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Source: China Chemical Industry News. At the 2018 China Nitrogen Fertilizer and Methanol Technology Conference held from July 6 to 8, the coal-water slurry water-cooled wall waste boiler gasifier (Jinhua Furnace), developed jointly by Tsinghua University’s Shanxi Research Institute, Yangmei Fengxi, Beijing Qingchuang Jinhua, and Yangmei Chemical Machinery, was awarded the Special Prize for Technical Progress in China’s nitrogen fertilizer and methanol industries for 2017. This is a clear affirmation by the nitrogen fertilizer and methanol industries of China’s own key core technologies for coal gasification. In what areas has Jinhua Furnace made beneficial attempts? What is the current status of its promotion and application in China? The grand prize is just the beginning. Zhuge Liang will hold meetings on a weekly basis. At the 2018 China Nitrogen Fertilizer and Methanol Technology Conference, Li Yongwu, former president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, presented the grand prize certificate to Li Guangmin, Party secretary and executive director of Yangmei Fengxi as well as chairman of Yangmei Huajī. Accompanied by Gu Zongqin, president of the China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association, they visited the Linyi facility of Yangmei Fengxi to inspect the Jinhua furnace. In the control room and at the production site, Zhang Jiansheng, executive deputy dean of Tsinghua University’s Shanxi Research Institute and vice president of Taiyuan University of Technology, provided Li Yongwu and his team with a detailed overview of the research and development process as well as the operational status of the Jinhua Furnace versions 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. After listening to the reports and conducting on-site inspections, Li Yongwu said that the \"industry-academia-research-application\" alliance for Jinhua furnaces, through 17 years of dedicated research and development, has enabled the successful application of these furnaces in practical projects, making significant contributions to the development of coal gasification technology in China. The Jinhua Furnace 3.0 won the Special Prize; this is no easy feat. It is hoped that Yangquan Coal & Chemical Fengxi will regard this as a starting point and make new contributions in the new era. “The grand prize is just the beginning. ”On July 14, at the regular meeting regarding the Jinhua Furnace and some non-standard equipment of Yangquan Coal Industry & Chemical Machinery, Li Guangmin stated that it is essential to make the Jinhua Furnace a high-quality product that meets customers’ expectations. Today, the Jinhua furnace has become a symbol of innovation for Yangmei Chemical Machinery, Yangmei Chemical Industry, and Yangmei Group; they are committed to refining it further so that it can become a representative symbol of Shanxi and China. It is understood that since December 14, 2017, regular meetings have been held every Saturday on the Jinhua furnace and certain custom-made equipment; to date, 27 such meetings have taken place, with participants including the chairman, general manager, deputy marketing director, chief engineer, deputy production director, quality director, as well as representatives from the technology center, marketing company, gasifier plant, installation company, supply company, safety management department, quality supervision department, Tsinghua University, and end-users. The main points of the meeting on July 14 were, first, to provide an update on recent design optimizations and relevant precautions ； Second, preventive measures for quality issues in components such as the shell, water wall, and waste boiler ； Third are the progress and quality assurance measures for the gas generation furnace section (including water wall and waste boiler) ； Fourth, the progress and existing problems at the installation site ； Fifth, various departments report on the equipment manufacturing plan, technical challenges, process discipline, quality control, material supply, manufacturing process, and safeguard measures. “We aim to hold weekly “Zhuge Liang meetings” to conduct brainstorming sessions, thereby harnessing everyone’s wisdom and continuously improving both the product quality and energy efficiency of Jinhua Furnaces. ”Li Guangmin said so. According to Li Weimin, chief engineer of Yangquan Coal Industry & Chemical Machinery, since the beginning of this year, the company has also won numerous awards. For example, at the recently concluded YANGMEI Group Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference, the achievements related to the