Overview

Ever since the company was established in 1921, Uhde has been involved in the design and construction of ammonia plants and has played a leading role in the development of ammonia technology.

In recent years, ammonia plant technology has undergone radical developments in terms of both design and equipment. In order to improve plant efficiency, efforts have had to be focused on reducing power consumption, improving process heat recovery, minimising stack losses and cutting energy consumption for CO₂ removal.

Uhde’s objective of making a substantial improvement in energy efficiency has relied heavily on experience and involved a broad spectrum of technical expertise including a technical review of process design, engineering design, research and development and the evaluation of operating data. Equally important has been the enhancement of plant operability and reliability. Hence, much attention has been paid to past successful experience and proven energy-saving features.

In 1998, Uhde joined forces with Synetix, now Johnson Matthey Catalysts, to further improve the Uhde ammonia process. This partnership builds on the traditional strengths of the two companies and takes advantage of Johnson Matthey Catalysts' know-how in catalysis, ammonia plant operation and support services together with Uhde's experience in design, engineering and project execution. The partnership allows strong collaboration between JMC and Uhde engineers so that the Uhde ammonia process can be further optimised to take best advantage of the latest high-performance catalysts improving efficiency and lowering cost.

The contract to build an ammonia plant for Saudi Arabian Fertilizer Company (SAFCO) in Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia, marks a milestone in Uhde's ammonia technology. This plant is the first to be based on the new "Uhde Dual-Pressure Process" and, with a capacity of 3,300 mtpd, by far the world's largest.