Ashuganj Fertilizer and Chemical Company Limited

Ashuganj, Brahmanbaria

An In-plant Training Report on

Ashuganj Fertilizer and Chemical Company Limited (AFCCL)

Submitted by:-

…………………………….
Student ID:
Year:
Session:

Department of Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering

University of Dhaka
Introduction:

Ashuganj Fertilizer and Chemical Company Limited (AFCCL) is situated on the east bank of
river Meghna about 2km south of Ashuganj railway station in Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh,
approximately 100km north of Dhaka. The factory is connected to Dhaka city and other parts of
the country by road, river, and rail. AFCCL was established by the Ministry of Industries (MOI)
of the government of Bangladesh. For the establishment of the factory, the main contractor was
Faster Wheeler Limited, UK, and commissioned on 15 th December 1981. In 1983, the factory
was handed over to Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation, BCIC, since then AFCCL has
been operated as an enterprise of BCIC. Mainly prilled urea is produced in the factory.

Industrial Overview:

Natural Gas is the main raw material for the production of urea and ammonia. NG comes from
the Bakhrabad Gas Field via filters and metering station and enters the desulphurization unit.
Here, sulfur compounds are removed by catalytic reactions, then the gas is cracked by steam in
the primary and secondary reformers to produce CO 2, CO, and H2. Moreover, air is also added to
the secondary reformer as a source of nitrogen. Reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen at suitable
pressure and temperature to produce ammonia. Then urea is synthesized from NH3 and CO2 by
the formation of ammonium carbamate and dehydration of the ammonium carbamate to form a
melt of urea.

Function of Industry:-

Ashuganj Fertilizer and Chemical Company Limited is divided into four departments, they are as
follows:

1. Technical

2. Operation

3. Maintenance

4. Electrical and Instrument

Each of the four departments is subdivided into some sections which are listed below:-
 1. HRD
Technical 2. RPD
3. Fire and Safety
4. Quality
Operation 1. Utility Plant
2. Ammonia Plant
3. Urea Plant
4. Bagging
Maintenance 1. Machinery
2. Plant maintenance
3. Workshop
4. Autoshop
Electrical and Instrumental 1. Electrical
2. Instrumental
3. Solid Handling

Fire and Safety:-

Fire and safety management to very important for the chemical industry. Fire is common in an
industry and for this safety management is required. Otherwise, great loss will occur.

Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion,
releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. Four basic requirements are necessary before
combustion can occur.

-The presence of a fuel or combustible substance.

-The presence of oxygen or other supporters of combustion.

-The presence of heat that is attained at a temperature.

-An uninhibited chemical chain reaction.

Types of fire:- There are four types of fire. They are as

1. A Type Fire

2. B Type Fire

3. C Type Fire

4. E Type Fire

1. A Type Fire:- Catching fire by cotton, jute, etc. textile substance. Turnout by water.

2. B Type Fire:- Catching fire by lube oil. Turnout by dry powder, foam.

3. C Type Fire:- Catching fire by gaseous substance, first we need to cut the source, then use the
extinguishing method.

4. E Type Fire:- From electric short circuit. For turnout, CO 2 can be used or dry powder can be
used in the absence of CO2.

Safety Management:-

For safety management, we need personal protective equipment(PPE). Safety equipment or PPE
equipment are as follows:

1. Fire proofs jacket 2. Life jacket

3. Helmet 4. Safety shoes

5. Hand gloves 6. Face mask

7. Fire hose pipes 8. Earplug

9. Earplug 10. Safety goggles

Additionally, ladders, fire extinguishers, and foam refill powder are also available in AFCCL,
fire and safety department.
Hydrants:- Hydrants are devices for extracting water from pipelines and water distribution
systems. In the event of a fire outbreak, a fire hydrant can assure fast water supply. Total 32
hydrants are used in the AFCCL industry and which is used to distribute water.

Fire truck:- Two types of fire trucks are used in the AFCCL fire and safety department which are
as follows,

1. Foam fire truck

2. Mini fire truck

Quality Control

Quality Control is essential to maintain quality for the production of ammonia and urea. It is
observed chemically after every production process. It is called the EYE of the industry.

Quality Control department is divided into 5 sections:

1. Demineralization plant 2. Water treatment

3. Gas analysis 4. Ammonia plant
5. Urea plant

There are many instruments used to measure the quality of the production. They are:

1. Flame photometer: Identify Na+, K+ ion and its concentration.

2. Viscosity meter: check the viscosity of lube oil

3. pH meter: check the pH of water.

