Owens Corning

    Ammonia storage tank at fertilizer plant

    Over 1.000 m³ of FOAMGLAS® insulation was delivered to protect ammonia storage tank and processing installations at fertilizer plant in North Africa.

    The largest fertilizer company in Algeria that is involved in the production, trading and the development of ammonia-based fertilizers and its derivatives called upon the expertise of FOAMGLAS® insulation for the replacement of the insulation system on their ammonia tanks and piping.

    The ammonia storage tank at the fertilizer plant was originally insulated with a sprayed polyurethane system with metal cladding as mechanical protection.

    Problems starting to occur quickly after the installation of this system. They discovered that they were suffering from some boil off issues as the boil off rate didn’t match with the calculation values. Closer inspection showed that the main cause of the boil off problem was that moisture had concentrated into the polyurethane insulation system which was negatively affecting the thermal performance which directly led to increased energy costs.

    Ammonia storage tank at fertilizer plant in Algeria

    After some technical meetings, technical assistance and specification reformulations, it was decided to replace all the failing PUR insulation with a FOAMGLAS® ONE ™ cellular glass insulation system.

    Liquid ammonia is stored at -33°C, outside temperatures in the North of Africa can easily climb up to 40 °C and more creating an environment with a relentless vapor drive towards the tank wall that is highly subjective for the formation of condensation if the correct insulation material is not used.

    FOAMGLAS® insulation was the ideal insulation material for the job because it consists out of 100% closed glass cells which makes it impermeable to any kind of moisture and vapor. It’s also completely incombustible and doesn’t produce any kind of smoke or toxic fumes in case of a fire.

    Exterior of ammonia storage plant at fertilizer plant in Algeria

    For the insulation of the tank they chose a double layer FOAMGLAS® ONE™ insulation system that was fully bonded with our PC® 88 adhesive with the external layer sealed with PITTSEAL® 444N. The outer surface was finished with a PITTCOTE® 404 vapor barrier that was reinforced with an open mesh PC® 150 glass fabric with metal cladding.

    The surrounded piping was insulated with a dry applied, single layer FOAMGLAS® ONE™ insulation system with an anti-abrasive coating on the inside, the joints were sealed with PITTSEAL® 444N. The outer surface was finished with the same vapor barrier, mesh and cladding system as the tanks.

    Over 1.000 m³ of FOAMGLAS® ONE™ insulation, 2.000 drums of PC® 88, 1.300 drums of PITTCOTE® 404, 8.000 cartridges of PITTSEAL® 444N and just close to 150 rolls of PC® 150 glass fabric were delivered for the insulation of the ammonia tank and its surrounding pipework.

    Piping surrounding an ammonia tank
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