Have there been any changes in the urea process recently?
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We use urea to produce an intermediate for the fine chemical industry; its quality has remained stable over the years. Recently, customers reported that 2% more of our intermediate is required to reach the completion of the reaction, yet various tests showed that its concentration remains the same as before. There are now suspicions of the presence of other metal ions in urea. Are there any recent updates regarding trends in urea catalysts and related equipment? For example, changing the catalyst or the type of equipment, and so on.
In recent years, China’s urea production process has only seen an increase in scale; it continues to use technology from 30 years ago, with no other updates
The components in urea can be analyzed; there may be issues with trace elements. Such as nickel, formaldehyde; in the case of nickel, it causes equipment corrosion ； Formaldehyde is used to improve granulation properties.
At present, there are no major changes in the production processes of urea plants in China, nor are any catalysts used. However, the batch reactors in Stamicarbon in the Netherlands have replaced the four high-pressure components with just two. Two such systems are set to be installed in China soon, resulting in shortened production processes and reduced consumption