Definition of the project

A TSP (Triple Super phosphate) plant needs to be design in such as a way

to achieve a production of 97200 MTY of TSP, 51000 MTY phosphoric acid
and 120 000 MTY of sulphuric acid.

Basic data:
Location of the project:
It is located on the bank of the river Karnaphuli at which is about 4km
from Chittagong Airport & 12km to the south of Chittagong City. This
location is in Patenga Industrial Area having communication facilities by
rail, road & river.

Product Name:
1. Main Product: TSP fertilizer.
2. Intermediate Products: Sulfuric Acid, Phosphoric Acid.
3. By-Product: Gypsum.

The overall plant consists of:

Various plants such as the Sulphuric acid plant, Phosphoric

acid plant, Reaction plant, etc.

Jetty for raw material unloading facility.

Raw material storage capacity.

Water treatment plant as an auxiliary plant and certain other

facilities.

Plant Process:
Name of Plant

Name of Process used in plant

Sulphuric Acid Plant

Monsanto Contact Process

Phosphoric Acid Plant

Nissan (Hemi Di-Hydrate)

Reaction Plant

Den Process

Granulation Plant

Stami Carbon

Factory Area (Acre):

1. Plant site

37.25

2. Gypsum field

11.98

3. Housing area

16.69

4. Jetty & adjoining area

9.90

5. Others

4.69

total

80.51

Main Raw materials and source:

Raw materials

Source

Rock Sulphur

Iraq, Iran, Canada, Morocco, Saudi

Arabia, Poland.

Rock Phosphate

Jordan, Morocco,
Algeria, Syria.

Phosphoric Acid

Tunisia, Poland, Iran, Morocco, India.

Eqypt,

China,

Process description
The process flow in each of the plants involved in the project is described
as follows:

WATER TREATMENT PLANT (Auxiliary plant)

The industry requires a large amount of water supply for the various
processes.

Therefore, a water treatment plant is present there with

capacity of 2050 t/day. Water from Karnofuli river is collected if the

chloride ion concentration is within a maximum allowable amount of 250
ppm. In dry seasons, when the salinity of river water is very high,
alternate sources of water are used (either underground water or water
from WASA). Water collected in reservoir is brought by pump to treatment
plant.

The following take place at the treatment plant:

Water pumped to
clarifier (here, alum
and caustic added)

clear water

passed to
filter bed

Clear
water

(Residue out)

Filter water (used for

sanitary and drinking

purposes, etc.)

Demineralizer
(cation and anion
exchanger)

(Demi water out)

Important points:

Alum is given for coagulation and caustic is added to maintain

pH for better coagulation.

Ions such as calcium ions, magnesium ions, sodium ions,

sulphate ions, phosphate ions, etc. are removed in the
demineralizer. Silica is also removed here (Silica test is done in
every 8 hours to ensure demi-water purity i.e. to test if resin
regeneration required or not).

Demi water is very important for use in the plant to prevent

corrosion of equipment parts (say for example, boiler tubes are
very expensive and long-lasting so they should be saved from
corrosion).

The equipments involed in the water treatment plant:

 Reservoir:
Water is collected in 350 Mt reservoirs during low tide period when
amount of salts
in water is low. Water contains about 250 ppm chloride ion is
preferable. Sedimentation occurs here. Sedimented water is transferred
to another tank having same capacity. Four centrifugal pumps at intake
station near jetty are used for water transport.

Clarifier:
Water is clarified by coagulation, floaculation and settling in clarifier. Alum
is used to coagulate and NaOH is used to maintain pH here. From clarifier
water goes to clarified water tank. Two lines are connected to clarified
water tank one goes to cooling water tank and other goes to clean water
tank.

Clean water tank:

Clarified water is sent to clean water tank. It is used as reservoir.

Filter Bed:
A main portion of clear water is sent to filter bed by pumping for filtration.
Filter bed is composed of anthracite, coke and grave.

Filtered water tank:

Water which passes through the filter bed is reserved in filtered water
tank. Water goes to the sanitary water line, process water line and ion
exchangers.

Cation and anion Exchanger:

To remove cation and anion from water, one cation and two anion
exchanger bed are used in water treatment plant. Cation exchanger bed
works based on weak base and anion exchanger bed works on strong
base. Regeneration of cation exchanger bed is done by H 2SO4 and
regeneration of anion exchanger bed is done by NaOH solution.

Demineralized Water storage:

The water which is free from ion is demineralized water. This kind of water
is obtained from ion exchanger beds and stored. From here it is passed to
boiler.

Cooling water tank:

In the cooling water tank, water comes from the Clarifier. This tank is
connected to the SA-II plant, PA-II plant, TSP and granulation plant.

