Feed to the fertilizer plants is hydrocarbon either naphtha gas or natural gas. Hydrocarbons are used to produce ammonia (combination of Nitrogen and Hydrogen), other applications cover nitric acid, sulphuric acid, phosphoric acids to produce Urea, di-ammonium phosphate and nitro phosphate, calcium carbonate and calcium nitrate.
In fertilizer plants all types of valves like plug valves, ball valves, gate, globe valves and check valves are predominantly used. The materials used cover duplex stainless steel , SS304L for nitric acid, Alloy 20 valves for sulphuric acids and certain exotic alloys like Hastelloy for very corrosive applications.
The size range of valves vary from ½” to a max or 12” size. Again the feed is transported to the plants either through pipelines or storage facility where there are valves which are of higher size ranging up to 16” or 20” in size, the pressure rating max up to 300#.
The slurry and gas applications use ball valves and metal seated ball valves for higher temperature applications. Also there are many globe valves used in steam applications. Process valves cover either ball valves or non-lubricated plug valves. Butterfly valves are more used in the utility lines like cooling water and water feed lines.