Process for purifying the effluent from urea production plants

Claim 1

A process for the purification of the effluent originating from urea production plants and containing ammonia, carbon dioxide and urea as pollutants, said purification being conducted by hydrolysis and stripping to obtain treated effluent containing from 10 to 0.4 ppm of ammonia and urea, wherein said purification is conducted in three successive stages, comprising: a first stage in which said effluent to be treated is stripped with steam to release volatile pollutants, which are then recycled to the urea production plant in a liquid or vapor phase; a second stage in which the effluent obtained from the preceding stage is hydrolyzed to decompose non-volatile components urea and biuret, said decomposition being conducted at pressure of 20-40 bars gauge, at a temperature of 200°-240° C. and with a residence time of 20-40 minutes, in a horizontal cylindrical reactor the interior of which comprises a succession of vertical baffles which separate the reactor into a plurality of hydrolysis zones defining a tortuous path with a piston flow of said effluent, and from each of which the vapor phase produced is separated, said baffles consisting alternately of circular plates cut horizontally both at their top and at their bottom, so that their total height is 70-90% of the internal diameter of the reactor, said vapor phase being combined with the vapor phase obtained from the stripping stage to be then recycled to the urea production plant; a third stage in which the effluent which has undergone hydrolysis is further stripped with steam, the stripping stages being conducted at a pressure of 1.5-4 bars gauge and at a temperature of 128°-150° C.