Phosphate Fertilizers
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OCCASION This publication has been made available to the public on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. DISCLAIMER This document has been produced without formal United Nations editing. The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this document do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries, or its economic system or degree of development. Designations such as “developed”, “industrialized” and “developing” are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Mention of firm names or commercial products does not constitute an endorsement by UNIDO. FAIR USE POLICY Any part of this publication may be quoted and referenced for educational and research purposes without additional permission from UNIDO. However, those who make use of quoting and referencing this publication are requested to follow the Fair Use Policy of giving due credit to UNIDO. CONTACT Please contact [email protected] for further information concerning UNIDO publications. For more information about UNIDO, please visit us at www.unido.org UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION Vienna International Centre, P.O. Box 300, 1400 Vienna, Austria Tel: (+43-1) 26026-0 · www.unido.org · [email protected] PROCESS. TECHNOLOGIES FOR PHOSPHATE FERTILIZERS UNITED NA nONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZA nON Vienna Development and Transfer of Technology Series No.8 PROCESS TECHNOLOGIES FOR PHOSPHATE FERTILIZERS \_1{~l ~ UNITED NATIONS New York, 1978 The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. References to firm names and commercial products and processes do not imply the endorsement of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process in connection with the technologies described in this volume is not a sign of disapproval. Material in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted, but acknowledgement is requested, together with a copy of the publication containing the quotation or reprint. Preface This volume and its companion in the Development and Transfer of Technology Series, Process Technologies for Nitrogen Fertilizers, are the first two documents to emanate from the Industrial and Technological Information Bank (lNTIB) of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), which is a component of the UNIDO programme on the development of technology. INTIB is a pilot operation that began in July 1977 for a period of 18 months. Its work is being concentrated on four industrial sectors: iron and steel, fertilizers, agro-industries, and agricultural machinery and implements. Each of these sectors has priority in other UNIDO endeavours also: sectoral studies" consultations, negotiations and technical assistance projects. The concept of INTIB has its roots in the Lima Declaration and Plan of Action, adopted at the Second General Conference of UNIDO in 1975, and in various United Nations General Assembly resolutions, all envisaging such a service as an essential instrument for the transfer, development and adaptation of appropriate technologies. To increase the share of developing countries in world industrial output from 7 per cent (in 1975) to 25 per cent in 2000, an objective set by the Lima Conference, decision makers must have adequate information on new investments. Those advising the decision makers-national industrial information centres, technology development institutes and investment banks-also must have this information. The novel character of INTIB, as compared with the services previously rendered by UNIDO, is that it is addressed to the selection of technology before the technology is acquired. INTIB not only draws upon the services available in the Industrial Information Section, where it is housed, but also relies on the expertise of specialists in the Industrial Operations Division of UNIDO and outside experts to process the information obtained from sources within and outside UNIDO relevant to technology selection. As a result of this effort, UNIDO is able to supply information in anticipation of, as well as in response to, demand. An example is the series of technology profiles and monographs being prepared, to which this volume belongs, concerning matters to consider when selecting a technology from a variety of alternatives. The "customers" INTIB is designed to serve include ministries of industry, planning and industrial development institutes, multipurpose technological institutions, and agencies concerned with the transfer of technology. The intention is to serve all those who are responsible for selecting technology, whether in an advisory role or decision-making capacity, in each of the four priority industrial sectors selected for the pilot phase. Further information about INTIB and its related activities can be had on request by writing to the Chief, Industrial Information Section, UNIDO, P.O. Box 707, A-lOll Vienna, Austria. This description of phosphate fertilizer production technologies was prepared by K. R. Krishnaswami, acting as a consultant to UNIDO; the views expressed are those of the consultant and do not necessarily reflect the views of the secretariat of UNIDO. v EXPLANATORY NOTES References to dollars ($) are to United States dollars. The standard system of ~PK fertilizer grades is used. For example, a 10-15-12 fertilizer is one containing, in available forms, 10% nitrogen, 15% phosphorus expressed as P2 Os, and 12% potassium expressed as K2 O. The units used are those of, or accepted for use with, the International System of Units (SI); in particular: t tonne (metric ton, 1 t == 1 000 kg) tid tonne per day bar bar (I bar == lOs Pa == 0.987 atm 1.02 kgfjcm 2 ) In addition, the following abbreviations have been used: BPL bone phosphate of lime (Ca3 (P04 h) rpm revolution per minute TV A Tennessee Valley Authority vi CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION . 1 SULPHURIC ACID 3 Contact process-normal version .;. 3 Contact process-high·pressure version 4 From pyrites ..... 4 Muller-Kuhne method ....... 5 PHOSPHORIC ACID 7 Nissan hemihydrate-dihydrate process (conventional) 7 Fisons hemihydrate process ............ 9 Classic Prayon dihydrate process ......... 10 Central Glass/Prayon process (dihydrate·hemihydrate) 11 Gulf Design isothermal process (dihydrate) 12 Dorr Oliver high-yield high-strength (HYS) process 13 Hydrochloric acid extraction process 13 Electric furnace process ............ 14 SUPERPHOSPHORIC ACID 17 Concentration of wet-process acid 17 Concentration of furnace acid 19 SINGLE SUPERPHOSPHATE (SSP) 20 TRIPLE SUPERPHOSPHATE (TSP) 22 MONOAMMONIUM PHOSPHATE (MAP) 24 Fisons process (powder) 24 PhoSAI process (powder) 25 Slurry process (granules) 25 DIAMMONIUM PHOSPHATE (DAP) 27 AMMONIUM SULPHATE PHOSPHATE 29 AMMONIUM PHOSPHATE NITRATE (WITH POTASH) 31 UREA AMMONIUM PHOSPHATE (UAP) 33 Conventional slurry process 33 Melt process ..... 34 Dry-ingredients process 36 Melt oil-cooling process 37 vii Page NITROPHOSPHATES . 39 Odda process .... 39 Suiphonitric process 41 Phosphonitric process 42 Carbonitric process . 43 Annex-List of firms 45 Bibliography . 49 viii Introduction The purpose of this compendium of the most f.o.r. costs of plant and equipment. The estimates of important processes used for making phosphate the cost of erecting typical plants are based on 1977 fertilizer materials is to provide a guide to the prices. selection of process technologies for developing More details about the processes can be found in countries interested in initiating efforts in this sector. The processes for a given product are grouped the publications listed in the bibliography and from the firms named together, and in every case the following information in the descriptions, whose addresses are given in the annex. The list of firms (whose names is given: were supplied by the ~0nsultant) should not be Description of the process operations regarded as exhaustive, and the omission of a given Flow chart firm's name is no more a sign of disapproval than its Advantages and disadvantages relative to the inclusion would constitute a recommendation. other processes in the same section Owners, in the case of proprietary processes Ail the processes described here are based on the Engineering licensees, if any use of naturally occurring phosphate rock as the prime raw material. The different steps in the Cost of erecting a typical plant processing of phosphate rock adopted in fertilizer Unless otherwise stated, the know-how fees for manufacture are shown in a generalized way in the proprietary processes are about 10% of the Lo.b. or following diagram: Single superphosphate (SSP) Triple superphosphate (TSP) Monoammonium phosphate (MAP) Oiammonium phosphate (OAP) Ammonium sulphate phosphate Ammonium phosphate nitrate Urea ammonium phosphate Superphosphoric acid TSP Liquid fertilizers HN03 Nitrophosphate 1