Assuring Safe and Reliable High Pressure Urea Equipment

High Temperature Hydrogen Attack (HTHA) in Ammonia Plants

High Temperature Hydrogen Attack (HTHA) is a problem which concerns steels operating at elevated temperatures in hydrogen environments. It is not to be confused with hydrogen embrittlement or other forms of low temperature hydrogen damage. HTHA is a time-temperature-pressure function. These, basically means the longer that a piece of equipment is exposed to temperatures above its resistance limit in certain hydro-process environment (see API941-NELSON Curve), the more damage to the steel will accumulate; and the higher the temperature rises above the limit of the steel, the more rapidly the damage will occur. Monitoring the integrity of equipment in HTHA-Service is necessary to avoid accidents, especially if one of the following reasons are true: - HTHA in many old plants -is true for many ammonia plants- can occur especially after a long onstream-time, if the incubation time ended. - However, there have been several cases where HTHA was found, even though operating conditions were below the Nelson Curve. - There are new findings since 2016: After explosion in the TESORO refinery with 7 dead, it must be assumed that HTHA in C steel can already be expected at > 204 °C and a hydrogen partial pressure of pH2 > 3.45 bar. It is strongly recommended to monitor the integrity of HTHA vulnerable equipment! Due to the age of many ammonia plants, a lot of equipment may need to be replaced. For avoiding HTHA of new equipment, use the recommendations for fabrication of new equipment in the hydrogen service according API 941 and API 934A! Click here for more information

New Record on March 12, 2020: 150 users active in our Round Tables

We did set a new record on March 12, 2020. 150 users were active in our Round Tables. Our Round Tables discuss all kind of issues in nitrogen fertilizer plants among our 6500+ Members of all nitrogen fertilizer plants worldwide. More than 1800 topics are under discussion with more than 9200 posts, so on average each topic has five replies. Truly an active forum improving the safety and performance of all plants in our industry. Join also our Round Tables

CORONA VIRUS: How to manage these difficult times?

More and more measures are taken in order to control the spread of the Corona virus. More and more regions are affected and stricter travel policies apply.
Luckily via UreaKnowHow.com all of us can easily stay in contact with each other!
Nearly 6500 managers, engineers and specialists working in all nitrogen fertilizer plants worldwide can be safely contacted without any restrictions.
Have a look in our Round Tables with nearly 1800 topics under discussion and more than 9000 posts and contact the participants.
Have a look at our Library with 1000+ Technical Papers, our Photo and Video Galleries and contact one of our Experts.
And contact our Sponsors via their dedicated Sponsor pages and have a look how they can support you with dedicated solutions.
Go to the Sponsor Pages

UreaKnowHow.com welcomes VECOM as our Sponsor

VECOM are Global Expert in Chemical Cleaning.

In urea plants for example VECOM are the experts in cleaning of the Urea Stripper and Recirculation Heater.

The Vecom way - in practice: Our core value is: safe for people, the environment and metal. Our industrial customers benefit from more than 65 years of leading experience in metal surface treatment and can feel 100% assured of the correct treatment of their process installations. Clients of our customers often indicate that they would like to have their products and installations treated "The Vecom way". The highest quality guaranteed for surface treatment The Vecom way also means that procedures have been laid down for our customers. This guarantees equal results with the same metal contamination. When a new procedure is required, it is tailor-made. Research into the metal alloy is done through a Metal Analyzer and into the contamination is done in the in-house laboratory of Vecom. If there is no suitable cleaning product on the market, we have it made on our own recipe, also in-house. This allows us to deliver the highest quality time and again without exception.

Click here for more information

10 Good Reasons to Join our June 2021 Urea Training Program

Let us give you 10 Good Reasons to Join our 7-11, June 2021 5-Day Urea Training Program
1. These are Unique and Most Advanced Urea Training Programs
2. Presenters have together 175+ Years Urea Experience
3. Presenters are still Young and Full of Energy but are also getting grey hairs
4. More than 1000 Participants have attended and gave Excellent as feedback
5. Group Discounts are offered (5th joins for free)
6. Meet you Colleagues from Other Plants and Meet Sponsors which provide Solutions to your problems
7. Register Now to Assure a Seat and Assure Sufficient Time for Visa, Hotels etc
8. Enjoy the Fun city in Good Climatic Conditions
9. Meet each other again face to face after these barish times
10. Full reimbursement of training fee in case of renewed Corona issues.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO MEET YOU FROM 7-11 JUNE 2021 IN AMSTERDAM !

