TEAM MEMBERS:

KASHIF YASIN (CE09-10M01)

SHEHROZE ALI (CE09-10M13)
REHAN KHAN(CE09-10M23)
NAYYER MEHMOOD SHAH(CE09-10M49)
SAIF-ULLAH SALEEM(PG09-10M01)
SUPRIVIZER:
LECTURER MUDASSAR AZAM

PRILLING
TOWER

What is prilling?
Solidification of droplets ofmoltenmaterial freefalling against an upward stream of air in a
tower. It is a process used extensively in
nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing.

WHY PRILLING?

It is more convenient for use, storage, and

transportation because of their much smaller
specific surface area and larger bulk density.
Prills of ammonium nitrate and urea are
smooth, spherical, has less dust, and
moderately rigged, but usually are smaller and
more fragile than granulated fertilizers.

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS OF PRILLING

TOWER:
(1) The melt must be sprayed into droplets with uniform size
as requested; and
(2) The sprayed droplets must be fully solidified and cooled
in order to avoid bonding of particles with each other and
caking on the wall, and to ensure that the product
collected at the bottom can be packed directly.

Construction:

It is a cylindrical vertical tower with average height of 75m, in

which urea prilling takes place. It consists of prill section the
top and scrapper at bottom. Prill tower contains bottom
lowers(window) and top lowers(windows) also. In the prill
section bucket is there. The tower is coated inside with anti
corrosive plant. This is a natural draft Prill tower.

Process:
The molten urea is sent to the prilling
bucket by centrifugal pump. Bucket
contains no. of holes to the wall.
The fertilizer coming out of the rotating
bucket in the form of drops fall along the
prilling tower and encounters cold air flow
which causes its solidification.
The molten urea drops coming from
bucket contains is at a temperature of
1330C.

Continued:

The temperature of droplets will

reduce as they will move downward.
The heated air try to go up, due to
that flow of air.
The air will enter the prill tower
through bottom lowers and vented to
the atmosphere through top lowers.

PRILLING TOWER:

PRILLING
TOWER:

PRILLING TOWER:

PRILLING TOWER:

SOLIDIFICATION OF DROPLET:

It is considered that when the droplets move downward

then the outer most layer will solidify first.
Now as it reaches the bottom the inner layers will solidify
towards the center of the droplets.
When the droplet changes into a solid than a hollow sphere
is created in the center.

VARIATION OF STATES OF
DROPLETS:
For understanding the variations of the states of
droplets and gas stream along tower height, the
following assumptions are made:
(a) The droplets is spherical.
(b) The droplets moves downward at its terminal
velocity throughout whole the process.
(c) Since no mass transfer happens during the process
of melt prilling and the shape of droplet is quickly
fixed due to solid shell formed on the surface, the
droplet is assumed to have a constant density.

HEAT EFFECTS:

Relative thickness of solid shell

versus particle falling distance:

DRAWBACKS:
PRILLING TOWER EMISSION:
The prill tower is a major source of emission
in urea plants. The large volumes of
discharged untreated cooling air contain
particulate urea dust (1-2kg.t-1) as well as
NH3 (0.7-1.0kg.t-1).
Towers with natural draft cooling are
reported to have less dust emission than
towers with forced/induced draft air cooling.
The lower air velocity and product mass per
m3 of tower volume reduces attrition and
carryover in the natural draft towers.

Low prill quality:

Increasing the load on a prilling tower
can have negative consequences for
the prill quality. Higher moisture
contents and higher temperatures
cause more dust formation and an
increased likelihood of caking
problems.

Competition from granules

The quality of prills is significant less
than that of granules, the main
difference being the lower strength
and smaller size of prills.
Research has shown that once a
farmer has used granules, he will not
choose prills again, unless the price is
lower.
Most new urea plants are large scale
granulation plants and are located in
low feedstock areas; these plants are

EFFECT OF WATER & AIR:

In general Nitrogen application
efficiencies are very low as between 30
and 50% of the nitrogen supplied to
the soil is typically lost to air and
water, causing more and more
environmental problems.

DO WE HAVE ANY NEW TECHNOLOGY TO OVERCOME

THESE DRAWBACKS?

WHAT IS IT?

WHY THIS TECHNOLOGY?

ROTOFORM PASTILLATION PROCESS:

Urea is introduced under pressure (2-3 bar) in
molten form to the drop former.
The Rotoform High Speed drop former,
consisting of a heated stator and a perforated
rotating shell that turns concentrically around
the stator to deposit drops of urea across the
full width of the belt.
The circumferential speed of the Rotoformer
is synchronized with the speed of the steel
belt cooler ensuring that the drops are
deposited on the belt without deformation
and, after solidification, results in regular
pastilles with an optimum shape.

BENEFITS:
There are no large air flows involved in this
technology and there is no visible urea dust
emission.
What ammonia vapors are produced can easily be
captured in a simple atmospheric absorber;
thisresults in negligible emissions of ammonia and
urea, a unique feature of this technology.