Drying and Cooling of CAN with Solex Cooler

2010 ANNA Meeting ,

26 th of September 2010, NH Conference Centre
Noordwijkerhout , Holland

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Gemlik Fertilizer Industry Inc.
Contents
Introduction of Yildirim Holding and Gemlik Gubre
Comparision tables
Experiences with Solex Cooler
Conclusions

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INTRODUCTION OF
INTRODUCTION OF
YILDIRIM HOLDING
YILDIRIM HOLDING

YILDIRIM GROUP
 MILESTONES
Establishment in Samsun, Turkey

1963
YILDIRIM Foreign Trade & Marketing Inc.

1989
YILYAK Solid Fuel Trading Inc.

1994
YILFERT Fertilizer Trading Inc.

1994
YILMAR Shipping & Trading Ltd.

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2000
 MILESTONES
GEMLIK Fertilizer Inc.

2003
ETI KROM Chrome Inc.

2004
YILPORT Container Terminal Inc.

2005
YILDIRIM Holding Inc.

2006
MARMARA Shipyard Inc.

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2007
5
 MILESTONES

YILKROM Mining Inc.

2007
VARGN Alloys AB (Sweden)

2008
GEMLIK Electricity Production Inc.

2008
YILPAC Education & Port Operations Ltd.

2008
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 CEOS MESSAGE

YILDIRIM Holding has

been rapidly growing
since 1994 and is one of
the leading companies of
Turkey with its
innovative, effective and
rapid concept of business
understanding.
YILDIRIM Holding will
continue to create values
with its growth strategies
vertically and
horizontally.
 OUR VISION

To provide the
Best and Honest Commitment
to the World Trade and
Manufacturing
 Gemlik is a harbour town of Bursa
city bordering the Sea of Marmara
in western Turkey.

History of the town reaches to 12 th

century B.C.

Population ~ 90.834

Has developed agriculture.

The most important agricultural
product is olive & olive oil.

Industry is based on some other

factories other then GEMLIK GUBRE
such;
Borusan (tube production)
imta (sheet iron & iron
production)
Borelik (steel production)
Basic consumer goods;

Natural gas : 357.000.000 SM3/year

Ammonia : 205.000 ton/year ( CAN + N. Acid )
Electrical energy : 62.000 Mw/year
Limestone : 150.000 ton/year
Sulfuric Acid : 2.100 ton/year

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About us;
Gemlik Fertilizer Industry Inc. joined the YILDIRIM GROUP
OF COMPANIES in the year 2004 as a result of the privatization
tender.
The factory which has been built on approximately one million
square meters land area is conducting operations in the
following activities:

Production and sales of 26 % N CAN fertilizer,

Production and sales of 33 % N AN fertilizer,
Importation and sales of other kinds of fertilizer,
Production and sales of %25 liquid ammonia,
Production and sales of %55 nitric acid.

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 2009 Projects ( completed ) ;
New cooling and drying system for CAN 26 % & AN 33 %
Screen for production line
Limestone weighing and dosing system
Storage conditioning system

2010 Projects (ongoing) ;

New screen for the bagging line
Waste water treatment and AN recovering system

2011 Projects ;
New prilling system
DeNOx system for Nitric Acid plants
Solid fuel fired, fluidised boiler with coal
Scrubbing system for prilling tower emmission

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Why Choosen Solex Cooler ?

Less area requirement

Low electrical consumption

Easy to operate

3 years of payback time

Low maintenance cost

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 Comparison Table
Water cooled Shell & tube Solex Cooler
FBC Cooler

Initial Cost
Low High Low

Operational Cost
High High Low

Maintenance
Cost High High Low

Area
Requirement Much Much Less

Electrical
Consumption High High Low

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Power Consumption in Gemlik
Fluid Bed Cooler power consumption
6.94 kWh / tonne

Solex Cooler power consumption

0.54 kWh / tonne

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Background
In summer, temperature about 30 - 35 oC with the
humidity 60 % gives dew point of air 22-26 oC
Because of that it is not possible to cool down the
product with ambient air by FBC
In these conditions we have a product temperature
over 50 oC so we need to decrease the capacity down to
87 % to reach 40 oC product temperature
Even though with 40 oC product temperature, caking
observed in the storage

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Goals:
Running CAN plant with full capacity in summer

Prevent caking problems in the storage

Producting with the best quality

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Gemlik Gubre considered 2 options for a
Solex Cooler:
Small secondary cooler after FBC
Initial cost was very low

Small cooler consist of one bank but hard to install

between FBC and coating drum,

Operational cost was high because of running FBC

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Gemlik Gubre considered 2 options for a
Solex Cooler:
Full size stand-alone cooler for full duty
Higher initial cost but with acceptable payback

Equipment installed outside to meet height constraints

Operational cost was significantly reduced by

eliminating FBC

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Solex requirements

100 m3/ h chilled water @ 15 oC for the bottom loop

100 m3/ h cooling water for the upper loop

4500 Nm3/ h ambient air to the air injections for

moisture control and additional drying

6000 Nm3/ h ID fan

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100 m3/ h chilled water @ 15 oC
We were not lucky to have cold water for this fertilizer
drying and cooling system.

We have installed a new PHE ammonia evaporator to

produce chilled water.

We have shell & tube ammonia evaporators in the

plant and but PHE evaporator was a new experience
for us.

