Non-slag – slag classification gasification technology is evaluated through assessment

Thread Content

　　October 23, 2007, was a joyous day for Beijing Dalike Technology Company (hereinafter referred to as Dalike Company), Tsinghua University, and Shanxi Fengxi Fertilizer Group (hereinafter referred to as Fengxi Group). It was also a milestone in the history of gasification technology development in China (30.25, 0.07, 0.23%). 　　After 8 a.m. on the 23rd, Gu Dadi, general manager of Dalike Company and an expert in China’s coal chemical technology field, was finally able to let go of the worry that had weighed on him for several years. In 2001, patent research was conducted and patents were applied for jointly by Dalike Company, Tsinghua University, and Fengxi Group; in 2002, the preliminary development work on the non-slag-slag staged gasification technology, which received support from the **863 Project (project number: 2002AA529050), was completed. In January 2006, a completely new domestically developed coal gasification unit was successfully put into operation at the Linyi branch of Fengxi Group. On October 23, 2007, it passed a 72-hour on-site assessment conducted by experts from China National Petroleum Corporation (32.84,-0.92,-2.73%) and the Chemical Industry Association. This marked the official entry of the slag-free/slag-separated gasification technology, which possesses full independent intellectual property rights in China, into the market. It will help change the situation in which China has long relied on foreign companies’ technologies in key areas of coal chemical engineering. The successful adoption of this technology holds great economic and social significance, and it will play an important role in promoting rapid and sustainable economic development in China. 　　Coal gasification technology 　　Has great economic and social significance 　　Energy is one of the essential resources for modern human society. In recent years, with the continuous rise in international oil prices, alternative energy sources and new energy projects such as coal-to-oil and biomass energy have become a focus of attention for governments and relevant enterprises around the world. 　　Compared to oil and natural gas, China is rich in coal resources, which account for as much as 70% of the country’s primary energy consumption. Gu Dadi, general manager of Daliko Company, believes that it is precisely the high levels of international oil prices at present, along with the characteristics of China’s resource reserves, that have propelled the rapid development of gasification technology in the country. Speaking of coal chemical industry and coal gasification technologies, Gu Dadi, who had been in charge of reviewing construction projects for Sinopec (21.07,-0.79,-3.61%) for many years, spoke with enthusiasm and deep emotion. For a long time, due to the lack of core technologies in the field of coal chemical industry in our country, domestic enterprises have had to pay huge patent fees in order to develop. After going through numerous introductions and evaluations of gasification projects, Gu Dadi was distressed by the patent fees that had to be paid to domestic companies. General Manager Gu Dadi is firmly convinced that, with the rapid progress of science and technology in our country, nothing can no longer be achieved through technological innovation and breakthroughs. These days, General Manager Gu Dadi has been filled with immense joy. He said that the rapid development of coal gasification technology in China has broken the long-standing monopoly held by foreign companies in this field in our country. This not only helps to significantly reduce the costs associated with technical patents for domestic enterprises, but more importantly, it ensures energy security. 　　“A harmonious coexistence between humans and nature, as well as between nature and the environment, constitutes a beautiful picture of a harmonious human society. The non-slag-slag staged gasification technology falls under the category of clean coal utilization; it enables the recovery and reuse of sulfur, while the ash can be recycled as building material, thus achieving resource recycling and putting into practice the circular economy concept advocated in our country. As a clean energy utilization technology, slag gasification using coal powder and coal slurry as raw materials solves the environmental pollution problems associated with coal use over the centuries, as well as the issue of selecting between different types of coal, thereby providing practical technical preparations for the advent of a post-petroleum era. At present, the overall technical level of the domestic coal chemical industry is not very high, and most fertilizer manufacturers are still at the fixed-bed gasification stage. The production facilities are severely polluted, and the selectivity of coal types is poor. Although it is relatively simple for a large number of boilers at home and abroad to burn coal directly, the pollution problem is difficult to resolve completely. Facts show that, whether it is coal chemical industry or IGCC clean coal combustion technology, gasification remains the technical bottleneck that must be overcome. The introduction of the slag-free–slag-based staged gasification technology undoubtedly plays an important role in improving the overall level of coal chemical industry in China, and it has positive social implications for the development of new energy sources and environmental protection in the country. 　　