4. Conductivity meter: Check the conductivity.

5. Turbidity meter: check the concentration and density of water, unit is NTU.

6. Spectrophotometer: Check the concentration of solution.

7. FID: Flame ionization detector.

 8. Gas solid chromatography: Check the percentage of gas.

Ammonia Plant

Ammonia production in AFCCL

Ammonia is a vital key raw material for the production of urea. The NH3 plant of AFCCL is
subdivided into three main sections named as front-end, Rear-end, and Compressor.

Raw materials for Ammonia production

1. Natural Gas
2. Process Air
3. Water
Technical information
1. Process licenses: [Link], GmbH, Germany
2. Produced Ammonia phase: Liquid
3. Produced Ammonia amount: 930 MT per day
Process steps:
1. Feed gas purification 9. Ammonia synthesis
2. Desulfurization 10. NH3 recovery
3. Primary reforming 11. NH3 refrigeration
4. Secondary Reforming 12. NH3 product storage
5. CO Shift Conversion 13. Process condensate stripping
6. CO2 removal 14. Steam system
7. Methanation 15. Cooling water system
8. Syngas compression

Process description

1. Feed gas purification: The natural gas comes from Bakrabad Gas Distribution Company
Limited and is maintained at 42-43 bar pressure. Then it is passed to the knockout drum and
filter to remove any condensate and particles.
2. Preheater: NG is preheated by steam. NG inlet temperature in the preheater is about 150 °C
and outlet temperature is 103°C. LP steam is 3bar and HT steam of 40bar pressure. The process
gas is heated using HP steam to attain 390°C.

3. Desulfurization (DGR): To remove any type of sulfur content present in NG is passed to the
desulfurization reactor which contains three catalyst bed

4. Primary reformer: The temperature of the DGR outlet is 380 °C and it is then mixed with 39.2
bar pressure with 495°C temperature with process steam in the ratio of 1:3.8 which is the inlet
steam of PER. The reactions are-
NiO
CH4 + H2O 3H2 + CO

H2O + CO H2 + CO2

5. Secondary Reformer: In the secondary reformer, the process air is added to the obtained N 2 for
the NH3 synthesis reactions. Process air is added to the combustion zone. The temperature of the
inlet gas steam is 809 °C and the temperature of the outlet is 989 °C. In secondary reformer,
9.59% of CH4 is cracked.
NiO
CH4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H2O

2H2 + O2 2H2O

2CO + O2 2CO2

[Link] conversion: At first, CO is converted to CO2 in the high-temperature shift (HTS) and low-
temperature shift (LTS) sections. The average HTS inlet is 315-320 °C with an outlet
temperature is 380°C. The HTS reactions at 350 °C and 32 bar pressure are-
Cr-Fe
CO + H2O CO2 + H2

FeS + H2 H2S + Fe

The LTS reactions are as follows -

CuO
CO + H2O CO2 + H2
7. Absorber and desorber: Absorber is used to absorb CO2 by using a Benfield solution. Absorber
has three beds. CO2 is generated in the desorber where it is supplied to the urea plant. Benfield
solution absorber section reactions are as follows -

K2CO3 + CO2 + H2O 2KHCO3

8. Methanator: The remaining CO, CO2 in the process gas is fed to the methanator to convert
them into CH4 which is shown by the following reactions-

CO + 3H2 CH4 + H2O

CO2 + 4H2O CH4 + 2H2O

9. NH3 convertor: Scrubbed syngas is fed to the NH3 synthesis reactor. NH3 is synthesized at high
pressure and low temperature from Nitrogen and hydrogen according to Le Chatelier principle.
Then the produced liquid NH3 is stored in an NH3 storage tank.

Fe
N2 + 3H2 294 bar 2NH3
 Urea Plant

Production of urea in AFCCL:-

Urea is produced at an industrial scale by the reaction of ammonia and carbon dioxide at high
pressure and temperature. In the modern fertilizer industry, urea can be synthesized by many
processes. Here AFCCL follows the Stami-carbon process for the design of the prilled urea
synthesis. Stami Carbon BV is a Netherland-based company.

# Technical Information:

-Process licensor: STAMICARBON B.V., Netherlands.

