Revamp of Liaohe's Ammonia Plant with KRES Technology to reduce natural gas usage

摘要

Shenzhen Liaohe Tongda Chemicals Co. Ltd. (Liaohe) has been operating a conventional KBR technology based 1000 MTPD ammonia plant since 1978 at Panjin City in Liaoning province China. The plant has been facing a natural gas supply curtailment leading to very low capacity utilization and reduced production. In 2001 Liaohe awarded KBR a contract to supply technology and basic engineering for a project to revamp this plant to reduce natural gas consumption from 9.15 to 6.47(expected) Gcal/MT by replacing the existing fired primary reformer with KRES (KBR Reforming Exchanger System) and maintain capacity of 1070 mtpd ammonia. An offsite coal fired package boiler was provided to maintain steam balance. Beside increased capacity utilization of ammonia plant and saving on the overall fuel bill, Liaohe also expected increased production of CO_2 by 13% and consequent higher urea production. Liaohe's KRES unit is based on a significantly improved version of the original design used for Methanex's 350 mtpd ammonia plant at Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada. Several optimized and enhanced features have been incorporated in its design. The commissioning and operating experience at Liaohe has re-confirmed all the outstanding attributes of the KRES at Kitimat All the technology enhancements, including scalability, have performed per design. The unit is very operator friendly, flexible and it adapts well to varying throughput requirements. The Liaohe revamp project has met all its expected goals. KRES offers new generation of proven technology alternative to the conventional reformer furnace. The purposes of this paper are to overview the KRES technology and provide project execution, design, commissioning and operating experience on the Liaohe's KRES unit at Panjin.