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China’s first 1,000-ton capacity circulating bed gasification unit officially delivered to user Author/Source: China News Network Date: December 5, 2019 Clicks: 9 The Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced on the 4th that China’s first 1,000-ton capacity circulating bed gasification unit, developed by this institute, was officially delivered to its user in Jinchang, Gansu Province on that day. This marks the first time that China has applied clean and efficient circulating bed gasification technology to the ammonia synthesis industry, thereby providing raw gas for such facilities. The widespread application of this technology is expected to provide a new approach to overcoming the environmental challenges in the synthetic ammonia industry. Over the past 30 years, the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has been dedicated to the clean and efficient utilization of coal. Addressing the issues associated with traditional coal gasification technologies, such as limited suitable coal types, high pollution levels, or high costs, it has developed the Circulating Bed Gasification (CGAS) technology, which is clean, efficient, low-cost, and adaptable to a wide range of coal types. Since 2004, through pilot tests, pilot-scale trials, industrial tests, and engineering demonstrations, a series of test platforms have been designed and built. In-depth research at the operational level has been carried out to explore the underlying mechanisms, develop manufacturing processes, achieve breakthroughs in key technologies, and create complete sets of technical products. This has led to the implementation of technology demonstrations for the first circular-bed gasifiers of various capacities in China. These systems are widely used by leading enterprises in the non-ferrous metallurgy and ceramics industries, and they have also entered the international market, being exported to countries along the \"Belt and Road\" initiative. To date, the institute’s technologies for the clean and efficient use of coal have been applied in 70 industrial units, generating an economic value of 3.3 billion yuan; these technologies enable the reduction of 2.6 million tons of wastewater containing tar and phenols each year. The thousand-ton-class circulating bed gasification unit delivered this time is used in Gansu Jinhua Group’s 200,000 tons per year ammonia synthesis production line to supply raw material gas in place of the existing fixed-bed gasifiers. It enables zero emissions of waste gas and wastewater, completely eliminating the pollution problems associated with fixed-bed gasifiers. Moreover, by allowing the use of locally available coal of poor quality that is difficult to gasify using traditional methods, the coal usage cost is reduced by 30%-50%, saving the enterprise nearly 50 million yuan in costs. This facility is China’s first demonstration project for low-rank coal circulating bed pressurized gasification; it supplies raw gas to ammonia synthesis manufacturers under a contract energy management arrangement, and it is also a model project for key initiatives aimed at the transfer and application of scientific and technological achievements by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is understood that currently, nitrogen fertilizer manufacturers that use fixed-bed gasifiers to supply raw gas to ammonia synthesis plants account for 40% of China’s ammonia synthesis capacity. Due to severe pollution, according to the environmental warning levels, 50% of the fixed-bed gasifiers used in the nitrogen fertilizer industry have been ordered by environmental authorities to suspend operations, or even to shut down completely. Every winter is also a period with a high incidence of environmental warnings in this sector; the shutdown of many nitrogen fertilizer manufacturers creates a significant conflict with the supply of fertilizers needed for agricultural planting in spring.