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 AmmoniaCasale

Revamping of the Pcs

Nitrogen 03 Plant in Trinidad

Abstract

The 03 ammonia plant at PCS Nitrogen in Trinidad is an original Braun 1965 design plant.
A recent revamp of this plant has increased its capacity from 830 STPD to 1,050 STPD, achieving also a remarkable energy
saving and has converted the plant from a Braun 50% excess air operation to a conventional ammonia plant design. This
revamp involved the installation of the first Ammonia Casale Isothermal Converters in ammonia service.

Introduction recovery unit was installed to treat the

purge gas from the synthesis loop.
tation
• Improved reliability
The 03 ammonia plant is an original • Maximum energy savings
C.F. Braun design that was constructed The two existing converters were ret- • Minimum rotating equipment
in 1965 in Brea California. The plant rofitted with Casale isothermal design changes
was relocated to Trinidad in 1994. converter baskets. These are the first • Minimum additional heat to the CW
of their kind to be installed in ammonia system
The design capacity at that time was service. They provided reduced pres-
750 STPD. Some minor modifications sure drop and improved conversion. A total of three (3) revamp options
increased the plant’s production rate were considered and the Ammonia Ca-
to 830 STPD. sale one was selected.

Following a recent plant revamp engi-

Selection of Revamp Scheme The major influencing factors were:
neered by Ammonia Casale, the plant Prior to embarking on this particular
production is now 1,050 STPD the revamp scheme, several other options 1. Desired production increase with
energy saving achieved during the re- had been considered all of which in- greatest energy savings.
vamped plant test run has fulfilled the corporated the purifier in the redesign.
expectation of the feasibility study. Certain basic criteria were applied in The Casale revamp targets were 1,050
all instances. STPD with a guaranteed energy saving
The revamp involved converting the of 3.1 mmBTU/ST (LHV).
plant from the original Braun purifier These included:
design operating with 50% excess air 2. Removal of the air limitation prob-
in the front end, to a conventional am- • Sound engineering lem on the plant.
monia plant operation. • Limited capital cost
• Schedule The existing air compressor train was
The purifier was idled and a hydrogen • Minimum downtime for implemen- limiting at the old rates because of the

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50% excess air requirements at the

Revamp Scheme at 1050 STD 1. Installation of a Pre-reformer.
This comprised of:
secondary reformer. With the removal
of the purifier and hence the change in As previously mentioned, the main re-
operating philosophy, marginally less vamp concept was the transformation a. A Pre-Reformer with Casale de-
air is required for the revamp scheme of the plant from a Braun excess air signed axial-radial internals.
than before. design to a conventional design am- b. A new fired heater to recover the re-
This negates the need for air compres- monia plant. The Braun process is sulting temperature drop, in the mixed
sor modifications. It also results in the characterized by the introduction of feed gas to the primary reformer, from
front-end equipment/piping, between excess air in the secondary reformer. the endothermic pre-reforming reac-
the secondary reformer and the CO2 tion.
removal section, being adequate for This reduces the load of the primary
the revamp conditions. reformer and requires a cryogenic pu- 2. Revamp of the Primary Reformer.
rifier, downstream of the methanator, This was handled separately by On-
3. The capital cost and the execution to remove the excess nitrogen. This quest Engineering Inc. and involved:
time were both in keeping with the set purifier removes almost all of the in-
targets. erts contained in the gas. There is a. Replacement of the catalyst tubes.
however, an expander located immedi- b. Extension of the radiant section.
4. There is an option for even further ately upstream of the purifier and this c. Replacement of the mixed feed
revamp to 1,200 STPD with a proposed creates a large pressure drop. coil.
Phase II. The transformation of the Braun de- d. Installation of a combustion air
sign to a conventional design, without blower to supplement the Gas Turbine
This plant revamp was conducted at a excess air and without the expander, Exhaust (GTE).
very rapid pace. The major milestones improves the conditions in most of the
were as follows: plant. 3. Installation of a quench nozzle on
the HTS quench.
• April 2004, Ammonia Casale was • It makes the excess capacity of the
selected to perform the engineering air compressor available. 4. Upgrade of the CO2 removal sys-
phase of the revamp along with the tem.
supply of the isothermal converter • Reduces the hydraulic load on all
baskets. equipment downstream of the second- This comprised:
ary reformer.
• July 2004, the basic engineering a. Replacement of the trays in the
was completed. • Increases the suction pressure of MDEA Regenerator.
the synthesis gas compressor. b. Installation of an additional steam
• August 2004, ABS Consulting con- reboiler.
ducted a HAZOP for the revamp On the contrary it increases both: c. Installation of two additional Re-
generator Overhead Condensers.
• December 2004, the detailed engi- • The duty of the primary reformer d. Installation of an additional Regen-
neering phase was completed. erator Overhead Separator.
• The concentration of the inerts
• January 2005, the Casale convert- in the make-up gas to the synthesis 5. Idling of the Purifier section.
er baskets were on site. loop.
6. Replacement of the synthesis gas
• March 5th 2005, the plant was Therefore, the two main areas that compressor HP rotor.
shutdown for execution of the re- needed to be improved were the re-
vamp. forming section and the synthesis 7. Replacement of the existing two
loop. converter internals with the Casale iso-
• April 9th 2005, ammonia product thermal basket design. This consists
to storage. The Casale engineering study identi- of an arrangement of exchanger plates
fied the following major changes re- in the axial-radial catalytic beds.
The selected mechanical contractor quired for the revamp:
for the job was Cust-O-Fab. 8. Installation of a BFW heater.

