【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】666-2022: China Petrochemical’s independently developed first helium purification unit was completed at the Chongqing Petroleum LNG plant
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This post was last edited by Desert Fish on 2022-12-12 at 23:13. Watch the decade-long development of chemical processing equipment; praise the prosperity and strength of modern China. Replies are rewarded – discussions are welcome. -------------------------------------------This article was originally shared as an industry update; it has been compiled into this series. China Petrochemical’s first helium purification unit, developed independently, achieved successful operation at the Chongqing Petroleum LNG plant, producing high-purity helium of satisfactory quality. This project can produce over 20 tons of high-purity helium with a purity of 99.999% per year. Helium features low density, low boiling point, good thermal conductivity, and stable chemical properties, and is widely used in high-tech fields such as aerospace, the electronics industry, and biomedicine. However, our country has relatively scarce helium resources, and the technology for extracting helium is underdeveloped; over 95% of helium resources rely on imports. At present, helium resources with practical application value come solely from helium-containing natural gas, and it is necessary to effectively purify and utilize helium. Due to the complex composition of natural gas exhaust, the kinetic diameters of methane, nitrogen, and helium molecules are very similar, making it extremely difficult to extract helium. This helium purification project utilizes key technologies such as highly efficient deep dehydrogenation and membrane-based helium separation, which were independently developed by the Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Technology under Sinopec, thereby achieving innovations and breakthroughs from process development to industrial application technology. To date, BEIC has filed 14 Chinese invention patents and 2 foreign patents for related technologies. The helium for this project comes from Chongqing Petroleum’s LNG plant; by purifying the plant’s exhaust gases, which are rich in helium and hydrogen, waste is transformed into a valuable resource, yielding helium products with a purity of 99.999%. Over the years, Sinopec has focused on making breakthroughs in key core technologies by organizing \"ten-dragon\" technology research projects. Next, Sinopec will develop iterative processes tailored to the low abundance of helium resources in China, in order to further reduce the energy consumption of these processes, improve their stability, and enhance China’s helium production capacity, thus meeting the needs of the country’s economic development.
The Fuling LNG plant is a key project jointly developed by Sinopec and Chongqing Municipality, with a designed production capacity of 3 million cubic meters per day, resulting in an annual output of 680,000 tons of liquefied natural gas. It will be built in 3 phases. Since March 2018, the Fuling LNG plant of Sinopec Chongqing Petroleum Branch has been supplying Fuling shale gas to users such as gas stations in surrounding areas including Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan, Guizhou, and Hubei, as well as for domestic heating and small-scale industrial use; this gas is known as “Fuling Gas”. At the end of 2018, when technicians analyzed the exhaust gases produced by the Fuling LNG plant, they found that the helium content in those gases was as high as 15%, a figure that is significantly higher than that of similar plants in the industry. Upon learning the significant fact that the exhaust gases produced by the Fuling LNG plant were rich in helium, the company immediately decided to overcome all obstacles in order to establish a helium purification facility, determined to turn those exhaust gases into a source of benefit. Purifying helium is difficult, especially the purification of high-purity helium. Faced with technological blockades, independence and self-reliance become the only options. Sinopec included the helium purification project at the Fuling LNG plant in its \"Ten Dragon\" scientific research initiative, marking the beginning of a four-year effort focused on independent development. In 2018, preliminary research on helium extraction technology from Fuling shale gas was initiated ； In March 2019, several engineering, production, and research institutions under Sinopec collaborated to undertake the project titled \"Development of Technology for Helium Recovery from BOG Gases in LNG Plants\" ； In April 2021, the research results were approved by the group’s Science and Technology Department; in April of the following year, they passed the initial process validation review conducted by the Chongqing Emergency Management Bureau, and the technology and safety aspects of the project were recognized by all relevant parties. According to Dong Xu, the person in charge of this research project, the helium purification project at the Fuling LNG plant has achieved several technological innovations. To date, 3 foreign patents and 16 Chinese invention patents have been applied for, successfully overcoming the critical bottleneck in helium purification technology. Among them, the helium purification membrane was independently developed in China for the first time, breaking through certain technical blockades in the field of polymer materials specifically designed for helium separation membranes.
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【Ten Years of Great Development in Chemical Equipment】The summary post is being updated continuously; feel free to join the discussion at https://bbs.hcbbs.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=3576046 (Source: Haichuan Network – Chemical Ocean Currents)
At present, helium resources with practical application value come solely from helium-containing natural gas, and it is necessary to effectively purify and utilize helium. Due to the complex composition of natural gas exhaust, the kinetic diameters of methane, nitrogen, and helium molecules are very similar, making it extremely difficult to extract helium.