Production of UAN

Uhde offers its customers many years of expertise and experience in chemical plant engineering - from the execution of process studies to the handling of projects on an EPC basis.

Our portfolio includes state-of-the-art processes for the production of ammonium nitrate solution (AN)  as feedstock for all types of AN processes such as the production of urea-ammonium nitrate solutions (UAN).

Uhde offers plants for the production of UAN with a capacity of up to 4,300 mtpd and is one of the leading licensors of these processes.

UAN is a mixture of ammonium nitrate, urea and water. Typical nitrogen concentrations of UAN are 28%, 30% or 32%. Depending on the customer's requirements, UAN can be enriched with soluble plant nutrients (sulfur, boron and calcium compounds).

Uhde offers two processes for the production of UAN:

a) neutralization of ammonia gas:

The required AN solution is generated in an upstream AN neutralization  by reaction of ammonia gas and nitric acid. To adjust the required nitrogen content, a urea solution is mixed with water in a UAN mixing tank developed by Uhde.

b) Neutralisation of urea off-gas:

Uhde offers a CAPEX-optimized process that uses the ammonia-rich off-gas from an upstream, simplified urea synthesis to neutralize the ammonium nitrate. The low-concentration urea solution also derived from this urea synthesis is used to generate the UAN solution.

The Uhde^® UAN processes are characterised by:

• high product quality in accordance with international standards

• high reliability and long operating times of the plants

• references between 400 and 4,300 mtpd

• maximum operational safety thanks to sophisticated process and control concepts

• easy start-up and shut-down of the plant

• energy efficiency

• cleaning of the exhaust gases of the neutralization with urea exhaust gas according to BAT level

• cost efficiency

All the above mentioned processes are referenced and proven worldwide.

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