The renovation project of Baofa Energy’s pure oxygen continuous gasification furnace was successfully completed

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The renovation project of Baofa Energy’s pure oxygen continuous gasification furnace was successfully completed. Author/Source: Hebi Baima Technology Group. Date: 2022-04-13. Clicks: 12. The company began the renovation of this pure oxygen continuous gasification furnace in May 2021; the investment in this project amounted to 200 million yuan. It involved the installation of a 30,000 Nm3/h air separation unit, 17 mobile-bed pure oxygen continuous gasification furnaces, a central control room, and one warehouse. Additional technical upgrades were also carried out for systems related to desulfurization, compression, conversion, decarburization, boilers, and utility systems, in line with the requirements of the production process. Due to factors such as the pandemic, disasters, and power rationing policies in the locations of the equipment manufacturers, the progress of the renovation project was affected to some extent. However, the company overcame numerous difficulties, and after more than a year, the gasifier renovation project was successfully completed recently, with commissioning imminent. Pure oxygen continuous gasification has a wide range of feedstock compatibility – coke, anthracite, and briquettes made from pulverized coal can all be used for gas production. The gas produced has excellent quality, with a high proportion of useful components; the CO+H2 ratio can exceed 82%. There is little residue in the gas, the carbon conversion rate is high, and the amount of ash and residual carbon remains below 3%. The steam decomposition rate is high, resulting in little condensed water in the gas. It is equipped with advanced systems such as automatic coal feeding, automatic carbon level monitoring, ash removal without shutting down the furnace, and automatic adjustment of the steam-to-oxygen ratio, enabling remote automated control and requiring few operators. This process generates no wastewater, no exhaust gases, and no noise, keeping the operation site clean and tidy. The installation can operate safely and stably over long periods, with minimal maintenance needs and low maintenance costs. Compared with the fixed-bed batch coal gasification process, the pure oxygen continuous gasification process reduces the consumption of fuel coal and raw coal by 0.18 tons per ton of methanol produced, resulting in annual savings of 72,000 tons of coal. Its methane production level will increase, with LNG output rising by 2,800 tons per year; the by-products such as liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, and liquid argon will also generate certain economic benefits. After the renovation, the output of usable gas (CO+H2) will not only meet the gas requirements for dimethyl ether production at Baofa Energy but also provide an adequate supply of hydrogen for the biodiesel project of Huashi Energy and the ethanol project of Tengfei Energy. This approach can reduce the investment needed for gasification units or methanol-to-hydrogen plants, offering significant synergistic benefits. Upon completion of the gasifier renovation project, a production capacity of 300,000 tons per year of dimethyl ether will be achieved, thereby meeting the demand for raw gas for the biodiesel production projects of Huashi Energy Company and the ethanol production projects of Tengfei Energy Company. The monthly production of dimethyl ether reaches 25,000 tons; the profit per ton is between 600 and 800 yuan, resulting in a monthly net profit of 15 to 20 million yuan. The annual net profit can range from 180 million to 2.4 billion yuan.