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Yankuang Coal-to-Oil Branch: Using Intelligence and Hard Work to Enhance the Excellence of the “Project No. 1” Author/Source: Yankuang Group Date: 2020-06-01 Clicks: 4 Since the restart of the Yankuang Future Energy coal-to-oil project following its maintenance in late April this year, the system has performed excellently, with all set goals being achieved. In particular, the optimization and upgrading of the synthesis system have enabled the FTO synthesis unit to reach its full production potential; the production load has increased by nearly 20% compared to before the maintenance, achieving the best results ever recorded. In addition, the economic efficiency of the system has further improved; the consumption of refining gases has decreased by nearly 16%, approaching the levels specified in the process design. Various key indicators related to consumption, such as those for water, coal, electricity, and catalysts, have also seen significant reductions. The increase in output and the decrease in unit consumption effectively offset the negative impact of \"historically low\" oil prices on the economic performance of enterprises. It can be said that after this “restart,” the coal-to-oil system has seen an unprecedented improvement in its ability to operate safely, stably, and over long periods of time, reaching an optimal state for economic operation. In August 2015, with the efforts of the entire group company and after three years of arduous construction, Yankuang Group’s \"Project No. 1\" – China’s first million-ton-scale demonstration plant for coal indirect liquefaction – successfully carried out its first feed trial run, producing qualified oil products. Amidst the joy, various issues that restrict load increase arose one after another during the engineering amplification process. The F-T synthesis units present problems such as short operation cycles, high system resistance, and high material consumption, which are extremely troublesome. What drives them crazy the most is that every time a technical improvement plan is finalized, they think they have identified the root of the problem and decide to carry out the improvements; yet each time, the effects of these improvements are overshadowed by new problems that arise, resulting in a situation where one problem is solved only for another to appear in its place. In May 2018, the group company made adjustments to the leadership team in charge of future energy initiatives. The new team quickly changed its mindset and clarified its strategies, and introduced a number of measures for technical upgrades and energy savings. Taking advantage of the major maintenance period in October, they completed more than 30 key technical upgrade projects at once. In the first month after the renovation, oil production reached a record high; all types of material consumption and production costs dropped significantly. Even more encouragingly, the operating cycle of the primary synthesis reaction system was extended to 379 days, achieving truly long-term and stable operation. However, the facility has yet to reach full operational capacity; the key issue restricting load increases and energy savings has not been fully resolved. As a result, technical exchanges and discussion meetings that lasted all night became the focus of the work done by those involved in coal-to-oil conversion. With no existing experience to draw on, they had to analyze samples, conduct tests, and sort through data on their own ； Since the reactor’s built-in filtering elements and high-efficiency separators had no proven track record in operation, and it was difficult to know where to start with modifications, they created their own models and conducted analytical calculations ； Process reform carries risks, so they kept conducting checks with the design institute, making repeated modifications, and even discarding their own plans on multiple occasions. Finally, a complete set of optimization and upgrading plans for the F-T synthesis process was finalized, with implementation scheduled during the system maintenance in 2020. The Coal-to-Oil Branch began planning the annual system overhaul for 2020 in June 2019, and set the maintenance period for this March. Unexpectedly, the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 posed a life-or-death challenge to various industries; international oil prices kept falling, and the domestic oil market also reached historic lows. During the most critical period of epidemic prevention and control, should the major repair work proceed as scheduled or be postponed? How should market operation risks be addressed? Can the life and health of employees, the safety of maintenance work, and the interests of the enterprise be ensured? Faced with a series of unavoidable problems, Dong Zhengqing, then general manager of the coal-to-oil branch, gave a firm answer at the maintenance mobilization meeting. “Although we cannot control the market conditions, we can adapt to them. Oil prices have already dropped below the cost level, and this situation will not last. Although carrying out maintenance work now presents many difficulties, it allows us to avoid reaching the lowest levels of oil prices. The control over epidemic prevention and control as well as maintenance safety lies in our own hands. In the battles to carry out maintenance work and to combat the pandemic, we must fight, and we will surely win! ” This system maintenance campaign is the most challenging, time-consuming, and difficult one since the establishment of the Coal-to-Oil Branch. There are a total of over 700 maintenance tasks at the plant control level, workshop level, and team level. The total length of steel pipes used for setting up scaffolding exceeds 100,000 meters. Additionally, 2,372 pressure pipelines, 53 pressure vessels, and 938 safety valves have reached their inspection deadlines. In addition, new projects such as sulfur recovery capacity expansion, ammonia concentration improvement, and FTO wax refining will be constructed simultaneously. More than 10 major technical renovation projects, including the optimization and upgrading of the synthesis system involving an investment of over 70 million yuan, will also need to be completed and integrated into the system during the maintenance period. During these special and difficult times, the Coal-to-Oil Branch, while making every effort to manage the pandemic, utilized