Casale SA reported it has also been awarded by Spanish fertilizer and industrial chemicals producer Fertiberia Group SA the contract for three high-pressure process boilers (RG boilers) to replace the existing units placed downstream the secondary reformer in Fertiberia’s ammonia plant at Palos de La Frontera, 13 km from Huelva.
The new boilers will feature the Casale-Schmidtsche Schack design
The Palos ammonia plant was built in the early 1970s under license by MW Kellogg license.
“The old boilers are based on the traditional design featuring vertical layout and bayonet-type tubes with water flowing inside the tubes and the hot gas shell side for the first two boilers (101-C A/B) and process gas in the tubes for the second boiler (102-C),” said Casale in a June 9 news release. “This configuration – widely used in the industry so far – has some inherent design weaknesses which determine serious reliability issues during operation.”
The Swiss industrial equipment and technology supplier cited these design weaknesses as in particular being overheating, vibration due to high velocity, sludge deposition, and erosion and corrosion of the tubes, that can lead to damages to the tube bundles – which in turn, it said, are the main cause of costly unexpected shutdowns in ammonia plants and frequent replacement of the tube bundle.
Casale said the new boilers for Fertiberia will be designed to meet the future conditions when the plant will be operated with the addition of green hydrogen.
Fertiberia plans to construct four green-hydrogen plants at three of its production sites to produce green ammonia, including at Palos de La Frontera, in partnership with Spanish energy company Iberdrola, under deals signed in July and October last year (GM July 31, 2020; Oct. 30, 2020). The green hydrogen plant at the Palos site is earmarked for building between 2023 and 2027.