Uses of the different types of water in the industry:

1. Uses of process water:
In Granulation and bagging plants.
In washing the filter cake.
In air compressor in SA-II plant.
In recovered water tank in PA-II plant.
In mill vent dust collector in the milling plant.
2. Uses of Demi water:

In the boiler.

For dilution acid in SA-II and PA-II plant.

For laboratory purposes.

3. Uses of wash water:

For scrubbing in the PA-II plant.

In Gypsum slurry tank.

4. Use of Sanitary water:

.

Sanitary water is used in the housing colony.

MILLING PLANT
For the purpose of uniform mixing and uniform reaction in the plants, it is
very important for the particle size of reactants to be uniform at a
required value. In this plant 200nm size of particle of rock phosphate is
produced which is used for manufacturing TSP fertilizer & phosphoric acid.
The rock phophate which is imported is non-uniform in size and therefore
it must go through the milling plant in order to be processed to the
required uniform size.

Working principle of the plant:

For grinding rock phosphate, at first stored rock phosphate is

charged into charging hopper from store room.

Then these rock phosphate are weighed by the rock weigher and
sent to rock feeder through bucket elevator.

Rock feeder is used to feed rock phosphate into the ball mill. Ball
mill consists of four types of balls of different sizes 40mm, 50mm,
60mm, 70mm made of cast iron, mild steel, stainless steel. Hot air &
rock phosphate are charged into rotating ball mill where rock
phosphate is ground into desired size (200nm) & moisture is also
removed from it. The ball mill of this plant is rotated at 18rpm. The
balls hammer the rock phosphate turning it to required form and
wind pressure forces it upwards.

Outlet of ball mill is sent to mill classifier, where over size (>200nm) rock phosphate
is separated from desired size. Over size rock phosphate is recycled into ball mill
through rock feeder and desired size rock phosphate is sent in ground rock cyclone. In
ground rock cyclone more separation of oversize rock phosphate is occurred.

Only desired size of rock phosphate is sent in rock hopper from rock cyclone. And
this rock phosphate is used to manufacturing TSP in TSP plant & phosphoric acid in
PA plant.

SULPHURIC ACID PLANT

For TSP manufacture in the reaction plant, phoshoric acid is a raw material
and to produce this phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid is required.
The main raw material for producing sulphuric acid is rock sulfur. This
Sulphur is imported and then analysed properly. The complete analysis
requires about 7 days.

Raw material anaylsis:

component
Sulphur
Moisture
Ash content
Organic matter

amount
99.5% minimum
0.5% maximum
very less
within a required amount

Equipments involed in the process:

Melter

The powdered sulphur is initially melted in the melter to take it into a

suitable form for the following reaction. The melting point of sulphur is
around 113-115C so a temperature of around 130-135 0C is maintained in
the melter. The melter consists of three units, namely, the charging
chamber, settling chamber and the pumping chamber. At first rock sulfur
is charged to the charging chamber. Around 30-31 steam coils present in
the melter supply the required heat for melting. Then the molten sulfur is
sent to settling chamber where impurity removal takes place through
settling (a filter should have been in action here to remove impurity but
the filter is currently out of order). Relatively pure molten sulfur is taken as
overflow from this chamber to the pumping chamber. From the pumping
chamber, molten sulphur is tranported to the furnace by a pump. There
are two pumps in action of which any one is used.

Sulphur Chargin
(Molten sulphur
g

Settlin
Pumpin
g
g
chambe
chambe
r to furnace)
r
sent

chambe
r

Furnace
In this part of the process, molten sulphur is burned in dry air to form
sulphur dioxide at a temperature range of about 900-1000 0C. Molten
sulfur from the melter is sprayed into the furnace by a pump & two
sulphur guns. Fresh air from the drying tower is charged into the furnace.
The following reaction takes place:
S

O2

SO2

Owing to the exothermic nature of the reaction, heat is evoled. The outlet
gas is passed to the waste heat boiler.

Waste heat boiler

The waste heat boiler is a shell and tube heat exchanger in which the heat
in the outlet gas from the furnace is reduced to a required level for the
next stage. At the same time, this heat is utilized in steam formation.
Boiler reduced gas temperature from 10000C to around 4000C. This heat is
taken by Demi water used in the boiler to tranform into steam which is
required at various parts of the plant. It is sent to the phosphoric acid
plant which is dependent on this steam.

Gas filter
The impurities present in the furnace outlet are removed in the gas filter.
Gas filter consists of crushed fire brick that reduce the amount of catalyst
required & increase the life of catalyst. Impurities increase the pressure
drop & decrease the conversion efficiency. Thereofre it becomes vital to
filter them out.

