Learning from history to take action — Breakthroughs in the core technologies of the “100,000-level air separation unit”
Thread Content
Putting history into practice – Breakthrough in core technologies for “100,000-ton air separation” project. Project overview: The 4 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction demonstration project carried out by Shenning Group is the second **coal deep-processing demonstration project following the success of Shenhua Group’s direct coal liquefaction project in Ordos. It is also the largest coal-to-oil project in terms of the scale of its single processing unit worldwide. The project is located in Area A of the Coal Chemical Industry Park within the Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base in Ningxia. The total land area covers 815.23 hectares, of which the main production area occupies 334.4 hectares. The project uses coal as its raw material, converting 20.36 million tons of coal per year; of this amount, 16.45 million tons are used as raw material coal and 3.91 million tons as fuel coal. It consumes 24.78 million cubic meters of water per year, and produces 4.052 million tons of synthetic oil products annually, including 2.733 million tons of blended diesel, 983,000 tons of naphtha, and 336,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas ； By-product sulfur: 128,000 tons; mixed alcohols: 75,000 tons; sulfuric acid AN: 107,000 tons. The total investment in the project is estimated at 55 billion yuan, with completion and operation scheduled for 2016. Once operational, it is expected to generate annual sales revenue of 26.6 billion yuan and an annual total profit and tax amount of 15.3 billion yuan. Gasification employs the GSP dry coal powder pressurized gasification technology, while the oil product synthesis unit uses the UST slurry-bed Fischer-Tropsch synthesis technology developed by Zhongke Synthetic Oil. Source: Xinhua Net. Xinhua News Agency, Shenyang, April 28, 2018 (Reporter: Shi Qingwei). “China’s first set of independently developed ‘100,000 cubic meter-class air separation unit’ air compressors has been in stable operation at Shenhua Ningmei Group for one year; on the 26th, it passed an expert evaluation conducted by organizations such as the China Machinery Industry Federation.” ”Wang Chuanghua, the chief designer of China’s first \"100,000 cubic meter air separation\" project and deputy chief engineer at Shenyang Blower Group, said in an interview with reporters on the 28th. Large air separation compressors are the core equipment that provides power for industries such as coal chemical engineering, petrochemicals, and metallurgy. Huang Li, President of the China General Machinery Industry Association, believes that the successful development of the first domestically produced “100,000 Nm³/h air separation unit” represents another historic breakthrough in the localization of major equipment in China. On April 23, 2017, China’s first domestically developed \"100,000 cubic meter air separation unit,\" designed by SHENGU Group, succeeded in its first trial run as part of the Shenhua Ningxia Coal Industry Group’s 4 million tons per year coal-to-oil project. “Large air separation compressors of the 100,000 cubic meter class are required to be able to compress and separate 100,000 cubic meters of oxygen from 500,000 cubic meters of air per hour; this process is highly complex and its manufacturing is challenging, which has led to it being monopolized by a few companies abroad. ”Wang Chuanghua said. As a leading enterprise in the development of large-scale air compressors in China, Shengli Gas Turbine Group has been working independently on the development of \"100,000-ton air separation units\" in recent years, and has also invested in establishing a dedicated production and testing facility in Yingkou City, Liaoning Province. To meet the requirements of high flow rate, high pressure ratio, and high efficiency for the \"100,000-ton air separation\" unit, the R&D team led by Wang Chuanghua developed a co-axial \"axial flow + centrifugal\" structure for air compressors. The booster compressors adopted an innovative multi-axis, multi-stage gear assembly design, which solved problems such as large impeller diameters and low efficiency. Additionally, this design enabled one-button startup and stable operation with no display screen. Shenyang Pump Group is a strategically important leading enterprise in China’s major technical equipment industry. In recent years, it has developed a range of high-end equipment at the international advanced level for key projects such as ten-million-ton oil refineries and one-million-ton ethylene plants. In January this year, SHENGU Group also signed orders with Ningxia Baofeng Group for two air separation compressors of 105,000 cubic meters capacity each. Industry insiders and experts say that Shengli Heavy Industry’s 100,000-cubic-meter air separation unit fills a gap in China’s market, breaking foreign technological monopolies. It enables the company to become one of the few in the world to possess the core technology for large-scale air compressors of this capacity, marking a successful achievement by Chinese companies in developing such compressors independently. This development plays an important role in ensuring the security of China’s energy industry.
