【Major Chemical Equipment in China】017 – Domestic production of large-scale EO reactors
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The past decade has been a period of rapid development in China’s chemical industry, marked by the emergence of many new processes, products, and equipment. There has also been significant progress in China’s chemical processing equipment, which has contributed to the swift advancement of the petrochemical sector. Here, we have compiled some of the achievements and breakthroughs made by Chinese equipment manufacturers in terms of larger-scale production and greater use of domestic equipment. We invite everyone to share their insights and discuss these topics together; let’s cheer for Made in China and support the development of chemical processing equipment! *********************************** On April 20, 2009, Nanhua Company signed a contract with Yangzi Petrochemical for the manufacture of a large-scale EO reactor. This reactor has a maximum diameter of 7 meters, a length of 22 meters, and a weight of 830 tons; its total cost was 120 million yuan. The first time a large-scale EO reactor was manufactured, every aspect presented challenges: quality control for tube sheet welding, machining, corrosion-resistant layer cladding, and drilling; control of the ovality of the cylinder sections and the misalignment between them; fabrication and assembly of the grilles; quality control for pipe end welding; heat treatment and non-destructive testing; and even lifting operations during the later stages of equipment manufacturing. Focusing on these challenges, Nanhua Machinery identified 12 key topics across 4 areas, and organized relevant experts to work on solving them. They achieved important innovative results such as the \"turtle-back\" design for tube sheet cladding, the \"plum blossom pile\" invention for grid fabrication, the \"steering wheel\" mold for tube section rounding, and the design of tube end welding processes, paving the way for localization. On September 22, 2011, Yangzi Petrochemical’s large-scale EO reactor was completed. The key technical parameters of the equipment have reached world-class levels, marking the localization of high-end static equipment for large-scale ethylene production, which China has long relied on imports for. This EO reactor, which used domestic materials for the first time, has been operating stably since its commissioning, with no reports of quality issues.
【Major Chemical Equipment in a Global Powerhouse】Series Summary Post https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3312079-1-1.html (Source: Huahai Chuanliu – Haichuan Chemical Forum Website)
On December 20, 2010, the first large-scale high-end petrochemical equipment developed and manufactured in China – the ethylene oxide reactor with duplex steel heat exchange tubes – was produced at the Chemical Machinery Plant of Nanjing Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. The ethylene oxide reactor is a fixed-tube-sheet type thick-walled reactor; its material selection and manufacturing process are complex, and it requires very high technical standards as well as stringent safety requirements. The ethylene oxide reactor, which is set to be sent to the site of Asia’s largest diol ether production facility, has an inner diameter of 4.7 meters, a wall thickness of 90 millimeters, a length of 17 meters, and a weight of over 300 tons.
As a major manufacturing base for custom-sized equipment in Sinopec, every EO reactor produced by Nanhua Machinery embodies innovation. The large EO reactor in the Gulei refining and chemical integration project has a maximum diameter of 7.84 meters, making it the equipment with the largest diameter to have been manufactured to date. Nanhua Machinery proposed replacing the manhole with an opening in the last grid, which optimized the reactor structure and was recognized by the patent holder. Manufactured using the Gulei EO reactor, Nanhua Machinery has also been recognized by patent holders as a global qualified manufacturer. Last March, Nanhua Machinery won a \"rush order\" for the manufacturing of 6 critical pieces of equipment for the Zhenhai facility, including two large-scale EO reactors; those two EO reactors were delivered to the Zhenhai facility in advance and installed there. In the past, the international procurement cycle for EO reactors was over 3 years. Nanhua Machinery successfully manufactured China’s first large-scale EO reactor, reducing the production cycle to 22 months. The manufacturing of the EO reactor at the Zhenhai facility took only 15 months, at full capacity.