Converter
Converter is one of the major parts of this plant. Here, SO 2 is converted to
SO3 in presence of the catalyst VO. The converter consists of 4 different
beds for better conversion. The beds have different volume, different
amounts of catalyst, pressure, etc. Temperature variation may occur in the
different beds but the overall converter temperature remains fixed at
about 4300C. In first and second beds, gas is leaving at elevated
temperatures so to maintain an adequate level of temperature cold fresh
air is passed through the converter. This air comes from drying tower. In
the third bed, the gas flow is passed into a heat exchanger, where SO 2 &
SO3 given in shell side and cold fresh air passed in tube side. The
following reaction takes place at the converter:
SO2

O2

SO3

1st and 2nd Economizers

10

The main purpose of the two economizers used in this plant is to reduce
the temperature level of the gas stream to an appropriate inlet
temperature for the absorbing tower. Demi water from water treatment
plant is used as the cooling medium. Output hot water (mainly steam) is
sent to waste heat boiler section. The gas stream from the converter
enters 1st economizer at a temperature of 430 0C and leaves at 2300C. The
2nd economizer further reduces the temperature to 170 0C which is the
required inlet temperature for the absorbtion tower.

Absorbing tower
The gas stream from the 2nd economizer at 1700C is passed to the AT
tower (absorbing tower). AT tower is one kind of packed bed that consists
of reaching rings through which SO passes and therefore better mixing
and reaction time possible. This gas is passed at the lower end of the
tower and from the top end of the tower, 98.5% H2SO4 is passed. This is
done as we know SO cannot be absorbed directly into water. Counter
current flow takes place. 98.5% H 2SO4 is circulated continuously and the
reaction produces 99.9% H2SO4. The stack gas is sent to the atmosphere
and the product stream is passed to D.T pump tank.

A.T pump tank & D.T pump tank

Bottom product of absorption tower is sent to A.T pump tank, where it is
mixed with D.M water to evolve heat. Hot sulphuric acid in A.T pump tank
is sent to A.T cooler by A.T pump to recover heat. After recovery one part
of product is sent to storage tank & other part is sent directly to
absorption tower. Another part of product from A.T cooler is sent to D.T
pump tank. Then 98.5% H 2SO4 in D.T pump tank is sent to D.T cooler
where this acid releases more heat. The outlet of D.T cooler is sent to the
top of the drying tower. The product from the drying tower is sent to D.T
pump tank. So a cycle is maintained with A.T pump tank by sending a
portion of stream leaving D.T cooler. Conductivity meter used in AT pump
to maintain pH.

Drying tower
Drying tower is a scrubber. 98.5% H2SO4 is sent to the tower, where H2 SO4
is spray the top of the drying tower & air passed through the bottom of
the tower. Air is sent to the drying tower from atmosphere by blower &
11

turbine. In this section fresh air is produced, where 98.5% H 2SO4 absorbs
moisture from air. Then this fresh air is sent to furnace for producing gas.
Dilute sulphuric acid is sent to D.T tank.

Uses of sulphuric acid:

In TSP plant.

In Phosphoric acid plant.

In Water treatment plant.

In Iron industry.

In Laboratory.

In different types of food industries.

PHOSPHORIC ACID PLANT

Phosphoric acid is an intermediate poduct of the industry. It is considered
a raw material for the TSP manufacturing process. A part of it is imported
from foreign countries and a part is made in the plant. The major reaction
in the plant is:
Ca(PO) + 3HSO +6HO 2HPO + 3 CaSO.2HO
The Gypsum produced in this reaction (moisture 20%, purity 90-95%) is a
by-product but currently it has a very high demand in the market. It costs
4000 taka per ton and therefore plays a very important role in the
industrys profit.

Process outline:
Acid cooler
98.5% Sulphuric acid and dilution water are mixed and the heat generated
is tranferred to cooling water in the dilution cooler. After cooling , the
temperature of the dilute acid is usually about 70-80%. The flow rate of
the cooling water is regulated by a valve and controlled by the diluted
H2SO4 temperature recording controller.

12

Premixer
Rock phosphate passing from 70% pass 200 meshes (200 mesh means
200 holes per inch), 75%H2SO4 from dilution cooler and phosphoric acid
(20% P2O5) are fed to the premixer. Acid enters at 60C and rock
phosphate enters at 50-60C. Reation starts and around 55% reaction
takes place in the premixer. A temperature of about 98C is maintained in
the premixer.

Digester
The premixer outlet is fed to the digester for further reaction. Roughly a
temperature of around 67C is maintained in the premixer. There are two
digesters. Time, temperature and agitation are maintained in the
digesters for proper reaction. Around 80-85% of the reaction is completed
here.