Click here for more information

100% Excellent Score from CF Industries

From 13-17 January 2020, UreaKnow How.com did held a customised 5-Day Training Program for Urea Engineers, Managers and Shift Supervisors at CF Industries in Donaldsonville, the United States. CF Industries is one of the largest urea producers in the world. Some 45 engineers participated from Donaldsonville, Port Neal, Verdigris, Medicine Hat in Canada.

CF’s feedback on the training program was very positive: A 100% Excellent Score!

We thank CF Industries for their perfect organisation and great hospitality!

Click here for the complete report

UreaKnowHow.com presents new 3-Barrier Ammonia Storage Technology

Safety Risks exist when storing and bunkering Ammonia when using the existing standards. Professionals in the ammonia industry know how to manage these risks and are able to assure a safe environment.

More and more discussions and initiatives for Green Ammonia as fuel and energy storage pop up. But how to gain the acceptance of the general public and authorities ?

Our 3-Barrier Ammonia Storage Technology helps to convince these stakeholders.

Click here to read more…

We have a Leak... Do we need to stop the plant ?

During the AICHE Ammonia Safety 2019 Conference in San Francisco, UreaKnowHow.com moderated the Round Table discussion "We have a leak... Do we need to stop the plant ? Several cases were presented of leaks in High Pressure synthesis and ammonia pipelines and accessories. Step by step more information was provided by means of a risk assessment. After each step each of the some 200 participants had to decide: shall I stop the plant yes or no ?
The lively discussions did lead to valuable conclusions which kind of leaks introduce critical safety risks. And which actions to stop the leak are very dangerous. You can download the hand out of this Round Table discussion via the link below.

Hand Out AICHE 2019.pdf

UreaKnowHow Urea Training Program & Urea Masterclass in June 2020 in Amsterdam

UreaKnowHow.com will organise its by more than 1000 participants attended 5-Day Urea Training Program again from 1-5 June 2020 in Amsterdam.
And directly following, we will organise the 3-Day Urea Masterclass from 8-10 June 2020 also in Amsterdam. The 3-Day Urea Masterclass is a unique follow up of the 5-Day Training Program and will apply in realistic cases the earlier lessons learned. It will take your urea knowledge to a deeper level by an active participation in intensive workshops. You will get minimum 5 Takeaways of each workshop to directly use in your plant.
If you join both programs you will receive 20% Discount. We also offer Group and Early Bird Discounts. So register now and assure your participation in these unique Training Programs! Click here for More Information and Registration Forms

UreaKnowHow.com writes Urea Chapter of Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology

Written by prominent scholars from industry, academia, and research institutions, the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology presents a wide scope of articles on chemical substancesincluding their properties, manufacturing, and uses. It also focuses on industrial processes and unit operations in chemical engineering, as well as covering fundamentals and scientific subjects related to the field. Additionally, environmental and health issues concerning chemical technology are also addressed.

Click here for the Link to Kirk-Othmer Urea Chapter

Specific Process Safety Risks in Ammonia and Urea Plants 19-21 June 2019 in Amsterdam: A First of a Kind Milestone Event

In Amsterdam from 19-21 June 2019 for the first time an open 3-Day Safety Ammonia & Urea Training Program was organised by AmmoniaKnowHow.com and UreaKnowHow.com: “Specific Process Safety Risks in Ammonia and Urea Plants”. More than twenty engineers participated from all around the world: Belgium, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Nigeria, Pakistan, The Netherlands, UK, USA and Vietnam. It was a first of a kind milestone event in our industry as several process safety risks were shared and discussed amongst all participants, who origin from various licensors, contractors and producers. The result can only improve Safety and Performance of our industry! Click here to read the complete report and the video.

UreaKnowHow.com Presents Six Specific FIORDA Case Studies at the International Fertilizer Society 2019 in Brussels

On June 4 & 5, 2019, IFS organised its yearly Technical Conference, this year in Brussels. The conference was well attended by some 50+ participants from all over the world. On the first day just after the first break, Mark Brouwer presented “THE PRINCIPLES AND APPLICATIONS OF A DIRECTORY OF UREA SAFETY INCIDENTS, WITH CASE STUDIES”.

The presentation and related paper highlight six specific case studies to show how FIORDA, as a directory of urea safety incidents, can help a urea producer to realise higher safety standards and reliability figures:...

UreaKnowHow.com welcomes ALLIA as our new Sponsor

More than 40 years of history
Since the 1st January 2014, CMI entreprise has become AlliA to affirm our development over more than 25 years in industrial equipment contracting.
Our Company has become a major player thanks to the alliance of design, production and installation of equipment and production units for treating gases, liquids and paste-like fluids.
An industrial engineering equipment contractor, we are specialized in materials processing (carbon steel, stainless steel and noble materials) enabling us to offer project management associated with an integrated design office to thermally and mechanically design and dimension products or units in accordance with codes, regulations and customer requirements.

