22nd AFA Int’l.

Fertilizers Technology
Conference & Exhibition

June 30th - July 2nd, 2009

Marrakech, Morocco

Choosing Equipment for Phosphoric Acid Plants

Mohamed Belghiti
Project Manager – OCP

Morocco
 CHOOSING EQUIPMENT for PHOSPHORIC ACID PLANTS

BELGHITI ALAOUI Mohamed; ENNAICH El Mestafa

22ndAFA Int. Fertilizers Technical Conference & Exhibition

30 June -02 July 2009 – Marrakech – Morocco

The performance of a phosphoric acid plant depends on several factors. The quality of the
equipment is one of the major factors that influence the performance. It seems apparent that the
choice of the equipment impacts only the reliability and the maintenance cost. In fact, it is an
important factor which impacts practically all the performance aspects of a chemical plant:
Recoveries, production capacity, energy consumption, safety and environment.

The object of this paper is to highlight the importance of equipment choice for the chemical
industries plants, and particularly for a phosphoric acid plant. We will identify the different
impacts of equipment selection through a few concrete examples, and we will present some
recommendations and methodology for the choice of the best equipment.

1- Guiding Principles of design and equipment choice

The first basic parameters for selection of equipment are defined by the conditions of use and
the foreseen performance. For example, for the particular case of a centrifugal pump we should
fix the following data:

¾ The fluid characteristics (physical and chemical)

¾ The flow (min, max, and average)
¾ The total head

These three basic parameters are very important and will have to be defined with the maximum
accuracy.

Other additional constraints should be taken into account for the design of the suitable
equipment:

• Materials of construction: they must be compatible with the fluid, the

environment and have a good resistance to abrasion and corrosion under the
extreme conditions of operation.
• RPM: In general it is recommended to avoid high speeds and particularly for the
abrasive fluids (high solid continent). The lower the RPM is the more the reliability
 of the equipment and its lifetime increase. The electric consumption of power is
less with low RPM. However the size of the equipment and, consequently, its cost
are more important. It is especially necessary to avoid the unusual sizes of
equipment which may cause difficulties for maintenance.
• Efficiency of the pump: The pump should work at maximum efficiency within the
range of operational conditions. Low efficiency increases both energy
consumption and mechanical deterioration because of the high internal circulation
flow.
• The type of sealing: It is an important parameter, seeming to be only one detail of
construction, but it can compromise the performances of the plant. For dangerous
fluids (safety and environmental aspects) or with products high added value
(recoveries and production cost), it is necessary to maintain perfect sealing all the
time. In such a situation the double mechanical seal remains the best option in
spite of its relatively high cost.
• Flow control: Whenever the process imposes large variations of flow, the use of
the valves is a traditional and reliable option. However, VFDs remain an interesting
alternative. They are reliable, simple, require little maintenance and provide
energy savings.

2- Know what is important

The knowledge of what is most important for long term plant performance is critical for the
correct selection of equipment. Many times vendors will promote their equipment with
attractive features such as “high efficiency”. A good example are the reactor agitators. High
efficiency i.e. low power consumption is not really beneficial since some in-efficient shearing
action may promote better reaction and dispersion of the acid and phosphate. In fact, the real
priorities for agitator selection may be listed as follows:

• It should never break! The agitator must be designed for many times the normal
mixing stress since a broken agitator shaft does nothing at all.
• It must keep the floors and walls of the reactor clean. Allowing build-up of scale in
the reactor diminishes retention time, lowers performance and greatly increases the
annual maintenance.
• It should do an effective job of dispersing the acid and phosphate. Note that this is
the 3rd priority. Nevertheless, if the first two priorities are followed the system will
do a good job for mixing the reagents. Experience has shown that good mixing of
acid and phosphate are achieved if the reagents are delivered to a zone of high shear
near to the tip of the agitator blade.