all available resources and brought together all available forces. Working against time and with great dedication, it ensured that maintenance work could be carried out safely and smoothly. Affected by the pandemic, equipment manufacturers halted production, construction materials were not supplied, and it was difficult to get construction workers on site. Even the 700-ton crane in Yulin city could not be deployed for work because the personnel responsible for its assembly and disassembly were under quarantine, which caused all maintenance tasks to come to a standstill; the difficulty of carrying out these repairs was far greater than expected. However, the staff and workers involved in coal-to-oil production are well aware that the sooner the FTO synthesis system is upgraded and integrated into the system, the sooner the passive situation regarding the operation of the coal-to-oil facility can be reversed, and the benefits of this upgrade can be realized sooner. To ensure that the renovation plan was not delayed, they tried every means to carry out the tasks separately, clearing paths through mountains and building bridges over waters. Under the extremely strict epidemic control measures, they convinced the manufacturer to assign dedicated personnel to oversee the production of the 3 large-scale heat exchangers, while also monitoring the progress of manufacturing in real time. Although they are 1,500 kilometers away, they have a thorough understanding of every aspect of the equipment’s manufacturing progress and details. Once the equipment was manufactured, transporting these oversized units over long distances across provinces became a challenge due to pandemic-related restrictions; obtaining the necessary approvals for highway use was extremely difficult. As a result, they were forced to transport the equipment by road in segments, managing to deliver all 3 oversized units to the site on schedule. The equipment is about to arrive, but the workers equipped to dismantle and assemble the crane are still under quarantine. After thorough consideration, they arranged for another 650-ton crane, optimized the lifting plan, and implemented a 24/7 process of dismantling, transporting, and assembling the equipment, so that the necessary conditions for lifting could be in place by the time the equipment arrived. Watching the three large pieces of equipment being slowly lifted and carefully placed into the frame, the workers present finally exchanged understanding smiles. Thanks to the collective efforts of everyone, all the equipment and materials were successfully delivered on site, without any impact on the overall progress of the maintenance work. Multiple measures are taken to ensure that epidemic prevention and maintenance work proceed simultaneously without interference, with 34 external teams and over 2,400 personnel involved in these tasks. Ensuring safe maintenance while preventing the personnel involved from being infected by the virus is not only a test of the coal-to-oil team’s operational capabilities, but also a test of their sense of responsibility and commitment to fulfilling their duties. They earnestly implement the \"integrated\" management concept, treating external teams as their own employees. During the period when personnel from external contractors enter the premises, dedicated staff are assigned to assist them in going through the re-start procedures at the local **department. Special vehicles are provided to transport these contractors to the designated hospitals for health checks. Furthermore, in terms of epidemic prevention and control measures, the same standards, approaches, and evaluation methods as those applied within the company itself are implemented for external contractors, thereby preventing any risk of the spread of the virus and ensuring the safety and health of all employees. They planned ahead and made meticulous arrangements, scientifically breaking down the major maintenance tasks. They held daily meetings to oversee the progress of the maintenance work, and organized coordination sessions at any time and in any location. By completing a large amount of pipeline prefabrication and equipment lifting work in advance, they not only created favorable conditions for efficient maintenance later on but also avoided the safety risks associated with multiple concurrent tasks during the period of centralized maintenance. At the same time, taking advantage of the major maintenance opportunity, 24 serious potential problems were eliminated and addressed, thereby improving the system’s ability to operate safely, stably, and over extended periods of time. In addition to focusing equally on epidemic prevention control and system maintenance, they also actively implemented the group company’s cost control philosophy of \"lowering costs wherever prices are reduced,\" ensuring economic maintenance and lean management throughout the process. From large pipe fittings and pipes to small valves and instruments, whenever it’s possible to repair existing items instead of replacing them with new ones, that’s what is done; the insulation materials used for pipes are also removed in a way that allows them to be reused, as no extra money is willing to be spent on this. At the same time, they carried out a comprehensive optimization of the system startup procedures and made significant adjustments to the order in which the systems were started, thereby effectively reducing the time during which the gasification and purification units operated inefficiently and saving nearly 3.6 million yuan in startup costs. A comprehensive overhaul of the gas turbine further enhanced the system’s capacity to generate electricity efficiently. During operation, 13.16 million kWh of electricity was produced using excess steam and waste heat, generating earnings of over 5 million yuan. The project to add a connection in the transformation section was successfully completed; by shutting down one low-temperature methanol washing unit, it was possible to reduce the effective gas processing capacity without any loss, resulting in monthly cost savings of nearly 7.5 million yuan. To minimize the costs associated with using external labor, they conducted thorough research to determine the appropriate number of workers required for specific tasks, and encouraged workshops to carry out self-inspections and repairs, thereby saving approximately 1.6 million yuan in external service costs.