Yara has joined FIORDA as the Founder Member

We are pleased to announce that Yara has recently joined FIORDA as the founder member and key contributor to fertilizer industry process safety. FIORDA is the Fertilizer Industry Operational Risks Database, a database for fertilizer manufacturers developed by AmmoniaKnowHow.com and UreaKnowHow.com teams with the mission is to improve safety and reliability performance of fertilizer plants by collecting and exchanging process safety data among the participating companies. As one of the leading companies in promoting safety in the fertilizer industry, Yara will share their experience and will contribute with case studies in developing the process safety knowledge supporting safety in operation and plant integrity. FIORDA is an initiative open to all fertilizer manufacturers willing to join their efforts and contribute to safer and reliable operation of nitrogen fertilizer plants. More information about FIORDA membership are available here. For additional information, you can contact Dan Cojocaru (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Mark Brouwer (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

UreaKnowHow.com presents FIORDA Urea Case Studies

During the next 2019 IFS Technical Conference on 4 & 5 June 2019 in Brussels, UreaKnowHow.com will present "The principles and applications of a directory of urea safety incidents, with case studies".

In September 2018, AmmoniaKnowHow.com and UreaKnowHow.com introduced FIORDA to the fertiliser industry. FIORDA is the Fertiliser Industry Operational Risks Database (www.fiorda.eu), a cloud based set of risk registers for ammonia and urea plants. FIORDA's mission is to improve safety and reliability performance of fertiliser plants by collecting and exchanging process safety data among the participating companies and acting as focal point for coordination and management of process safety data collection within the fertiliser industry.

We reached 6000 Members!

UreaKnowHow.com has reached a new milestone of 6.000 Members this month. Together with our Chinese sister website UreaNet.cn our network includes 12.000 Members representing All Nitrogen Fertilizer Plants in the world in operation and under construction. This makes us the largest independent network in the Nitrogen fertilizer Industry and we are still growing. Special thanks goes to ...

Dedicated Specific Process Safety Hazards for Urea Plants for OCI Nitrogen in Geleen

On March 13, 2019 Urea-Know-How.com held a dedicated Training Program Specific Process Safety Hazards in Urea Plants at OCI Nitrogen in Geleen, the Netherlands. The Training Program started with an overview of major safety hazards in urea plants concluded from more than 115 serious incidents collected by UreaKnowHow.com. The other modules did focus on safety risks related to high pressure piping, accessories and valves including risks related putting clamps to stop leakages and leakages from high pressure flange connections. More than 60 participants joined the training ranging from operators to plant management and originating from both operations and maintenance. The content was dedicated to the design of the OCI urea plant leading to lively discussions and a truly valuable event. From 19-21 June 2019 a similar open Training Program for ammonia and urea plants is scheduled: Click here for more information

10 Years UreaKnowHow.com!

On March 1st, 2019 we celebrate 10 Years UreaKnowHow.com!

Find here our story how it began and how we developed into the largest network in the Nitrogen Fertiliser Industry with 12.000 Members representing all 500 urea plants worldwide. With our more than 30 Sponsors, being experts in their field, together we will improve Safety and Performance of our industry. Further our industry will need to face environmental challenges like improving Nitrogen Use Efficiency and reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions. We are positive that innovative ideas will develop by a close co-operation between experts and we feel motivated and inspired to facilitate and support you all in realising your targets,

Jo Eijkenboom
Mark Brouwer

Click here for our related Newsletter

UreaKnowHow.com presents Advances in Urea Process and Product Technology

During the next ARGUS Middle East Fertilizer 2019 from 24-27 March 2019 in Muscat, Oman, UreaKnowHow.com will present "Advances in Urea Process and Product Technology". How to Enhance Performance?, How to improve Safety Standards? and How to improve Products Margins? are the key questions which will be answered in this presentation. It includes a medium / long term perspective like the influence of the Paris Accords and the potential influence of NFuel (using ammonia as fuel). Click here for the hand out of the presentation.

What is Your Problem ?

Optimising a urea plant is a continuous process and a challenging task for anyone working in a urea plant.

UreaKnowHow.com is an independent group of nitrogen fertilizer specialists with an impressive number of years experience in designing, maintaining and operating nitrogen fertilizer plants.

Share with us your problem and we will do our best to give advise and support you in solving your problem and bring your plant to higher safety and performance standards.

Contact Mark Brouwer via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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