Thread Content
The steam turbine of the air separation unit in Xinjiang Tianye Huihe Project was successfully started up in one attempt. Author/Source: Sinochem 16th Construction Company. Date: November 22, 2019. Clicks: 57. On November 15, the air separation unit for the project aimed at producing 1 million tons of ethylene glycol per year from syngas, carried out by the Xinjiang branch of Sinochem 16th Construction Company, saw its exhaust-condensing steam turbine with a capacity of 62,772 KW successfully started up in one attempt. This achievement laid a solid foundation for the smooth operation of the entire plant and the production of high-quality ethylene glycol. The facility consists of 2 sets of air separation units with a capacity of 90,000 Nm3/h each; each unit is capable of producing 90,000 Nm3/h of oxygen and 40,000 Nm3/h of nitrogen. Its energy consumption is at the world’s leading level, making it the largest, most productive, and technologically advanced air separation facility in Xinjiang to date. Before the turbine was tested, the project team organized everything carefully and worked closely with the owner to carry out tasks such as heating the pipes with high-pressure steam, evacuating the turbines’ pipes, and heating the shafts with steam. During testing, the main steam entering the turbine is heated to 476°C and the pressure is raised to 8.8 MPa; then the quick-shut valve is opened to start the turbine. As the turbine speed increased to the first idle speed (1080 r/min), after a 3-minute preheating period, it automatically accelerated to the critical speed (2245 r/min); at this point, the unit experienced brief vibrations of 20 μm before operating smoothly at the increased speed. Once the turbine reaches its operating speed of 4498 r/min and has run steadily for 10 minutes, an overspeed test is conducted. When the turbine was accelerated to 4744 r/min, the electrical overspeed protection system automatically tripped, indicating the successful completion of the turbine’s initial test run. The 600,000 tons per year coal-to-ethanol project of Xinjiang Tianye Huihe New Materials Co., Ltd. utilizes the water-cooled wall waste boiler gasifier technology (Jinhua Furnace 3.0) developed by Beijing Qingchuang Jinhua Technology Co., Ltd.; the gasification pressure is 6.2 MPAG, and the effective gas production rate per furnace is 97,000 Nm3/h (CO + H2). The engineering design for this gasification unit was carried out by Donghua Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., with three units in operation and one as a backup. The first phase of Xinjiang Tianye (Group) Co., Ltd.’s project for producing ethylene glycol from syngas at a capacity of 1 million tons per year involves a facility with an output of 600,000 tons per year. The total investment in this project amounts to 799,721.60 million yuan. The construction site is located in the Shihu Tan New Materials Industrial Park (147th Regiment) in Shihezi, Xinjiang. Construction on this project began in August 2017, and it is planned that all installation work will be completed by the end of October 2019, with the entire production system going into operation by the end of that year. In October 2017, the project’s gasification technology sector entered into a contract with Shanxi Yangmei Chemical Machinery (Group) Co., Ltd. for four sets of 6.5MPa Jinhua furnaces model 3.0; the core process makes use of a patented technology for producing ethylene glycol from high-purity chemical synthesis gas. Xinjiang Tianye (Group) Co., Ltd. currently has a production capacity of 250,000 tons of ethylene glycol per year from synthetic gas; 50,000 tons from the first phase and 200,000 tons from the second phase, with these capacities being put into operation gradually. The second-phase project is located in the North Industrial Zone of Shihezi, Xinjiang, and involves the construction of facilities for producing 200,000 tons per year of ethylene glycol and 170,000 tons per year of BDO, utilizing the off-gases from calcium carbide furnaces in the Xinjiang Tianye Chemical Industry Park as raw materials for comprehensive utilization.