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9. Installation of a Hydrogen Recov- former, increasing the radiant box in- Primary Reformer
ery Unit. let temperature of the process gas to
1150ºF The primary reformer was an original
This is a used unit that was refurbished Foster Wheeler design side-fired re-
and was handled as a joint effort be- 2. To increase overall plant capacity. former. The tubes were at their end-
tween Air Products and PCS Trinidad. of-life and the frequent failures were
Mixed feed, desulphurized feed gas causing severe plant reliability issues.
10. Changes in the ammonia recovery and process steam, with a steam/ The upgrade of the primary reformer
section. carbon ratio of 3.2, flows through the was performed by Onquest Engineer-
mixed feed coil in the primary reformer ing and was done in tandem with the
a. Replacement of the MP ammonia convection section, is heated to 1,000 revamp requirements.
absorber with a high pressure absorb- oF and flows to the pre-reformer.
er. The major changes were:
b. Installation of a new HP Absorber The pre-reformer is an Ammonia Casa-
feed pump. le designed axial-radial adiabatic reac- • Tube arrangement changed from
tor loaded with a nickel based steam staggered to inline.
11. Replacement of the ammonia prod- reforming catalyst. Its low pressure
uct pumps. drop, of approximately 3 psig, is char- • Number of tubes increased from
This was handled as an internal proj- acteristic of the axial-radial design. 136 to 152.
ect at PCS.
The gas leaving the pre-reformer is • Extension of the radiant box, 20’.
12. Replacement/Addition of control partially reformed and has a methane
valves and PSVs. slip of 67%. Due to the endothermic • Installation of 40 additional burn-
nature of the reaction, the gas leaves ers.
13. Refurbishment of the Syngas com- at 820oF.
pressor turbine. • Replacement of the old burner
It then flows to the fired heater, which tips.
14. As general rule all the new/re- supplies the heat necessary to in-
vamped equipment have to be suit- crease the temperature to the reform- • Replacement of the mixed feed
able even for the following step at er tube inlet temperature, 1,150oF. coil.
1200 STD. Due to the problem in SS 304 Pres-
sure Vessel procurement in short • Replacement of the inlet header
time, as Pre-reformer vessel has been and pigtails.
Process Details utilized a CS pressure vessel internally
refractoried. • Replacement of the outlet header
Reforming
and pigtails.
The reforming stage consists of three
main sections; • Change from counter weights to
spring support system.
1. Pre-Reforming
2. Primary Reforming The radiant box extension was shipped
3. Secondary Reforming in sections with insulation pre-in-
stalled, ready for assembly. The insu-
Pre-Reforming lation however was damaged in ship-
ping and was replaced on site.
The pre-reformer section was installed
to increase the total reforming capac- The new primary reformer design in-
ity of the plant. This became necessary let temperature is 1,150 oF while the
for two reasons: outlet temperature is 1,470 oF. This
corresponds to a radiant duty of 159
1. To compensate for the elimination mmBTU/hr and a convection duty of
of the excess air at the secondary re- Fig. 1 - PCS Axial-Radial Pre-Reformer 182 mmBTU/hr. The gas ex the re-

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the specific energy consumption. At the

old rates this value was 54,700 BTU/
lbmolCO2, and the revamp sought to
maintain this. To do so, an additional de-
mand of 23 MMBTU/hr was required.