Crystallizer
The major difficulty in the phosphoric acid plant is the crystal production
and seperation of soild and liquid part. To enhance crystal formation, there
are 3 crystallizers with a relative decrease in their temperature levels
having temperatures of 58C, 57C and 55C respectively. Slurry
proceeding form the decomposition stage, containing hemihydrate of
CaSO4 is recrystallized and thereby hydrated to from gypsum. The slurry
decomposed phosphate rock is introduced into the three crystallizers.
Near the point of entry, the slurry is mixed with the seed recycled from
the crystallizer. Proper agitation and settling time maintained in the
crystallizers so that about 98% of reaction is completed at the end of the
3rd crystallizer. It takes about 16 hrs (reaction time) for the slurry to cross
the whole area.

Filter

13

Slurry from the crystallizer containing fully matured crystals in rhombic

form is pumped to rotary vacuum filter through slurry distributor. Here the
product acid is separated as the filtrate and gypsum is obtained as filter
cake which is byproduct and thrown into the pond in the gypsum yard.
1st filtrate (30%P2O5) is obtained in the first stage of filter and pumped to
the filtrate holding tank by vacuum pump.
1st washing: 3rd filtrate is used to washout the slurry and the filtrate
obtained is recycled back to the premixer as return acid.
2nd washing: DM water is used to washout the slurry and the filtrate
obtained is for 1st washing.
The filter is a tilting type filter consisting of 18 pans. Using special
technology, every drop of acid is filtered. The pans are in continuous
motion and vacuum filtration occurs throughout the motion which
seperates the solid and liquid part.

Concentrator
The product acid of 30% P2O5 is then concentrated to 50% P2O5 acid in a
concentrator (calendria) by heating the material with steam under forced
vacuum circulation system. This is done because 50% P 2O5 is required to
produce TSP of the required 46% P2O5. Low pressure steam is used in the
shell side where phpsphoric acid is passed through tube side. Here two
stage ejectors are used with barometric condenser to create vacuum in
the evaporation section. The evaporator is kept half filled for the purpose
of evaporation. The equipments here are made of graphite tube which is
appropriate for phosphoric acid handling. 50% P 205 content PA is sent to
TSP plant. About 135MT of phosphoric acid is produced per day.

Uses of Phosphoric acid:

Since it is a raw material for TSP production and a huge amount of it is
required at the reaction plant, the entire phosphoric acid is used for the
manufacture of TSP.

Uses of Gypsum:

14

In fertilizers

As an additive in cement

In Wall board

In Plaster products

REACTION PLANT (TSP PLANT)

So far we have discussed about the plants which process raw materials or
produce the intermediate products which are required for the main
purpose of the industry which is TSP manufacture. Triple super phosphate
(TSP) is the main product of TSP complex Ltd. TSP is manufactured by
decomposition of rock phosphate ground to the fineness of 80% pass
through 200 Tyler mesh in an air swept Ball Mill, with phosphoric acid
(50% P2O5) in a Reaction Den under standard conditions of temperature &
flow rate. The den product is known as Green TSP which requires further
processing. The following reaction takes place at the reaction plant:
Ca3 (PO4)2 + 4H3PO4 + 3H2O3Ca(H2PO4)2.H2O

Outline of the Process:

For TSP production, ground rock phosphate and phosphoric acid, H 3PO4
(50% P2O5) are required. The raw materials are fed to the Reaction Den
where the reaction takes around 20 min. The outlet is Green TSP which is
immature TSP. For the remaining 5-10% reaction, this TSP is sent to the
curing house where it is kept for few days for reaction completion.

Equipments involved in the plant:

Bucket elevator
It is a vertical type of conveyor used in TSP plant to elevate the ground
rock from ground rock phosphate storage house to ground rock bin.

15

Ground rock bin

Ground rock phosphate from rock grinding plant is fed to ground rock bin
through bucket elevator via screw conveyor. An inclined screw type
conveyor is used to charge ground rock phosphate to cone mixture from
rock bin.

Dilution cooler
98% H2SO4 is produced in sulphuric acid plant but to produce TSP fertilizer
only 70% H2SO4 is required. Therefore, 98% H2SO4 is diluted by mixing D.M
water (maintaining H2SO4 & D.M water ratio) in dilution cooler. Dilute H2SO4
(70% H2SO4) is stored in storage tank. From this tank 70% H 2SO4 is fed to
cone mixer for producing TSP fertilizer.

Cone mixer
Cone mixer contains a simple cone box in which ground rock phosphate
from ground rock bin & 70% H2SO4 from & 50% phosphoric acid from PA
plant are fed. Cone mixer mixes the entire compound uniformly & the
mixer is charged into continuous den.

