Developments legal protection
The main source of new ideas underlying NIIK process and equipment developments is the research and development department founded in 1954 and being nowadays a major scientific center.
Over the years of research and development department’s operation its specialists created theoretical basis and engineering solutions that allowed to create and efficiently operate urea industry on the territory of the former USSR. Scientific ideas that emerged at those times guarantee efficient operation of urea units nowadays and allow the producers to be competitive on the global market.
Based on the scientific foundations laid by the research and development department NIIK develops new process and equipment solutions for urea plants aimed at capacity increase, energy costs reduction, ecological security and finished product quality improvement. These solutions are efficiently used for existing urea plants revamps and for new urea plants construction. All new engineering solutions are covered by the Russian Federation patents for inventions or working models (nowadays over 30 patents are valid). In addition to that the majority of these inventions are patented in the countries where NIIK sells or is willing to sell its developments. These are first of all former USSR countries – the Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Lithuania, Estonia. NIIK patents cover as well EU countries, Middle East countries (Egypt, UAE) and South-East Asia (India, Vietnam, Malaysia).
NIIK pays great attention to the urea synthesis reactor internals design (vortex mixers, conversion booster and trays) ensuring the increase of reacting substances contact intensity and of their conversion rate into urea (patents 2241531, 2256495, 2261141, 2365797, 2441698, 2442643, 2447932). Revamp concepts for all known urea processes have been developed applying up-to-date high efficiency equipment and devices. These requirements are satisfied by URECON®2007 process (for revamps of AK-80 urea units with CO2 stripping; patents 2233693, 2282121, 2309947, 2402734, 2434850, 2440977, 2442772) and URECON®2006 process (for revamps of AK-70 urea units with total liquid recycle; patents 2280026, 2429228). New processes apply new types of equipment and devices with optimized flow dynamics and high efficiency of heat and mass exchange such as stripper distiller, waste heat exchanger, I and II stage distillers. In recent years NIIK specialists have developed next-generation urea process intended for construction of new and for revamps of existing units (patents 2454403, 2499791; new inventions are being patented). Prilling towers based on NIIK designs fitted with air purification devices and internal or external fluidized bed cooler (patents 2396252, 2491262, 2505351) and speed drum granulator (patent 2328338) are able to provide any finished product quality. Based on speed drum granulator NIIK develops urea based complex fertilizers and urea with additives and microelements manufacturing process (patents 2436754, 2484072).
Based on the experience gained during units operation NIIK specialists have developed repair technologies of main urea unit process equipment including high pressure equipment (patents 2421274, 2436009).
In addition to finding solutions to urea plants problems NIIK continues to develop an improved urea based high pressure melamine production process (patents 2417992, 2495875, 2495876, 2503623; new inventions are being patented).