Nitric Acid

Process Flow Sheet

and Components
Process flow diagram
STEP 1: Ammonia Oxidation
STEP 2 - Nitric Oxide Oxidation
STEP 3 - Absorption
Step 4 - NOx Abatement

Ammonia : Tail Gas = 1 : 100

Ammonia oxidation - Air stream
● Input to the reactor must be void of any impurity to prevent poisoning of catalyst

● Air Filter - A multistage filter removes 99.9% of particles larger than 0.5 micron
○ Filter media - Plastic and Glass fiber
○ Filter frame - Stainless Steel

● Compressor - Multi shaft geared centrifugal compressor is used

Ammonia oxidation - Air stream

● Heat Exchanger- Shell and tube heat exchanger

Steam is used in the tubes to heat the air (which flows in the shell)
Ammonia oxidation - Ammonia stream

● Ammonia Filter - 99.9% of particles larger than 3 micron are removed. Mostly
solid contaminants and rust particles with traces of oil and chlorides present in
liq ammonia are removed.
● Filter media - Teflon, Ceramics and Sintered metal
● Pressure drop - 10 kPa (depends on filter)

● Evaporator and Superheater are used to evaporate liq. NH3. Cold Water is used
in this setup to reduce the partial vapour pressure. LP Steam is added to supply
the necessary heat
Ammonia oxidation - Mixer and Filter

● Mixes ammonia - air in 1:9 ratio for catalytic oxidation

● Static mixers used (eg. Uhde tubular mixer, Sulzer 3 element mixer)

● Mixed Air Filter - Provides final cleaning of ammonia-air mix and removes 99.8%
particles of size greater than 1.5 micron
Ammonia oxidation - Reactor
a - Burner head

b - Perforated plate (for even NH3-air mix distribution)

c - Platinum-Rhodium(90-10) gauze

d - Inspection glass

e - Superheater and evaporator tubes

f - Hydrogen ignition

g - Refractory packing

h - Nitric gas outlet

Nitric oxide oxidation
Heat Exchanger
● The shell‐and‐tube design predominates heat exchangers.
● Hot nitric gas is on the tube side with cool tail gas on the shell side.

● The pressure drop should be kept as low as possible to secure a favorable energy balance for
the plant as a whole.
Nitric oxide oxidation

Cooler Condenser
● In the cooler – condenser, the temperature

is lowered below the dew point of the inlet

nitric gas.

● In the apparatus shown in figure nitrous

gas passes into the shell side through two inlets.

Heat is absorbed by cooling water.

Absorption Tower

● Acid formation takes place chiefly in the bottom third of the

tower, whereas NOx is reduced in the upper two‐third

● Most modern absorption towers have sieve plates.

Spacing between plates increases because oxidation proceeds
More slowly as the NOx content in the tower decreases

● The collected acids are pumped back to the tower at restart so

that a steady state is reached more quickly

● Heat is withdrawn using cooling coils on the plates

 NOx Abatement catalyst
Reducing agent NH3 added
to NOx converting it to N2
and bringing down NOx to
levels of <30ppmv

Pellets arranged in
honeycomb structure serve
as catalyst for this reaction
References

1. http://catalysts.motumdev.com/files/pdf/BF-
9834_US_N2O_and_DeNOX_Technote.pdf
2. https://www.thyssenkrupp-industrial-solutions.com/en/products-and-
services/fertilizer-plants/nitrate-plants/nitric-acid-plants/
3. https://patents.google.com/patent/US6264910 - Uhde Patent
4. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/14356007.a17_293?global
Message=0
5. https://www.mecholic.com/2016/07/advantages-disadvantages-
applications-centrifugal-compressor.html
6. Process Equipment Selection course material