Mighty instruments of a great nation! Breaking foreign technological monopolies: How impressive is Shengli’s \"100,000 cubic meter air separation\" unit? 2018-04-28 12:23 Source: Sohu.com On April 26th, in Beijing, it is the time of year when everything goes well. The product appraisal meeting for China’s first set of air compression units designed for 100,000 cubic meter-class air separation plants (hereinafter referred to as “100,000 cubic meter air separation units”), organized by the China National Machinery Industry Federation and the China General Machinery Industry Association, was held as scheduled. Eleven renowned domestic and international experts in fields such as fluid machinery and steam turbines evaluated the product “100,000 Nm³/h air separation unit”, jointly developed by Shenyang Blower Group Co., Ltd. and Hangzhou Steam Turbine Co., Ltd. The experts’ assessment is that this unit fills a gap in China’s market, breaks foreign technological monopolies; its overall performance is at the international advanced level, with some of its performance indicators reaching the international leading level. Huang Li, president of the China General Machinery Industry Association, said that the successful development of the 100,000 cubic meter air separation unit represents another historic breakthrough in the localization of major equipment in China! It provides a powerful Chinese “core” for China’s energy industry! Ten years of hard work to master core technologies. What is a “100,000-air-separation” unit? An air separation compressor is a system used to separate oxygen and nitrogen from air. A \"100,000 cubic meter per hour\" air separation unit refers to a device capable of producing 100,000 standard cubic meters of oxygen per hour; industry experts consider it the \"heart\" of such air separation systems, akin to the \"chip\" in the energy sector. “The 100,000 cubic meter air separation unit is not only technically complex but also extremely challenging, and is regarded as the \"Mount Everest\" of industry technology. Before Shenyang Pump Group, only two German companies possessed this technology. “100,000 Nm³/h air separation units are widely used in the large-scale petrochemical, oil refining, and coal chemical industries, where there is strong market demand. Before Shengyu Group produced this product, German products had a complete monopoly on the Chinese market. At the beginning of this century, Shenyang Blower Group introduced the air separation compressor unit technology from Japan. But it was also from that time onward that Shenyang Blower Group embarked on the path of indigenous research and development. Soon, it made significant strides, progressing from “10,000 Nm³/h air separation units” to “40,000 Nm³/h” and “50,000 Nm³/h” units. This effort also gave rise to the “Five Golden Flowers,” a group of model workers who became well-known throughout the country. In 2009, recognizing the strong demand for large air separation compressors in the future market, SHENGU Group began to strive toward the industry’s \"Mount Everest\" – 100,000 cubic meters per hour of air separation capacity – through independent research and development. Over the past decade, despite countless setbacks, Shenyang Blower Group has remained committed to independent research and development. Believing that only through its own efforts can it acquire core technologies, the company established 17 task forces. Through in-depth research and development, as well as persistent hard work, it continues to move closer to its goals. Furthermore, they were willing to invest large sums of money in project development: 13 million yuan was spent merely on creating prototypes, 700 million yuan was invested in establishing a **large-scale energy equipment testing center, and 200 million yuan was allocated to setting up a steam supply system... The experimental process alone lasted 8 months, during which numerous parameter tests were carried out, with continuous adjustments and updates; the energy consumption for these experiments amounted to 20 million yuan. “The 100,000 cubic meter air separation unit was achieved through hard work, said Dai Jishuang, chairman of SHENGU Group, with deep feeling. Dedicated to innovation to achieve historic breakthroughs – core technologies cannot be bought; they can only be developed through one’s own efforts. By adhering to technological innovation, SHENGU Group has become a key enterprise in the country that possesses core technologies; it is also the third company in the world to master the core technology for \"100,000 cubic meter air separation\" units. Wang Chuanghua, deputy chief engineer of SHENGU Group and the main person in charge of the \"100,000 cubic meter air separation\" project, believes that the transition from \"40,000 cubic meter air separation\" to \"100,000 cubic meter air separation\" involves not only an increase in scale but also a qualitative change in technology – it has become more complex and advanced. Since the oxygen content in the air is 20%, to achieve a capacity of 100,000 standard cubic meters of oxygen produced per hour by a \"100,000 air separation\" unit, a gas flow rate of 500,000 cubic meters per hour is required. This necessitates larger machines – for instance, the diameter of the centrifugal impeller must be 2.2 meters, and the overall diameter of the machine must reach 7.8 meters. Axial-flow compressors with extremely high flow rates would be needed, but this is technically very difficult to achieve, representing a world-class challenge. Shenmu Group has made several creative technological breakthroughs, achieving a historic advancement in domestic production – it has successfully overcome a range of structural and performance challenges, including the design of high-efficiency impellers with large hub ratios, rotor dynamics analysis, comprehensive design of complete unit systems, as well as the design of axial-flow + centrifugal co-axial air separation compression units and multi-axis, multi-stage gear-driven boosters ； A basic stage of a three-dimensional flow impeller with a large hub ratio, specifically designed for air compressors, and basic stages of semi-open and closed three-dimensional