Belaruskali, Soligorsk, Belarus:

V. A. Churov, Deputy Chief Engineer of Environmental Protection, cva@kali.by
V. A. Sidorchik, Head of Compound Fertilizers Workshop, Mine Management 3

Belgorkhimprom, Minsk, Belarus:
S. N. Kupreichik, Chief Project Engineer
A. V. Shcherbich, Leading Researcher, Candidate of Engineering Sciences

The article focuses on potential recuperation of thermal energy of air used in production of granulated mineral fertilizers. In the current technology, hot granules at a temperature of 90 ^оС are fed to a cooling drum to be cooled down to a temperature of 30 ^оС using outer air. The air heated by granules is cleaned and discharged through a smoke funnel; thus, its thermal energy is unutilized. The authors propose to feed the heated air into a drying drum instead of open air mixed with combustion products of natural gas, in this case, thermal energy of the heated air will be utilized (recuperation) and pollutant emissions will be lower owing to reduced generation of combustion products. Furthermore, release of exit gas from the cooling drum into the atmosphere will be eliminated, and, accordingly, total discharge of solids will be decreased. Aimed to determine technical feasibility of thermal energy recuperation and optimization of operating practice of NPK fertilizers production, a mathematical model was developed based on equations of heat and material balance for the drying and cooling drums. The modeling shows that recuperation of thermal energy during production of NPK fertilizers allows the economical effect by saving 16 % of natural gas utilization, enables reduction in atmospheric emission of pollutants and greenhouse gas after fuel combustion and eliminates emissions from the cooling drum.

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