Continuous den
Reaction mixture from the cone mixture is dropped to the continuous den
consisting of a conveyor belt upon which the product dries & proceeds
towards the outlet. The retention time of den is 20 minutes and there is a
rotary cutter which slices the product and the belt conveyor transports the
product to the curing house before it is sent to the granulation plant.
Unreacted rock phosphate & some gas produced in continuous den
containing rock phosphate is fed to scrubber. From scrubber, recycled rock
phosphate is fed to cone mixer.

GRANULATION PLANT

16

The cured TSP from the curing house is taken to the granulation plant.
Granulation is a process by which granular TSP is produced from powder
TSP. In this Granulation plant, 1-3.3mm size of TSP fertilizer is produced
through the Stamicarbon process. The capacity of this Granulation plant is
500 ton/day. For reducing waste, this plant needs to be inactive for 4
hours in a day. The plant consists of a drum-like granulator. Here, granules
are formed through the principle of agglomeration with steam and process
water.

Advantage of granular form over powder form:

Reduces the loss of fertilizer when it used in land (for
example, powder form is easily carried away by wind) .
Fertilizer stays in land for longer periods of time.
Environmental pollution is also reduced.

Working principle of the Granulator:

Green TSP which is produced in TSP plant is fed to the granulator by using
conveyor belt & bucket elevator via a weighing device. Fine particles of
TSP which are separated from over and standard size TSP fertilizer are
also recycled to a granulator via a weighing device. Process water and low
pressure steam is also fed to granulator uniformly by maintaining the
proper solid liquid ratio for satisfactory granulation. Different size (under
size, standard size, over size) of granular TSP forms in this section. Vapor
from granular is removed & sent to scrubber, to prevent blocking of the
line by dust & water vapor. A sprayer is installed in the vapor line. Finally
granular TSP which is with a specification of -6+16 mesh is taken out. Size
+6 is considered oversize and -16 is undersize which are sent for recycle.

Other Equipments involved in the plant:

Furnace
Atmospheric air is blown through an air blower to the furnace for being
heated. Heat is produced by burning natural gas in the furnace. For
maintaining the outlet temperature (4500C) of the furnace a bypass line of
atmospheric air is connected. Heated air is sent to dryer for drying the
granular TSP.

17

Rotary drum dryer

The TSP obtained from the granulator outlet contains 12% moisture which
is above the required TSP specifications. Therefore, to reduce this
moisture content from 12% to 5% (required content), rotary drum dryer is
operated. Granular TSP containing 12% moisture is fed to rotary drum
dryer where hot air (temp. 4500 C) is also fed uniformly. By rotating action
of the rotary drum dryer the granular TSP comes in contact with hot air in
a co-current flow. Due to this, moisture content of TSP is reduced to 5%.
The outlet temperature of air is 800C. It is very important to note that the
process in the granulation plant is an Art if, due to any reason, the
moisture content in the green TSP is altered, reaction conditions must be
adjusted such that a maximum of 5% moisture content is obtained in the
final TSP product.

Bucket elevator
A bucket elevator is used for transporting TSP from rotary drum dryer to
coarse screen (it is also required for the transport of the green TSP from
conveyor belt to granulator).

Coarse screen
Outlet from the rotary drum dryer is fed to coarse screen by a bucket
elevator via a conveyor belt for separating over (>3mm) & under (<1mm)
size granular TSP from standard size (1-3.3mm) TSP. over size is then sent
in crusher & standard & under size TSP sent in fine screen.

Crusher
Over size granular TSP is fed to crusher where it is crushed into desired
size of TSP. Then crushed TSP is sent back to coarse screen.

Fine screen
Under size TSP is separated from standard size TSP in fine screen section.
Standard size TSP is sent in bagging plant and under size TSP is sent back
in granulator.

18

BAGGING PLANT
For the purpose of sending the final product to the market, TSP
fertilizer from granulation plant is sent to the bagging section through
the conveyor belt and bucket elevator. In this section, TSP is charged
into a hopper where a measuring device is used to measure the weight
of TSP fertilizer. 50kg of TSP fertilizer is charged in every bag. After
bagging these are sent to storage house via conveyor belt. The bag
consists of a layer of polythene inside and a layer of polypropylene
outside. The capacity of this bagging plant is bagging of TSP 16-18
bag/min. The final product granular TSP has the following composition:

Composition of TSP fertilizer:

Component

Amount

Moisture content

5% Maximum

Total P2O5

46.0% Minimum

W P2O5 (water soluble P2O5 )

40.0% Minimum

F P2O5 (free P2O5)

3.0% Maximum

Size

-6+16 mesh (1-3.3mm)

Design Basis
To produce 97200 Metric ton per year (MTY) granular TSP of 1
3.3mm sizes.

