【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Engineering Equipment】The First Packed Coal Gasification Demonstration Furnace in China, Built by Puyang Longyu from 1970 to 2008

The HT-L pressurized coal gasification furnace is the first pressurized coal gasification furnace independently designed and manufactured by Beijing Aerospace Wanyuan Coal Chemical Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., which is affiliated with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, for Puyang Longyu Chemical Company of Henan Yongmei Group. It is known as the “first furnace developed by the aerospace industry”. This system was designated by the National Development and Reform Commission as a key project under the 11th Five-Year Plan for the industrialization of high-tech technologies in the field of circular economy, and it received 15 million yuan in special funding support, becoming a demonstration project for the coal chemical industry. According to aerospace experts, this demonstration project has broad market prospects; it is expected that by 2010 its market share will reach 3 billion to 5 billion yuan, making it one of the benchmarks for products utilizing specialized aerospace technologies. 　　For a long time, the pressurized coal gasification process has been monopolized by foreign companies such as Shell. It is reported that there are currently two types of clean and efficient coal gasification technologies that have been put into industrial use worldwide: GE’s Texaco water-coal slurry pressurized gasification technology and Shell’s Shell pulverized coal pressurized gasification technology. A certain number of these technologies have been adopted by large nitrogen fertilizer and methanol manufacturers in China. However, these gasification technologies are all foreign patented technologies; the patent fees are high, some key equipment relies on imports, the investment required is substantial, and technical support is difficult to obtain, making it hard to promote their widespread use in China. Therefore, whether from a techno-economic perspective or from the standpoint of **energy strategic security, it is necessary to develop domestic coal gasification technologies that are efficient, clean, and adaptable to various types of coal, and that possess independent intellectual property rights. The total investment in this facility is nearly 600 million yuan, with a construction period of 18 months. Once the facility meets the required standards and starts operating, Puyang Longyu Chemical’s production capacity will increase from the current 120,000 tons per year to 200,000 tons per year. The cost per ton of methanol will drop by 400 yuan, resulting in an annual increase in profits and taxes of 120 million yuan.

Compared to Shell furnaces, space furnaces have three advantages: first, they require less investment, saving one-third of the costs for the same scale of operation； Second, the construction period is short, being one-third shorter than that of Shell boilers ； Third, the process flow is easier to operate. The successful trial operation of the space furnace represents a technological revolution in China’s coal gasification technology; it will break Shell and Texaco’s technical monopoly in this field worldwide, and China’s coal gasification units have now become domestically produced! The successful commissioning of China’s \"first aerospace furnace\" in Puyang is not only a source of pride for Yongmei Group’s Puyang Longyu, but also a source of pride for Henan Province and for the entire Chinese nation. As of October 8, 2012, during the National Day holiday, Puyang Longyu Chemical Co., Ltd., which is part of Henan Coal and Chemical Group, produced an average of 543 tons of methanol per day, for a total of 3,806.76 tons. On October 5, the company produced 556.76 tons of methanol, setting the highest daily production record since its establishment. Meanwhile, this space furnace has been in continuous operation for 210 days, setting a record for the longest operating period of a gasification furnace of this type in China.

As of 8:00 on December 27, 2012, the annual methanol production volume of the Puyang Longyu space furnace facility, which uses \"China’s first space-related furnace,\" had reached 150,800 tons, thereby achieving the annual production target set for this furnace facility. This is also the first time that the plant has reached its full production capacity in the four years since it went into operation. Meanwhile, the device operated continuously and stably for 295 days, with a specific consumption per ton of methanol of 1.51 tons of raw coal, 0.51 tons of fuel coal, and 675 kWh of electricity – all of which represent the best figures among devices of similar type. 　　Since 2012, Puyang Longyu has, in accordance with the requirements of its group company, achieved high production levels, stable output, and safe operations while keeping costs under control. This has been accomplished through measures such as optimizing the operation of production processes, strengthening the management of bulk materials as well as inventory control, and adopting strategies to reduce electricity consumption by shifting usage to off-peak times. In September, the company produced an average of 504.4 tons of methanol per day, which represented 112.1% of the plant’s designed capacity.

These are all part of history, as well as casual talk