The third fertilizer production unit of Ningxia Petrochemical successfully achieved the interim goal of operating continuously for 30 days

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The third fertilizer production unit of Ningxia Petrochemical successfully achieved the interim goal of operating continuously for 30 days. Author/Source: Compiled and published by the Nitrogen Fertilizer and Methanol Technology Network of Ningxia Petrochemical. Date: May 30, 2019. Clicks: 6. At 16:00 on May 16, the company’s third fertilizer production unit accomplished the interim goal of operating steadily for 30 days in a row. The three fertilizer production facilities represent the first large-scale nitrogen fertilizer plants in China built by the group company using its own proprietary technology; all process technologies are domestically developed, and the proportion of domestically produced key equipment exceeds 95%, making them of international advanced standard. It took 6 days and 11 hours for the plant to come online, during which urea product was successfully produced, setting a new record as the fastest startup time for a fertilizer plant of this type. This represents another new breakthrough achieved through China’s first domestically developed large-scale fertilizer production facility. Long-cycle production is the fundamental guarantee for fertilizer companies to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Since the successful commissioning of the equipment, the company has focused on controlled production management, overcoming technical bottlenecks, optimizing process parameters, and improving equipment performance. It has established an effective benchmarking management system to fully tap into potential for energy savings and efficiency improvements, while continuously addressing production challenges. Strengthening technological upgrades and addressing the bottlenecks in plant operation are effective ways to ensure a steady increase in the load of the company’s third fertilizer production unit as well as stable and safe production. To improve the stable operation parameters of the boilers in operation, the company carried out repositioning modifications to the 24 gas burners on these boilers, effectively resolving the issue of uneven combustion at the burners ； Analyze the issues of a full liquid level in the hydrolysis system and excessive ammonia nitrogen discharge; technical personnel take turns being on site, and through brainstorming they prepare detailed process instruction sheets to help the staff refer to when carrying out their tasks* ； To improve the recovery rate of treated waste liquid, the staff put forward active suggestions, recommending the installation of an additional automatic switch valve through technical upgrades, so as to switch the waste liquid recovery point based on different conductivity values. In addition, efforts were focused on eliminating the bottleneck issues that affected the stable operation of the unit, such as the K1401 conversion blower, P1902 hot ammonia pump, and E1811 syngas molecular sieve steam heater, thereby ensuring an increase in the unit’s load capacity and a reduction in energy consumption. During the production and operation of the facility, the three fertilizer plants once again withstood the challenges posed by equipment failures and safety hazards. In the face of potential risks, all departments of the company worked together to focus on identifying hidden dangers and optimizing management through precise operations. The company’s leadership and relevant departments keep a close eye on the production process to ensure overall control ； Employees from the security inspection company, quality control center, and electrical and instrumentation department work with high standards and strict requirements, striving to ensure the stable operation of the equipment ； Fertilizer Plant No. 3 actively overcame various difficulties such as fluctuations in the medium-pressure steam network caused by unstable operating conditions and design flaws in the equipment, tight constraints in the demineralized water system, and excessive operating pressure in the refrigeration system. It strengthened the \"five-in-one\" inspection regime, promptly identified and eliminated serious hazards such as hydrogen leakage from the flange of heat exchanger E1803 at the outlet of the syngas compressor and faults in the speed sensor of ammonia compressor K1901. As a result, the plant achieved the goal of \"standardized operation and stable performance,\" keeping both the production process and equipment operations under controlled and optimal conditions at all times. Optimizing the stable operation of production is key, while continuously refining measures for production control as well as energy conservation and efficiency improvement is fundamental. While ensuring the safe and stable operation of the plant, the three fertilizer production units focus on optimizing operations and implementing meticulous management, aiming to reduce the consumption of natural gas as a raw material, and they do this by drawing on past operational experience to cut energy use. Currently, the natural gas consumption in ammonia synthesis plants is 1,170 cubic meters per ton of ammonia, a decrease of 130 cubic meters per ton compared to the previous period; the ammonia consumption rate is 0.70, which has dropped to 0.56, **thereby reducing production costs. To increase the total amount of steam condensate recovered, everyone pooled their ideas and planned to install a new condensate recovery system in the existing fertilizer production facility. This system will enable the recovery of nearly 40 tons of steam condensate per hour from four different pipeline networks, including steam recovery flash tanks and medium-pressure traps, thereby allowing for effective control of the system’s water and vapor consumption. To date, the three fertilizer production units are operating stably, with the conversion load reaching 80%; the carbon dioxide output from the urea production unit remains at 35,000 cubic meters per hour. Next, the company will continue to focus on controlled production, adhering to the principle that \"stability leads to high efficiency.\" It will work together to address technical challenges and optimize the finished products, striving to achieve the goal of keeping the three fertilizer production units in operation for 100 consecutive days.