Turkey’s İGSAŞ restores ammonia capacity with lower energy use

Germany’s thyssenkrupp Uhde, working with Johnson Matthey, has completed a major ammonia converter revamp for İGSAŞ at its Kocaeli, Turkey, complex, restoring original nameplate capacity while cutting energy demand and pressure drop. A recent performance test confirmed a 13% production increase to the original 1,200 t/d ammonia capacity, achieved while operating at 7% lower synthesis loop pressure, delivering a material reduction in specific energy consumption and compressor power. The revamped converter now runs with around 70% lower pressure drop across the cartridge, improving loop efficiency and supporting higher on stream reliability.

The project involved replacement of a converter cartridge that had been in continuous service for about 36 years, significantly beyond typical industry lifetimes, with thyssenkrupp Uhde highlighting this as evidence of the robustness of its uhde® ammonia converter design and İGSAŞ’s operational discipline. Installation and start up were executed under thyssenkrupp Uhde supervision, with rapid catalyst loading using uhde® dense loading techniques together with the İGSAŞ team, followed by coordinated catalyst reduction and commissioning in cooperation with Johnson Matthey. The converter now combines a new uhde® cartridge with Johnson Matthey’s KATALCO™ 74 1 catalyst, providing a high activity, low pressure drop system that can support future debottlenecking or integration of green hydrogen for low carbon ammonia production.