A conference presentation by BD Energy Systems and Blasch on the first reformer with sized tunnel openings.
From the furnace floor to the tube temperature log.
One installation, followed from both ends.
This presentation reports on the installation of a new flue gas tunnel design in the top-fired reformer of a US ammonia plant in 2018 and on how the reformer ran afterwards. The design combines the Tunnel Optimal Performance layout of BD Energy Systems with mortar-free StaBlox blocks. Its central result is more even catalyst tube heating, which let the plant lower methane slip and raise production.
| Format | Conference presentation |
| Presenters | Daniel Znidersic, BD Energy Systems, and Jeffrey Bolebruch, Blasch Precision Ceramics |
| Event | Nitrogen+Syngas 2020, The Hague, February 2020 |
| Related article | A new kind of tunnel vision, World Fertilizer, January and February 2020 |
The talk joins two stories that are usually told apart. One is the work in the furnace: tearing out the brick tunnels, leveling the floor, setting bases, walls, lids and numbered orifice inserts without mortar. The other is the operating record afterwards: tube metal temperatures, methane slip and production compared before and after the change.
A tunnel replacement is judged twice: by the hours it took in the outage, and by the tube temperatures in the months after the restart.
Both halves of the talk are covered in published articles:
For the plant result in short form, see the tube temperature case study.
Daniel Znidersic of BD Energy Systems and Jeffrey Bolebruch of Blasch Precision Ceramics, at Nitrogen+Syngas 2020 in The Hague.
A US ammonia plant whose reformer tunnels were replaced in 2018. The operator is not named here.
In the World Fertilizer article from January and February 2020, summarized on the page about tube temperatures before and after.
Tell us about your reformer and your outage window. A Blasch engineer will walk you through installation and expected results.