development of water-cooled wall gasifiers using water-coal slurry by YANGMEI Chemical Machinery were awarded the first prize in the 2017 YANGMEI Group Science and Technology Progress Award (for project achievements) ； Papers such as “Building the Most Competitive Chemical Machinery Enterprise in the World” won the second prize in the Science and Technology Progress Award (Theoretical Achievements) ； A patented technology for a corrosion- and wear-resistant vapor generator in gasification furnaces won the first prize in the category of occupational invention awards ； A patent technology related to a tooling device for preheating before straight-seam welding and hydrogen removal after welding of the gasifier cylinder won the Second Prize of the Invention Patent Award for Official Duties ； 7 projects, including wall temperature measurement components for high-temperature and high-pressure equipment, won the third prize in the category of utility model invention awards ； 56 items, including an internal support device for the crawler-type local heat treatment of circumferential seams in gasifier equipment, have won the Encouragement Award for Invention Patents in the workplace ； Hao Xiaodong and Fu Jianli were recognized as Advanced Individuals in Science and Technology Work at Yangmei Group for 2017 ； Xian Yunchang has been appointed as the first expert in the Coal Chemicals Professional Committee of Yangquan Coal Group. “These achievements and outstanding scientists and engineers have laid a solid technical foundation for the continuous innovation of Jinhua furnaces over generations. ”Li Weimin said proudly. Its industrial applications have been frequent, earning it numerous honors. In April 2016, the third-generation Jinhua furnace was successfully commissioned for the first time; this solved the problem of high energy consumption in gasification of coal with high ash melting points, enabled better recovery of the heat from the high-temperature syngas produced by the gasification unit, and generated high-pressure steam as a by-product, thereby improving energy conversion efficiency to an internationally leading level. Over the past year, the Jinhua Furnace 3.0 has won numerous honors. On July 7, 2017, the Jinhua furnace was awarded by the China Nitrogen Fertilizer Industry Association a certificate recognizing its contributions to the promotion of advanced and effective energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies in the nitrogen fertilizer and methanol industry during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. In November 2017, the Jinhua Furnace won the Gold Award for Invention and Entrepreneurship at the National Invention Exhibition. On November 14, 2017, Jinhua Furnace 3.0 successfully passed the continuous and stable operation assessment organized by the Petrochemical Federation, enabling comprehensive use in the fields of chemicals, power generation, gas, and heating ； On December 25, 2017, Jinhua Furnace 3.0 passed the evaluation of scientific and technological achievements by the Petrochemical Industry Federation, with the evaluation result indicating it to be at an internationally leading level ； On January 1, 2018, Jinhua Furnace 3.0 was selected as one of the top 10 news stories in China’s petroleum and chemical industry for 2017 ； On January 10, 2018, the Jinhua Furnace 3.0 was named one of China’s top 10 \"key industrial devices\" in the petroleum and chemical sector for 2017” ； On January 16, 2018, Gu Xiulian, the vice chairperson of the 10th Ren Association, presented awards for the Jinhua Furnace 3.0 being named one of the top 10 news stories in China’s petroleum and chemical industry in 2017, as well as for Li Guangmin, the chairman of Yangmei Chemical Machinery Group, being recognized as an influential figure in China’s petrochemical industry ； On March 16, 2018, the YANGMEI CHEMICAL MACHINERY project titled \"Development and Manufacturing of Water-Cooled Wall Gasifiers for Water-Coal Slurry\" passed the acceptance inspection organized by the Office for Major Projects of the Shanxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology. Since the beginning of this year, the industrial application of Jinhua Furnace 3.0 has been frequent. On February 1, the signing ceremony for the project to comprehensively utilize coke oven gas at Shanxi Jinyan Industrial Group to produce 1 million tons of ethylene glycol annually along with 550 million Nm3 of LNG was held in Taiyuan. This project is the first in China’s comprehensive utilization of coke oven gas projects to adopt the technology of Jinhua furnace gasification combined with medium-high pressure carbonylation to produce