24

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o Heat Exchange:
The synthesis gas is cooled before its processing in the LTS. The temperature is decreased from 750oF to about 400oF. Boiler feed water and the methanator feed is preheated using the recovered heat of the synthesis gas. Following is the arrangement and explanation of heat exchangers:

These three heat exchangers are shell and tube heat exchangers and are connected in parallel. The temperature is sometimes required to be controlled if it falls below a certain level. The exchanger 103-C is by-passed in that case. This alteration is governed by Temperature Recorder Controller, which has a sensor of temperature at the inlet of LTS. It do not allows the temperature to rise above 450oF. The temperature control mechanism is equipped with a control valve and a Hand Control Valve is also to be manipulated accordingly when the by-pass is operated. 104-C Heat exchanger is used to heat methanator feed. It actually preheats that feed. This exchanger is to be operated in all conditions and has no bypass or alteration.

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Similarly the heat exchanger 1112-C is used to heat up the Boiler Feed Water and is operational all the time.

o Low Temperature Shift Converter (108-D):

The downstream of HTS is the LTS. Low temperature shift converter carries out the reaction of the HTS and the remaining amount of CO is further converted to CO2. The temperature in the LTS is about 410 F to 435 F. Copper catalyst is used in the LTS and there is a bed of few feet Zinc Oxide that is placed to overcome any sulfur content not being desulfurized in the desulfurizer. Following reaction of the HTS is carried out in the LTS: CO + H2O Following are the conditions of LTS: Inlet Temperature: 410 F Outlet Temperature: 435 F Catalyst: Copper Pressure Drop: 5psi CO2 + H2

The both vessels are equipped with a Pressure Differential Indicator. It depicts the pressure drop if there is any deformation in voids or catalyst spacing. In addition to that, the LTS is also by-passed in the start-up conditions to heat up the piping system and also because the conversion is quite achieved at the start. Following is the comparison of LTS inlet vs outlet: Composition H2 CO CO2 Inlet % 60.25 2.18 16.24 Outlet % 61.2 0.21 17.5

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In some conditions, LTS is also by-passed with the help of a by-pass line that has a set of two motor operated valves. They help diverting the flow when their controlling element, a Push Button is manipulated. It alternates the flow by operating the MOVs in alternate flow paths. This by-pass is only active during the start-up and is described just to provide a better apprehension of flow lines and instrumentation.

o LTS Addition:
The reasons of installing LTS in addition to HTS are as follow: To avoid the reaction over a certain limit to control the temperature. The reaction in HTS may be reversed if the same conditions are maintained with temperature increasing, so LTS is installed to avoid complete conversion of CO to CO2.

School of Chemical & Materials Engineering, NUST

o Desuperheating & Condensate Removal:

After conversion of maximum CO to CO2, the syn gas is now ready to be purified from CO2. The gas is made to pass through a Desuperheater that absorbs the super heat of residual steam and this steam is then condensed in a knock out drum, called Raw Gas Separator Vessel 102-F. The syn gas during the process of losing its superheat is also made to heat up the strippers solution. It is actually passed through 2 heat exchangers (1105-CA & B) that act as a reboiler for the stripper. These two will be explained in detail further along with the stripper afterwards. The Desuperheater is actually a part of the piping and is not any equipment separately out of the flow line.

Recommendation

The Desuperheater can be replaced with a heat exchanger that exchanges the gass heat with the boiler feed water or cooling water. The condensate used for Desuperheating can be saved. Plus the heat will not be wasted!

The syn gas is then sent to the raw gas separator vessel that removes the process condensate from the syn gas. The syn gas is now ready to be charged to the Absorber where the CO2 removal is carried out.

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o CO2 Absorber (101-E):

The absorber is one of the core equipment of the Catacarb section. Here the CO2 is removed from the syn gas using counter flow of the Catacarb solution. The Catacarb solution mainly contains following main constituents: K2CO3 Diethylene Glycol (Defoaming Agent) V2O5 (Corrosion inhibitor) Absorber is a packed column that has 4 beds of two types of packings. The upper two beds contain Polypropylene Flex rings. The two bottom beds contain Stainless Steel Rings. In such a packed tower, there can occur foaming or flooding. There is chemical foaming that occurs due to certain particles of amine or fatty acids. Ethylene Glycol is added to avoid that foaminess. Corrosion inhibitor is added to protect the corrosion that is caused by the pyrophoric gases that oxidize the reaction vessel. The pressure in the absorber is maintained at about 390 psig. Temperature of the syn gas from the top is about 175OF. Temperature of the Rich Solution at bottom is about 250OF. The Catacarb lean solution that is in the recycle stream has about 16% of CO2. Attached with this column are following instrumentation 1) 2) 3) 4) LICe HLA LLA AR

