Is the Rums SRT ethane cracking ethylene furnace equipped with a primary quencher or a secondary quencher?

Sinopec Refining & Chemical’s H-007 pyrolyzer is a CBL-R type gas pyrolyzer that utilizes patented technology from Sinopec. Using ethane, LPG, and naphtha as raw materials, its maximum production capacity is 300,000 tons of ethylene per year from ethane; the capacity for pyrolyzing LPG and naphtha is 250,000 tons of ethylene per year and 200,000 tons of ethylene per year respectively, with an annual operating time of 8,000 hours. This pyrolysis furnace was designed using Sinopec’s patented technologies and new technologies for which domestic and international invention patents have been granted. The process package was developed jointly by SEI, Beijing Institute of Chemical Technology, and Tianhua Nanjing Research Institute, with SEI taking on the overall project management. This cracking furnace features a structure with two furnaces and a single convection section (one of the furnaces is used for cracking naphtha), a dumbbell-shaped conventional quenching heat exchanger equipped with 2-1-1-1 type furnace tubes having large bends at the bottom (one of the furnaces utilizes two-stage quenching), a burner that provides full-bottom heating to minimize nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, and a technology that recirculates coking gas back into the furnace. It offers advantages such as flexible operation and high availability, low NOx emissions, a high proportion of domestically produced components (the quenching heat exchangers and burners are all manufactured in China), as well as energy efficiency and environmental protection. Split-chamber pyrolysis and split-chamber coking operations can be carried out, enhancing the operational flexibility of the ethylene plant. After feeding the material, the flue gas temperature in the pyrolysis furnace is around 100°C, with a thermal efficiency of about 95%. The exit temperature of the rapid cooling heat exchanger is around 340°C, while the exit temperature of the secondary rapid cooling heat exchanger is approximately 210°C. All these parameters meet or exceed the design specifications, placing the system at an internationally leading level. This is China’s first 300,000-ton-class CBL gas feedstock cracking furnace built using proprietary patented technology; it was included in Sinopec’s group company development projects for 2017. Its successful implementation represents a new breakthrough in the enlargement, serialization, and environmental friendliness of CBL cracking furnaces; it is also another successful example of the modular and standardized design approach adopted by SEI. It will lay a solid foundation for the newly built 1.5 million-ton ethylene plants and for expanding operations on the international stage.

On October 3, with the assistance of a 1,000-ton crawler crane used as the main lifting device and an 80-ton crawler crane for supporting the load, the first quench reactor for Yantai Wanhua’s 1 million tons per year ethylene cracker, constructed by Shijian, was successfully lifted into place, marking the beginning of the installation of the cracker’s quench reactors. The ethylene project is equipped with a total of 6 cracking furnaces. Furnaces 1 to 5 each consist of 8 primary quenchers and 2 secondary quenchers; the primary quenchers have dimensions of 24 meters by 3.8 meters and weigh 30 tons each ； The secondary quencher is 14 meters by 2.2 meters and weighs 56.1 tons. Criser No. 6 consists of 3 primary quenchers and 2 secondary quenchers. The primary quenchers have dimensions of 21 meters by 7 meters and weigh 24 tons each, while the secondary quenchers have dimensions of 7.6 meters by 2 meters and weigh 28 tons, and 14 meters by 2.5 meters and weigh 52 tons. All the quenchers are manufactured by the German company Borsig. As imported equipment, they are of high precision and come in carefully packaged form. For a quencher weighing over 30 tons, the equipment used for protecting the finished wood products and the tools required for unloading weigh more than 3 tons each; thus, very strict requirements are imposed on lifting operations. There are many challenges associated with lifting this equipment. Firstly, the steel structure has already been completed, and the lifting of the quench tank requires sequential installation; any collisions are not allowed ； Secondly, the lifting height is over 55 meters, making it highly sensitive to wind conditions; when the weather permits, it is necessary for the lifting crew to act swiftly and complete the lifting as quickly as possible.

I don’t know much about ethylene, but I’ll take a bold guess: generally, the pyrolysis gas exits the pyrolysis furnace and first passes through a linear quencher before entering an oil-cooling tower. The function of the oil-cooling tower is mainly to cool the gas and separate out the heavier pyrolysis fuel oils. In the case of Rums, ethylene is produced from ethane; firstly, the cracking temperature is not as high as that in the case of naphtha, and the amount of cracking fuel oil in the cracking gas is likely to be low, so an oil cooling tower can be omitted! I’m not sure if the analysis is correct!

Ethane has a higher cracking temperature than naphtha; its cracking products contain less heavy fractions and a higher content of methane and hydrogen. The oil phase produced by naphtha cracking has a higher molecular weight; low temperatures result in high viscosity, which hinders operation. It is also necessary to generate low pressure and dilute steam by taking advantage of the high temperature of the oil.

This should be a CBL-R furnace (gas pyrolysis furnace). Sinopec has used CBL furnaces, starting with the first generation from Liaoyang Petrochemical, and has seen several generations of upgrades over time

A type of cracking furnace designed and developed by Sinopec Group (C stands for China, B for North, and L for furnace). Adaptable to various feedstocks of different weights, from ethane to hydrogenated tail oil. For gaseous feedstocks, a four-pass furnace tube (2-1-1-1) is generally used, with a residence time ranging from 0.4 to 0.8 seconds ； For liquid feedstocks, highly selective two-pass furnace tubes (type 2-1, improved type 2-1, type 4-1, etc.) are generally used. This pyrolyzer features technical advantages such as strong adaptability to raw materials, flexible operation, high pyrolysis selectivity, and low energy consumption for ethylene production.