Bespoke heat exchangers boost fertilisers
15 Jan 2000
Four bespoke shell and tube heat exchangers have been supplied by Crane Heatex to the Immingham fertiliser plant of Hydro Agri UK, where they are helping the plant take advantage of recent advances in process technology.
During 1995 it became apparent to Hydro Agri that the existing exchangers would need to be replaced, since changing technology called for an increased duty on them. Crane Heatex then produced a mechanical redesign to meet the new thermal duty specified by Hydro.
The exchangers each have a duty of 2030kW, achieved by a heat transfer surface area of 119m2 across 1060 tubes. To avoid corrosion, all areas likely to come into contact with nitric acid are manufactured from low carbon stainless steel 310 - produced in a one-off melt to DIN 1.4335.
Mechanical design, construction, welding and fabrication of the vessels was to ASME VIII Div 1, with the tube layout and thermal design complying with TEMA guidelines part R.
Hydro Agri's engineering manager, Barry Gilbert, commented: `The contract was awarded to Crane Heatex because, not only was it able to provide the necessary technical expertise, but it also could meet strict delivery deadlines at a competitive price.'
Pictured below is one of the four bespoke exchangers being lowered into position at Immingham.
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