ethylene glycol on an industrial scale. It represents the largest capacity facility in China for producing ethylene glycol from coke oven gas, and it serves as a significant model and catalyst for the development of the industry related to the comprehensive utilization of coke oven gas. On February 9, a meeting to discuss the process package for Shanxi Songlan Chemical Technology Co., Ltd.’s new coal-based ethylene glycol production facility with an annual capacity of 600,000 tons (300,000 tons per phase), was held at Donghua Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. The project will utilize Jinhua Furnace 3.0 technology and local high ash fusion point coal from Shuozhou, Shanxi. The 240,000-ton per year synthetic ammonia and 400,000-ton per year urea production project of Shanxi Yangmei Fengxi Quanji Energy Co., Ltd. uses the Jinhua Furnace 2.0. Since the beginning of this year, by applying the Sanyong fractal grading coal slurry concentration technology developed by China National Coal Technology & Engineering Group, the concentration of the water-coal slurry used in the Jinhua Furnace 2.0 model has increased by 4.09 percentage points, resulting in a 2.21 percentage point increase in the amount of gas produced. The annual net profit can reach 11.3326 million yuan, and the entire investment can be recovered within 14 months. On April 24, three Jinhua Furnace 3.0 units, with a pressure of 6.5 MPa and a daily coal input of 1,500 tons each, were successfully lifted into place at Henan Jindadi Chemical Co., Ltd. These are the furnaces currently under construction that have the highest pressure rating and the largest daily coal input among all Jinhua Furnace models. For the relocation and renovation project of Jindadi, which has an annual production capacity of 450,000 tons of synthetic ammonia, the gasification unit adopts the internationally advanced Jinhua Furnace 3.0; this setup allows for the generation of 1.5 tons of high-quality saturated steam at 9.8 megapascals per ton of ammonia produced. As a result, the external electricity consumption for synthetic ammonia production can be reduced to zero, saving 74.25 million yuan in electricity costs each year. To date, 136 enterprises, including Shenhua, China National Coal Group, Wison, Hualu-Hengsheng, and Hubei Sanning, have visited the Jinhua Furnace. Chemical companies such as Lanzhou Energy Investment Co., Ltd., Karamay Yingde Gas Co., Ltd., and Shandong Jincheng Chemical Technology Co., Ltd. have placed orders for a total of 28 sets of first- and second-generation Jinhua Furnaces. For the Jinhua Furnace 3.0, a total of 22 units have been ordered by clients including North Korea’s Sunchon Chemical Plant, China Salt Debang (Jiangsu) Chemical Co., Ltd., and Inner Mongolia Anjie New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. R&D efforts continue unabated to become a global supplier. After successfully developing the Jinhua Furnace 3.0, Yangmei Chemical Machinery’s R&D efforts did not stop there. In March this year, Li Guangmin, Secretary of the Party Committee, Executive Director of Yangmei Fengxi, and Chairman of Yangmei Chemical Machinery; Ma Hongbo, General Manager of the Coal Combustion Engineering Research Center at Tsinghua University; Zhang Hua, a leading expert from Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group’s Technology Center; and Wang Xiaoqiang, Deputy General Manager of Saiding Engineering Company, convened a launch meeting for the Jinhua Furnace 4.0 project in the conference room on the 4th floor of Yangmei Chemical Machinery Group Company. The meeting saw in-depth discussions and exchanges on the details of launching the Jinhua Furnace 4.0 project, and after finalizing the plan, the Jinhua Furnace 4.0 project was officially launched. Based on the radiant waste heat recovery boiler of Jinhua Boiler 4.0, an additional convective waste heat recovery boiler is added to recover heat, enabling the recovery of 20%~30% more heat compared to Jinhua Boiler 3.0 and achieving full heat recovery. On June 16, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology and Yangquan Coal Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Taiyuan. This is a vivid practice and a significant measure to promote high-quality development for both parties; it marks the entry of China’s coal gasification technology sector into a new era characterized by strong collaborations aimed at creating world-class enterprises. “The Aerospace Furnace and the Jinhua Furnace have transitioned from competitors to partners; they will jointly establish a gas company. They will sell their gasifiers to build gasification islands and sell the resulting