【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Processing Equipment】751–2022: Quanzhou’s energy-efficient and advanced continuous reforming technology – Awarded the Special Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress by the Chinese Chemical Society
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This post was last edited by Desert Fish on 2022-12-26 at 19:43. Witnessing the ten-year rapid development of chemical processing equipment, we celebrate the prosperity and strength of modern China. More people’s participation makes things even more lively; HaiChuan becomes even better with you in it. This is just a tentative start – we welcome everyone to engage more actively in discussions on this forum. Replies will be rewarded; feel free to discuss! ------------------------------------------------- Recently, the project \"Development and Industrial Application of New Energy-Efficient Continuous Reforming Units\" won the Special Prize for Scientific and Technological Progress from the Chinese Chemical Society. This project developed a new process for counter-current continuous reforming, and innovated in the design of key equipment and engineering technologies for such processes, as well as in heat-energy coupling energy-saving techniques. The results of this project have been successfully applied to the 2.6 million tons per year continuous reforming unit at Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd., marking a breakthrough in the development of large-scale domestic continuous reforming units from scratch. “The “Development and Industrial Application of Energy-saving and High-efficiency New Continuous Reforming Plant Systems” project was mainly carried out by Sinopec Engineering Construction Co., Ltd., the Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology of Sinopec Corporation, Tsinghua University, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd., and the Jinan Branch of Sinopec Corporation. The 2.6 million tons per year continuous reforming unit at Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical utilizes this process technology. By adopting a catalyst counterflow circulation system that is the first of its kind in China, as well as innovations in key equipment such as new reforming reactors and regenerators, and by applying energy-saving techniques such as coupling the heat energy from reforming with that from aromatic compounds, the unit manages to increase the yield of aromatics by 1 percentage point, the yield of C5+ liquids by 0.5 percentage point, and the yield of pure hydrogen by 0.2 percentage point ； Device energy consumption is reduced by 5%, while the energy consumption of the reforming-aromatics complex is decreased by 17% ； Catalyst wear is reduced by 57-82%.
After the completion of the 2.6 million tons per year continuous reforming unit project, Sinochem Quanzhou Petrochemical has continued to optimize its operations. Process performance was optimized through thorough communication with design firms and patent holders. Technical measures such as optimizing the temperature distribution in various reactors and adjusting the water-chlorine balance of the catalyst to maintain its optimal activity resulted in outstanding plant performance: the aromatics yield increased by 1 percentage point, the C5+ liquid yield increased by 0.5 percentage point, and the pure hydrogen yield increased by 0.2 percentage point compared to conventional reforming units. Focus on energy conservation and cost reduction, and strive for breakthroughs in increasing production and efficiency. Promote the application of relevant technologies: Use new technologies to improve the efficiency of heating furnaces. The fuel gas consumption in the continuous reforming heater represents the main energy consumption factor of the plant. By using efficient burners with a low excess air coefficient, low nitrogen oxide emissions, and low noise levels, as well as high-efficiency air preheaters, the flue gas temperature can be reduced by 90°C or more. This reduces smoke and exhaust losses, thereby decreasing carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions. As a result, the average thermal efficiency of the heater reaches 94.5%, which is at the leading level in the industry.
As the first innovation pilot in China to use 0.45MPa steam as the driving force for reforming units, the cleanliness of the steam pipelines is crucial to ensuring the stable operation of the units. The diameter of the steam pipeline at 0.45 MPa is 1 meter; there are no cases of similar systems featuring steam purging using pipes of this caliber that have been successfully applied to power turbines. The team conducted multiple reviews and revisions of the plan, calculated the parameters for steam purging, and optimized the purging process in terms of pipeline layout and other aspects. To improve the effectiveness of steam purging and reduce steam consumption, measures such as pre-treatment of pipe fittings, inspection after each weld is completed and on-site protection, advance preparation of temporary facilities for steam purging, ensuring proper insulation of the pipes, and thorough inspection and disassembly of specific sections of the pipes have been implemented. Experienced team members were assigned to form a steam purging team; on one hand, they carefully inspected the condition of the steam pipelines on site, and on the other hand, they took advantage of the company’s designated window for steam purging to carry out the process on a round-the-clock basis. Through repeated operations such as introducing air to warm the pipes, cooling down to drain liquid, and installing target plates, the pipeline steam purging and targeting process was ultimately completed successfully, ensuring the stable operation of the machine set over extended periods of time.
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