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The methanol synthesis tower for Ningxia Baofeng Energy’s 600,000 tons/year olefin project was successfully shipped from Dongguo Deyang. Author/Source: China Chengda Engineering Co., Ltd. Date: 2019-09-20 Views: 146. On September 18, the methanol synthesis tower – the key equipment in the 2.2 million tons per year methanol production facility based on the JM Davy process technology, designed by China Chengda Engineering Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “China Chengda”) and manufactured by Dongfang Boiler Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Dongguo”) – was manufactured domestically for the first time and successfully shipped from Dongguo Deyang for use in Ningxia Baofeng Energy Group Co., Ltd.’s 600,000 tons/year olefin project. This is yet another successful example of China Chengda using design and research and development to promote the localization of core equipment for chemical processing plants, breaking the monopoly on foreign equipment design and manufacturing and addressing the problems associated with long-term reliance on imports, as well as long production cycles and high manufacturing costs. Since the introduction of JM Davy’s methanol synthesis process in 2007, Sinochem Chengda has designed or taken overall responsibility for constructing multiple methanol plants using this technology; the core equipment for such plants, namely the methanol synthesis tower, has had to be imported. One of the major advantages of this device is its high production capacity; aside from transportation constraints, scaling up is hardly limited by structural factors. But it has a complex structure, requiring high design and manufacturing capabilities. Since 2011, China Chengda has been dedicated to the research on the domestic design of this equipment, leveraging its expertise in equipment design, employing advanced finite element analysis techniques, and investing substantial human resources as well as specialized hardware and software. Parametric modeling of the equipment was implemented, along with automatic calculation of the length of the heat exchange tubes; furthermore, a segmented support plate structure was designed for the horizontal assembly of this equipment, which received high recognition from patent holder JM Davy. The methanol synthesis tower shipped this time is the largest-capacity synthesis tower in JM Davy’s coal-based methanol plant. The equipment has a net weight of 512 tons and an inner diameter of 4394 mm. It represents another successful example of China Chengda utilizing process package technology in the chemical industry to promote the localization of key equipment through design; in the future, design will also play a role in facilitating the export of domestically produced equipment.