Problem No. 29: Stripper versus decomposer: What is the difference?

In 1967, Mr Piet Kaasenbrood of Stamicarbon invented the CO₂ stripper. The CO₂ stripper revolutionised the urea process industry as it reduced the synthesis pressure from about 200 bar to 140 bar and reduced the energy consumption of a urea plant by about 50%. The CO₂ stripper decomposes the unconverted ammonium carbamate coming from the reactor at the same pressure as that in the reactor. Therefore no water needs to be added to recycle this carbamate to the reactor, which is beneficial for the conversion in the reactor.