These FAQs are a selection of the commonly asked questions we receive from our customers and prospects. The answers will provide you with a better understanding of Stamicarbon, our urea technologies, solutions and our urea licenses.

    LAUNCH
    How many urea grassroots projects has Stamicarbon done?

    Since 1947 Stamicarbon has successfully installed more than 260 urea grassroots projects. 

    What do I need to make urea?

    A urea plant is typically as part of a fertilizer complex. To be able to produce urea, ammonia and carbon dioxide are needed besides the standard utilities as feedstock. The ammonia and carbondioxide are typically delivered from the adjacent ammonia plant. A urea plant is often built as part of an ammonia-urea complex. Urea can be delivered at various forms such as prilled product, granulated product, pastilles and in various liquid formulas amongst others DEF, AdBlue etc.

    How much does a urea plant cost?

    The indication of the OPEX producing urea can be calculated using our OPEX calculator.

    How can CO₂ and Ammonia be used to make urea?

    The urea plant needs ammonia and carbon dioxide to produce urea. The urea process does not produce any byproducts besides water. The purity of water produce is of such quality that is can be reused as boiler feed water or as cooling water make up.

    ADVANCE
    Can Stamicarbon assist with critical HP equipment and piping inspections?

    Stamicarbon is very experienced and reputed for its urea inspection services. We perform many inspections globally every year. In addition, inspection services are available for nitric acid plants and ammonia terminals. Please contact us for more details.

    Do you also service non-Stamicarbon plants?

    Yes, Stamicarbon's services are available for all urea producers, which also includes non-Stamicarbon end users.

    Do you sell Safurex equipment?

    Stamicarbon is the sole provider of Safurex equipment. (Safurex equipment = proprietary equipment). You can simply contact us with your need and we will contact you with information on the best available solution for you using Safurex.

    I have a Safurex plant, can I buy Safurex spares for maintenance purposes?

    If you have a Safurex plant, it is crucial that all components in the main process stream are Safurex-based too. Therefore, you can contact our Spares team to order spare parts based on Safurex, such as valves, fasteners, etc. to maintain the full integrity of the plant in Safurex. As there are delivery times for most spares, please ensure that the required spares are ordered ahead of the planned turnaround.

    How can corrosion in my HP vessels be prevented?

    Preventing corrosion is almost impossible. Instead, the solution for preventing active corrosion and controlling passive corrosion in the most economical way is offered by Stamicarbon. The following factors play an important role here: equipment design, equipment quality during manufacturing, selected corrosion resistance material, and operation of the urea plant. Only if all these factors are under control, active corrosion is minimized/prevented. For the synthesis section, we developed Safurex material, the most competitive available material for the high-pressure synthesis section equipment. Contact Stamicarbon for expert advice on how you can control corrosion.

    Is Safurex also available for non-Stamicarbon urea plants?

    Yes, Stamicarbon has applied and can apply Safurex in any type of urea plant, regardless of original licensor and age. In addition, Safurex is also suitable and applied for nitric acid and melamine plants. Stamicarbon can apply Safurex equipment, piping, valves and spares for these plants. Contact our sales team for advice on how to apply Safurex in your plant. 
     

    I have no extra feedstock, can I still increase my productivity?

    Yes, you probably can, namely by improving the urea conversion in the synthesis (one can increase production and reduce energy consumption) and/or lowering the down time of the urea plant.

    What is Stamicarbon’s opinion with respect to the use of flare systems within urea plant?

    Stamicarbon does not approve the use of flare systems to eliminate the continuous off-gases from urea melt plants. The reason for this is that flares give rise to uncontrolled NOx emissions, which significantly increases the environmental load in comparison with the available alternatives. Examples for zero and low ammonia emissions are the Advance Treatment and the Advance Acidic Scrubbing technology with guaranteed ammonia emissions.

    What is Full Life Cycle Support?

    Stamicarbon offers life cycle support that enables you to keep your plant and personnel up to date with the newest insights, technology and equipment. We offer a range of activities and services that provide support for your plant over its entire operating life, covering operation, maintenance and advancement, including debottlenecking. Added to that we can undertake inspection of critical equipment, renew equipment to the latest designs, offer advanced process control and optimization solutions, along with staff training for operation and maintenance of specific urea equipment.

    EVOLVE
    How many plants has Stamicarbon revamped?

    Stamicarbon has revamped to date more than 115 plants varying from very complex revamps (doubling capacity) to simple additions (DEF) and upgrades (wastewater purification), emission and energy reduction revamps.

    Has Stamicarbon revamped non-Stamicarbon plants before?

    Stamicarbon has in-depth knowledge of the urea production process not limited to the designs typically applied by Stamicarbon. Stamicarbon has used its knowledge to upgrade and revamp various urea plants built with non-Stamicarbon technology (more than 30 plants). We will share the references with customers if requested.

    What guarantees does Stamicarbon offer?

    Stamicarbon is known to have the best reputation as a licensor of urea technology. This is mainly due to our excellent track record with respect to meeting expectations, let alone guarantees. Meeting or exceeding the expectations is in our DNA and is the main differentiator from other licensors. As revamps are more challenging with respect to guarantees, involving Stamicarbon is a means to secure the success of your project and the rate of return on investment.

    Improved integration with existing plant

    Stamicarbon's tailor-made approach is not only aimed at minimizing OPEX and CAPEX figures but also takes into account the alignment with the current plant (tie-ins and TA planning). Based upon decades of experience our revamp designs are aimed to minimize the production time lost to implement the upgrade/revamp.

    How long will my plant be shut down for during a revamp?

    For bigger capacity revamps Stamicarbon works closely together with its licensed contractors. The combined experience results in the shortest possible shut-down time needed to implement a revamp. 

    Do Stamicarbon revamps reduce the environmental load?

    Yes: reducing the environmental load of the urea melt and granulation plant is of utmost relevance and is one of the highlights of our technology development. The focus is on ammonia vapor and urea particulate emissions. For both substances, Stamicarbon has available emission reduction technologies designed to be the best practice of the future. For ammonia emission reduction Advance Treatment can offer zero ammonia emission from the urea melt plant, while our MMV scrubber can reduce the emission of urea dust particulate from the granulation to the lowest in the world. All technologies are available for new and existing urea plants and are often also available for non-Stamicarbon urea plants.

    How can I increase my capacity?
    1. Stamicarbon has well-proven designs for almost every capacity increase desired for all urea technologies available on the market with references to back it up.
    2. In case sufficient ammonia and carbon dioxide are available Stamicarbon can directly offer designs to maximize the utilization of the available feedstock. 
    3. In case there is no sufficient feedstock Stamicarbon works together with reputable ammonia licensors to offer a combined solution for the desired capacity increase.
    How can I lower my OPEX (using minimum CAPEX)?

    In urea melt plants:

    Improved urea conversion leads to more urea with the same supply of feedstock and less energy consumption. Optimize steam balance to minimize energy consumption (carbon footprint) by a smart process to process heat integration designs. 

    In urea finishing plants:

    Less downtime by improving process design. Less downtime means more output and less maintenance/inspection/repair costs. Reliability is the key word. Applying Safurex® and/or Stamicarbon process solutions in your melt and/or finishing section can already lead to substantially lower OPEX.

    Can I have an increase in productivity without extra feedstock?

    Yes, you probably can, namely by improving the urea conversion in the synthesis (one can increase production and reduce energy consumption) and/or lowering the down time of the urea plant.

    Does Stamicarbon provide suitable technology for my plant?

    In fact, due to our superior design, the greatest benefits can be obtained from revamping non-Stamicarbon plants.

Function