Sometimes a serious problem occurs in a urea plant, which forces the plant to reduce capacity or even forces a shutdown. It is then vital to find the root cause of the problem as soon as possible, especially if the problem repeats. Such a situation happened at Khorasan Petrochemical Company in Iran which experienced a problem with the high pressure scrubber.
Pressure safety valves are critical equipment items in any chemical process plant. This article discusses experiences and challenges of pressure safety valves in urea plants.
Operating at the wrong synthesis operating pressure is always a tricky situation for any urea plant operator, knowing that operating at too high a pressure will lead to the pressure safety valves blowing off. The key is to measure the synthesis pressure in a reliable way.
In several urea plants, 3-way valves in urea melt lines have experienced leakage problems but successful innovations are available that provide a reliable solution.
A discussion on the best methods to solve oil fouling problems of the high pressure stripper in a urea plant.
When operators have a bad experience when operating critical equipment in certain modes, how do you convince them that operating in a certain mode should be possible and that it will bring benefits? This round table discussion discusses the parallel operation of high pressure centrifugal carbamate pumps.
Possible causes and solutions to the problem of high CO2 content in the liquid outlet of a high pressure SO2 stripper in a urea plant are discussed.
In several sections of a urea plant, pipelines can become easily blocked when temperatures become too low and during a shutdown of the plant blocking can occur if the right measures are not taken.
Prilling buckets are the oldest technology to form solid urea in a urea plant. This article looks at the design criteria for prilling buckets and reports on experiences with various designs.
The urea melt pump is a challenging application of a centrifugal type of pump. Urea polymer lumps falling in the melt pump suction line can cause cavitation of the pump and even damage the pump shaft.