Process Block Diagram

19

 Milling Plant
( fine
ones pass out)

BALL MILL
(wind takes away the

(Rock phosphate
grinded
by balls)

ground rock phosphate)

CLASSIFIER

(nonuniform ones recycled)

Sulphuric Acid Plant

MELTER
(steam
Sulphuradded to
melt
sulphur)

FURNAC
E
(dry air
added)

CONVERTER

(dry air added)

SO+OSO
(in presence of

AT
TOWER
HSO
(sulphuric
acid
added)

Phosphoric Acid Plant

20

PAN
PREMIX

ER

DIGEST
ER

FILTE
R

CRYSTALLI
ZER

CONCENTRA
TION

UNIT

Reaction Plant

CONE

CONTINUOUS
DEN

MIXER

Green TSP

(recycled rock
phosphate)

SCRUBBE
R

Process Flow Diagram

21

Material Balance
For Sulphuric Acid Plant:
To Design 400 MTD (120 000 MTY) capacity sulphuric acid plant :
( how to calculate Back cal.)
400 MTD = 16666.67 kg/hr of acid (considering 300 days a year
plant is running)
With 98.5% purity, the acid per hour = (0.98*16666.67) kg/hr =
16333.34 kg/hr
Kmol/hr of Sulphuric acid to be produced = (16333.34 /98)
=166.67 kmol/hr
Absorption of the acid is 100%
Therefore, SO3 = 166.67 kmol/hr (SO3 + H2O = H2 SO4)
Overall conversion of SO2 to SO3 in reactor is 99.8% (SO2
= SO3)

O2

Then SO2 required is (166.67/0.998) kmol/hr = 167 kmol/hr

For 100% combustion of Sulphur

(S

O2

SO2 )

Amount of molten sulphur required = 167 kmol/hr

= (167 * 32) kg/hr
= 5344 kg/hr

22

 This sulphur has purity of 99.5%, therefore the required rate of

solid sulfur to mellter = (5344 / 0.995) kg/hr = 5370.85 kg/hr
Amount of oxygen required to convert 1 kmol sulphur to SO3 = 1.5
kmol (S + 1.5O2 =SO3)
Then, amount of oxygen required = (167*1.5) kmol/hr = 250.5
kmol/hr
Using 20% excess air, O2 required = (250.5*1.2) kmol/hr =300.6
kmol/hr)
Therefore, dry air in = (300.6*100)/21 = 1431.43 kmol/hr
Total weight of dry air = (1431.43*29) kmol/hr = 41511.47

kmol/hr

For Phosphoric Acid Plant:

To Design 170 MTD (51000 MTY) capacity phosphoric acid plant :
170 MTD = 7083.33 kg/hr (considering 300 days a year plant is
running)
7083.33 kg/hr H3PO4 = (7083.33/98) kmol/hr = 72.3 kmol/hr
From reaction stoichiometry it is found that:
2 kmol H3PO4 is produced from 3 kmol H2SO4
(Ca(PO) + 3HSO +6HO
2HPO + 3 CaSO.2HO)

72.3 H3PO4 kmol/hr is produced from (3/2 * 72.3)

kmol/hr
=
108.45 kmol/hr H2SO4
For 85% conversion occuring in this plant:
Required H2SO4 = (108.45 / 0.85) kmol/hr = 127.6 kmol/hr

23

This is 80 % H2SO4 (diluted), therefore :

80 % H2SO4 consists of 127.6 kmol/hr:
Then 98.5 % H2SO4 consists of (98.5/80 *
127.6) kmol/hr
= 157.1 kmol/hr
= (157.1*98) kg/hr
= 15395.8 kg/hr
From reaction stoichiometry (Ca(PO) + 3HSO +6HO
2HPO + 3CaSO.2HO) :
3 kmol H2SO4 reacts with 1 kmol rock phosphate,
Then 127.6 kmol/hr H2SO4 reacts with (1/3 * 127.6) kmol/hr
= 42.533
kmol/hr rock phosphate
Therefore, required weight of rock phosphate = (42.533
*310) kg/hr
=

13185.23 kg/hr
For 127.6 kmol/ hr, water required = (2*127.6) kmol/hr
= 255.2 kmol/hr
= (255.2 * 18) kg/hr
= 4593.6 kg/hr
For Gypsum production:
(Ca(PO) + 3HSO +6HO 2HPO + 3 CaSO.2HO)
3 kmol H2SO4 reacts to produce 3 kmol gypsum,
Then, 127.6 kmol/hr H2SO4 reacts to produce 127.6 kmol/hr
gypsum

