Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd.

Aonla (i) Unit profile: Towards increasing the fertiliser production the overall national planning for utilisation of natural gas available from Bombay high, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO) was entrusted for setting up a urea fertiliser complex with annual capacity of 8.646 lakh tonnes of urea at Aonla, Bareilly. The site at Aonla is about 28 KM south west of Bareilly on Bareilly-Aonla road. In the year 1996 the production capacity was doubled with the commissioning of Aonla-II having urea production capacity of 8.646 lakh tonnes.

Aonla-I is IFFCOs fourth giant fertiliser complex having a 1520 MT per day ammonia plant and two urea plants with a total capacity of 2620 MT per day. Steam and power generation units, inert gas generation plant, water treatment plant, cooling towers, product handling plant, ammonia storage, urea silo etc. are the other auxilliary units of the fertiliser complex.

Right from the inception of the project, IFFCO-Aonla-I has achieved several milestones in record time. Aonla-I project was completed in a record time of 36 months and started commercial production in 42 months from the zero date. The implementation of Aonla-I project has been taken as a model for future fertiliser projects by Government of India. IFFCO Aonla-I has also bagged two prestigious national awards one for best project implementation (second prize) from Ministry of Programme implementation, Govt. of India and other for technical film New Horizons Aonla project from Fertiliser Association of India (FAI) in the year 1989.

IFFCO-Aonla has received following recognitions/awards till date:

1) Implementation of Aonla-I project has been taken as a model for future projects by Government of India.

2) IFFCO Aonla-I has bagged two prestigious national awards one for best project implementation (second prize) by Ministry of Programme implementation, Govt. of India and other for technical film New Horizons Aonla project by FAI.

3) ASCI, Hyderabad has adopted implementation of Aonla-I project as a model case study for their general management level courses.

4) Doordarshan, Lucknow and Delhi in its national network presented the story of the Aonla-I project highlighting project completion and its other social activities.

5) Adjudged first in the country for excellence in energy conservation and management by Ministry of Power (Fertiliser sector), Govt. of India for the year 1993.

6) IFFCO Aonla-I has received commendation certificate in appreciation of the efforts made in the field of energy conservation in fertilisers sector for the year 1995 from Ministry of Power, Govt. of India. 7) National productivity council has presented a certificate of merit to IFFCO Aonla-I in the year 1995 in recognition of the performance in productivity during the year 1993-94.

8) IFFCO Aonla unit has been certified for ISO-9002 & ISO-14001 by M/s KPMG & M/s BVQI respectively.

9) IFFCO Aonla unit has won the FAI award for excellence in safety for the year 2001-2002.

10) IFFCO A onla unit has won the NSCI safety award-2000 (Prasansa Puraskar) from National Safety Council of India.

11) IFFCO Aonla unit-I has been selected for National Energy Conservation Award, 2002 (Certificate of Merit) in fertiliser sector by Ministry of Power, Government of India. 12) Fertiliser Association of India has awarded the Best Article Award (3rd prize) for the article Maintenance and Inspection of a Modern Fertiliser Plant.

13) National Energy conservation Award-2003 (Certificate of Merit)

14) NSCI Safety Award-2002 (Prashansa Patra) (ii) Energy consumption

6.1 Energy (Gcal/MT Urea) 6 5.9 5.8 5.7 5.6 5.5 2001-2002 2002-2003 Year 2003-2004 5.821 5.717 5.711

IFFCO Aonla-I commenced ammonia production on 15th May, 1988, urea production on 18th May, 1988 and went into commercial production on 16th July, 1988. Since then IFFCO-Aonla-I has completed fifteen years of its operation and has attained number of achievements and records to its credit. In the very first year (1988-89) of its operation, Aonla-I performed creditably by achieving a capacity utilisation of 94% and 98% for ammonia and urea plant respectively and the performance of Aonla-I has improved steadily over the years.

During the year 2001-2002, Aonla-I produced 7.06 lakh MT of urea against installed capacity of 8.646 lakh MT and 3.97 lakh MT of ammonia against installed capacity of 5.016 lakh MT. Ammonia plant achieved yearly average energy consumption (B. L.) of 7.9675 GCal/MT ammonia with a capacity utilisation of 79.1%. Yearly average energy consumption achieved in urea plant was 5.8213 GCal/MT with a capacity utilisation of 81.6%. Aonla-I was under shutdown for 73 days due to major failure experienced in Secondary Reformer of Ammonia-I.