Self-innovated slag-free technology – Slag-stage gasification technology. Innovation is the main theme of our time, as well as an inevitable requirement for societal development and progress. As an important innovation in China’s coal chemical industry, the non-slag/slag-separated gasification technology – owned jointly by DaliKe Company, Tsinghua University, and Fengxi Group and operated by DaliKe Company – has attracted widespread attention from within and outside the industry. Moreover, significant progress has been made in this technology. 　　It is understood that the main principle of the non-slag-slag staged gasification technology is to process coal into a slurry, which is then pressurized and fed into a partial oxidation gasifier to produce syngas. Its raw materials (water-coal slurry, dry coal powder, or other carbon-containing substances) enter the first stage of the gasifier through a feeding mechanism and fuel nozzles. Pure oxygen is used as the gasifying agent, while other gases such as oxygen, or carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water vapor, etc., mixed with oxygen in any proportion, are used as premixed gases to regulate the amount of oxygen supplied to the first stage, thereby keeping the temperature in that stage below the ash melting point ； Some more oxygen is added to the second section, raising its temperature above the ash melting point of the coal and completing the entire oxidation process. This technology can be widely applied in fields such as coal-based new energy and the clean utilization of coal. General Manager Gu Dadi explained that, compared with existing powder coal gasification technologies, the non-slag-slag staged gasification technology differs fundamentally. Its innovations are mainly reflected in two aspects: (1) staged oxygen supply, which results in a more uniform temperature distribution within the gasification furnace and an increase in the average temperature ； Gradual supply of oxygen allows the amount of oxygen used in the main burner of the gasification furnace to be independent of the chemical equivalence ratio of carbon to oxygen required for the partial oxidation reactions within the furnace, thereby creating conditions to reduce the carbon-to-oxygen ratio in the main burner ； (2) Thanks to the staged supply of oxygen, which creates conditions for reducing the carbon-to-oxygen ratio in the main burner, this device can use gases with oxygen contents ranging from 0 to 100% as premix gases for the main burner. By employing a unique premixing control technology to adjust the temperature of the flame center as well as the distance between the flame center and the nozzle tip, the temperature near the main burner of the gasification furnace is reduced, thereby significantly extending the service life of the nozzle. 　　During the 72-hour evaluation period from October 20 to 23, 2007, the experts conducted a thorough inspection of the on-site operations in various stages of the non-slag-slag staged gasification technology project, including the coal storage area, coal grinding and slurry preparation, gasification, purification of raw gas, and slag treatment. They also carried out continuous monitoring of areas such as the control room, analysis laboratory, and sites for sample collection. Based on the on-site operation conditions and data analysis, the evaluation expert group concluded that the assessment indicators for the non-slag-slag staged gasification technology are superior to those of similar foreign technologies; it represents a new type of coal gasification technology with international advanced standards and independent intellectual property rights. This technology has been successfully applied in demonstration projects, yielding significant results. A methanol production plant with an annual capacity of 100,000 tons began construction at Shanxi Fengxi Group in 2003, and was completed on January 23, 2006, starting up successfully on its first attempt. As of October 21, 2007, it had been in operation for a total of 637 days, producing 203,369.88 tons of crude methanol. The operation rate was 94.66%, while the average load factor was 88.66% (including downtime; the design value is 82.19%). 　　The successful operation model of integration of industry, academia, and research: After 72 hours of on-site evaluation, the non-slag/slag-separated gasification technology and its domestically developed equipment were recognized by industry experts. The successful integrated model of industry, academia, and research for this technical project also won repeated praise from the experts present. General Manager Gu Dadi said that as a high-tech enterprise registered in Zhongguancun, Dalike started out with almost no assets at the beginning of its establishment, and has since grown into a small but important company in the field of coal chemical technology. While the active innovation and hard work of all the company’s employees are certainly essential, sincere trust and close cooperation among the partners involved in the integration of production, education, and research are equally vital. In fact, Daliko, a company focused on technology development, merely did more work in patent research and engineering design; Tsinghua University carried out the main tasks related to research and development, while the Linyi branch of Fengxi Fertilizer Group completed the installation work at a high standard, developing additional technologies such as pressure-driven discharge of slag water during the construction process. As a result, the operational efficiency and load capacity of this system have reached advanced levels both domestically and internationally. 　　