FILE EAE19/21/0021 – New control project for the Puertollano air compressor steam turbine

The main objective of this project is to reduce energy consumption in our ammonia production plant in Puertollano by replacing the current steam turbine controller of the process air compressor of the ammonia plant with a more efficient, state-of-the-art one.

• This project involves replacing the current air compressor steam turbine controller at our Puertollano plant with a more modern and efficient one in order to achieve greater energy efficiency.

Currently, the air compressor operates at a constant rotation speed, regardless of the plant’s capacity. The system for regulating the air flow to the process consists of an automatic valve located upstream of the compressor, which, under normal operating conditions, introduces a pressure drop of 1.1 bar. Therefore, the improvement is determined by the capacity of this new controller to optimise the consumption of high pressure steam in the turbine to the instantaneous conditions of the plant by varying the speed of the turbine, making it possible to dispense with the automatic valve and avoiding energy losses in it.

The reduction in high-pressure steam consumption in the turbine allows more steam to be available for other uses in the medium-pressure steam network, which means less natural gas consumption in the auxiliary boiler, thus obtaining the desired reduction in CO2 emissions.