DEALING WITH THE CHALLENGES OF PRODUCTION EXPANSION

Transcription

1 DEALING WITH THE CHALLENGES OF PRODUCTION EXPANSION In a joint project with MECS, OCP tackles the industrial, economic and environmental challenges of its new Jorf Lasfar site

2 DEALING WITH THE CHALLENGES OF PRODUCTION EXPANSION In 2008, the international phosphate group, OCP, began a major overhaul of its industrial operations, mainly at the Jorf Lasfar site on the coast of Morocco, 80 km from Casablanca. The aim was to increase production capacity, optimise import-export facilities, reduce operating costs and improve the competitiveness of OCP s products on the international market. By 2025, OCP Group plans to invest over US$ 21 billion, most of which is intended for phosphate fertilizers. The Group has several major projects underway aimed at boosting mining production and tripling the phosphate processing capacity in order to strengthen the Group s leadership in the phosphate rock and phosphoric acid markets and establish OCP as the world s leading exporter of phosphate in all its forms. Among OCP megaprojects is the slurry pipeline, a major technological shift relying on pipeline hydraulic transport to meet the twin challenge of volume growth and cost optimization while generating environmental benefits. An additional 4 million tons of fertilizer per year Construction of four new fertilizer production facilities called ODI (OCP Direct Investments # 1, 2, 3, 4) began in 2011 and is set to continue for several years to reach approximately 12 million tons of fertilizers by 2017 and 21 million tons by Each complex will have its own sulphuric acid (1,4 million tons per year capacity), phosphoric acid ( tons per year capacity) and fertilizer (1 million tons per year capacity) production plant. The first unit was commissioned in February Total capacity of this first unit, called Africa Fertilizer Complex, is dedicated to serving the African market. ODI 2 should be completed by the end of the third quarter The following ODI 3 & 4 will be commissioned one every six months. In order to continuously reduce our environmental footprint, we wanted to select a technology that would allow us to produce significant amounts of electric energy recovered from our industrial processes. Iliass Elfali, OCP Executive Director Industrial Operations Final absorbing tower Cold Gas to Gas Exchanger/Converter/Economizer 2

3 A commitment to the environment and the local community Iliass Elfali, Executive Director Industrial Operations at OCP, explains how OCP approached the impact this expansion would have on the environment and the local community. Today, community expectations go beyond mere compliance with environmental standards, he says. At OCP we know that we have to go further than that in terms of environmental performance. When we began the expansion project, we set ourselves the goal of reducing the water consumption of our industrial processes by 25% and aim to get as close as possible to zero emissions. MECS supplied the necessary operational components for all the ODIs, from drying towers, to final absorption towers, MECS HRS equipment (towers, heat exchangers, boilers, and dilutors), acid distributors, mist eliminators, acid piping and catalyst... but also technical and operational assistance during construction and commissioning. The MECS HRS system not only meets OCP s operational requirements,but also its environmental (carbon credits) and economic targets, while offering a rapid ROI considering the Opex and Capex are relatively low. Mohamed Abdessamad ZAKI, Project Director, Jorf Lasfar This necessarily affects the way we designed our new production units, he continues. We deliberately selected innovative technical solutions and industry partners who were able to offer safe and proven technologies. In order to continuously reduce our environmental footprint, we wanted to select a technology that would allow us to produce significant amounts of electric energy recovered from our industrial processes. OCP therefore called in MECS to provide the most suitable technology including the Heat Recovery System (HRS ) for the sulphuric acid production process and related equipment and services used in the ODI projects. MECS HRS Tower 3

4 DEALING WITH THE CHALLENGES OF PRODUCTION EXPANSION MECS HRS implementation diagram 4

5 Innovative MECS HRS technology for increased industrial performance and energy optimisation In the sulphuric acid production process, each reaction is exothermic. Traditional production units can recover about 70% of the total energy produced and convert it into electricity. But only the heat produced by the combustion of sulphur and by the conversion of SO 2 to SO 3 is recovered. The energy produced in drying and absorbing towers is dissipated through water cooling systems. OCP s ODI have very significant steam requirements in particular for concentration of phosphoric acid (passing from 29% to 54%). The MECS HRS technology increases the amount of steam for the gas turbine. The principle is to add HRS steam with superheated steam produced by the rest of the unit. The design of HRS can significantly improve the amount of heat recovered. Garrett Palmquist, Vice President Business Development at MECS explains, The benefit of our HRS technology is that it increases the value of the energy produced in the intermediate absorption tower by making it work at higher temperatures ( C) for medium pressure steam production (maximum 10 bar). The total heat recovered therefore rises from 70% to 95% of recycled electricity, hence offering a great increase in profitability. According to MECS project manager, Pascal du Bois d Enghien, there is hardly any other technology in the world that can meet OCP s high specifications of: sulphuric acid production: 1,4 million tons per year SO 2 SO 3 conversion efficiency: 99.9% (SO 2 emission of 0.66 kg / t H 2 SO 4 product, or 134 ppmv) acid mist emission / SO 3 : less than 45 mg / m³ steam energy value creation: High Pressure Steam -> 217,000 kg / h of superheated steam at 60 barg / 482 C HRS Steam-> 74,400 kg / h of superheated steam at 5 barg / 204 C The MECS HRS system not only meets OCP s operational requirements, Mr du Bois d Enghien explains, but also its environmental (carbon credits) and economic targets, while offering a rapid ROI considering the Opex and Capex are relatively low. Mohamed Abdessamad ZAKI, Project Manager at Jorf Lasfar, is pleased with the result: We knew that over one hundred facilities worldwide were already using the MECS HRS technology but optimal operation of the new plant allows us firstly to achieve increased acid production capacity and, secondly, provides greater production flexibility and an increase in yields. MECS Converter-Superheater-Economizer MECS HRS boilers, pre-heater and heater 5

6 DEALING WITH THE CHALLENGES OF PRODUCTION EXPANSION ABOUT OCP GROUP: The OCP Group is the largest global producer of phosphate rock and phosphoric acid, and a leading global fertilizer company, backed by almost a century s production history. The Group has exclusive access to Morocco's phosphate rock reserves, the largest global reserve base according to the USGS. The Group is a leading low-cost producer of phosphate rock, and it has become a leading player across the phosphate value chain. For more information visit: ABOUT MECS MECS is a subsidiary owned 100% by DuPont since late It offers the global sulphuric acid industries solutions for the optimization of their facilities: reduction of emissions and discharges, improvements energy consumption and a drastic reduction in industrial and human risk. MECS provides the full range of technology and technical services to the sulphuric acid industry (troubleshooting, restart post-maintenance, preventive maintenance strategies). MECS also designs heat recovery solutions and emission controls for many other industries (refining, petrochemicals, cement, metallurgy, marine). For more information, visit our website at: North America MECS Headquarters Chesterfield, Missouri USA Tel: northamerica@mecsglobal.com Europe/Middle East/Africa Brussels, Belgium Tel: europe-africa@mecsglobal.com Moscow, Russia Tel: moscow@mecsglobal.com Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel: dubai@mecsglobal.com Johannesburg, South Africa Tel: southafrica@mecsglobal.com Asia Pacific North Shanghai, China MECS Chemical Plants Equipment (Shanghai) Co., Ltd Tel: shaghai@mecsglobal.com Asia Pacific South Mumbai, India MECS India Private Ltd. Tel: india@mecsglobal.com South America Alphaville, Sao Paulo, Brazil Tel: brazil@mecsglobal.com Copyright 2016 E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. All rights reserved. The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont, STRATCO, IsoTherming and BELCO, MECS are registered trademarks or trademarks of DuPont or its affiliates. 6