Carryover potassium amide in cracker at HWP, Hazira - a case study (Paper No. 1.5)

The liquid ammonia fed to cracker is made available from potassium amide catalyst recovery unit, where catalyst potassium amide is separated by distillation. Extreme care is taken to ensure that ammonia is totally free from potassium. Also the gas used for catalyst heating during start up, should be free of any possible amide contamination and should be pure and dry as moisture is a poison for the catalyst. In order to prevent the recurrence of amide carryover to cracker tubes from start up gas line, certain modifications were carried out besides removal of amide from pipings. Details are discussed. (author)