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Stamicarbon was the original pioneer of the stripping concept, in which one of the input

materials - carbon dioxide - is used to strip free ammonia from the urea synthesis reactor
effluent, promoting decomposition of its residual ammonium carbamate content and allowing it
to be reconstituted at the full system pressure. This had a profoundly beneficial effect on the
economics of urea production by simplifying and reducing the cost of the plant and raising both
energy and material conversion efficiencies. Today all the most modern urea processes embody
the stripping principle.
Because of the high ammonia and carbon dioxide conversions in the synthesis section of a
Stamicarbon carbon dioxide stripping plant, there is no need for a medium-pressure recirculation
stage downstream of the high-pressure stripper.
In the high-pressure stripper, which is essentially a shell-and-tube heat exchanger, the incoming
carbon dioxide feed flows counter-current to the urea solution leaving the reactor. On the shell
side, the high-pressure stripper is heated with steam. The off-gas of the high-pressure stripper,
containing the feed carbon dioxide along with additional carbon dioxide and ammonia from the
dissociated carbamate, is then fed into the carbamate condenser.
Thanks to the low ammonia and carbon dioxide concentrations in the stripped urea solution, the
Stamicarbon CO2 stripping process is the only process that requires just a single low-pressure
recirculation stage.
https://www.stamicarbon.com/co2-stripping-process

Conventional CO2 stripping process


This conventional process requires the same equipment as the pool condenser process except the
pool condenser. The conventional high pressure carbamate condenser is a vertical shell and tube
heat exchanger. Since it does not provide sufficient volume for taking over a part of the final
reaction step building urea, the reactor volume needs to be bigger than for the pool condenser
process. Thus, the conventional process is applicable for small and medium size plant capacities
only.
Click to enlarge

http://www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com/en/products-solutions/chemicalindustry/ammonia-urea/urea/process/conventional-co2-stripping-process.html
http://www.google.com/patents/EP2567953A1?cl=en

Urea Process
CO2 stripper process is unmatchable in its efficiency because it uses carbon dioxide
as stripping-agent. As shown in the diagram, the process is allowing excess
unconverted ammonia from the synthesis sector to be recycled as carbamate in just
one silgle stage. In this recirculation section the unconverted NH3 and CO2 are
removed from the main product stream, condensed into carbamate again and
recycled to the synthesis sector using a high pressure carbamate pump. The
feedstodt consumption figures are almost equal to the stoichiometric values for
ammoni and carbon dioxide, leaving no room for further reduction. The effluent and
emission values are extremely low and meet the environmental requirements of
most countries.

Synthesis:
Pool condenser.
Pool reactor
CO2 stripping process with falling-film type carbamate condenser.
The pool condenser is basicalty a horizontal reactor with a submerged U-tube bundle. It
combines the function of falling-film type carbamate condenser in the conventional CO2
stripping process with part ollie reactor function. A 30 - 40 % reduction in the reactor volume is
achieved by shifting the reaction voume to the pool condenser.
This is of particular advantage for high-capacity single-train plants since the reactor is one of the
heaviest items of equipment. The pool condenser represents
the state-ofthe-art concept in modern urea plants.
The advantages of new technology with pool condenser are:
Investment cost savings due to the size reduction of high pressure items.
Operational advantages drawn from recent experience with a pool condenser within a synthesis
loop, which include

- more stable level/pressure control


- less sensitivity to changes in the load or the N/C ratio.
A reduced construction height, resulting in reduced construction costs.
In all CO2 stripping processes, ammonia and carbon dioxide are fed directly to the synthesis
section. Optimum process conditions of approx. 140 bar and 180C are maintained. Carbon
dioxide, to which a small quantity of air is added to prevent corrosion, is compressed to synthesis
pressure in a multistage compressor, while the ammonia pressure is raised by a high-pressure
pump. The high-pressure sections of recently-built urea plants are made of Safurex, a duplex
steel specially developed for the Stamicarbon urea process by Sandvik, Sweden. This steel offers
excellent corrosion resistance and high tenacity and permits a reduction in the amount of added
passivation air. Hydrogen is removed from the fresh carbon dioxide feed stream in the H2
removal reactor located between the compression stages. The exothermic condensation to
ammonia carbamate as well as the endothermic dehydration of the carbamate to urea and water
takes place in the synthesis section. The reaction described results in a chemical equilibrium; part
of the ammonia and carbon dioxide is not converted to urea and water. For this reason, the
reaction mixture is subjected to a stripping process, using carbon dioxide to strip off the
unreacted ammonia. This design feature is highly effective because of its low energy requirement
and retention of unconverted reactants in the synthesis section. The stripper offgases are
introduced into the high-pressure pool condenser together with the carbamate solution from the
high-pressure scrubber and fresh ammonia. The heat released by the formation of carbamate in
the high-pressure pool condenser is recovered to generate low-pressure steam. Subsequently, the
mixture of gas and liquid flows into the urea reactor in which the main urea formation takes
place. The liquid reaction mixture which leaves the reactor via an overflow is introduced into the
stripper top. The exhaust gases (inert gases, NH3, CO2 and H2O), which are separated from the
liquid at the reactor top, are scrubbed in the high-pressure scrubber with carbamate solution from
the low-pressure recirculation section. Thus, most of the gases are recovered and returned to the
pool condenser via the highpressure ejector. The non-condensables withdrawn from the highpressure scrubber are scrubbed in a low-pressure absorber, thereby minimising ammonia
emissions.
Recirculation / Evaporation:
Normally one recirculation stage is required due to the low ammonia and carbon dioxide
concentrations in the stripped urea solution. The ammonia and carbon dioxide still contained in
the urea solution discharged by the stripper are recovered in this low-pressure stage. The ideal
ratio of ammonia and carbon dioxide in the recovered gases means that dilution by the resulting
ammonium carbamate solution is minimised despite the low pressure of around 3 bar. As a result,
the carbamate pump requires a much lower capacity and less undesirable water is recycled to the
synthesis section. The urea solution leaving the recirculation section is further concentrated in
the evaporation section to meet the requirements of the granulation process. Vacuum evaporation

is chosen to minimise biuret formation. A urea solution tank is provided to collect the solution
during the periodical cleaning period of the granulator. The entire process condensate is collected
in the process condensate tank, from where it is sent to the desorption section.
Desorption / Hydrolysis:
In the first desorption column, ammonia and carbon dioxide are expelled from the process
condensate, which is then pumped to the hydrolysis column where any urea still present therein
is dissociated. The liberated ammonia and carbon dioxide are desorbed in the second desorption
column with the aid of steam. The gas leaving the first desorption column at the top is fed to the
reflux condenser, where the NH3, CO2 and H2O vapours are condensed, and the majority is then
pumped to the LP carbamate condenser. The rest is returned to the first desorption column. The
process water leaving the second desorber meets even the most stringent statutory environmental
requirements, allowing this waste water to be used as make-up for the cooling water system or
even as boiler feedwater. Consequently, there is no waste water effluent stream from this urea
process.
http://rotunds.com/UreaGen.html

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