Abstract:
An experimental investigation was undertaken to study the thermal hydrolysis of urea.
Aqueous solutions of urea (1-5% w/w) were made to hydrolyze in an electrically heated
hydrolyzer setup under pressure (1-5 kg/em'g) with conversion of 1.18-44% of the urea to
ammonia and earbon dioxide. Design, construction and operation of the hydrolyzer setup
constituted the major part of this study. The initial volume of urea solutions fed to the
hydrolyzer was 900 ml. The product from the hydrolyzer consisted of a liquid mixture of
ammonia, carbon dioxide, water and unconverted urea. Temperature and pressure of the
operations were recorded. pH of the feed and product were measured. The urea content of
the feed and product were spectrophotometrically determined.
From the conversion vs. pressure plots it was observed that conversion of urea to
ammonia increased with increasing pressure. Conversion was the lowest for atmospheric
hydrolysis. From the measurement of pll, it was observed that pH of the hydrolyzed
solutions was more than the pH of the original urea solution.
