COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CO2 REMOVAL SYSTEMS IN AMMONIA PLANT

Abstract

The fertilizer industry is one of the largest industries in Pakistan in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Pakistan is an agriculturally reliant nation with major exports being those from agricultural crops. Therefore, efficient production of urea which is a key component in a fertilizer is very much desired because more efficiency would generally mean lesser costs for the industry and by extension for the farmers. The manufacturing of industrial urea at Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited (FFBL) requires Carbon dioxide (CO2) extracted from process syngas (containing CO2, CO and H2) and Ammonia (NH3) which is formed by the reaction of H2 and N2 in a Haber-Bosch Reactor. This project was related to the first part of the equation, which is the absorption of CO2 from process-sour syngas. The objective of this project was to compare different absorption methods for CO2 removal on the basis of energy requirement and economic analysis and predict the best method for CO2 method. The comparison was made between Benfield systems which is currently used in FFBL with methyl di-ethanol Amine (MDEA) system for CO2 absorption. For comparison material and energy balance was done followed by equipment designing, economic analysis and process simulation of both Benfield and MDEA systems and comparing the parameters. This will provide an opportunity to efficiently compare these two systems and conclude the best method