【Major Equipment in the Chemical Equipment Industry】Domestic production of 4.2MPa high-pressure plate heat exchangers for 073-ethylene glycol plants

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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 localization of such equipment. We invite everyone to share their insights and discuss these topics together, to cheer for Made in China and to support the development of chemical processing equipment! *********************************** On May 7, 2021, the product of the project aimed at achieving domestic production of 4.2MPa high-pressure plate heat exchangers for ethylene glycol plants, which is part of Sinopec’s major equipment development initiatives and was carried out jointly by Shanghai Lanbin Petrochemical Equipment Co., Ltd. affiliated with Lanke High-Tech, Sinopec’s customers, and Sinopec Shanghai Engineering Co., Ltd., passed the factory acceptance test at Shanghai Lanbin. The fully welded high-pressure plate-shell heat exchanger made of 254SMo with a design pressure of 4.2 Mpa meets the requirements of the contract for the development of domestic technologies for major equipment. The design took into full account potential failure modes, and experimental studies were conducted on materials, forming, welding, and corrosion resistance, resulting in reliable forming and welding processes. The lean absorption water cooler and the lean absorption water subcooler are key heat exchange devices in newly built large-scale ethylene glycol plants in China. To address critical issues such as high product pressure (design pressure of 4.2 MPa), corrosion resistance (due to high concentrations of chloride ions in the cooling water), and limitations imposed by the large size of the equipment, at the beginning of 2021, the Sinopec Office for the Localization of Major Equipment approved a project titled “Localization of 4.2 MPa high-pressure plate heat exchangers for ethylene glycol plants.” Building on the compact structure, high heat transfer efficiency, and ease of maintenance of Shanghai Lanbin’s fully welded plate-shell heat exchangers, this project overcame various key technical challenges, including the development of high-pressure plate designs, progressive forming techniques for 254SMo flexible sheets, welding of thin 254SMo sheets while ensuring corrosion resistance, and enhancing the reliability of the overall structure. As a result, the limits on the load-bearing capacity of wide-plate plate-shell heat exchangers both domestically and internationally were surpassed, thereby breaking the technical monopoly held by foreign patent holders. The successful development of this product plays a significant leading role in promoting technological progress in China’s equipment manufacturing industry, as well as in advancing energy-saving and consumption-reduction technologies in the country’s petroleum refining and chemical industries.