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Covering the global coalbed methane, coal gasification and coal-to-X industries.
In Asia, the current natural gas supply does not meet the 100%
feed stock requirements for existing ammonia/urea plants. It is
now time to replace natural gas with coal-derived syngas. Coal
can be transported from the mine to the existing ammonia plant
and gasified to produce syngas, further purified and fed to an
ammonia synthesis loop. Alternatively, the coal could be
transported to a centralised gasification facility that supplies
syngas and/or hydrogen to multiple ammonia and other
chemical plants.
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CBM Review
ll Nitrogen wash unit (NWU)/purifier/pressure swing
adsorption (PSA). These units will be integrated with the
existing ammonia synloop for conversion of treated SNG to
ammonia.
Existing ammonia plants that do not include a purification
block would require the addition of either a KBR Purifier or a
NWU unit to handle the change to coal feedstock. However,
existing Purifier-based KBR ammonia plants with cryogenic
purification can handle both natural gas/naphtha and coal
feedstocks.
Figure 1. Current and projected global prices of fossil fuels.
PROCESS DESCRIPTION
Coal preparation
ASU
The ASU supplies 98 mol% pure oxygen to the gasifier and pure
gaseous nitrogen to the NWU.
Coal, oxygen and steam are fed to the TRIG gasifier using
proprietary Pressure Decoupled Advanced Coal (PDAC) coal
feeders. Gasification reactions take place in the fluidised bed
gasifier operating in the high velocity transport regime. Steam is
added to the gasifier, both as a reactant and as a moderator to
control the reaction temperature at about 980C (1800F). The
TRIG is refractory-lined for a cold-shell design using carbon steel
metallurgy and contains no internals.
Hot syngas exiting the gasifier cyclones enters a syngas cooler,
which cools the syngas to approximately 370C and produces
high pressure steam. The partially cooled syngas then enters the
proprietary particulate control device (PCD), where robust,
efficient, sintered-metal filters remove particulates to a very low
level (< 10 ppm). Dry, powdered, coarse ash is withdrawn
continuously from the TRIG and cooled and depressurised in a
proprietary continuous coarse ash depressurisation (CCAD)
cooler and pressure let-down devices (PLDs). Dry, powdered, fine
ash from the PCD is withdrawn continuously from the PCD and
cooled and depressured in the proprietary continuous fine ash
depressurisation (CFAD) cooler and PLDs.
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CBM Review
AGRU
The bulk of the acid gases in the syngas are removed in the
AGRU. After sulfur polishing, the recovered carbon dioxide can
be sent to a urea plant. Refrigeration load for the AGRU is
provided by the ammonia refrigeration compressor.
NWU
Ammonia synloop
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CBM Review
ll A NWU unit removes all traces of carbon monoxide
and carbon dioxide, which are poisons for the ammonia
synthesis catalyst.
CASE 2
Figure 5. Block flow diagram for coal to ammonia process (case 2).
In case 2 (Figure 5), 98% oxygen from an ASU is sent to the gasifier
as in the base case. However, a KBR Purifier is used instead of a
NWU downstream of the AGRU. Carbon monoxide and carbon
dioxide present in the SNG from carbon monoxide shift unit and
AGRU can be handled in the NWU but not the Purifier, as the two
compounds would freeze up in the Purifier, where temperatures
are below the freezing points of both compounds. Instead, a
methanator is added upstream of the Purifier to convert carbon
monoxide and carbon dioxide to methane before being sent to the
Purifier. The methane, argon and surplus nitrogen are rejected as
tail gas from the Purifier and sent to the package boiler. The
Purifier produces SNGs with a hydrogen-to-nitrogen ratio of 3:1,
which is sent to the ammonia synloop.
CASE 3
In case 3 (Figure 6), the ASU produces 99.6 mol% purity oxygen. A
PSA is used downstream of the AGRU to recover > 90% of the
hydrogen from the SNG (with a 99.9% mol purity and < 10 ppmv
carbon monoxide). The tail gas from PSA is sent to the package
boiler. Pure nitrogen (99.99% purity) from the ASU is directly
added downstream of the PSA to provide a hydrogen-to-nitrogen
ratio of 3:1 in the feed gas to the ammonia synloop.
If there is a limitation on sending the tail gas to the package
boiler, then it can be sent to a KBR ATR/KRES reforming block,
where the tail gas is reformed to make additional hydrogen and
carbon monoxide SNG and sent to the AGRU. Significant benefits
of KRES are reduced NOx and carbon dioxide emissions, as well
as a reduction in coal feed requirement.
PROCESS CONCLUSIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS
Figure 6. Block flow diagram for coal to ammonia process (case 3).
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