Q3. Urea Production

The principal raw materials required for this purpose are NH3 & CO2.
Two reactions
are
involved in the manufacture of urea. First, ammonium carbamate is formed under
pressure by reaction between CO2 & NH3.
CO2 + 2NH3 # NH2COONH4 #H= -37.4 Kcal
This highly exothermic reaction is followed by an endothermic decomposition of the
ammonium carbamate.
NH2COONH4 # NH2CONH2 + H2O #H= + 6.3 Kcal
Various processes for the manufacture of urea are:
1) Snamprogetti ammonia stripping process
2) Stamicarbon CO2 stripping process
3) Once through urea process
4) Mitsui Toatsu total recycle urea process
Snamprogetti urea technology can be used for plants of any capacity, in addition to
revamping existing plants.
(more than 99.8% of the ammonia is transformed into urea). The high NH3/CO2 ratio
in the reactor ensures a high conversion of ammonium carbamate, an intermediate
compound in the reaction, to urea (up to 64%).
Snamprogetti ammonia-stripping urea process is selected because it involves a high
NH3
to CO2 ratio in the reactor, ensuring the high conversion of carbamate to urea.
Snamprogetti technology differs
from competitors in being based on the use of excess ammonia to avoid corrosion as
well
as promote the decomposition of unconverted carbamate into urea.
Ammonia & CO2 are compressed separately and fed to the high pressure (180 atms)
autoclave as shown in fig-1.1 which must be water cooled due to the highly
exothermic
nature of the reaction. A mixture of urea, ammonium carbamate, H2O and unreacted (
NH3+CO2) is produced.This liquid effluent is let down to 27 atms and fed to a
special flash-evaporator
containing a gas-liquid separator and condenser. Unreacted NH3, CO2 & H2O are thus
removed & recycled.
A problem faced during manufacture of urea is the formation of biuret during the
production of urea. It is not a desirable substance because it adversely affects
the growth
of some plants. Its content in urea should not be more than 1.5 % by weight.
2NH2CONH2 # NH2CONHCONH2 + NH3
This process is based on the principle of the internal carbamate recycle
technique and is commonly called the Snam NH3 stripping process. The basic
difference between the Snam process & the conventional carbamate solution
recycle urea processes is the fact that in this case the unconverted carbamate is
stripped and recovered from the urea synthesis reactor effluent solution at reactor
pressure, condensed to an aqueous solution in a steam producing high pressure
condenser, & recycle back to the reactor by gravity. Part of the liquid NH3 reactor
feed, vaporized in a steam heated exchanger, is used as inert gas to decompose &
strip ammonium carbamate in the steam heated high pressure stripper.
The reactor operates at about 130 atm & 180-190 o C. The stripper operates at
about 130 atm & 190 o C. The stripper off-gas is condensed in a vertical shell &
tube condenser, operating at about 130 atm & 148-160 o C. Low pressure steam is
produced in the high pressure carbamate condenser. The urea product solution,
leaving the stripper & still containing 2-3 % of residual unreacted carbamate, is
further degassed in a low pressure decomposition-absorption system. The
recovered ammoniacal solution of ammonium carbamate is pumped back to the
reactor.
Snamprogetti ammonia-stripping urea process is selected because it involves a high
NH3
to CO2 ratio in the reactor, ensuring the high conversion of carbamate to urea .
The highly
efficient ammonia stripping operation drastically reduces the recycling of
carbamate and
the size of equipment in the carbamate decomposition . Snamprogetti technology
differs
from competitors in being based on the use of excess ammonia to avoid corrosion as
well
as promote the decomposition of unconverted carbamate into urea.
Renewable feedstocks include waste biomass, hydrogen from solar PV ‐electrolysis,

and the combination of these feedstocks with natural gas.
The selection of a green production strategy is a critical step in the trade‐off
between economic and environmental considerations.
The results show that green urea production can reduce production costs and
greenhouse gas emissions, compared to conventional urea productio
wind‐based ammonia production can significantly decrease fossil energy input.the
greening of ammonia, using a solar ammonia refinery, which utilizes solar energy
for the process of ammonia production.
electrochemical ammonia production has been developed to substantially reduce the
energy input by more than 20%, simplify the reactor design, and reduce the
complexity and cost of the plant when compared with the conventional ammonia
production route.
Hydrogen poses as an energy alternative from abundant available resources while
reducing carbon emissions. However, it does not exist naturally in molecular form.
It must be produced from a diversity of feedstock sources, such as fossil fuels,
water, and biomass, but it requires a huge amount of energy to convert it to pure
hydrogen.
Hydrogen from natural gas consists of different conversion routes: SMR, partial
oxidation (POX), and dry reforming (DR) with various ratios of H2/CO. For
ammonia/urea production, SMR is the most suitable process due to synthesis gas
produced with highest hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio. It is considered ideal to
be used as feedstock in the petrochemical industries. Carbon monoxide can be
further converted to hydrogen and carbon dioxide through the water‐gas shift (WGS).

Q3. Urea Production

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The principal raw materials required for this purpose are NH3 & CO2.

Renewable feedstocks include waste biomass, hydrogen from solar PV ‐electrolysis,

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