Modeling, Simulation, and Configuration Improvement of Horizontal Ammonia Synthesis Reactor

Abstract

Abstract In this work, one-dimensional heterogeneous model has been developed for an intercooled horizontal ammonia synthesis reactor (HASR) of the Khorasan petrochemical plant. The model is further extended to simulate the HASR with two quench flows. The mass balance, energy balance, and pressure drop equations have been solved simultaneously by fourth-order Runge–Kutta method using MATLAB software to obtain concentration, temperature, and pressure profiles along the reactor beds. For effectiveness factor calculation, a modified shooting method has been used to solve two point boundary value differential equations. The simulation results are compared with the plant data, and good agreement is achieved. In the following, a new configuration for HASR is proposed. The proposed design combines intercooled and two quench flow HASRs. Hence, comparing to the conventional HASR with two quench flows and intercooled HASR, it has higher nitrogen conversion and consequently higher ammonia production rate. The simulation results are compared with the conventional HASRs in order to demonstrate the improved performance of the proposed reactor.