The industrialization of scientific research achievements is the true source of productivity. At present, in China’s research institutions and enterprises, some scientific research achievements have not yet been truly transformed into productive forces. This is evident in the fact that there are numerous research achievements and awards won, but often these achievements are disconnected from reality, with a gap between research and practice, as well as between development efforts and funding. How to organically integrate these disconnected aspects – investment in research funding, development of research projects, and the commercialization of research results – in order to transform research outcomes into social productivity has long been a challenge for business operators, managers, and researchers. 　　“The difficult problem of \"being unable to commercialize research results\" seems to always be easily solved in front of Gu Dadi, the general manager of Daliko Company. Looking at the history of Daliko Company, we can see that it has always been able to successfully implement both the large-particle urea technology developed in its early days and the current industrialization of the non-slag/slag-separated gasification technology. General Manager Gu Dadi said sincerely that this is thanks to Fengxi Group’s trust in and support for Dalike Company; they provided the opportunity to industrialize new technologies, and ensured that the projects were carried out efficiently and effectively. At the same time, I am also very grateful to Tsinghua University for its high-level work in research and development; they have invested a great deal of effort and hard work into the creation of new technologies, achieving remarkable results as a result. 　　“The integration of industry, academia, and research is a characteristic of DaliKe Company, and it is the secret behind the successful industrialization of the company’s technologies. The starting point and foundation of all the company’s R&D efforts is \"production\"; it is necessary to ensure that the enterprise, as the party involved in production, does not bear excessive risks and can achieve tangible benefits. It was with this as its corporate mission that, from the very beginning of its establishment, DaliKe Company formed a industry-academia-research team with Tsinghua University and Fengxi Group. In the spring of 2002, the first industrial plant for producing large-grain urea was successfully commissioned at the Linyi branch of Shanxi Fengxi Group, and production began without any issues. Subsequently, Dalike’s large-grain urea production plants were established throughout the country, and to date 14 such plants have been built, with the 15th plant currently under design. In the development of gasification technology, Daliko Company began with patent research on non-slag-to-slag gasifiers, and together with Tsinghua University and Shanxi Fengxi Group, applied for the **\"863\" project (led by Tsinghua University). Through the joint efforts of all three parties, it was included in the **\"863\" development plan in August 2002 (project number 2002AA529050), and funding from the 863 program was secured that very year. Subsequently, Tsinghua University carried out various tasks including the development of mathematical models, cold-state tests, hot-state tests, and the preparation of process packages, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent industrialization of this technology. President Gu said that Daliko has encountered two excellent partners in its collaboration among industry, academia, and research: Tsinghua University and Shanxi Fengxi Group. Tsinghua University’s technical expertise is widely recognized, and the experts who work there are extremely dedicated. Fengxi Group is a company in which all employees own shares following a restructuring process. They have held several negotiations with foreign parties in an attempt to introduce foreign equipment, but due to the high costs associated with technology transfer, they decided to cooperate with Beijing Dali Ke Technology Co., Ltd. President Gu said that it is precisely the existing system that gives the company the motivation to adopt new technologies. Furthermore, Shanxi Fengxi Group has long paid attention to foreign gasification technologies, and possesses strong judgment skills as well as extensive production experience in selecting domestic technologies. In the industry-academia-research team, all three parties work together with a common goal: to move domestic technologies with independent intellectual property rights from paper and laboratories into enterprises, so as to transform them into productive forces as quickly as possible, and to help China’s coal chemical industry break free from foreign technological control and achieve healthy development. The market-aware Fengxi Group reaps tangible economic benefits from these collaborations. 　　Practice has shown that an integrated operation model based on independent intellectual property rights and combining industry, academia, and research is highly successful; it enables companies to compete with large foreign firms and achieve success by catching up later on. Looking to the future, General Manager Gu Dadi said that their goal is to leverage the strengths of various parties to achieve a powerful partnership, form a professional project management team, and provide owners with integrated services covering feasibility study, design, construction, and operation, so as to play a greater role in China’s coal chemical and coal gasification industries.