gas. Additionally, Yangquan Coal Industry Group’s market will be fully opened up to the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion. ”Zhai Hong, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Yangquan Coal Group, said. Hao Zhaoping, president of the Rocket Institute and deputy secretary of the Party committee, noted that the promotion of space furnaces has received strong support from Yangquan Coal Group. Guided by the overarching strategy of military-civilian integration, the Rocket Research Institute has the responsibility and obligation to facilitate the rapid integration and transformation of dual-use technologies. Tang Guohong, vice president of the Rocket Institute and chairman of Aerospace Changzheng Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the institute, said that the successful collaboration between the aerospace furnace and the Jinhua furnace signifies a substantial breakthrough in the use of advanced technologies and advantageous capital by both parties to drive the upgrading of their respective industries. It is of great significance for working together to create a world-class gas supplier, thereby providing high-quality services to the domestic gasification market, leading the development of the global gasification industry, and becoming a leader in this field. Both parties will create all necessary conditions to facilitate multi-level business cooperation between themselves and their affiliated companies, and by offering a package of services that combine coal dust technology with water-coal slurry technology, they will contribute to moving our country beyond the preliminary stage of coal chemical industry development and promoting high-quality growth. Jiang Congbin, general manager of Aerospace Changzheng, outlined the details of the cooperation: first, to explore the possibility of companies under Yangquan Coal Group taking on tasks related to the production of components for rockets developed by the Rocket Research Institute ； Second, carry out multi-level and in-depth cooperation in areas such as the recycling of renewable resources, energy conservation and emission reduction for environmental protection, and wastewater treatment ； Third, jointly invest in establishing an industrial gas company controlled by the Rocket Academy, in order to create a world-leading gas supplier ； Fourth, carry out cooperation on technological innovation and research and development in gasification ； Fifth, the Rocket Academy provides patented technologies, EPC engineering services, project financial services, and full-lifecycle technical services for the Yangquan Coal Industry coal chemical project ； Sixth, Yangquan Coal Industry Chemical Machinery shall manufacture the cooperative equipment and spare parts for the gasification units of both parties. Feng Zhiwu, deputy chief engineer of Yangmei Group and chairman and general manager of Yangmei Chemical Industry Group, said that the two parties will offer package-based services to extend the industrial chain and broaden the scope of services; they will increase the operating pressure of the aerospace furnaces to 6.5 megapascals and raise the slurry concentration in the Jinhua furnaces to 68%, in order to produce high-end, high-density aviation diesel ； The daily coal input for space furnaces and Jinhua furnaces has been increased to 3,000 tons, with carbon being utilized in fuels at the micron level and materials at the nanometer level. Go out to recruit talent and bring in new resources – the goal is to remain at the forefront. On July 18, 2018, the three chemical machinery production facilities owned by Yangmei Chemical Machinery in Yongji, Taiyuan, and Fukang in Xinjiang began operations simultaneously; 11 sets of Jinhua furnaces from companies such as Xinjiang Tianye, North Korea’s Sunchon, Shandong Jincheng, Jiangsu Debang, and Hebei Jinying also started working. Meanwhile, 329 sets of custom-made equipment, worth 270 million yuan, including Yanchang Petroleum’s ethylene glycol hydrogenation reactors for stages one and two, carbonylation reactors, Hebei Jiantao’s conversion furnaces, and Shandong Iron and Steel’s medium-temperature desulfurization towers, are being carefully manufactured amid the intense atmosphere of the “100-Day Campaign”. This year, in addition to using the Jinhua furnace in the renovation of traditional coal chemical plants, the construction of new coal chemical plants, as well as in projects related to coal-based fertilizers, methanol, and ethylene glycol, Yangmei Chemical Machinery is also accelerating the adoption of this furnace in applications involving coal with low ash melting points, coal with high sulfur, ash, and