AMMONIA secondary

reformer burners

an optimized burner
ensures
a low methane slip
and trouble free
operation
 casale Ammonia plant secondary reformer burners

Ammonia plant main features

secondary
reformer burners The main features of the burner are:
• low pressure drop in both air and process gas
streams;
In the secondary reformer of an ammonia plant the process gas leaving the primary reformer
• low temperature of the surfaces exposed
is mixed and oxidized with process air injected through the burner. On account of the high
to the flame;
temperature of the process gas at the secondary reformer inlet, combustion occurs between
• perfect mixing in the diffusion flame;
the reactants as soon as they are mixed, forming a diffusion flame. The core flame temperature • reduced flame length;
is about 2,000°C. The burner has to resist very stressful thermal conditions owing to the radiation • excellent mixing between air and process gas
heat flux from the flame and the convection heat flux from the recirculating gases. with homogeneous gas composition and uniform
velocity and temperature distribution at
the catalyst surface;
The Casale burner consists of a pipe, through which the process air is injected, a swirler which imparts
• continuous shielding of the refractory lining
a swirling motion to the air stream and a high-angle cone-shaped burner tip. The process gas is introduced
from the flame hot core;
through a circular perforated distributor upstream the burner tip, the purpose of which is to create,
• high operating flexibility over ranging from 40%
with a small pressure drop, a uniform flow of process gas before it is mixed with process air.
to 120% of design load.
The Casale design is based on the behavior of a swirled jet. After leaving the nozzle, the air jet opens, flowing The Casale secondary reformer burner for a typical
over the lower surfaces of the burner tip and forming a central recirculation zone which increases mixing 1,600-t/d ammonia synthesis plant achieves:
between the air jet and the surrounding gases, as shown in this diagram. The process gas flowing down • 0.5 bar maximum pressure drop of air stream;
from the vessel neck annulus is deflected outward by the upper surfaces of the burner (cone and fillet). air inlet
• burner wall temperatures of 600-750ºC;
Process gas and air enter into contact at the burner outer edge, where they start mixing and reacting. • uniform temperature (within 10°C) on the catalyst
Then the mixing streams flow down along the vessel cone towards the catalytic bed. The recirculation surface;
air pipe
created by the swirl dominates the flow field in the combustion chamber over the catalytic bed. • homogeneous gas composition on the catalyst
process gas surface.
The burner surfaces are cooled by the flow of both process gas and air. The process gas cools the outer inlet
process gas
burner surfaces and then flows along the vessel cone, providing continuous protection of the refractory lining disributor The short flame length avoids the risk of
from the flame. So the burner surfaces are always well shielded from the flame by the air stream, impingement on the surface of the catalyst, which
burner tip
and the refractory lining is shielded by the process gas stream. would damage the catalyst, thus prolonging high
performance of the catalyst and delaying pressure
The mechanical construction of the burner is simpler than for other burner designs. Even for high capacities, drop build-up. Thanks to the uniformity of the gas
the burner is relatively small and can easily be fitted into an existing secondary reformer vessel. The burner target
bricks
flow and temperature at the catalyst surface, the
tip has a small diameter in comparison with the internal neck diameter of a typical secondary reformer, catalyst bed operates under the even conditions
so it can easily be inserted and extracted, even when the internal metallic lining of the vessel neck is badly right across its profile, reaching a better equilibrium
distorted. approach and, consequently, a lower methane slip.

catalytic bed

Schematic flow field of Casale secondary reformer

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 FEDERICO BOLLARINO SRL
Via Giulio Pocobelli, 6 | 6900 Lugano | Switzerland (CH)
tel. +41 91 6419200 | fax +41 91 6419291
www.casale.ch | info@casale.ch

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