Ammonia Absorption Refrigeration Plants (AARP) are refrigerators that use low value heat sources (like low pressure steam or even hot water) to power the refrigeration process instead of using compressors, which, on the other hands, require high grade thermal energy (like MP steam) or electrical power.
As an additional advantage they are made up of only static equipment (columns and coolers) with no major costly rotating items.
In an ammonia plant they can be used to refrigerate and condense the ammonia produced in the synthesis loop.
AARP are widely used, for instance, in Russian ammonia plants designed by GIAP (AM-70 and AM-76) – where they are dubbed as AXY.
Bottlenecks in AARPs can seriously hamper the whole plant operation as well as hinder capacity increase projects. For instance, If the cooling capacity is insufficient (such us for instance in summer time), the plant target production cannot be reached often forcing operators to compensate by resorting to expensive workarounds.
Casale is able to conduct a complete process assessment of AARPs and come up with suggestions to improve the current operation or propose suitable revamping. For instance, a 15÷20% cooling capacity increase can be achieved.
Casale can also supply entirely new AARPs such as that recently installed in a Russian GIAP-type ammonia plant. which, with a refrigerating capacity of about 10 Gcal/h (11.6 MW) it is the biggest of its kind on worldwide basis.
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