The chemical industry requires reliable and highly specialized solutions to ensure efficient and safe production processes. It is in this context that Suez Methanol Derivatives (SMD), a company aiming to become one of the largest integrated methanol derivatives producers in the MENA region, chose PRO-DO-MIX® vertical agitators for its state-of-the-art plant.
The SMD plant is located in Damietta port in Egypt and is dedicated to the production of high-quality methanol derivatives, including Aqueous Formaldehyde, Urea Formaldehyde Concentrate-85 (UFC-85), Urea Formaldehyde Resin (UFR) and Sulfonated Naphthalene Formaldehyde (SNF). These products have applications in numerous sectors: from agriculture to adhesives, from the automotive industry to pharmaceuticals, and construction.
For the project award, we participated in an international tender, winning against the two main global competitors in the sector. The tender was managed by EPC ZAVKOM Engineering, once again confirming the competitiveness and excellence of our mixing solutions, as well as our ability to interface with both the EPC and the end customer efficiently.
Specifically, we designed and supplied 5 high-efficiency vertical agitators, all customized to meet the specific requirements of different tanks, with volumes ranging from 10 to 30 m³, intended for various processing phases and product types. The presence of an ATEX classified zone required particular attention to safety and explosion risk prevention. To ensure maximum reliability in such a demanding context, we equipped our agitators with heavy-duty components designed to withstand the harsh working conditions typical of the chemical industry and guarantee consistent and lasting performance even with intense loads and continuous work cycles.
In parallel, we faced the challenge of chemical aggression: methanol derivatives are corrosive to many standard materials. All agitators were therefore entirely made of ISO316 stainless steel, an alloy specifically selected for its excellent resistance to corrosion in aggressive chemical environments. Additionally, at the specific request of the client, we designed all components in contact with the fluid with increased thickness, thus ensuring a prolonged operational life even in the presence of chemically aggressive substances. Of course, increased thickness is just one of the possible solutions in case of chemical aggression: if you want to know more, we have written an in-depth article on the subject.
To ensure the best mixing performance, we also provided Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies, which allowed us to optimize the design of the agitators based on the specific characteristics of each product and process.
This project was possible thanks to the fruitful commercial and technical collaboration with our Egyptian distributor, which also allowed us to perfectly respect the project’s delivery times.
If you are looking for a customized solution for the chemical industry that guarantees efficiency, safety, and reliability even in chemically aggressive environments, you can count on PRO-DO-MIX®‘s experience and success stories.