This was supplied by installing an ad-

ditional steam reboiler. In keeping with
the increase in reboiler duty, the capac-
ity of the Methyl Diethyl Ammine (MDEA)
Regenerator Overhead Condensers had
to be increased. This was achieved by
installing two additional exchangers.
Their installation was required also to
reduce the carbon dioxide temperature
sent to the Urea Plant.
Fig. 2 - Pre-Reformer Arrangement, new items in red.
To maintain stripping efficiency, the
former has a methane slip of 11.7% The Gas Turbine Exhaust (GTE), which MDEA strength was increased from
(mol dry). supplies oxygen to the burners, was 40% to 45%, and the circulation rate
deemed to be insufficient and an aux- was increased to 2,100 gpm. The sys-
iliary air blower (Fig.4) was installed to tem hydraulics were reviewed and it
supplement the oxygen supply. The ex- was necessary to replace the MDEA
haust of this blower was tied into the Regenerator trays with new high effi-
GTE ducting. ciency design trays.

Shift Conversion Dryers

The shift converters, both HTS and To meet the new requirement of plant
Fig. 3 - Photo of the Primary Reformer and
Fired Heater LTS, were found to be adequate for capacity the adsorbent volume in each
the revamp and the only change made vessel has been increased from the old
in this section was the installation of a volume of 360ft3 to the new volume of
The composition of the fuel gas to the
BFW quench system to control the HTS 450ft3, this volume is suitable also for
burners was changed with the elimina-
inlet temperature. This was necessary the conditions expected at 1200 STD.
tion of the waste gas from the purifier
because of the limitation of the sec- In addition to the volume increase also
section. The burner tips were replaced
ondary reformer waste heat boiler. the adsorbent type has been upgraded
due to the much lower flow from the
in order to increase the water pick-up
Hydrogen Recovery Unit (HRU).
During the preliminary study was ex- per adsorbent volume.
pected the catalyst replacement in
the LTS & HTS because they were at
End of their life. However during the Synthesis Gas Compressor
engineering phase was decided to
leave the existing catalyst up to the The LP stage of the compressor was found
turnaround following the revamping at to be suitable for the capacity increase.
1050 STD. This was primarily due to the significant
increase in suction pressure, 380 psig up
from 315 psig, caused by the decommis-
CO2 Removal sioning of the purifier section.
The HP stage was limiting with the in-

In reviewing the CO2 removal system creased volumetric flow and had to be
Fig. 4 - Photo of the Air Blower the key parameter used for design was retrofitted. A new rotor was installed.

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Synthesis conversion to 17% in the synthesis

loop translated into no additional load
The plant is fitted with two ammonia on the refrigeration system, which in
converters operating in parallel. The turn meant no modification to the re-
revamp of the synthesis section de- frigeration compressor.
manded a very significant efficiency
improvement because of: The Isothermal Ammonia Converter
(IAC) design abandons the use of
1. The large capacity increases. multiple adiabatic catalyst beds, com-
monly used in the ammonia industry
2. The higher concentration of inerts for the pseudo isothermal design, and
in the circulating gas due to the front- offers a higher conversion per pass.
end transformation.
The new design is based on the use
3. The tight “room” available on the of plates immersed in the axial-radial
Refrigerant compressor and turbine. catalyst bed to remove the reaction

Fig. 6 - Photo of Converter Basket being lifted
heat while it is formed.
into place
This entailed the retrofit of the con-
verter internals with Ammonia Casale As indicated in the Fig. 5, the temper- Purge Gas Treatment
isothermal design. ature profile achieved in the catalyst
bed follows the line of maximum reac- With the change in front end operating
This new design allowed a significant tion rate, so obtaining the highest pos- philosophy, the concentration of inerts
reduction in the circulation flow and sible conversion per pass from a given in the loop has significantly increased,
consequently a considerable decrease catalyst volume. resulting in a much higher purge gas
in the specific duties of the exchang- flow from the loop. The purge gas flow
ers. The use of plates for cooling, allows rate has increased to 15,000 lbs/hr
the design of a pseudo isothermal con- up from 7,000 lbs/hr.
The lower recycle flow resulted in a verter without tubesheets, eliminating
smaller heat recovery in the synthesis the size restriction and simplifying the To recover the hydrogen in the purge, a
waste heat boiler. To overcome this, a construction of the internals and the Hydrogen Recovery Unit, HRU, has been
BFW pre-heater was installed and re- operation of catalyst loading and un- installed.
covers 35 MMBTU/hr. loading. In addition, the non-adiabatic
Additionally the increased ammonia beds are axial-radial, featuring a low This is an old unit that was purchased
pressure drop and a joint effort between PCS and Air
and allowing the Products resulted in the successful re-
use of small size, furbishing of the system.
high activity cat- The hydrogen product is recycled back
alyst. to the synthesis gas compressor and
the reject or waste gas is used for
The new IAC is dryer regeneration and sent to the pri-
a very efficient mary reformer burners as fuel.
design and is
also suited for
the very high
capacity mega-
ammonia plants
that are becom-
ing popular on
the market, with
production rates
greater than