During 2002-2003, Aonla-I produced 8.66 lakh MT of urea against installed capacity of 8.646 lakh MT and 5.13 lakh MT of ammonia against installed capacity of 5.016 lakh MT. Ammonia plant achieved yearly average energy consumption (B.L) is 7.83 GCal/MT ammonia with capacity utilisation of 102.3%. Lowest , till date, yearly overall specific energy consumption of 5.717 GCal/MT urea was achieved during this year. Capacity utilisation of urea plant was 102.3%.

In the year (2003-2004), ammonia plant produced 5.19 lakh tonnes of ammonia with a capacity utilisation of 103.44%. Yearly B.L. energy consumption of 7.8480 GCal/MT ammonia and on-stream efficiency of 96.46% were achieved during the year. Urea plant also performed very well during this year. The plant achieved production of 8.65 lakh MT of urea. Ever lowest yearly overall specific energy consumption of 5.7112 GCal/MT urea was achieved during the year., Capacity utilisation of urea plant was 100.02% .

(iii)

Energy conservation commitment, policy and set-up:

Energy conservation is a major corporate objective for IFFCO as such, and more so, for Aonla unit. Joint General Manager (Technical Services) coordinates the activities of energy conservation and cost reduction at IFFCO Aonla unit. Five different energy auditing, plant health and performance monitoring cells have been formed one each for ammonia, urea, product handling, offsites and power plant. Each cell consists of one person each from technical, respective production, maintenance and instrumentation

sections with the person from technical as the coordinator of the cell. Persons selected for these cells are from middle management level having experience of about 15 years. These cells directly report to Senior General Manager. These cells have been made responsible for coordinating the various activities and its implementation so that no snowballing takes place for purpose of implementation. Energy conservation & cost reduction measures have been classified broadly into three categories viz :

I) II) III)

Change in operating practices without any investment. Minor process modifications involving small investments. Incorporation of major energy saving retrofits involving large investments.

In addition to this, a number of plant performance and energy reports are prepared on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis by this group depicting the specific consumption of inputs, plantwise specific energy consumption etc. And their deviations from design figures are circulated among the plant

operating personnel which help to a great extent in monitoring and optimising the plant performance. Equipments performance evaluation, steam balance etc. Are also done periodically to find out the inefficiency in any section of plant and to take corrective action in advance.

The salient features of the strategy being followed at Aonla to reduce energy consumption are: A) Incorporation of proven energy conservation schemes involving large investments. B) In-house minor modifications for energy conservation schemes involving small investments. C) Utilisation of excess steam from one plant to another. D) Continuous efforts to reduce steam consumption of condensing turbines, thereby reducing heat loss to C.W. which is a major heat sink. E) Measures to reduce unproductive energy consumption during start up. F) Modifying some of the operational procedures to reduce energy consumption. G) Trimmed operation of cooling towers to achieve most optimum cooling water temperature. H) Good house keeping. I) Above all, sincere efforts to remove the bottlenecks which do not permit the operation of plant at design load on a continuous and sustained basis by way of minor modification or modifying operating practices.

(iv)

Energy conservation achievements- This portion should include one paragraph write-up on each major energy conservation project implemented during the year 2003-2004 only.

At IFFCO-Aonla sincere efforts are always made for conception & implementation of energy conservation projects. An amount of Rs 2.10 lakhs has been invested for implementation of energy

conservation scheme as detailed in S.No.16 in the year 2003-04 with monetary saving of Rs 0.33 lakh per year.

(v) Energy conservation plans and targets:

Energy conservation and cost reduction scheme under implementation

IFFCO Aonla-I plant is among the lowest energy consuming plants of the same vintage. However, in order to achieve further reduction in the energy consumption, M/s HTAS Denmark, the original designer of Ammonia plant were appointed to conduct a feasibility study for implementation of energy saving schemes. The feasibility study has been completed and M/s HTAS have proposed energy saving schemes for reduction in energy consumption by 0.355 Gcal/MT Ammonia in Ammonia-I plant.

