The renovation project to remove bottlenecks and improve energy efficiency in Fushun Petrochemical Company’s 800,000 tons per year ethylene production facility – specifically the renovation of 12 cooling towers in the plant’s first circulating water system – has been successfully completed

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Recently, the renovation project to remove bottlenecks and improve energy efficiency in Fushun Petrochemical Company’s 800,000 tons per year ethylene plant was completed successfully – specifically, the renovation of 12 cooling towers in the plant’s first circulating water system – 5 days ahead of the scheduled timeline. The project was overall contracted by the Shenyang branch of Kunlun Engineering Company. This renovation not only establishes a \"cooling barrier\" to ensure the smooth commencement of operations at the ethylene plant, but it also marks a crucial step forward in bringing the entire ethylene renovation project online. 1. Confronting the challenges: The cooling tower is the \"core element\" of the circulating cooling system in ethylene plants; the quality of its renovation is directly related to whether the plant’s capacity expansion goals can be achieved, and it represents a key preliminary step in the entire project. During the construction period, the project team faced challenges such as tight maintenance windows at the recirculating water plant, frequent disruptions caused by concurrent operations from multiple parties, and ongoing high temperatures that affected construction efficiency. With \"high-standard performance and ensuring production commencement\" as its core goal, the project team proactively participated in the formulation of the owner’s workshop maintenance plan from the outset, offering multiple rounds of optimization suggestions ； During the construction process, even if it means shortening the time required for the own modifications, priority is given to coordinating with the construction and supply companies to adjust their schedules, so as to overcome complex challenges through efficient collaboration and ensure that the modifications proceed as planned. II. Precise Efficiency Improvement: The project adheres to the principles of \"efficient reuse and precise upgrading.\" While retaining the existing reinforced concrete structure and key facilities such as the pipes in the tower, it comprehensively updates and optimizes critical components such as the filler material inside the tower and the spraying system, thereby achieving both cost reduction and improved efficiency. Professional testing results show that after the renovation, the water treatment capacity of each cooling tower has increased to no less than 4900 m³/h, a 32.4% rise compared to before the renovation. This addresses the issue of insufficient cooling capacity completely, meeting the cooling requirements resulting from the expansion of the ethylene plant at Fushun Petrochemical. It thus removes a key obstacle to the plant’s operation at full capacity. III. Rigorous Control: To overcome the challenges associated with construction, the project team established a comprehensive system of rigorous control to ensure project quality and schedule through scientific management. The completion of this renovation ahead of schedule not only helped to overcome the cooling constraints associated with the expansion of Fushun Petrochemical’s ethylene production facility, but it also demonstrated the company’s extensive experience in upgrading old industrial facilities and working collaboratively to address complex challenges. This provides a modelable and replicable approach for similar projects in the future.