Large Volume Inorganic Chemicals - Ammonia ... - ammk-rks.net

Chapter 55 PHOSPHORIC ACID5.1 General information[29, RIZA, 2000], for food grade phosphates, see [155, European Commission, 2006].Phosphoric acid, H 3 PO 4 , is a colourless, crystalline compound, that is readily soluble in water.The main product is phosphoric acid with a commercial concentration of 52 – 54 % P 2 O 5 . Aftersulphuric acid, phosphoric acid is the most important mineral acid in terms of volume and value.The greatest consumption of phosphoric acid is in the manufacture of phosphate salts asopposed to direct use as acid. Markets are differentiated according to the purity of the acid. Theprimary application is the production of fertilisers (approximately 80 %) and animal feedsupplements (8 %). Purer phosphoric acid is used for the production of industrial phosphates,especially the sodium, potassium, calcium and ammonium salts, and in metal surface treatment.Food grade quality is used for the acidulation of beverages and food grade phosphate salts.Worldwide phosphoric acid production capacity was 41600 ktonnes in 2004 [154, TWG onLVIC-AAF, 2006]. In Western Europe, the fertiliser consumption strongly declined in the lateeighties and the early nineties. For economic reasons, plants are built where there is cheapaccess to raw materials (either at the phosphate mine or at the source of sulphur or sulphuricacid). In Europe, a large number of relatively small phosphoric acid production plants haveclosed down, and as a result the structure has increasingly moved towards a small number oflarge production plants. Between 1980 and 1992, the number of plants in Western Europereduced from 60 to approximately 20 while the average plant size increased from 80000tonnes/year to 180000 tonnes P 2 O 5 /year. An overview of the European phosphoric acidproduction plants is given in Table 5.1.LocationCompanyProcesstypeGypsum disposalCapacityktonnesP 2 O 5BelgiumNilefos DH Stacking, fraction sold 130Prayon SA DHH Stacking 20%, sold 80% 180Czech Rep. Fosfa Thermal 50Finland Kemira GrowHow DH Stacking 300France Grand Quevilly (closed) DH Stacking 200GreecePFI Ltd., Kavala DH Stacking 70PFI Ltd., Thessaloniki DH Stacking 110Lithuania AB Lifosa HH Stacking 350Hygro Agri Rotterdam (closed) HDH-2 Sea 160Netherlands Kemira Agro Pernis (closed) HDH-1 Sea 225Thermphos Thermal 155Police S.A., Police DH Stacking 400PolandFosfory N.F., Gdansk DH Stacking 110Alwernia S.A. Thermal 40Wizow S.A. HH Stacking 50SpainFertiberia S.A. DH Stacking 420FMC Foret S.A. DH Stacking 130Table 5.1: Overview of the European phosphoric acid plants[154, TWG on LVIC-AAF]Large Volume Inorganic Chemicals – Ammonia, Acids and Fertilisers 213