【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】Domestic production of seals for rich gas compressors in catalytic units from 2018 to 2021

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The chemical processing industry has seen significant development over the past decade; may China remain prosperous and strong. Wishing everyone a happy New Year, and may their families be safe and healthy. I hope this contribution will encourage more people to participate in discussions; with your involvement, Haichuan becomes even better. Everyone is welcome to join in the forum discussions. ********************************************** The rich gas compressor in catalytic units raises the pressure of the rich gas from the distillation system and sends it to the absorption system – it is an essential piece of equipment for the proper operation of the entire catalytic unit. The rich gas compressor has a total of fifteen sealing stages, but sealing technology is not available in China. Its main function is to prevent gas from the high-pressure chamber from leaking into the low-pressure chamber, as this directly affects the compressor’s performance and energy consumption. In 2017, Bohai Equipment Petrochemical Equipment Company carried out research and development on domestic sealing solutions for rich gas compressors. Faced with unknown areas, the company’s technical staff consulted industry materials, visited clients, and studied the structural features, operating characteristics, and technical requirements of compressors. During the product design phase, technical staff made 50 trips to the site for data comparison and measurements, and together with their partners they overcame various technical challenges such as unit mapping, material research, processing techniques, and tooling design. In 2019, the grade-7 inter-stage seal was used for the first time in Lanzhou Petrochemical Company’s 1.4 million-ton per year catalytic cracking unit, achieving stable operation for 28 months. In April 2021, the grade-8 partition seal was put into use, resulting in a reduction of the compressor’s speed by about 10% and a 280% decrease in compressor vibration levels. This led to a savings of 7.4 tons of steam per hour for the compressor turbine, thereby saving customers significant amounts of money. On October 11, 2021, the grade-8 diaphragm sealing device developed jointly by Bohai Equipment Petrochemical Equipment Company and Lanzhou Petrochemical Company has been operating stably for 181 days, with all performance indicators meeting the expected standards. This marks a new breakthrough achieved by Bohai Equipment Company after 4 years of continuous efforts – the localization of seals for the rich gas compressors in catalytic refining units.