-Produced urea phase: Prilled urea

-Produced urea amount: 1600 MT/Day, 528000 MT/Year

# Main raw materials in urea plant :

1. Liquid ammonia

2. Carbon dioxide

# Process steps:

1.CO2 compression 5. Urea concentration

2. Liquid ammonia pump 6. Prilling

3. Synthesis 7. Bulk storage

4. Separation 8. Bagging

# Urea product quality in AFCCL:

-Nitrogen: 46.1%

-Biuret: 0.93%

-Moisture : 0.3%
-Prilled urea size: (1-3.4 mm diameter)

-Urea concentration: 99.7%

Process description:-

1. CO2 Compression:- Firstly, gaseous CO2 is passed through a four-stage compressor which
increases the pressure and temperature. The initial Temperature and pressure of CO 2 which is
comes from the NH3 plant is -44°C and 0.18 bar. By passing through the compressor the
temperature and pressure of the CO2 are increased to 110°C and 147 bar respectively.

2. Ammonia pump:- The liquid NH3 is passed through a reciprocating pump to increase the
pressure and temperature. The initial temperature and pressure of CO 2 are 30-45°C and 30-35
bar whereas the final temperature and pressure are 50-60 °C and 155 bar respectively.

3. CO2 Stripper:- The compressed CO2 is introduced in the bottom parts of CO2 stripper vessel.
Here, a high-pressure heat exchanger is used. In this vessel, 1 st decomposing and second
stripping functions are completed.

4. High-pressure Carbamate Condenser (HPCC):- In HPCC, CO 2 and NH3 react with each other
and form ammonium carbamate. The following reaction is,

5. Urea Synthesis Reactor:- Ammonium Carbamate is dehydrated to form urea and H 2O by

losing 3-4 kcal/mol heat. Retention time in the urea synthesis reactor is 1 hour after that urea
solution is sent to the stripper for purification.

Here, 34% urea solution concentration is obtained which is introduced to the stripper and
maintains 170-180°C temperature and 137-142 bar pressure. Here, we obtained a 58% urea-
concentrated solution which is passed into the rectifying column.

6. High Pressure Scrubber:- The gaseous component that comes from the urea synthesis reactor
is passed to the high-pressure scrubber to cool down and subsequently make it liquid.

7. Rectifying Column:- It is used to concentrate the urea solution by using a shell and tube heat
exchanger. Here, unwanted gas is removed.
8. Flash Tank:- Urea solution is flashed off by using a pressure drop mechanism. The flash tank
is connected to the reactor which removes unwanted gas components and passes to the urea
solution tank and here concentration is 72%.

9. Evaporator 1,2:- Evaporator is used to make highly concentrated urea. Evaporator 1 makes
95% urea and evaporator 2 makes it 99.7%.

10. Prilling Tower: A prilling tower is used to make the prilled urea. From the prilling tower, the
prilled urea has 99.7% concentration with (1-3.4mm) diameter.
 Utility Plant

Units of utility plant:

1. Pretreatment 4. Instrument air dryer.

2. Demin plant 5. Cooling Towers.

3. Ammonia Storage 6. Nitrogen plant

1. Pretreatment:- Pretreatment is necessary for the purification of water. The basic processing
steps of the pretreatment unit are represented below:

Meghna River water

Clarifier

Clear well

Pressure filter

WFI tank Portable water

- Firstly, Meghna Rivers water is taken by using three pumps where a capacity is 1100 MT/hour.

-Then the water is passed to the classifier which contains some chemicals such as Alum, Soda
Ash light, coagulant aid, and Chlorine. The main reactions are represented below.
Step 1:

Al₂(SO4)3.18H2O+H2O → Al(OH)3 + H2SO4

Al(OH)3 +H2SO4 → Al3+ + 3OH-

H2SO4→ 2H+ + SO42-

Mud
Al3+ + Mud → Al3+ Mud → flock

Mud Coagulant aid

Step 2: Na2CO3.10H2O + H2O → NaOH + H2CO3

NaOH → Na+ + OH-

H2CO3 → H2O + CO2

H2CO3 → 2H+ + CO32-

Step 3: Cl2 + H2O → HCl + HOCl

HOCl → H+ + OCl-

OCl- → Cl- + [O]

Microorganism + [O] → kill

-The clarified water comes from the clarifier is then Stored into the clear well. Then it is passed
to the pressure filters which remove the remaining suspended particles, oily particles, etc.

2. Dermin Plant: In the demin plant there are three types of beds are present for purification
purposes such as cation bed, anion bed and Mixed ked. The capacity of the Demin Tank is
10,000 MT.

-Reaction of cation Exchange Resin:

nR-H+ + Mn+ → RnM + nH+

2R-H+ + Ca2+ → R2Ca + 2H+

Reaction of Anion Exchange Resin-

nR+-OH- + An- → RnA + nOH-

R-OH + Cl- → RCl + OH-

H++ OH- → H2O

-Degasifier Reaction

H2CO3→ H2O + CO2

3. Ammonia Storage: The capacity of the ammonia tank is 10,000 MT. Ammonia is stored in
liquid form under 40 bar pressure. The Tank is 2 layers with 1 m insulation. The insulation is
made using par-light powders.

