Melamine is an organic compound used in the manufacture of high-end plastics, adhesives and industrial coatings. For instance, it is used to make plastic products, paper, paperboard and kitchenware, including bowls, plates, mugs and utensils, as well as other products.
Melamine is a growth factor of world-wide GDP mainly as consequence of improved living standard of a growing population. As such, the increasing prosperity in markets like Asia, India, China, Russia and Brazil will stimulate growth of Melamine in housing and furniture.
The modern production process requires urea as feedstock, which is directly converted to melamine non-catalytically and at high pressure. For this reason and because a stream of ammonia-CO2 off gases must be reprocessed in a urea plant, a melamine plant is almost always placed nearby a urea one.
A melamine plant is an interesting and perfectly viable option for urea producers which are seeking to diversify their product mix by entering completely new markets with a high value chemical.
Casale’s Low Energy Melamine process, or LEM™, originally developed by BOREALIS and acquired by Casale in 2013 , incorporates more than 40 years’ experience and it is characterized by:
- high energy efficiency
- high melamine conversion efficiency
- simplest integration of the off-gases into the high-pressure section of an existing urea plant
- superior quality of product, consistently
If a nearby urea plant is not available, Casale can also easily provide a standalone unit, completely integrated with the melamine plant, able to provide the necessary urea and take back the off-gases.
A positive feature of the LEM™ technology is that it can also be used to revamp existing melamine plants based on different processes.
Furthermore, Casale is the only licensor worldwide able to provide the entire production chain of melamine starting from natural gas, that is including ammonia and urea production, or to perfectly integrate the melamine plant in other process, such as for instance even a methanol plant.
If you want to know more about how a melamine plant can benefit you don’t hesitate to get in touch!
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