3- The choice of technology

The choice of the best available technology during equipment selection is often a subject of
controversy for project managers. The specific experience of each engineer and background
(Process, Mechanic, Electrical…) legitimately can influence the preference for a particular
technology. We believe, in general, that there is no better technology in the absolute. In each
specific case it is necessary to make a comparative study to select the best option. The results of
the choice can vary according to the particular technical conditions (Type of process, Capacity,
Environment.) and according to other parameters such as the cost of energy, safety constraints,
and raw material cost …

The typical case of filter selection for phosphoric acid plant was always a subject of concern and
constitutes a revealing example of the problems of the choice of best technology in the broad
sense. Indeed, three types of filter are most commonly used in the world:

¾ Table filters;
¾ Tilting pan filters;
¾ Belt filters.

Each above mentioned filter has its own advantages and disadvantages and their impacts may
vary according to the situation. We present here after a traditional model table of assistance of
multi criteria choices:

Selected criterion Type of filter

Weighting coefficient
Table filters Tilting pan filters Belt filters
Energy Consumption

Budget investment

Level of reliability

Ease of maintenance

Total performance

The notation allotted to each criterion depends on the conditions of use of the filter. Some of
these conditions are:

• Capacity of production : For a large capacity plant it is recommended to choose the

technology with large size filter unless the client preference is for several parallel lines
• The type of the process used : Dihydrate, Hemihydrate, Hemidihydrate or
Dihemihydrate
• The quality of phosphate : dry or slurry

In addition to the notation allotted to each selection criterion there is a weighting coefficient
which does not depend on the technical process conditions but it is linked to the environment
and specific particularities to each user:

¾ Raw material cost;

¾ Cost of energy;
¾ Budget of investment;
 ¾ Level of reliability required;
¾ Available logistic of maintenance.

The most important in this exercise is the selection of appropriate criteria and to allot a weighting
coefficient representative of the studied case to each one.

4- The choice of materials of construction

The choice of materials of construction is a recurring problem in all the phases of a project. The
same concern is general to all engineering specialties.

Civil engineering: Concerning buildings construction, it is true that in some cases the choices are
trivial but in most of the situations the choice between concrete, steel structure or mixed
structure is not obvious. To select the optimum solution we should take into account some
assumptions:

¾ The completion date

¾ Capacities and knowhow of local subcontractors
¾ The market situation
¾ Operating mode of the structure and maintainability

Piping: For the transport of the same fluid several alternatives are offered. In the particular case
of phosphoric acid the three following materials are most often used:

Stainless steel 316 L or 904 L alloy for high temperatures: It is a simple, the most
reliable but expensive solution.
Rubber lined carbon steel: It is a less expensive and safe solution. However because of
the difficulty of its implementation, its application must be limited to the large
diameters and short pipes. A particular attention must be paid during the application
to avoid the risks of the separation of the coating.
Plastic materials: HDPE, FRP constitutes an interesting alternative in terms of price
and reliability. However and for safety reasons of, they should be avoided in the event
of high mechanical stress.

5- Selection of the suitable suppliers

It is a critical issue to approach. Generally the suppliers confirm that their material or equipment
are the most reliable and can give guarantees for that. We believe that guarantee, though
necessary, is not a sufficient condition to engage the purchase of equipment particularly when
equipment is critical.
 The principal criterion to be taken into account is the references of the suppliers for similar
applications. This criterion is more crucial when the equipment is critical or when its performance
depends on the product handled (Mill, Filter, circulation pump, Weigh feeder…). The
performance of the equipment depends on the nature of the product handled.

Other aspects should be also taken into account:

¾ Delivery schedule
¾ After sale service
¾ Technical Assistance
¾ The availability of the spare parts…

Conclusion

There is no doubt that, in order to achieve good performance for a phosphoric acid plant, we
should choose the best available technology. The issue is how to identify the best available
technology for each specific case. This is what we have tried to approach in this paper.
Methodology and practical experience in the field are the appropriate tools.