BURST RESISTANT RIBBON WOUND PRESSURE-VESSELS FOR AMMONIA PLANTS

This paper presents the design of ribbon wound pressure vessels useful for ammonia, Urea and Methanol plants. The design is to create a thin shell of 1/5 the total wall thickness required, weld it to the end pi eces, and wind 4 to 8 mm thick ribbons of 80 mm width at an angle of 2 5 to 30 degrees on the inner shell, using a prestress. The ribbons are welded at the ends and an even number of layers are wound cross-helic ally on to the shell. With more than 7000 vessels over the pressure ra nge of 50 to 350 atmospheres in use in the various chemical industries in China over the past 30 years, their safety record has been excelle nt. Of particular interest has been the application of this technology in the Ammonia and Urea plants, where the design allows fabrication o f these vessels at substantial reduction in cost, and early delivery, when compared to the mono wall technology.