【Major Chemical Equipment】119 – Manufacturing of Large Split-Wall Columns
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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 engage in discussions, to cheer for Made in China and to support the development of chemical processing equipment! *********************************** On the morning of June 15, 2020, the partitioned column, which is one of the key equipment for the phenol and propylene unit in the second phase of Zhejiang Petrochemical’s 40 million tons per year integrated refining and chemical processing project, manufactured by ERIC (Zhenjiang) Heavy Equipment Co., Ltd. (referred to as “ERIC Zhenjiang”), was successfully loaded onto a ship at the company’s dock.
Distillation is the most mature and widely used separation technique in petrochemical production. However, the distillation process is highly energy-intensive; it is estimated that 40–70% of the energy consumption in chemical processes is used for separation, with distillation accounting for 95% of that amount. To reduce the energy consumption in distillation processes, researchers both domestically and internationally have conducted extensive studies. The partitioned column, as a typical energy-saving device for distillation or a process intensification technique for energy savings, has received considerable attention. A split-wall tower separates three or more products simultaneously by installing one or more vertical partitions or partitions at an inclined angle of a certain length within a distillation tower, along with a vaporization and condensation system. Since there is only one vaporization and condensation system, and the re-mixing of intermediate components that occurs in multi-column distillation is avoided, the split-wall distillation technique reduces investment costs by 20–30% compared to traditional distillation methods, while also cutting energy consumption by 20–40%.
The equipment is large in size but light in weight; its steel plates are thin, its surface is uneven, which makes it difficult to lift. Among them, the partition tower, which was installed for the first time today, represents the most challenging part of the lifting process; it weighs 330 tons, is 70.1 meters long, and has a maximum diameter of 8.81 meters.
More people are welcome to participate in the relevant discussions. Click on the blue link to access it: The 【HaiChuan Equipment Guessing Game】 series is being updated continuously in 2022; all equipment enthusiasts are invited to join actively! https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-2079686-1-1.html (Source: Huahai Chuanliu – Haichuan Chemical Industry Forum) Summary post on the series 【Major Equipment in the Chemical Equipment Industry】 https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3312079-1-1.html (Source: Huahai Chuanliu – Haichuan Chemical Industry Forum) Summary post discussing the components of cracking furnace equipment for 【Ethylene Cracking】 https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3308724-1-1.html (Source: Huahai Chuanliu – Haichuan Chemical Industry Forum)