flow impellers with a small hub ratio, specifically designed for modular boosters have been developed ； An advanced intelligent control system for compressors was developed, achieving for the first time in China the coaxial performance matching of axial-flow and centrifugal compressors. It is precisely these technological advancements that enable the 8-meter-long, 29-ton rotor to exhibit a deformation of no more than 10 microns under static loads after assembly ； By implementing intelligent, automatically adaptive environmental technologies, it is possible to adapt to changes in the atmospheric conditions throughout the four seasons, as well as in the early morning and evening hours, within a temperature range of -40°C to 30°C... A market worth hundreds of billions of yuan – strong Chinese semiconductor industry. On April 27th, Dai Jishuang received a report on the market demand for equipment for \"100,000 cubic meter per day\" air separation units. The report indicates that in the future, China will have a demand for nearly 100 “100,000-air-separation units”, representing a market value of nearly 10 billion yuan. “Before mastering the core technologies, the tens-of-billion-yuan market was nothing but a dream for us. Now that we have the core technology, this dream can be turned into orders. ”Dai Jishuang said to the reporters with full confidence. It fills a domestic gap and breaks foreign technological monopolies. The overall performance of the unit has reached international advanced levels, with some performance indicators attaining world-leading standards. For enterprises, mastering core technologies means they become eligible to receive orders. On the other hand, mastering core technologies is a **line of defense for economic security**. With enterprises like Shenyang Blower Group, which masters core technologies, Made in China can boast a powerful Chinese “core”. China will then not be at the mercy of others and won’t end up being exploited! “This 100,000-unit air separation unit passed the expert appraisal meeting, as pointed out by Sui Yongbin, former chief engineer of the Machinery Industry Association, during his speech. In fact, the impact of SHENGU Group’s \"100,000 cubic meter air separation\" units has already become evident: a German company offered a set of such units to a Chinese company at a price of 180 million yuan, before SHENGU Group made breakthroughs in their product manufacturing ； When another company issued a tender, since SHENGU Group participated in the bidding, this German company reduced its bid price to 120 million yuan ； After confirming that SHENGU’s products were at an internationally advanced level, SHENGU Group, together with this German company, participated in the bidding process for China’s third such enterprise; this time, the German company reduced its bid to 80 million yuan.
Thank you for sharing; Shenmu is the pride of domestic manufacturing
There are already 105,000 air separations.
Yes, it’s a major national asset! We must all work together to solve these critical problems!
This German company is either Manturbo or Siemens
Since we’re talking about air separation, as someone in this industry, I’d like to share a few thoughts: Thanks to the success of its project with Ningxia Coal, Hangyang now dominates the domestic market for large-scale air separation units (those with a capacity of over 80,000 units). Companies such as AP, Air Liquide, and Linde all find themselves in the awkward situation of being unable to secure new projects； Firstly, when these three foreign companies enter into their first business contracts with domestic firms, they tend to act in a somewhat dominant manner. Domestic companies are not familiar with the way business contracts are structured in foreign companies; after a few years of cooperation, they realize this and want to renegotiate the terms of the partnership. However, the foreign companies generally refuse to do so ； Second, the products of foreign air separation companies are priced relatively high; to maintain their own revenue rates, these prices simply cannot be lowered ； Thirdly, the rise of domestic air separation companies has seized most of the market once held by foreign companies in this field ； For example, the Linfen AP factory could have monopolized the pipeline gas supply in Houma City. But, well, due to the excessive prudence of foreign companies (who were not optimistic about the Chinese steel market), it lost the opportunity to seize control of the pipeline gas market. Hangyang took advantage of this situation and quickly moved in to capture that market ； Xinxiang Xinlianxin Fertilizer used air separation equipment supplied by AP in the first phase; it refused to cooperate with AP in the second and third phases, instead building its own 80,000-capacity air separation unit provided by Hangyang Oxygen and operating it itself ； With a sigh, the glory days of foreign-owned air separation companies are over; their profits have been squeezed, and the impact of the pandemic has added to this situation. In recent years, many people have changed jobs (although job changes are common in the air separation industry). It’s clear that with the rise of domestic companies, there are more opportunities available, and professionals are no longer confined to working for foreign-owned air separation companies ； The mobility of personnel also indirectly reflects the rise of China’s air separation industry. Of course, we must thank these domestic researchers and builders for their efforts in enhancing the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises; this, in turn, gives us more choices
Absolutely! Those foreign companies aren’t very trustworthy; you must be cautious when cooperating with them. Make sure to agree on mechanisms such as price adjustments to avoid any bottlenecks!
Congratulations to Hangyang and Shengli! If no breakthrough is achieved, the 100,000 cubic meter air separation market will be monopolized by foreign companies.
Shenyu and Hangyang don’t have major problems at the moment; breakthroughs have been achieved in the technology related to large-scale industrial equipment. The next step is to carry out optimizations and improvements: lol