Thread Content
Jinju Company’s ammonia synthesis plant has been honored as an advanced facility in terms of energy efficiency within key provincial sectors. Author/Source: Gasification World. Date: 2022-03-02. Clicks: 9. Zhejiang Jinju Chemical Co., Ltd. is the successor to the ammonia synthesis plant of Zhejiang Juhua Co., Ltd.; it is a key listed company focused on the production of fertilizers, chemical raw materials, and fine chemical products, and constitutes an important fertilizer production base in Zhejiang Province. The 250,000-ton synthetic ammonia plant was put into operation in the 1960s; it is one of the first nitrogen fertilizer production facilities in China that were designed and installed locally, and it has a history of over 60 years of operation. However, due to outdated production processes and old equipment, the energy consumption of the facility has become a \"bottleneck\" restricting the company’s development. Starting in January 2017, the company began phasing out and dismantling the urea plant. It is understood that since the initiation of the construction of an ecological circular economy, Jinju Company has phased out more than 20 sets of energy-intensive and outdated production facilities, including those used for producing ammonium carbonate, formic acid, and formaldehyde. This has helped to reduce the company’s energy consumption, enabling it to meet the **established advanced standards for energy consumption per unit of synthetic ammonia produced. The company also makes full use of the “four new” technologies, actively carrying out technological upgrades and research to improve the economic efficiency of its operations. In recent years, the company has continuously upgraded its water-coal slurry gasification units and developed a number of **patented technologies** to convert the hydrocarbon compounds present in high-concentration wastewater into raw gas for ammonia synthesis. This transformation has enabled these units to evolve from energy-intensive, low-capacity systems that are obsolete to modern, energy-saving and environmentally friendly devices, which have since been deployed in various locations across the country. In 2021, this facility processed over 20,000 tons of high-concentration wastewater and more than 100 tons of solid waste; it not only helped reduce the company’s energy consumption but also fulfilled its environmental protection functions effectively. The company makes full use of the advanced management tool of JES value stream baseline analysis to identify issues related to raw materials, production costs, cost control, and sales volume in various stages of daily production; it seeks new opportunities to reduce costs and increase efficiency, formulates improvement measures, defines specific actions and goals for cost reduction, and employs A3 reports to facilitate systematic implementation of these cost-reduction measures. In 2021, the company achieved cost savings of over 40 million yuan through Value Stream Mapping (VSM) analysis. At the same time, the company has also strengthened refined management, continuously optimized its production organization models, enhanced supervision and control over key indicators in the production system, and adjusted the product structure as appropriate based on inventory and sales levels. It has optimized production methods and procedures to ensure timely production schedules at each stage, thereby effectively improving the economic efficiency of operations and reducing production costs. Last year, despite the dual controls on energy use and power restrictions, the company achieved significant results in reducing costs and improving efficiency. Related project: On December 27, 2019, a grand inauguration ceremony was held at the site of Zhejiang Jinju Chemical Co., Ltd. for the technical upgrade project related to its air separation unit with a capacity of 39,000 Nm3/h, marking a significant step forward in the construction of this project. This project is a key supporting element of the synthetic ammonia feedstock route and the energy-saving and emission-reduction technology renovation projects, and it plays a decisive role in ensuring their successful commissioning. This project is also Jinju Company’s first EPC turnkey project that covers the entire process from basic design, equipment procurement, equipment installation to device delivery. The technical renovation project for synthetic ammonia includes the following: the proposed site for the new plant is located to the south of the sulfuric acid production facility within the existing Juhua plant complex, with a total land area of approximately 14.27 hectares. The process involves using water-coal slurry gasification to produce synthetic ammonia, while the existing low-pressure methanol production facility will be modified to produce methanol as a by-product. The designed capacity is 250,000 tons per year of synthetic ammonia and 100,000 tons per year of methanol. The main production units include a gasification unit, a purification unit, an ammonia synthesis unit, a methanol unit (reused), a liquid unit (reused), and methanol storage tanks, etc. Public and auxiliary facilities mainly include circulating water systems, sewage treatment systems, plant-wide flares, central control rooms, storage and transportation of raw coal, overall plant transportation systems, the plant’s fire protection system, the plant’s information management system (including monitoring systems), plant water supply and drainage systems (including the plant’s fire suppression water system), plant power supply and distribution systems, plant telecommunications systems, external piping networks, and underground pipeline networks. Air separation technical upgrade project: This project is a supplementary initiative to the synthetic ammonia technical upgrade project. The proposed site for construction is located to the south of the fertilizer production facility within the existing Juhua plant area. The project covers an area of approximately 2.65 hectares and is intended to supply the oxygen required for water-coal slurry gasification, as well as nitrogen, instrument air, and compressed air for use throughout the plant. The project is planned to produce 39,000 Nm3/h of oxygen and 45,500 Nm3/h of nitrogen. The product plan is 259.032 million Nm3 of nitrogen per year, 282.632 million Nm3 of oxygen per year, and 5,703 tons of liquid argon per year. The process production facility includes a compression plant, an air separation unit, and a backup liquid storage unit, among others. Utilities and auxiliary facilities include the substations, instrument air compressors stations, and circulating water stations required for the project. Supporting facilities include sewage treatment and reuse systems, pressure pump rooms and fire water tanks, a general warehouse, a chemicals warehouse, a central laboratory, and a central control room.