The proposed energy saving schemes are being implemented in two phases as given below: Sl No. Scheme Estimated Cost (Rs. Crores) Energy saving (Gcal/MT Ammonia) Monetary saving (Rs. Crores) Pay back period (Years)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Reduction of Steam to Carbon ration from 3.3 to 3.0 Revamping of CO2 removal system New LT Shift guard and BFW Preheater Closing steam balance New Make up gas chiller New Motors for GV solution pumps & CW pump S-50 converter with HP boiler

67.25

0.355

25.1

2.7

Following energy conservation measures in Electrical field have been planned for implementation

Energy conservation measures (Planned)

Anticipated savings in

Approx. investment

Project commencement & completion year

Energy

Value Rs. lakhs

(Rs. Lakhs)

(kWh/year)

Replacement of electric geysers with solar water heating system in Guest house

13392

3.5

Commencement: 2004-2005 Completion: 2005-2006

Replacement of conventional chokes with energy efficient electronic ballasts in PH plant platform lighting Provision of variable frequency drive for borewell motors of 4 x 80 hp (4x60 kW) rating Replacement of 1000 W halogen light fixture with energy efficient metal halide lighting fixture of rating 250W in Tennis/Volley ball courts Replacement of 2 x 400 W SON tower lighting fixture with energy efficient 2 x 250 W metal halide light fixtures

48960

Commencement: 2004-2005 Completion: 2005-2006

142560

4.5

Commencement: 2004-2005 Completion: 2005-2006

16660

Commencement: 2003-2004 Completion: 2004-2005

4896

Commencement: 2004-2005 Completion: 2005-2006

Following schemes are also proposed for electrical energy saving for the year 2004-05: S. No. 1 2 3 4 Scheme Variable speed drive for cooling tower fan (1 no.) Replacement of electrical lighting system by solar lighting system for rose garden in Township Replacement of 500 nos. conventional chokes by energy efficient electronic ballast Evaluation of energy efficiency of motors of rating 11 to 37 kW, if efficiency of motors found deteriatated more than 3% due to rewinding or poor load factor, the same to be replaced by energy efficient motors. 5 Replacement of 2 x 400 W SON tower lights by energy efficient 2 x 250 W metal halide light fixtures (10 nos.)

(vi)

Environment and safety :

Safety aspect
Aonla unit has not lagged behind on safety front also. Several safety features are in built in the design of the plant. Longest continuous accident free running figure of 1399 days has been achieved which is equivalent to 12.56 million man-hours. A detailed disaster management action plan has been prepared to overcome any unforseen occurrence. Fire alarm system network has been installed and commissioned throughout the factory, consisting of automatic fire detection system and manual call alarm system. IFFCO Aonla has been certified for OHSAS-18001: 1999.

Brief Description of Production Process Ammonia Plant Ammonia plant is designed to produce 1520 MTPD liquid Ammonia based on Haldor Topsoe process with natural gas and Naphtha as main raw materials. Natural gas is supplied by GAIL through HBJ pipe line from Bombay high and contains large percentage of methane alongwith ethane, propane, butane, pentane, carbon-di-oxide, nitrogen & sulphur compounds. Small quantities of sulphur

compounds in the gas and Naphtha are removed by passing the gas through desulphurisation unit. Sulphur free process gas is then mixed with steam and sent to pre- reformer and primary reformers where reforming reaction takes place in the presence of catalyst & produces a gaseous mixture of hydrogen, carbon monoxide & carbon-di-oxide. Further reforming takes place in the secondary

reformer where air is added to furnish the nitrogen required for Ammonia synthesis. Hot reformed gases from secondary reformer are cooled by heat recovery in waste heat boiler and introduced in the shift converters where most of carbon monoxide gets converted to carbon-di-oxide. Carbon-di-oxide from the gaseous mixture is separated in the CO2 absorber using GV process and sent to Urea plant. Residual oxides of carbon in the synthesis gas leaving absorber are converted to methane in the methanator. Pure synthesis gas from methanator is compressed and sent to Ammonia convertor where Ammonia is formed. Ammonia product obtained is sent to Urea plant for the production of Urea. Figure-1 shows the schematic diagram of Ammonia plant.

Urea Plant

Two streams of Urea plants each having capacity of 1310 MTPD have been provided. Urea process is based on Snamprogetti, Ammonia self stripping process. Ammonia and carbondioxide obtained from Ammonia plant are sent to Urea reactor operating at 150 ata pressure and 1800C temperature. In Urea reactor, Ammonia and carbondioxide react to form ammonium carbamate, a part of which dehydrates to Urea. Reaction products from Urea reactor flow to a steam heated H.P. stripper where most of the unconverted carbamate gets stripped off as gaseous Ammonia and CO2. Urea solution leaving the bottom of the stripper still contains some amount of carbamate.

