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Intelligent technological upgrades to the steam supply system in Anhua Group’s gas generation facilities help reduce costs and increase efficiency. Author/Source: Henan Petrochemical News Network. Date: 2020-04-16. Clicks: 97. Faced with severe economic pressures, Anhua Group has focused on achieving cost reduction and efficiency improvement by tapping into its internal potential and implementing a series of intelligent technological upgrades to foster new ways of cutting costs, thereby seeking new paths to cost reduction and efficiency enhancement. The company’s first circulating water system was originally designed to serve the two ammonia synthesis and ethylene glycol gas generation units. Due to the low steam decomposition rate in the gasification furnace, the undecomposed steam ends up entering the circulating water along with the gas, resulting in an increase in the volume of circulating water, high temperatures in this water, and significant amounts of overflow. This overflowed circulating water then flows into the final wastewater treatment system, thereby increasing the difficulties associated with downstream treatment. Especially in winter, the activity of the terminal microorganisms is low and the amount of overflow water in the circulating water is high, which often leads to fluctuations in the parameters at the terminal outlet. To change this situation, the company implemented a project for applying an intelligent control system for steam entering the furnace. The technicians installed a special gate valve behind the main unit steam valve, and used stainless steel hydraulic pipes to connect the valve station to both the gate valve and the main hydraulic pipeline ； An additional DCS control program was added to the control room, and the steam regulation system for individual boilers on site was integrated with the DCS system. By setting up the relevant programs, it became possible to remotely and precisely adjust the opening degree of the gate valves on site using a computer, thereby reducing the amount of steam supplied to the boilers and saving steam. At the same time, by optimizing the steam system of the gasification furnace, the amount of unreacted steam as well as the amount of steam that condenses in the circulating water system was reduced, thereby alleviating the pressure caused by high circulating water temperatures and large volumes of water returning to the system. This approach also addressed the issues arising from circulating water overflow affecting the operation of the terminal equipment. Currently, all the steam reduction units for Furnaces 21-36 at this company are in operation. After calculation, each furnace saves more than 4 tons of steam per day, and it saves around 0.97 tons of coal per furnace. Based on the current operating load, the monthly savings in steam consumption amount to approximately 230,000 yuan, while the savings in coal consumption are around 510,000 yuan; thus, the total monthly savings amount to 740,000 yuan.