Fig. 5 - Temperature Profile of the IAC. 4,500 STPD. Fig. 7 - Photo of the refurbished HRU

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Steam System Pre Post Revamp

Revamp Guarantee Test Run
HP steam generation has increased
from 316,000 lbs/hr to 358,000 lbs/ Production, stpd 830 1,050 1,059
hr, but no equipment modifications Energy Saving,
3.1 3.22
were necessary. mmBTU/ST
Sp. Energy,
32.0(*)
(*)
35.1 31.88
mmbtu/ST
Execution * based on LHV

The procurement of all materials was

Plant Performance
performed by PCS, with the exception 3. The new high efficiency MDEA re-
of the pre-reformer and converter in- generator trays.
ternals, which was done by Ammonia Following the revamp, both the daily
Casale. production and the specific energy 4. The Regenerator overhead con-
consumption, were superior to the densers.
In several instances available used guaranteed figures. The figures com-
equipment was procured and adapted parison between the Base case and 5. The Regenerator steam reboiler.
accordingly. This proved to be advan- the revamped plant after the test-run 6. Synthesis gas compressor HP ro-
tageous both for equipment delivery are illustrated in the table above. tor.
time and cost.
7. Casale Isothermal Converter bas-
In an attempt to minimize plant down- kets.
time (the duration of the outage was
Potential for Further Capacity
34 days total downtime, from produc- Increase up to 1200 STD 8. BFW pre-heater in the synthesis
tion to production), a large amount of loop.
work was done before the actual shut- There is potential for further plant ca-
down. Some of the major pre-shutdown pacity increase to a daily rate of 1,200 9. HRU.
work included: STPD. The major bottlenecks identi-
fied in moving to that stage are mainly A preliminary study has shown the fol-
• Assembly and loading of the con- rotating equipment. lowing area as critical for the revamp-
verter catalyst baskets. The 1,050 STPD revamp was engi- ing up to 1200 STD:
neered with this potential Phase II
• Piling for the radiant box extension, in mind. Most of the additional or re- 1. LP stage of the synthesis gas com-
pre-reformer vessel, fired heater, BFW placed equipment was sized for this pressor.
exchanger. increased plant rate. 2. Refrigeration compressor & Tur-
This includes: bine
• Installation of these vessels as well 3. Combustion air blower.
as the HRU, air blower, MDEA reboiler 1. The pre-reformer and fired heater. 4. Convection section coils.
and Regenerator overhead condens- 5. CO2 system (Hydraulics of the ab-
ers. 2. The primary reformer was designed sorber and circulation).
with the potential for eight (8) addi- 6. Air compressor Driver.
• Pre-fabrication of piping. tional tubes (redundant)

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Conclusion
The revamp constraints at 1050 STD, ular constraints or inefficiency source;
particularly the tight schedule and the - the plant revamping is tailor-made
age of the plant, presented many chal- to Client’s expectations and requests.
lenges to both PCS and Ammonia Ca-
sale and indeed to all the other parties Such a complicated job can be done in
involved in the project. an efficient way only by an engineering
Several things made this project company owning an advanced technol-
unique including: ogy, the suitable know-how and the re-
quired flexibility.
• The very tight schedule, 12 months
from start of engineering to implemen-
tation.

• The first transition of a Braun de-

sign plant to a conventional ammonia
design.

• The first installation of the Ammo-

nia Casale Isothermal converters in
ammonia service.

From the results obtained since start-

up on April 9th 2005 up to the perfor-
mance test run performed in Septem-
ber 2005, it is evident that the plant
revamp was indeed a success. The
plant, besides having increased its
rated capacity, is now much more effi-
cient and has continuously operated at
1050 STD till now, enabling PCS Nitro-
gen to meet its final capacity target.

The plant retrofit, has been developed

considering:

- each modification has been spe-

cifically designed to solve the plant
bottlenecks;

- each modification has been specif-

ically designed to overcome the partic-

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