CL459

Design Project
Process Flow diagram and type of reactors, separators and
heat exchangers
Group 9A
 Routes of Raw materials

We get Nitrogen from Inert Gas (From Atmosphere) plant and hydrogen
from Natural Gas.
Natural Gas is supplied at the battery limit by GAS AUTHORITY OF INDIA
LIMITED (GAIL) from gas wells located in Bombay through HAZIRA-
BIJAPUR-JAGDISHPUR (HBJ) Pipeline.
GAIL has plans to set up certain facilities for extraction of higher
hydrocarbons from the gas due to which the gas would become leaner.
Properties of Rich and Lean Gas (Gas by GAIL)
Process flow Diagram of Haber Bosch Process
 Components
1 Compressors
2 Preheaters
3 Adsorber to remove H2S
4 Hydrogenation reactor
5 Tube furnace
6 Secondary Reformer
7 Steam boilers
8 Water gas shift reactor
9 Absorber of CO2
10 Reboiler
12 Pump
13 Hydrogenation vessel of residual CO and CO2
14 Air-cooled heat exchangers
15 Condensation column
16 Air Separator Unit
17 Ammonia converter
18 Water heater
19 Heat exchanger
20 Separator
 Complete Process
Natural gas is heated to 400o C and reacted with zinc oxide.
Following this, the gas is sent to the primary reformer for steam reforming,
where superheated steam is fed into the reformer with the methane. The gas
mixture heated with natural gas and purge gas to 770o C in the presence of a
nickel catalyst.
The synthesis gas is cooled slightly to 735o C. It then flows to the secondary
reformer where it is mixed with a calculated amount of air. The highly
exothermic reaction between oxygen and methane produces more hydrogen.
Carbon monoxide is converted to carbon dioxide in a reaction known as the
water gas shift reaction. This is achieved in two steps. Firstly, the gas stream is
passed over a Cr/Fe3O4 catalyst at 360o C and then over a Cu/ZnO/Cr catalyst at
210o C.
 Complete Process

The gas mixture is further cooled to 40o C, at which temperature the water
condenses out and is removed.
Next the carbon dioxide is absorbed through a counter-current of UCARSOL
solution. The remaining CO2 (as well as any CO that was not converted to CO2) is
converted to methane (methanation) using a Ni/Al2O3 catalyst at 325oC.
The gas mixture is now cooled, compressed and fed into the ammonia synthesis
loop. A mixture of ammonia and unreacted gases which have already been
around the loop are mixed with the incoming gas stream and cooled to 5oC. The
ammonia present is removed and the unreacted gases heated to 400oC at a
pressure of 330 bar and passed over an iron catalyst.
Hydrogen Reactor/Primary reformer

Topsoe reformer with burners placed on side wall

 Hydrogen Reactor/ Primary reformer
In industry, the reforming reactions are typically carried out in a heated furnace over a
nickel catalyst.
The furnace consists of a box-type radiant section including the burners and a
convection section to recover the waste heat of the flue gases leaving the radiant
section.
In this lay-out, the convection section for recovery of waste heat is placed on top of the
furnace.
In the radiant section, a nickel catalyst is loaded in a number of high alloy reforming
tubes placed in a row along the furnace.
The outer diameter of the tubes ranges typically from 100 to 150 mm and the length is
from 10 to 13 m.
Typical inlet temperatures to the catalyst bed are 450-650o C, and product gas leaves
the reformer at 800-950o C depending on the application.
Secondary Reformer
 Secondary Reformer
Components
1 Burner

2 Combustion section

3 Alumina bricks plate

4 Alumina balls (dia = 40 mm)

5 Catalyst section

6 Alumina balls (dia = 40 mm, 75 mm and

120 mm)
7 Cone
 Secondary Reformer

Three major components:

Burner Design:
Small number of large holes.
Give poor mixing at high rates.
High risk of overheating bed.
Methane slip rises rapidly at high rates.
Burner can be plant limit.
 Secondary Reformer

Mixing volume:
Good mixing is very essential.
Poor mixing lets the methane to slip through.
Poor mixing can lead to zones of high temperature.

Catalyst: VULVUN Series range of catalysts VSGZ 201/202/203

Ammonia converter
 Ammonia converter
Ammonia converter is made from chrome-vanadium steel. It is usually 1.3 meter
high and 1 meter in diameter.
The converter is provided with a heat exchanger in the upper portion and the
catalyst is packed in the central portion of the converter.
After the gas mixture enters through the inlet at the bottom, the gases circulate
around the catalyst maintained at 450-500C and then pass through to the heat
exchanger.
The gases finally enter the catalyst chamber to give ammonia.
Before entering the condensers the product as well as the unreacted gases pass
through the pipes of the heat exchanger and transfer their heat to the incoming
gas mixture containing nitrogen and hydrogen.
Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger
 Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers are one of the most popular types of exchanger
due to the flexibility the designer has to allow for a wide range of pressures and
temperatures.
A shell and tube exchanger consists of a number of tubes mounted inside a
cylindrical shell. Two fluids can exchange heat, one fluid flows over the outside
of the tubes while the second fluid flows through the tubes. The fluids can be
single or two phase and can flow in a parallel or a cross/counter flow
arrangement.
Can be used in systems with higher operating temperatures and pressures.
Pressure drop across a tube cooler is less.
Tube leaks are easily located and plugged since pressure test is comparatively
easy
Air cooled Heat Exchanger
 The air cooled heat exchanger are basically designed with multiple rows of
finned tubes in a series of surface and required numbers of fans are used to
move the low temperature atmospheric ambient air over the finned tube coil
surface in order to cool the hotter fluid media.
Choosing an air cooled heat exchanger means that you no longer have to worry
about the installation costs of water piping to be used as coolants, which makes
installation far simpler by requiring less construction to create a proper space for
the heat exchanger.
Air cooled heat exchangers also typically require far less maintenance than
other heat exchangers on the market.
Air cooled heat exchangers make controlling temperatures easy. If it is a
multiple fan installation, changing the temperature is as easy as shutting off or
turning on additional fans on the heat exchanger.
Plate Heat Exchangers
 The major advantage over a conventional heat exchanger in that the fluids are
exposed to a much larger surface area because the fluids spread out over the
plates.
Lower surface heat transfer area smaller unit size lower capital costs.
High pressure drop across exchanger larger pump size and pressure head
higher operating costs.
Excellent thermal energy transfer characteristics.
Easily dismantled to clean individual plates.
Vapour liquid separator
 A vapor-liquid separator drum is a vertical vessel into which a liquid and vapor
mixture (or a flashing liquid) is fed and wherein the liquid is separated by gravity,
falls to the bottom of the vessel, and is withdrawn.
The vapor travels upward at a design velocity which minimizes the entrainment
of any liquid droplets in the vapor as it exits the top of the vessel.
 References
http://www.topsoe.com/sites/default/files/topsoe_large_scale_hydrogen_produc.pdf
http://www.academia.edu/10183200/Theory_and_Operation_of_Secondary_Reformers
http://www.magicrot.ru/index.php?p=AmmoniaProduction&LANG_=ENG
http://chem-guide.blogspot.in/2010/04/manufacture-of-ammonia-by-habers.html
http://www.thermopedia.com/content/551/
http://file.scirp.org/Html/2-2530017_23592.htm
http://nzic.org.nz/ChemProcesses/production/1A.pdf
http://mahans.com/the-benefits-of-air-cooled-heat-exchangers/
Thank You