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Level indicator controller is a device that maintains the level of Catacarb solution at the bottom of the column. Along with it, there is HLA & LLA two alarms that sound in event of higher level and lower level of liquid respectively. AR is the Analyzer Recorder that analyses the amount of CO 2 in the top flow of syn gas from the absorber. The amount of CO 2 from here should not increase 1000 ppm. Following reaction occurs in the absorber and the CO2 is absorbed in such way: 2KHCO3 K2CO3 + CO2 +H2O

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From absorber, there are two streams:

Rich Solution CO2 free Synthesis gas

The CO2 free Synthesis Gas is supplied to the synthesis section for

furthur processing.

The Rich solution is sent to the Stripper via a flasher drum.

o Rich Solution Flasher (1103-E):

Rich solution flasher drum is a vessel that is used to flash out hydrogen from the rich solution that is physically absorbed in the liquid. The seperation takes place on pessure differential basis, the syn gas is flashed from high pressure to low pressure. The hydrogen is seperated due to its low molecular weight. The seperated gas is sent to the synthesis section. Along with hydrogen, some amount of CO2 is also flashed out. The pressure is reduced to about 60-65 psig. The flashed out gas is sent to synthesis section. The Rich solution is sent to the stripper for CO2 removal.

o Power Recovery Turbine (107-JHT):

The rich solution is being transferred from a vessel at 390 psig to a vessel where is 5 psig. This pressure drop is used t run a turbine that drives a pump of semi-lean solution from stripper to absorber. Along with the rich solution, a steam turbine also assists the pumping of semi-lean from the stripper to absorber. The let-down is hence used for the pumping purpose and the system is made power efficient.

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o CO2 Stripper (102-E):

The stripper is a vessel that does the reverse reaction of the absorber. It chemically strips off the CO2 from the rich solution. Following reaction occurs in the stripper: 2KHCO3 K2CO3 + CO2 +H2O

The conditions in the stripper are lower pressure a higher pressure than the absorber. There are stainless steel rings at the upper three beds, polypropylene flexi rings on the two bottom beds, 5 beds in total. Glycol is used as a defoamer. V2O5 is used as corrosion inhibitor. Continuous air injection is carried out which is 65% air that is because of the regeneration of the V2O5. Which is reduced by the time because of the pyrophoric gases in the stripper. The reaction proceeds on heat basis. The heat is provided from the bottom with the help of three heat exchangers. Two of them are the 1105-CA & CB, which are heated by the syn gas. The other is 1111-C which is steam heated.

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Attached with the stripper is the following instrumentation: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) LRe LLA HLA PDIe HDPA

LRe is the level recorder that monitors the level in the stripper. Along with it, there are HLA & LLA that sound accordingly in event of high & low levels respectively. PDIe is a device that measures the Differential pressure across the stripper. The differential pressure indicates any signs of foaming, flooding or any kind of deformation in the packed beds. HDPA is high differential pressure indicator that warns about very high pressure drop along the column. It indicates that there is foaming or flooding about to take place and relevant measures are required to be taken. From the Stripper, there exits two streams, one of them is relatively richer in CO2 than the other. Lean Solution 16% CO2 Semi Lean Rich Solution 35%CO2 75%CO2

The flow of solution through the column is such that the solution flows down to the bottom, heats up in the heat exchangers, strips off its CO2. Hence there are two flows out from the stripper; one is the lean from bottom to the top of absorber. The other from the middle of the stripper to the middle of the absorber. The CO2 is retrieved from the top of the stripper and sent to the Urea section for preparation of Urea.

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o The Flow of Semi Lean Solution:

There is a semi lean solution that contains about 35% of CO2 and is taken from the middle of the stripper and is directed to the middle of absorber. The point of this semi lean stream is power saving. Mean to save the power that is used to generate the lean solution at the bottom of the stripper. The flow of semi lean from stripper to the absorber is relatively quite high as compared to the lean solution.

o Knock Out Drums 116-F & 113-F :

There are two knock out drums at the top of each absorber and the stripper that are used to remove the entrained liquid from the top flow of these vessels. These knock-out drum work on the principle of separation on momentum difference basis.

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