Netherlands-based Stamicarbon BV, the license company of Italy’s Maire Tecnimont SpA, said it has inked a contract comprising the process design package (PDP), licensing, and equipment supply contract for an Ultra-Low Energy (ULE) grassroots urea plant in China’s Jiangxi province.
The facility will be the largest of Stamicarbon’s ULE design plants, with a capacity of 3,850 mt/d and the seventh plant globally based on this design, Stamicarbon said in an April 19 media release.
The company said under this latest contract it will deliver the PDP and the proprietary ”Safurex” high-pressure equipment and associated services for the urea melt and prilling plant.
In addition, unlike the previous ULE plants, which featured Pool Reactor technology, this design will apply the Ultra-Low Energy principle to the Pool Condenser, it said.
Stamicarbon said its ULE design – launched in 2012 – allows heat supplied as high-pressure steam to be used three times instead of two, reducing steam consumption by about 35% and cooling water consumption by about 16% compared to traditional processes, as demonstrated in two plants currently in operation.
The two plants in operation are the Jinjiang Xinlianxin and Hubei Sanning plants in China, with production capacities of 2.334 mt/d each. They have been in operation since 2021. T
Two further plants using the ULE design are under construction; a plant for Gemlik Gübre in Turkey with capacities of 1,640 mt/d for granulated urea and 500 mt/d for UAN, and a plant at Henan Xinlianxin in China, with urea capacity of 2,334 mt/d.
Two other plants in China are in the design phase, both for capacities of 2,334 mt/d each.