Urea Highlights

   World production of Urea is 158 million tons per year (2009 figure)

   The present price of Urea is around 280 US$/t

   The value of Urea is 45 000 million US$/year

   Annual increased demand is 3-5 million tons

   China, Thailand and other Far East countries have a deficit of Urea

   Raw material for standard Urea plant is Natural gas

EP Urea plant

   Investment for a standard Urea plant is twice as high as the investment for an EP Urea Plant

   The EP Urea plant may use natural gas or any other syngas (from gasification) as raw material

   The EP Urea plant has low or no emission of CO₂ and other green house or toxic gases

   In addition the EP plant has 40% lower operation and 50% smaller equipment cost compared to BAT Urea plants

Some advantages of the first stage EP process are listed below:

1. Only water/steam is used as feed
2. Temperature 100-400°C
3. Not dependent of pressure
4. Pure Nitrogen is produced
5. High Space Velocities
6. Catalyst is recyclable

Some advantages of the second stage EP process are listed below:

1. Only Methane is used as feed
2. Temperature 200-400°C
3. Not dependent of pressure
4. Pure CO + Hydrogen is produced (syngas)
5. High Space Velocities
6. Catalyst is recyclable

Production of Urea is much less expensive with the EP method than any other method used today due to:

1. Reduced Operational Costs

-       Reduced raw material demand

-       Higher power efficiency

2.       Lower investment

-            Reduced mass flows

-            Reduced number of equipment

3.       Smaller equipment

-            Reduced mass flows

-            Lower temperature

4.    Higher power efficiency

-      Reduced mass flows

-      Lower temperature

5.    Close to zero CO₂ emission

-      Produced CO₂ used as raw material in urea production

6.    Close to zero emission of other green house gases (as 6 below)

1. Close to zero emission of toxic gases like NOx and Sox

-            Lower temperature

-            Nitrogen and Oxygen not present during high temp reactions

Investment and operational costs

   Basis for the operational cost is a natural gas price of 200 US$/t

   6% interest over 10 years

   Equipment delivered Western Europe

   Urea capacity 500 000 tpy

   Investment

–     Standard Urea Plant:  350 mill USD

–     EP Urea Plant:             160 mill USD

   Operational Costs

–     Standard Urea Plant:  158 USD/t

–     EP Urea Plant:             110 USD/t

   Financial costs

–     Financial costs:            112 USD/t

–     EP Financial costs:           54 USD/t

   Total Costs

–     Total:                      270 USD/t

–     EP Total:                170 USD/t

Current Status

   Initial laboratory tests conducted

   Theoretical process calculations conducted

   EP is seeking partners to develop the process

   The process has the potential to revolutionize the hydrogen, ammonia and fertilizer production

   Short way to full scale process