24

= (127.6 * 172)
kg/hr
= 21947.2

kg/hr gypsum produced

For Reaction Plant (TSP Plant):

To Design 324 MTD (97200 MTY) capacity TSP plant :
Ca3 (PO4)2 + 4H3PO4 + 3H2O3Ca(H2PO4)2.H2O
(TSP)
324 MTD = 13500 kg/hr TSP (taking 300 days of a year)
From stoichiometry it is observed that 3 kmol TSP is produced from
1 kmol rock phosphate,
This means, 756 kg/hr TSP from 310 kg/hr kg rock
phosphate,
Therefore, 13500 kg/hr TSP from (310/756 * 13500)
kg/hr
= 5535.7

kg/hr rock phosphate

To produce 756 kg/hr TSP, 392 kg/hr H3PO4 required
Therefore, 13500 kg/hr TSP from (392/756 * 13500)
kg/hr
= 7000 kg/hr

H3PO4 required
Also, to produce 756 kg/hr TSP, 54 kg/hr H2O required (from
stoichiometry)
Therefore, 13500 kg/hr TSP from (54/756 * 13500) kg/hr

25

= 964.3 kg/hr

H2O required

Energy Balance

Equipment List
For Sulphuric Acid Plant
Melter
Furnace
Waste heat boiler
Gas filter
Converter
1st and 2nd Economizers
AT Tower
Drying tower
Pump
Dilution Cooler

26

 For Phosphoric Acid Plant

Acid cooler (Dilution cooler)
Premixer
Digester
Crystallizer
Filter
Pump
Concentrator

For TSP Plant

Cone mixer
Continuous den
Scrubber

For Granulation Plant

Granulator
Furnace
Rotary drum dryer
Bucket elevator
Coarse screen
Crusher
Fine screen

Equipment Design
27

P & I Diagram

Plant Layout

28

Estimation of Total Capital

Investment & Production
Cost:
Fixed-capital investment:
Component

Costs (Taka)

Percenta
ge
Of TFCI

Direct costs
Purchased Equipment

2289008400

40%

Purchased Equipment
installation

572460000

10%

Instrumentation & controls

343476000

6%

Piping

457968000

8%

Electrical

286230000

5%

Buildings

171738000

3%

Yard improvements

114492000

2%

Service facilities

457968000

8%

57246000

1%

Land

Total direct costs

4551418000

Indirect costs
Engineering & supervision

343476000

6%

Construction expense

228984000

4%

Contractors fee

114492000

2%

Contingency

286230000

5%

Total indirect costs

Total fixed-capital
investment
(TFCI)

973182000

5724600000
Taka

29

So, Total fixed-capital investment = 5724600000 Taka

Production Cost:

Direct Production cost:

Raw material costs:

Component
Rock Sulphur
Rock
Phosphate

Amount
(MTY)

Price per MT

Costs
(Taka/Y)

38670

7000

270690000

134790.696

10000

Total

1347906960
1618596960

Operating Labour Costs:

Operating Labour Costs: 300000000 Taka

Utilities:
The Cost of Utilities = 294660000 Taka

Maintenance and Repairs:

The Maintenance and Repair Cost = 100000000 Taka

General Expenses:
Administrative costs:
30

The Administrative costs = 40000000 Taka

Research and Development costs:

The Research and development costs = 50000000 Taka

Distribution and Selling Costs:

The Distribution and selling costs = 100000000 Taka

Local Taxes:
3% of the total fixed capital investment
So, Local Taxes = 171738000 Taka

Insurance:
Insurance costs = 50000000 Taka
Other costs:
Costs = 200000000

Total production Cost = 2924994960 Taka

Total capital investments = total fixed-capital cost + Total

production Cost
= 8649594960 Taka

Total income from selling Product:

Selling price of 1MT TSP = 22000 Taka
Selling price of 1MT H2SO4 = 15000 Taka
31

Selling price of 1MT Gypsum = 7000 Taka

Name of
product

Amount
(MTY)

Income
(Taka/Y)

TSP fertilizer

97200

2138400000

Sulphuric Acid

6750.3

101254500

Gypsum

158019.84

1106138880

Total
(from selling
product)

3345793380(Ta
ka/Y)

Economic Analysis:
Gross Income = Total income total production cost
= 3345793380 2924994960
= 420798420 Taka

Taxes = 15% of Gross Income

= 0.15 420798420
= 63119763 Taka

Net Profit = [Gross income Taxes]

= 420798420 63119763
= 357678657

32

 Rate of Return = [Net profit100%]/Total Capital

Investment
= 357678657 100%/ 8649594960
= 4.1352%

HAZOP Analysis
A HAZOP analysis is a procedure for the systematic, critical, examination
of the operability of a process. Techniques considered are:
(a) Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA).
(b) Failure modes, effects and criticality analysis
(FMECA).
(c) Hazard and operability studies (HAZOP).
(d) Event tree analysis (ETA).
(e) Fault tree analysis (FTA).
(f) Probabilistic hazard analysis
A HAZOP analysis should be carefully examined for any plant with a large
number of equipments which may have risks of hazards. Smooth
operation can be done by prevention of possible accidents. Let us take the
sulphuric acid plant for example and study the HAZOP analysis on it for
enhanced safety.

