Efficient and Environmentally Friendly
At Bondalti, Nitric Acid is an essential element for the production of Aniline. However, that factory had been built in 1974 and its capacity was insufficient to meet Bondalti's new commitments. Given this, in 2009, when the Estarreja Chemical Complex (ECC) production capacity was expanded, Bondalti decided to invest in a new production unit.
A pioneering unit with regard to the treatment of gaseous emissions and equipped with an emerging technology, the EnviNOx®, which ensures high energy efficiency and a clean tail gas - unlike in the old factory. Both in terms of nitrogen oxides, the well-known NOx gives rise to a yellow/brown hue, and in terms of nitrous oxide, N₂O – a gas which causes 310 times more greenhouse gas effect than CO2. Thanks to this environmentally friendly innovation, Bondalti obtained an agreement with the Portuguese Carbon Fund, which contributed to the implementation of this new technology.
Bondalti’s new Nitric Acid factory did not only have this huge environmental advantage. Having a highly energy-efficient process enables energy to be exported in the form of steam and directly reduces CO2, emissions resulting from the burning of Natural Gas.
The central component of this tail gas treatment unit is a reactor arranged between the heater and the turbine of this gas, which contains two catalyst beds filled with iron zeolite catalysts, operating at the same pressure and temperature, and a device for the intermediate addition of ammonia or NH3. EnviNOx® technology has recently been declared as BAT (Best Available Technique) by the European Union authorities for licensing purposes within the European area.
The actual manufacturer of the technology, the company ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions, views the Bondalti Nitric Acid plant in Estarreja as a success story and a case study, thanks to the results obtained.
