Aggreko’s wild air solution improves urea fertiliser production in Oman

During the peak summer months, the Omani city of Sur can reach ambient temperatures of up to 40°C.

This was causing problems for a urea fertiliser production plant in the city. The hot summer weather was also exacerbated by the plant’s proximity to the sea, sending temperatures in the plant soaring.

These high ambient temperatures interfered with the vacuum system used during the production process. This not only created a bottleneck within the production line, but also impacted the quality of the urea produced, resulting in clients often rejecting sub-par orders.

To tackle this climbing heat, the plant needed to bring the ambient temperature down to between 30-35°C for the vacuum system to work efficiently. Since there were space constraints within the plant, this provided an additional challenge – limited areas for any additional equipment to help with cooling.

To get the ambient temperature and relative humidity from 45°C to 30-35°C, Aggreko got to work providing a wild air solution. The client needed 70m3 per second of cool air for the vacuum system to function efficiently.

Using an array of chillers, pumps, and diesel generators, along with an air handling unit (AHU), Aggreko was able to drop the temperature quickly and easily. This solution provided 30m3 per second of 21°C cool air.

This was mixed with 45-48°C ambient temperature air, and reduced the plant’s output air to 31-35°C – fulfilling the client’s requirements.

During the project, two technicians and six labourers commissioned the units, while one engineer and two helpers took it in turns keeping watch after the units were installed.

The client was impressed with Aggreko’s great service, efficient solution, and rapid response times.

Before, the production plant’s clients had rejected some urea fertiliser products due to quality concerns. Then Aggreko helped the production plant to turn the tables. Now, following Aggreko’s wild air solution, the quality of urea has never been better.

In fact, the plant has improved the product so much, even during peak summer, that it has successfully delivered on its product quotas without any rejections whatsoever.