Further purification of Urea to about 72 percent concentration takes place in medium and low pressure decomposeRs. Vapours of Ammonia and carbondioxide obtained from the above purification sections are converted into ammonium carbamate and recycled back to Urea reactor for the production of Urea. Vacuum concentrators are provided to concentrate the 72 percent Urea solution to 99.8 percent in two stages operating at 0.3 ata and 0.03 ata pressure respectively. Urea melt (99.8% conc.) From the concentration sections is pumped to the top of the natural draft prilling tower and sprayed by means of

rotating prill bucket. The fine droplets, while descending through the tower, come into contact with cold air and solidify to form prills. Product Urea from the bottom of the prill tower is sent to Urea silo or product handling plant. Figure-2 shows the schematic diagram of Urea plant.

Besides main Ammonia and Urea plants, Aonla unit-II has a product handling plant to bag Urea, power generation plant to provide electricity & steam for driving different machines, DM water plant to produce high purity water for boiler, instrument air and service air compressors, inert gas generation plant, liquid Ammonia storage and bulk Urea storage (silo) etc.

(i) Unit profile :

Towards increasing the fertiliser production the overall national planning for utilisation of natural gas available from Bombay high, Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. (IFFCO) was entrusted for setting up a Urea fertiliser complex with annual capacity of 8.646 lakh tonnes of Urea at Anola, Bareilly. The site at Aonla is about 28 KM south west of Bareilly on Bareilly-Aonla road. In the year 1996 the production capacity was doubled with the commissioning of Aonla-II having Urea production capacity of 8.646 lakh tonnes.

Aonla-II is having a 1520 MT per day Ammonia plant and two Urea plants with a total capacity of 2620 MT per day. Steam and power generation units, inert gas generation plant, water treatment plant, cooling towers, product handling plant, Ammonia storage, Urea silo etc., are the other auxilliary units of the fertiliser complex.

Right from the inception of the project, Aonla-II has achieved several milestones . Aonla-II project was completed in 38 months and the commercial production was started in 39 months from the zero date. The project was completed well ahead of schedule and saved around Rs. 5 crores compared to budgeted cost.

IFFCO Aonla-II has been certified for ISO-9001: 2000, ISO-14001:1996 and OHSAS-18001:1999.

(ii)

Energy consumption

5.65
Energy (Gcal/MT Urea)

5.6 5.547 5.55 5.5 5.45 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 5.532 5.569

Year

IFFCO Aonla-II commenced Ammonia production on 13th Dec., 1996, Urea production on 18th Dec., 1996 and went into commercial production on 25th Dec., 1996. Since then IFFCO Aonla-II unit has completed four years of its operation and has attained number of achievements and records to its credit. In the very first full year (1997-98) of its operation, Aonla-II performed creditably by

achieving a capacity utilisation of 105.29% and 114.45% for Ammonia and Urea plants respectively and the performance of Aonla-II has improved steadily over the years.

In the year (2001-2002), Ammonia plant produced 5.10 lakh tonnes of Ammonia with a capacity utilisation of 101.7 %. Lowest yearly B.L. energy consumption of 7.6679 GCal/MT Ammonia was achieved during the year. Urea plant also performed very well during this year. The plant achieved ever highest (till date) yearly Urea production of 8.64 lakh MT. Lowest (till date) yearly overall specific energy consumption of 5.5474 GCal/MT Urea was achieved during the year. Urea plant achieved on-stream efficiency of 90.95 % and capacity utilisation of 100 %.

During 2002-2003, Aonla-II unit produced 8.65 lakh MT of Urea against installed capacity of 8.646 lakh MT and 5.03 lakh MT of Ammonia against installed capacity of 5.016 lakh MT. Ammonia plant achieved yearly average energy consumption (B.L.) of 7.6835 GCal/MT Ammonia with a capacity utilisation of 100.3%. Yearly average energy consumption achieved in Urea plant was 5.5315 GCal/MT with a capacity utilisation of 100%.

During 2003-2004, Aonla-II produced 8.65 lakh MT of Urea and 5.12 lakh MT of Ammonia with a capacity utilisation of 100.01% & 102.14% respectively. Yearly specific energy consumption of 7.6869 Gcal/MT ammonia and 5.5693 Gcal/MT urea were achieved during this year. Mile-stones of 6 million Mt Urea production and 6 million MT Urea despatch were achieved in this year. Ammonia plant achieved lowest monthly average sp. energy consumption (battery limit) of 7.5327 GCal/MT Ammonia.

(iii)

Energy conservation commitment, policy and set-up:

Energy conservation is a major corporate objective for IFFCO as such, and more so, for Aonla-II unit.