- Excess NH3 is stored in the NH3 tank and supplied when necessary. A 40-stage pump is used
here to liquidate NH3 and a heater is used before supply. NH3 storing temp at -33 °C.

4. Instrumental Air Dryer: The main use of an instrumental air dryer is to remove the moisture
from the air. There are two stages, two compressors are used which is centrifugal type. Steps of
charge overs in the instrumental air dryer vessels.

1. Pressurized 4. Heating

2. Change over 5. cooling.

3. Repressurized

5. Cooling Towers: There are 9 units. 7 units are for ammonia and 2 for urea, & 3 centrifugal
pumps of 1.4 MW Capacity are used for ammonia water supply and 3 Centrifugal pumps of 0.63
MW capacity are used for urea water supply.

6. Nitrogen plant: Main equipment of N2 plant are.

1. Air Compressor 4. Air purifier

 2. N2 Storage Tank 5. Vaporizer

3. Chiller 6. pressurizer

7. cold box

Electrical and Instrumental.

Electrical and Instrumental department has 3 sections.

a. Electrical

b. Instrumental

c. Solid Handling.

1. Electrical Department:

AFCCL has its electrical power station which generates 11000 voltages of electricity. 2 steam
turbine generators generate 13.5 MW each and it is the capacity of these generators. Also, PDB
electricity is supplied to the housing, office, and synchronous generators. There is a substation
which distributes electricity to the pumps and other electrical components. The electrical section
units are represented by the following hierarchy,

Electrical Department

Power Plant Air condition Housing maintenance Plant side maintenance

Different motors Different transformers Rewinding Shop

*Powers plant: It has two alternators/generators and each capacity is 13.5MW. They are supplied
by AEG KANIS, GERMANY.

* Air condition:

There are three types of AC present in AFCCL.

1. Central Air cooler.

2. Split type Aite cooler.

3. Window Туре Аir cooler,

*Housing Maintenance: Any electrical running fault is found by this section and determine the
reason for the fault. They also maintain overhead with a 415-volt line which runs in different
moods.

*Plant side Maintenance: Plant side maintenance controls the plant motors, transformеrs, and
Rewinding shop, In the transformer the inlet voltage is 11000 Volt.

Instrumental Department.

-The main function of this section is to control the four basic important parameters for any
industry The AFCCL instrumental section controls the following parameters.

a. Temperature

b. Pressure

c. Level

d. Flow.

1. Measuring of Temperature:

-Thermometer,

-Temperature indicator,

-Temperature element
-Resistance Temperature detector (RTD).

2. Measuring of pressure:

- Pressure indicator: PI measure at bar/psi unit.

3. Measuring of Flow
4. Measuring of level.
-Tribune flow meter,
-Level glass.
-Flow transmitter(FT).
-Level Transmitter.
# Instrument Equipment:
-Fluid Scale.
-Control Valve

-Compressor

-Switch.

-Solenoid valve.

Maintenance Department

The maintenance department has the following section.

1. Machinery: This section deals with all rotating devices like fan, pump, turbine, compressor
etc. Being a huge industry device there are a Lot of rotating device for example,

-Turbine -Pump .

-Bearing. -Mechanical Seal.

-Compressor .

2. Plant Maintenance: This section focuses on non-rotating devices such as.

 -Boiler -Valve.

-Gate -Heat Exchanger

3. Workshop: Repairing or making of a machine parts are done here. It is divided into four
sections.

-Machine shop -Valve maintenance,

-NDT/Nondestructive testing -welding

4. Autoshop: It can be divided into two parts. Equipments and vehicle under equipment sections
there are crane, fork lifter, etc. present.

Bagging

\- Bagging unit in divided into 3 section.

1. Prilled urea distribution line.

2. Prilled urea discharging line.

3. Bagged urea distribution line.

Urea prilling tower → Different belt System → Packing → Sealing → Storing → Shipping

Figure: Bagging Process

 Summary

The design production of this plant is 1600 MT urea. But now the daily production is close to
1200 MT due to scarcity of gas. The plant is running at 707. load. To keep the instruments safe
they can be run below 70% load. It was built in 1981. The instrument was state-of-the-art back
then. But after 40 years they are functioning well enough. But still, it is one of the biggest
industries in Bangladesh. Watching how the machine operates was a pleasant sight to us We
learned many things from this fertilizer Company. The staff are well-behaved and expert too.
There are many scopes for developing this industry and increasing production.