HAZOP Analysis of Sulphuric acid plant:

HAZOP Analysis of Melter:

Guid
e
wor

Deviati
on

Causes

Consequences

Actions

33

No

Temp.

Less

Temp.

More

Level

No steam flow Rock sulphur(RS) Opening

to the melter
does not melt
steam supply
Melter damage
line valve
Less
steam Partially
supply
of RS
Partial damage
of melter

melting Repair melter

sulphur Replace pump

Fully
or Liquid
Partially failure Level increase in & high level
of pump
melter
alarm
in
melter.

HAZOP Analysis of pump:

Guid
e
word

No

Less

Rever
se

Deviat
ion

Flow

Flow

Level

Causes

Fully failure
pump

Consequences

of

Overflow
sulphur

of

Actions

liquid Replace pump

& high level
alarm
in
melter

Partially failure Less flow of liquid Repair

or
of
pump
& sulphur
to
the replace pump
blockage in pipe Furnace
&
ratio
controller
adding
in
Furnace
Fully or Partially Liquid
sulphur Replace pump
failure of pump
flowing back to the & place nonmelter
return control
valve

HAZOP Analysis of Furnace:

34

Guid
e
wor
d

Deviati
on

Causes

Low

Temp

More

Temp.

More

Flow

Consequences

Reducing

Pressure
Loss of Heating
Faulty
Instrumentatio
n and Control
Reaction

Control
Failures
Heater Control
Failure
Faulty
Instrumentatio
n and Control

Ratio controller
mis-operation

Actions

SO2
combustion
will not occur

Resulting in
incomplete
combustion
and possible
after burning
and flame
impingement
on
tubes

Higher
percentage of air
& gas content,
increase Furnace
temperature

Increase
the
temperat
ure up to
desired
level.
Procedure
s to limit
fuel firing
to air
availabilit
y
Automati
c heater
shutdown

Replace or
repair ratio
controller

HAZOP Analysis of Gas Filter:

Guid
e
wor
d

Deviatio
n

Flow
Less

As
well
as

compositi
on

Causes

Consequences

Actions

Partially blocked SO2

gas
cant Repair
filter
passes smoothly Filter
& separation does
not occur as our
requirment

Gas

Fully damage of Various impurities Repair

gas filter
goes to Converter replace
Filter

or
Gas

35

 HAZOP Analysis of Converter:

Guid
e
wor
d

No

More

Deviati
on

Flow

Flow

Causes

Actions

Fully damage of No flow to the Repair

Converter
Economizer
replace
Converter
Ratio
failure

Less

Consequences

Temp.

or

controller Excess
air Replace
or
consumed in the repair
ratio
Converter
controller
&reduce temp.

Less air supply Outlet

due to partially reduces
opening of air
supply
line
valve
Partial damage
of Converter

temp. Fully opening

air supply line
Valve

HAZOP Analysis of Economizer:

Guide
word

Deviati
on

Causes

Consequence
s

Actions

36

High

Pressure

High

Tempera
ture

Surge
Problems
Inadequate
Volume of
Vents
Incorrect Vent
Set Pressure
for Vents
Failed Open
PCV

thermal

expansion/cont
raction
between tubes
and shell
resulting in
tube

leak/rupture

Procedural
control of
introduction
of process
fluids on
start-up and
shutdown
Periodic
inspection

Fouled or
Failed
Exchanger
Tubes
Cooling D.M.
Water Failure
Faulty
Instrumentati
on and
Control

Loss of
mechanical
integrity of
tube

High
temperatur
e indication
with alarm

External fire

Repair
necessary
equipment

HAZOP Analysis of Absorbing Tower:

Guide
word

Deviati
on

Less

flow

Causes

High

Flow

If SO3 is not
available from
2nd
economizer
98.5% H2SO4is
not available
from drying
tower.
Control Faults
Greater Fluid
Density
Cross
Connection of

Consequence
s

Contact
process for
the
production
of sulphuric
acid is
hampered.
Less
production
Create a high
pressure

Actions
Operator
action in
response to
low flow
indication

High speed
alarm and
overflow
shutdown

37

Systems

system

38

39