Joint General Manager (Technical Services) coordinates the activities of energy conservation and cost reduction at IFFCO Aonla unit. Five defferent energy auditing, plant health and performance monitoring cells have been formed one each for Ammonia, Urea, product handling, offsites and power plant. Each cell consists of one person each from technical, respective production, maintenance and instrumentation sections with the person from technical as the coordinator of the cell. Persons selected for these cells are from middle management level having experience of about 15 years. These cells directly report to Senior General Manager. These cells have been made responsible for coordinating the various activities and its implementation so that no snowballing takes place for purpose of implementation. Energy conservation & cost reduction measures have been classified broadly into three categories viz :

I) II) III)

Change in operating practices without any investment. Minor process modifications involving small investments. Incorporation of major energy saving retrofits involving large investments.

In addition to this, a number of plant performance and energy reports are prepared on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis by this group depicting the specific consumption of inputs, plantwise specific energy consumption etc. And their deviations from design figures are circulated among the plant operating personnel which help to a great extent in monitoring and optimising the plant performance. Equipments performance evaluation, steam balance etc. Are also done periodically to find out the inefficiency in any section of plant and to take corrective action in advance. The salient features of the strategy being followed at Aonla to reduce energy consumption are:

A) Incorporation of proven energy conservation schemes involving large investments. B) In-house minor modifications for energy conservation schemes involving small investments. C) Utilisation of excess steam from one plant to another. D) Continuous efforts to reduce steam consumption of condensing turbines, thereby reducing heat loss to C.W. which is a major heat sink. E) Measures to reduce unproductive energy consumption during start up. F) Modifying some of the operational procedures to reduce energy consumption. G) Trimmed operation of cooling towers to achieve most optimum cooling water temperature. H) Good house keeping. I) Above all, sincere efforts to remove the bottlenecks which do not permit the operation of plant at design load on a continuous and sustained basis by way of minor modification or modifying operating practices.

(iv) Energy conservation achievements- This portion should include one paragraph write-up on each major energy conservation project implemented during the year 2003-2004 only.

At IFFCO-Aonla sincere efforts are always made for conception & implementation of energy conservation projects. Presently Energy Saving Project is under implementation at a cost of Rs. 57 Crores which will result in reduction in specific energy consumption by 0.302 Gcal/MT Ammonia.

At IFFCO-Aonla-II following efforts have been made right from conception & for conservation of energy:

A) Gas turbine drive for process air compressor for the first time in the country with heat recovery unit connected to the gas turbine for generating high pressure steam to meet requirements of Urea plants. B) Medium pressure process condensate stripper. C) More efficient CO2 removal system.

During plant operation also all efforts are made for reducing the specific energy specific energy consumption over last three years as shown in the table given below:

Description Specific energy consumption per tonne of Ammonia (GCal/MT) Specific energy consumption per tonne of Urea (GCal/MT)

2001-2002 7.668

2002-2003 7.684

2003-2004 7.687

5.623

5.547

5.569

(v) Energy conservation plans and targets:

IFFCO Aonla-II plant is among the lowest energy consuming plants of the same vintage. In order to achieve further reduction in the energy consumption M/s HTAS Denmark, the original designer of Ammonia plant were appointed to conduct a feasibility study for implementation of energy saving schemes.

The feasibility study has been completed and M/s HTAS have proposed energy saving schemes for reduction in energy consumption by 0.302 Gcal/MT Ammonia in Ammonia-II plant.

The proposed energy saving schemes are being implemented in two phases as given below: Sl No. Scheme Estimated Cost (Rs. Crores) Energy saving (Gcal/MT Ammonia) Monetary saving (Rs. Crores) Pay back period (Years)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

New LT Shift guard and BFW Preheater New Make up gas chiller New Motors for CW pumps S-50 converter with HP boiler Retrofit of Syn gas compressor turbine Additional MP condensate stripper feed preheater Additional condenser over head 1st regenerator Additional lean solution cooler New combustion air heating module New HP steam superheating coil

57.0

0.302

17.9

3.2

Energy conservation measures planned in electrical field are as given under S. No. 18

(vi) Environment and safety : Safety aspect Aonla unit has not lagged behind on safety front also. Several safety features are in built in the design of the plant. Longest continuous accident free running figure of 1399 days has been achieved which is equivalent to 12.56 million man-hours. A detailed disaster management action plan has been prepared to overcome any unforeseen occurrence. Fire alarm system network has been installed and

commissioned throughout the factory, consisting of automatic fire detection system and manual call alarm system. IFFCO Aonla unit has been certified for OHSAS- 18001:1999.