Urea-cooled fluidized bed technology has been successfully industrialized

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Recently, the urea cooling fluidized bed technology developed by Ningbo Far East Chemical Group Co., Ltd. has been **put into industrial use. It has been operating stably in the urea system of Hubei Huahua Chemical Group’s \"18·30\" technical upgrade project for one year and two months, with all process parameters meeting or exceeding the design values. This means that significant progress has been made in China’s independently developed urea-cooled fluidized bed technology. 　　This set of equipment is currently the unit with the highest urea processing capacity in China that utilizes domestic technology. This achievement has been successfully industrialized in the urea system of Hubei Huahua Chemical Engineering Group’s \"18·30\" technological upgrade project, putting an end to China’s long-term reliance on imported large-scale urea pellet cooling equipment. 　　According to Guo Weihong, director of Hubei Huahua Chemical Technology Center, the cooling fluidized bed unit for the 300,000-ton urea production line as part of the company’s \"18·30\" technical upgrade project is capable of processing 1,000 tons of urea per day, and it began operating on a full scale in February 2008. After the installation was put into operation, the temperature of the treated urea particles was maintained between 40°C and 50°C. This represented a reduction of 30°C to 40°C compared to the particle temperatures during summer before the installation was operational, and a reduction of nearly 20°C compared to the particle temperatures during winter. The annual average particle size of urea (0.85–2.8 mm) reached 97%–98%, an increase of 4%–5% compared to before the operation of the facility, resulting in an **improvement in the visual quality of the urea product**. Urea pellets produce almost no dust, with a dust removal rate of over 99%. This device not only recovers a large amount of dust but also improves the working environment at the urea packaging station. 　　It is understood that in recent years, domestic fertilizer manufacturers have continuously expanded their urea production capacity, yet the urea granulation towers have not been rebuilt. As a result, the capacity of these granulation towers is insufficient, which affects the appearance quality of the finished urea; this is manifested in higher particle temperatures, higher dust content, an ammonia-like odor, a smaller average particle size, uneven particle distribution, and easy caking during storage. Moreover, consumers’ requirements regarding appearance quality are constantly increasing; they expect urea particles to be uniform, free of dust, without an ammonia smell, and not to clump together. In response to market demands, existing large-scale fertilizer production facilities in China have mostly relied on introducing foreign technology to address quality issues; this not only involves huge investment costs but also makes it difficult to ensure proper after-sales service for the drying equipment. 　　Ningbo Far East Chemical Group Co., Ltd. has been engaged in research on technologies for energy conservation, high efficiency, and environmental protection in urea production facilities for many years. By breaking foreign technological monopolies, they successfully developed the urea-cooled fluidized bed technology and obtained a **patent** for it. 　　At present, Ningbo Far East Chemical Group Co., Ltd. is designing and manufacturing cooling fluidized bed units with a production capacity of 2,200 tons per day and 2,400 tons per day of urea, which indicates that Far East’s technology for urea cooling fluidized beds is moving toward larger nitrogen fertilizer production facilities.