Urea Plants

Our Expertise

Our Expertise

Building the world's largest Urea plants, with high capacities and low energy consumption

With more than four decades of experience in the design and construction of urea plants, thyssenkrupp Uhde is regarded as one of the top international contractors in this field. We have access to the leading urea technologies, such as:

  • CO2 stripping processes, Stamicarbon, The Netherlands

  • Fluid bed granulation technologies by thyssenkrupp Fertilizer Technology (tkFT; formerly Yara / Hydro Agri), Germany

In conjunction with our partners, we continually search for innovative technologies to enhance our portfolio and to offer our customers state-of-the-art technology.

In conjunction with our partners, we continually search for innovative technologies to enhance our portfolio and to offer our customers state-of-the-art technology.

Urea solution for other purposes

Of course urea solution can also be exported as a liquid product, for example for the production of urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) fertilizer, or as reduction agent for combustion exhaust gas cleaning (DEF or AdBlue®).

Advantages of the Urea 2000plus technology

  • Savings in investment costs due to the reduction in size and – for the pool reactor concept – also the number of high pressure items

  • Operational advantages:

    • more stable level / pressure control

    • less sensitivity to changes in the load or the N/C ratio

    • fast capacity change of the plant due to self-regulating heat transfer characteristics

  • Reduced construction height, resulting in reduced construction costs

  • Improved heat transfer leading to reduced heat exchanger area

New features in recent plants using Urea 2000plus technology

  • The high pressure section of recently-built urea plants are made of Safurex, a duplex steel specially developed for the Stamicarbon urea process by Sandvik, Sweden. This steel offers excellent corrosion resistance and high toughness and permits a reduction in the amount of added passivation air.

  • For plants with state-of-the-art capacities Uhde applies Flowserve centrifugal pumps in ammonia and carbamate high pressure service. These pumps were newly introduced for this application and lived up to expectations in the Qafco 4 fertilizer plant. They proved to be highly reliable and require minimum maintenance.

Common highlights for all CO2 stripping processes

  • Low energy consumption

  • High process efficiency leading to low raw material consumption figures

  • High on-stream times (reliability)

  • Low corrosion rates

  • High safety standards

  • Low emissions

  • Simple operation

  • Easy maintenance

Fluid bed granulation for high efficiency and excellent product quality

The urea melt from the evaporation section is fed to the fluid bed granulation unit and further processed to high-grade solid granules. Formaldehyde is injected into the urea melt as a granulation agent before it is sent to the granulator.

The granulated product extracted from the granulator is cooled down and lifted to the screening section. The oversize material is crushed and returned as seeding particles to the granulator together with the undersize grains. After final cooling, the specification-grade product is sent to the storage facility.

The granules produced by this technology are round and very hard and therefore highly resistant to crushing and abrasion. They can be produced in a wide range of defined sizes.

Urea dust, which is entrained in the air from the granulator, the fluidized-bed coolers and various dedusting points, is recovered in a scrubbing system. Process condensate from the desorption section is used as make-up water for the scrubbing liquid, which is recycled to the evaporation section.

UFT® fluid bed granulation technology

Because of its high efficiency and a granulator that ensures excellent product quality with extremely low solid recycle rates, the fluid bed granulation process by thyssenkrupp Fertilizer Technology is the leading granulation technology. It permits the construction of single-train granulation plants which are in line with the largest synthesis units so far constructed. The process complies with the most stringent environmental regulations as there is no waste water and only minimum dust emissions. Maximum operating flexibility and reliability as well as minimum maintenance and operating staff requirements are further features of this advanced process, which is used in more than 70+ urea plants worldwide.

Urea solution for DEF and AdBlue®

Aqueous urea solution can be injected into the exhaust gas stream of a combustion process in order to lower its emissions of nitrous oxides (NOx). In the hot flue gas stream, urea solution decomposes into carbon dioxide and ammonia. Ammonia reacts with the nitrous oxides, usually over a catalyst, decomposing them into the harmless components water and nitrogen.

For reducing NOx emissions from diesel engines, a suitable urea solution is referred to as DEF (diesel exhaust fluid), and in Europe a solution of this kind is marketed under the name AdBlue®.

Yara AdBlue

Urea technology service

Continuous improvement using high-tech solutions

Would you like your plant to be permanently operating to the highest possible efficiency and safety standards, not just at start-up but throughout its entire lifetime?

As a technological leader with around 90 years of experience in the fertilizer business thyssenkrupp Uhde can accompany you on the entire journey of your plant.

Who we are

As a professional service provider to the ammonia & urea industry we offer you a comprehensive service portfolio for continuous improvement of your plant in the fields of a minimized power consumption, increased capacity, plant availability & safety as well as product quality in order to support you on your way to becoming "best in class".

What we offer

In addition to engineering, operation and maintenance, inspection and repairs, consulting and assessments, troubleshooting and training, we can support you with the following services:

Revamps:

Based on our extensive experience in designing, constructing and commissioning new plants, thyssenkrupp Uhde has developed a wide-ranging strategy for the revamping of ammonia and urea plants to meet the requirements and objectives of our customers, such as:

  • Improve annual production

  • Improve energy efficiency

  • Extend remaining lifetime

  • Improve plant reliability

  • Reduce emissions

Engineering and supply of equipment and spare parts:

If you choose thyssenkrupp Uhde as a supplier of equipment, you will benefit from the thyssenkrupp Uhde global procurement organization of an international EPC contractor. By combining engineering skills and procurement skills for equipment supply we provide our customers a comprehensive service package including mechanical and performance guarantees as well as commissioning services for the supplied equipment and machinery.

Ammonia synthesis catalyst & cartridge replacement:

Due to the high complexity of catalyst and cartridge replacement in the ammonia converter we offer our customers a full-service package. As general contractor, thyssenkrupp Uhde not only ensures competent project execution and fixed-price catalyst and cartridge replacement under observance of a set time schedule, but also performance reliability once the plant has been restarted.The full-service package for catalyst and cartridge replacement in an ammonia converter includes:

  • Project management incl. site management

  • Procedures and method statements

  • Supervision of all working steps

  • Inspection services

  • Supply of catalyst, cartridge, spare parts & tools

  • Mechanical works

  • Catalyst handling

  • Start-up supervision

  • Performance optimization