Summary of the advantages and disadvantages of the Cassali reactor

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I was exposed to Luchi’s isothermal synthesis tower, Linda’s constant-temperature synthesis tower, and the three-tube cold shock tower; later, over a period of 2 years, I worked with Casali’s synthesis tower. Overall, it seems that foreigners are more meticulous in what they do compared to those in China, and they perform better in terms of details. But foreigners are also human; they make mistakes too, so one shouldn’t follow them blindly. 1. Judging from the packaging of the tower internals, the overall quality is very high; the wooden planks of the packaging boxes are polished. Spare parts are fully prepared. The staff are also very dedicated in their work, but with foreigners present in the office building, they often swear, which is not a good environment. Those goods are provided as a service, at 1,000 euros per person per day. Relying on TNN, back then I didn’t spend even a day in the human world for two months. There are also two pretty Chinese girls acting as translators; the cost to entertain each of them per day is 150 yuan, while it only costs 20 yuan per day to buy meat and other foods for him in the cafeteria. 2. During the operation while the vehicle was in motion, Casali also monitored everything throughout the process, showing great responsibility. After the operation, the gas composition data originally provided by Casali was largely overturned; in order to stabilize the temperature, a large amount of inert components were added. But even so, the cycle ratio is only around 3. The circulation ratio is very small. The compressor is similar to some of those used in my 100,000-ton unit before. The steam consumption is only 13 tons more than 100,000 tons. However, its energy consumption is very low. 100,000 tons, but the designed fresh gas volume is 40,000 tons; the rated gas intake is 3.92/450, which equals 32 tons. For my project, the fresh gas volume is 285,000 tons, with a rated gas intake of 2.5/385, which equals 45 tons. Fresh gas: 285,000; Recycled gas: 570,000. Very low! 3. The alcohol content in the export product is the highest I have ever seen. It can reach around 13%; such a high alcohol content creates the conditions for a low circulation rate. 4. The amount of catalyst required is very large; a tower with dimensions of 3800*21.6 requires 120 cubic meters of catalyst. For very large-scale methanol production, there is only one tower. It seems that only this one place can do this right now. I’ve seen David’s 900,000-tower; it’s called a tower, but there’s a pre-synthesis tower in front of it – who knows what he intends to do. As for Luchi and the others, most of them use configurations such as dual towers in parallel. 5. Low circulation volume and high conversion rates inevitably lead to high temperatures; the temperature in the tower I use is much higher than that in other types of towers. A interlock system is in place, with an alarm set at 290 degrees, and the interlock activation points at 300 and 320 degrees. At the same time, high temperatures and low circulation rates inevitably lead to an increase in side reactions. When the tower was operating at low load, the ethanol level was 3000; once the load increased, it rose to around 5000. Distillation also proved to be very difficult, with the product failing to meet the required standards frequently. It took two months before things finally stabilized. In my opinion, lack of experience is one factor, but the poor quality of the crude alcohol is also the main reason. 6. During operation, the requirements regarding the pressure difference between the process gas side and the water side are too strict. In order to control the high temperature and reduce the pressure in the steam drum, this inevitably leads to an increase in the pressure difference. Normal operations are carried out at the edge of the allowed pressure difference range, and it’s easy to exceed that limit if not careful. But if this exceeds the limit, there’s a heavy penalty for exceeding the temperature threshold, haha. 7. Issues such as those related to the manufacturing of the synthesis tower shell can result in poor gas distribution, with the temperature differences across the surface being around 10°C. Kasali has entered the Chinese market and is seeing rapid development. Many large-scale projects, such as Tianrun Fertilizer, Huating Jiutai Energy, Donghua Energy, Changqing Energy, Jinchengtai, Shanghai Coking, and Phase III of Wei Hua, use this technology. If the problem of high temperatures can be resolved, this technology will undoubtedly capture an increasingly larger share of the market thanks to its advantages such as low energy consumption, high conversion rates, large catalyst capacity, and the smallest synthesis towers available for a given scale. . . . . The situation of those manufacturing synthesis towers in China is concerning. Several of these large projects were won by domestic companies. It’s not cost-effective to introduce technology on a small scale, but there are no small scales left nowadays. How can those in China who manufacture synthesis towers survive? After all these years of producing synthetic ammonia, domestic synthesis towers still lack a competitive advantage. Chemical industry professionals must rise up and reflect