INTRODUCTION TO NPK-II PLANT AND

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
By
Kanhaya Lal
Dy. Manager (NPK)
 Introduction
• IFFCO was established as the farmers’ own initiative in
cooperative sector on 3rd November 1967 with proposed plants at
Kalol and Kandla.

• After the enactment of Multi state Cooperative society act 2002,

IFFCO is registered as a Multi State Co-operative Society under
this Act.

• IFFCO is fully owned by Cooperatives with approximately 36000

societies as member.

• IFFCO is the largest producer of fertilizer in the country and

contributed about 19.8% N & 26.8 % of total P2O5 produced (2018-
2019) in the country. 2
• IFFCO Kandla unit was commissioned in 1975. First expansion
took place in the year 1981 and second expansion in 1999.

• Four streams A, B, C & D are based on TVA slurry granulation

process and two streams E & F are based on AZF pipe reactor
technology.

• Annual P2O5 capacity is 916600 MT and annual N capacity is

314100 MT.

• NPK II plant annual capacity 446292 MT P 2O5.

3
 Fertilizer
Fertilizers are any solid, liquid or gaseous substances containing one or more
plant nutrients.

• There are 17 essential nutrients for crop growth.

• Three of them—carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O)—are supplied from air and
water.

• The three macronutrients—Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are
mostly supplied from the soil, but soil deficiencies and crop removal must be replaced
with supplemental sources—mostly fertilizers.
• Secondary nutrients—sulphur (S), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg)— are no less
essential, but are usually needed in smaller amounts as fertilizers.
• Micronutrients—boron (B), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu),
molybdenum (Mo), chlorine (Cl), nickel (Ni)—are needed in very small amounts, but
play essential roles as catalysts in metabolic processes of crop growth and
development or play other key roles.
 Products Manufactured at NPK II Plant

• DAP 18:46:00

• NPK 10:26:26

• NPK 12:32:16
 Raw Material

• Phosphoric Acid (52-54% P2O5)

• Ammonia
• Muriate of Potash (96% KCl)
• 98% Sulphuric Acid
• Urea (46% N)
• Filler
• Coating Material- for finishing of product

6
 Process Technology

• Grande Paroisse Dual Pipe Reactor Technology

• GPR- Granulator Pipe Reactor

• DPR- Dryer Pipe Reactor

 From Secondary Elevator

Scrubber Liquor

GPR

Granulator

Dryer
Ammonia Dryer Pipe Reactor

Phosphoric Acid

To Primary Elevator
Plug Flow Reactor
A plug flow reactor has continuous input and output of material through a
tube/pipe.

• Material passes through the reactor in incremental slices/segmental volume.

• Each slice is perfectly mixed radially but has no forward or backward i.e.
axial mixing between slices; each slice can be envisioned as a miniature
CSTR
• Composition and conversion vary with residence time and can be correlated
with reactor volume or reactor length
• The reactor operates at steady state
• The PFR can be imagined as a tube, but not all tubular reactors respond as
PFRs.
• Conversion and concentration can be directly related to the reactor length,
which in turn corresponds to reactor volume.
• For normal reaction kinetics the plug flow reactor is smaller than the
continuous-stirred tank reactor under similar conditions
• No requirement for agitation and baffling
 Design equation for the PFR
𝐶 𝐴
𝑑𝐶 𝐴
𝑉 =𝑣 ∫ − 𝑟𝐴
𝐶 𝐴0

Where
V is the required reactor volume for a final concentration of CA
CA0 is the initial concentration
is the rate of reaction
is the volumetric flow rate of the reactant
 Advantages of Pipe Reactor
• AZF pipe reactor technology
• Low water content in the slurry produced. 5-7% moisture in the
slurry in comparison to 18-20% moisture in PN slurry
• Low Recycle Ratio
• Less heat requirement for the drying
• Lesser water insoluble P2O5 in the slurry due to low residence
time in the reactor (only a few seconds)
• No cost of pumping of slurry
• About 30-90% of the total heat requirement for drying is achieved
from DPR ( depending on the P2O5 content of phosphoric acid
and flow rate in the DPR) 12
 Advantages of Pipe Reactor
• Shut down of the pipe reactor is very easy and fast, no need to
consume slurry or drain slurry for the shutdown.
• Start up of the plant is also faster than the conventional PN Tank
reactor, time for the preparation of the slurry is not required.
• Heat of reaction vaporizes the approx. all the water in the react
with is swept by the stream of air as soon as slurry leaves the pipe.
Parameters of the Slurry of Pipe Reactor

Temperature : 130 - 150 °C

N:P mole ratio : 1.30-1.50

pH : 6.5-7.0

H2O content : 4-8 % by weight

P2O5 concentration : 42-45 % by weight

 Reactions in the Pipe Reactor

Major reactions takes place inside pipe reactor are:

(1) NH3 + H3PO4 = NH4H2PO4 + Heat

Ammonia Phosphoric acid Mono ammonium phosphate (MAP)

(2) NH3 + NH4H2PO4 = (NH4)2HPO4 + Heat

Ammonia MAP Di ammonium phosphate (DAP)

(3) 2NH3 + H2SO4 = (NH4)2SO4 + Heat

Ammonia Sulphuric acid Ammonium Sulphate (AS)
 Scrubbing
• For maintaining GPCB norms

• For the recovery of valuable nutrients

• For maintaining environment pollution free

Parameter GPCB norms for process

stack (mg/Nm3)
Ammonia 175
Particulate Matter 150
Fluorine 10
17
 Latest Developments in NPK II Plant
• Use of coal fired HAG hot air in place of furnace oil base
combustion chamber for drying of fertilizer.

• Installation of online stack monitoring system

• Provision of standby booster booster pump

• Change in MOC of tail gas separator to SS 904L in place of MSRL

• Provision of polishing screen for improving product sieve

• Use of Material coating to improve product quality

19
Thank You
 NPK FERTILIZERS

DAP
NPK GRADE 1 NPK GRADE 2
18:46:0 21
12:32:16 10:26:26
 WATER SOLUBLE FERTILIZERS

ZINC SULPHATE NPK UREA PHOSPHATE

18:18:18 17:44:0 22