calorific value, lignite, and coal with high alkalinity. The company has also made valuable efforts to expand its operations overseas and to bring in expertise from outside. “In terms of going out and bringing in experts, we have done 5 things. ”Li Guangmin said. First, on January 24 and July 16, Laurent Leclercq, Senior Vice President of Canada’s Enerkem company, and Denis Arguin, Vice President, visited Yangmei Chemical Machinery to assess its equipment production capabilities, with the aim of establishing cooperation on a project for producing ethanol from household waste. Secondly, on March 6–7, a South Korean delegation comprising seven members, including Kang Sun-kyu, Executive Vice President of the renowned South Korean enterprise BanwolDyeng Enterprise Cooperative, and Seo Seog-Kyun, Vice President of South Korea’s TGK Corporation, visited Yangquan Coal Industry Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. The delegation expressed hope that the Jinhua Furnace 3.0 technology could be introduced to South Korea, thereby helping to develop the market for hydrogen production from municipal solid waste. Third, on May 16, Peter Hamann, General Manager of the German company Aspens, along with a team of 6 people, visited the Yangmei Chemical Machinery plant to inspect the Jinhua furnace. During the visit, both parties engaged in in-depth discussions on topics such as hydrogen and iron/steel production using the Jinhua furnace, as well as the integration of modern coal chemical technologies. It is planned to utilize the Jinhua furnace to produce syngas rich in carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This would enable cross-industry integration of coal gasification technology and iron/steel smelting techniques, allowing for iron and steel production from syngas. Such an approach would facilitate the efficient and clean utilization of coal resources, reduce energy consumption in the iron/steel manufacturing process, and provide an alternative pathway for China’s iron and steel industry following the depletion of coking coal reserves. They also agreed to work together more closely in order to combine German manufacturing capabilities with Chinese innovation to develop new technologies, thereby contributing joint technical and manufacturing solutions to China’s supply-side reform and the Belt and Road Initiative. Fourth, recently Charles, the Economic Counselor at the South African Embassy in China, along with Liu Ningchuan, the first assistant to the China-Africa Development Fund, visited Yangmei Chemical Machinery. They hope to establish cooperation with Yangmei Chemical and Yangmei Chemical Machinery in areas such as gasification and large-scale urea production. Fifthly, the Jinhua Furnace 3.0 used in the methanol production project at the Sunchon Chemical Plant in North Korea is currently under intensive production, and delivery is expected in the near future. By then, it will be our country’s first coal-water slurry gasifier to go abroad. “With the core in hand, leading the world. ”Zhai Hong said that yesterday, they and Tsinghua University jointly developed the Jinhua furnace, breaking the foreign technological monopoly. It serves as a symbol of Shanxi Province’s commitment to innovation and the development of new drivers for growth; it provides a new path for the transformation of the coal industry and offers a new approach for the comprehensive utilization of high-carbon, high-sulfur, and high-ash coal across the country. Today, they are striving to create high-quality products with a craftsman’s spirit, accelerating the development of Jinhua furnaces in terms of serialization, standardization, larger scale, completeness as integrated systems, as well as informatization and intelligence. They are building demonstration units of Jinhua Furnace 4.0, aiming to develop world-leading large-scale water-coal slurry gasification technologies, and to be the first to implement industrial applications that enable the simultaneous production of syngas, steam, electricity, and heat. Tomorrow, they will strive to become a world-class gas supplier and a persistent leader in international coal gasification technology. They will make new contributions and achieve new successes in supporting the development of China’s modern large-scale coal chemical industry as well as the green growth of the international coal chemical sector, demonstrating new levels of responsibility. In doing so, they will contribute more, with higher quality, to helping China transition from a major chemical producer to a true chemical power, by creating more outstanding Chinese products and leveraging Chinese innovation in manufacturing.