| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Some basic facts about Purified Phosphoric Acid. From Innophos
Market studies over the past several years clearly indicated increasing demand for high quality Purified Phosphoric Acid and phosphate salts obtained therefrom. To meet that demand, and to maintain its position as a premier supplier of food and technical grade phosphorus products, Innophos has committed substantial resources to its new PPA facility in Geismar, Louisiana. The site was chosen for its proximity to a long term source of "green" phosphoric acid. Although modified somewhat for U.S. production, the Geismar plant has been modeled on the Innophos facility in Les Roches de Condrieu, France. It will produce approximately 70,000 tons of PPA per year, the bulk of which will be shipped to Innophos Chicago Heights facility as 75% phosphoric acid (H3PO4). This acid will be suitable for sale to the merchant market, or for use in processing downstream technical and food-grade products-calcium, sodium and ammonium phosphates, and other salts. Maintaining The Quality Standard From the very beginning of the PPA project, it has been our goal to maintain the highest quality standards. We have taken special care to ensure that products produced with this technology will have the same chemical and functional properties as their thermal counterparts. To that end, we have conducted both laboratory and in-process testing to measure the products of PPA technology against those produced by the thermal process. Acid from the Les Roches de Condrieu facility was used for the tests. First, the French-produced PPA was subjected to laboratory analysis. As shown in Figure 1, it was determined to be comparable to thermal acid. The PPA was then shipped to the Innophos Chicago Heights facility for evaluation and use as a raw material in the production of phosphate salts. Figure 1.
It was determined that sufficient quantities of acid needed to be processed to ensure that there would be no change in impurities or other processing anomalies as compared to thermal acid. Appropriate sampling was conducted at various points in the process. By-products and recycle streams were also checked at critical points where such impurity build-ups or anomalies are most likely to appear. The results showed essentially flat curves: no build-up at any point in the process. Production process quantities of Dicalcium Phosphate, Tricalcium Phosphate and Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate were produced in the Chicago Heights test. The chemical characteristics of these downstream compounds were then tested against Innophos current products. The results, as shown in Figures 2, 3 and 4, demonstrate the equivalence of the compounds produced by PPA and thermal acid. Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Figure 4.
The Proof Is In Application Certainly, physical and functional properties are of primary concern to the user of any phosphoric compound. Special care was taken to measure the characteristics of the PPA compounds against their thermal counterparts.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The
Geismar Plant