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4500 Nm3/ h ambient air injection for
moisture control and drying
Our plant is near the seaside so relative humidity is
quite high, Gemlik Gubre preferred to use conditioned
air for additional factor of safety.
Drying air is produced by dehumidifer rather than
heated ambient air.
Dehumidifier uses same chilled water for its pre and
post coolers.
This allows a lower dew point about 5 oC in summer.

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 Installation zonning

Purchaser Gemlik Gubre Sanayi A.S.

Location of installation Bursa , Turkey
Wind conditions 50 Kg / m2 ; 80 Kg / m2
Earthquake zoning Seismic Zone - 1

Design Criteria Temperature Moisture content

Product Inlet 110 C 0.4 - 0.5 %

Product Outlet 29 C 0.2 0.3 %

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 Process Conditions
Product 26 CAN / 33 AN Prills
Product Inlet Temperature 110 C
Product Outlet Temperature 29 C
Product Feedrate ( Max.) 80 t / h
System design Quadruple bank

Cooling Medium Cooling water & chilledwater

Cooling Medium Inlet 15 / 32 C
Temperature
Cooling Medium Outlet 30 / 59 C
Temperature
Cooling Medium Flow Rate 100 m3/ h

Design Pressure 7 bar (g)

Design Temperature 110 C

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 Installation
Installation has started
on 28.05.2009 by Gemlik
Gubre team.

There was not enough

space to install a new
fertilizer cooler inside of
the building.

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 All installation has
been made at the
outside of the building.

The existing FBC was

kept as by pass line of
Solex Cooler.

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 Commisioning & Start up
Installation of Solex
Drying and Cooling
System has been
completed in August
2009 with other
ongoing projects .

First start up in
12.08.2009

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 First start up
Homogeneus product flow from
the gate valve

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Commissioning & Start up
Several problems have been observed at the
commissioning and start up.
The problems were about existing elevator and new
conveyor belts between elevator, screen and Solex
Cooler.
After solving these problems start up was excellent.
Few hours later we reached the design temperature.
Next few days drying curves were checked and
optimum air injection has been adjusted with Solex
engineers.
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Drying Effect of Purge Air
Moisture content of product before the cooler varies
between 0.4 - 0.5 % according to the ambient air.
Moisture content of product after the cooler varies
between 0.20 0.32 %

Drying observed was about 0.2 %

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 Dew point profile through the cooler for 1860 m3/h purge air to bottom bank (dew
point -5 oC)
14.8.2009 17:30 h

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Problems
Mechanical Problems
Product leakage from the
A cap
Caking on the air collectors in
the inlet hopper
Caking on the Roll cap
Instrumentation Problem
Level control problem
Automation Problem
Automation problem of
dehumidifier

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Product leakage from A- cap

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Product leakage from A- cap
After informing about our problem, Solex engineers
came with a solution in few weeks to change the
A-cap with a flexible roll cap made of spring material

We were having mechanical problems with the

conveyor belt after the Solex cooler so the both
changes made in the same time

Roll cap solved the leakage problem and level control

was quite good.
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Caking on the Roll cap in the discharge hopper

Few weeks later after the installation of roll cap, we

faced with level control problem
We could not close the valve and keep the level any
more
We ran the FBC and opened the inspection hatches on
the Discharge Gate of the Solex Cooler

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Caking on the Roll cap
Lumps were forming
on the roll cap and
falling down between
the walls and the gate
but max. opening of
the gate valve was not
enough to discharge
these lumps and they
prevented closing of
the gate.

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Caking on the Roll cap in the discharge
hopper
This problem was repeated in each two months

We decided to install an A cap on top of the roll cap to

prevent lumps forming

After the installation of the new A cap in May 2010

we havent had any more problems since then

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Caking on the air injection pipes in the
inlet hopper
The product comes in to the inlet hopper with the
temperature between 105 110 oC
Because of this high temperature product builds up on
the air injection pipes forming lumps
Lumps would fall down between the plates and cause
partial clogging
The cooler was partly clogged and needed to be
washed every two months.

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 Caking on the air collectors
Inside of the inlet hopper

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Caking on the air injection pipes in the
inlet hopper
Based on Solex research
work and operating
experience it was found
that air injection in the
Inlet Hopper is not needed.
As we discussed and agreed
with Solex engineers ; it
was decided to remove
them in the maintenance
time in May 2010

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 Inlet hopper
After cutting out the air collectors

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Level Control Problem
After eight months operation another problem was
observed about level control

Level could not be controlled and the cooler was only

half full of product

After checking the valve we saw that the problem was

not mechanical but it was caused by the spring of the
pneumatic actuator

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Level Control Problem
We decided to feed air
from the spring side of
the pneumatic actuator
until changing it with
spare one

With this operation,

level controlled properly
without any shut-down
of Solex cooler.

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Conclusions
After revamping of A cap and gate valve, didnt observe
any further level control problems.
Caking problems eliminated by removing air injection
pipes in the Inlet Hopper.
Cleaning period of cooler was initially every 2 months;
by these revampings this period increased up to 4-5
months.
This campaign of the CAN Plant started 5 th of June
and until now the Solex Cooler didnt require cleaning
and operated perfectly.
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Conclusions
This summer we had ambient temperature about 40 oC
with the humidity between 60 70 %
In spite of these conditions we run the plant with full
capacity without any problems.
Drying and cooling of the product with the same
guaranteed performance values
We are satisfied with the performance of the Solex
Cooler and their services.

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Thank You Very Much for
your attention !

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