Process for producing granules

A process for the production of granules from liquid urea, said process comprising the steps of:

• applying liquid urea onto solid urea particles recirculating in a granulation zone of a granulator, thereby depositing and solidifying liquid urea around said solid urea particles to increase the size of the particles and thereby form grown solid urea particles;
• discharging a stream of said grown solid urea particles from the granulation zone to a cooler;
• cooling said stream of said grown solid urea particles in said cooler to produce a cooled stream of said grown solid urea particles;
• dividing, in a size-sorting apparatus, said cooled stream of said grown solid urea particles into individual streams based on the size of the grown solid urea particles to thereby produce streams of undersized, oversized, and desired-sized grown solid urea particles;
• recycling said stream of said undersized grown solid urea particles to said granulation zone;
• transferring said stream of said oversized grown solid urea particles to a size-reducing apparatus;
• crushing said stream of said oversized grown solid urea particles in said size-reducing apparatus, thereby reducing the particle size of said oversized grown solid urea particles and thereby producing a stream of crushed solid urea particles;
• recycling said stream of crushed solid urea particles to said cooler;
• and
• withdrawing said stream of desired-sized grown solid urea particles.