Stamicarbon BV (Sittard, the Netherlands) announced the successful startup of Brunei Fertilizer Industries (BFI)’s new urea melt plant in Brunei. With a nameplate capacity of 3900 metric tons per day (m.t./d), the plant is the largest to be licensed by Stamicarbon to date.
The first granules came off the production line on Sunday, January 16th, with Stamicarbon Process Engineers, Martijn Corvers and Stefano Cicchinelli, onsite to support.
Mr. Corvers said the start-up went very smoothly. “This plant concept is a proven design that we refer to as ‘the standard.’ If we add the experience of the contractor and the number of BFI operators with experience in this type of plant, this start-up was expected to go very smoothly, and it did,” he said.
Located within the Sungai Liang Industrial Park (SPARK) in the Belait District of Brunei, the plant utilizes Stamicarbon’s LAUNCH MELT Pool Condenser Design, with the complete synthesis section in Safurex stainless steel.
Brunei is a major producer and exporter of natural gas. The new plant project supports the Brunei government’s long-term development strategy to diversify the country’s economy with the development of downstream activities in the petrochemical industry.
Although there are urea plants with Stamicarbon technology currently in operation at higher capacities, the BFI plant has the highest nameplate capacity for a urea melt plant ever licensed by Stamicarbon.