Operation of the Front-end Section of an Industrial Ammonia Plant

PIÑA, JULIANA; BUCALÁ, VERÓNICA; BORIO, DANIEL OSCAR

Congreso; ENPROMER III (3º Congreso de Procesos de Ingeniería del Mercosur); 2001

By means of detailed mathematical models of the primary and secondary reformers, the steady-sate performance of the front-end section of a large-scale ammonia plant has been analyzed. Different cases of practical interest are considered: changes in the plant capacity (different reactor loads) and loss of catalyst activity at the primary reformer. Corrective actions in the furnace heat-duty and process-air flow-rate are studied. The influence of the catalyst deactivation on the tube-skin temperature (primary reformer) and main process variables are evaluated.