Advanced Process Control Systems Improve Ammonia Plant Safety
Advanced Process Control Systems Improve Ammonia Plant Safety
Advanced Process Control Systems Improve Ammonia Plant Safety
Brent Frahm
Farmland Industries Inc., Beatrice, NE 68310
Introduction tubes.
• Control primary reformer exit temperature to
T
he ammonia plant was built in 1964 with a achieve stable operations and optimum methane leak-
capacity of 600 short tons per day (TPD). In age.
1980, the plant underwent debottlenecking to • Properly control the primary reformer furnace pres-
increase the production rate to 750 TPD. In 1993, the sure to a certain level (vacuum pressure) to assure that
plant revamped and improved the operation to a capac- no flue gases are released to the atmosphere through
ity of 850 TPD. In July 1997, the plant management the furnace or convection section.
contacted GE Continental Controls (GE CCI) to study • Stabilize and optimize the H/N ratio at the ammo-
the possibility of implementing an advanced process nia converter inlet to improve energy efficiency.
control (APC) system. • Tightly control the primary reformer excess oxygen
The main objective of the multivariable control sys- to save fuel gas firing in the primary reformer.
tem implementation was to achieve safer and smoother • Optimize the shift converter temperatures to obtain
operations, while achieving the plant economic opti- maximum CO shift conversions, while avoiding steam
mization. To realize this objective, the following oper- condensation in the shifts units.
ation considerations must be taken into account: • Maximize the methanator exit temperature for bet-
• Monitor primary reformer tube temperature to ter heat recovery while preventing carbon oxide leak-
assure there are no "hot spots" among the reforming age.
Regylatory PHO
& Logic Control
Controller Rant i/o
15 minute snapshot
10 Days
Figure 3. Primary reformer operation results: (2) riser temperature difference between adjacent rows.
The H/N ratio at the ammonia converter inlet has The CO2 concentration at the absorber overhead has
been well controlled at the desired set point by manip- been controlled quite well. The variation of the CO2
ulating the air flow to the secondary reformer. To save
concentration was reduced from 100 ppm to 10 ppm.
energy, the electric motor driven air compressor speed
was maximized, while the steam turbine driven air
Ammonia converter module
compressor speed was minimized.
The operating results are shown in Figure 4. From
The inlet temperature of each catalyst bed in the
this figure, it is apparent that before the MVC was in
ammonia converter was better controlled by manipu-
operation, the operators had difficulty controlling the
lating the quench flow, and the temperature profile
hydrogen to nitrogen. The deviation of the H/N ratio at
inside the ammonia converter was much closer to the
the ammonia converter inlet from its set point was
optimum profile. The variations of the converter out
reduced greatly from ±0.4 to ±0.05.
temperature were reduced from ±1°F to ±2°F. The opti-
mum temperature profile enables more ammonia con-
Shift/methanator module
version per pass of the synthesis gas to the ammonia
converter.
By using the optimization and predictive capabilities
of the system, the CO concentration at the low temper-
Conclusion and Discussion
ature shift outlet (LTS) was reduced. The reduction of
CO composition at the LTS outlet results in less metha- Because of the frequent revamps to the ammonia
nation reaction in the methanator, less hydrogen con- plant, most equipment is operated near its limit.
sumption during methanation and, finally, less purge Different constraints arise in different seasons. With all
flow to maintain the same inert gas composition in the of the key process constraints considered in the control
synthesis loop. modules in the MVC system, all the constraints were
2.7
2.5
15 minute snapshot
10 Days
Figure 4. H/N ratio at ammonia converter inlet.