【Ten Years of Great Progress in Chemical Technology】062-2018: The World’s First VCC Suspended Bed Coal Tar Hydrogenation Unit
Thread Content
Ten years of rapid development in chemical technology – praise for China’s prosperity and strength. This is just a starting point; more participation from everyone will make things even more lively. HaiChuan becomes even better with you here; we welcome everyone to participate more actively in the forum discussions. Everyone should pay attention to safety and know how to handle emergencies. ********************************************* The 1 million tons per year coal tar hydrogenation project of Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Anyuan Chemical Co., Ltd. (with an initial capacity of 500,000 tons per year), saw the completion of the entire production process on the early morning of June 19, 2018, with qualified products being produced, thus marking a successful trial run. The project is located in the Jinjie Industrial Park in Shenmu City, covering an area of 1,500 mu, with an estimated total investment of 7 billion yuan. The main facilities to be constructed include a 1.25 million tons per year coal tar pretreatment unit, a 1 million tons per year hydrocracking unit, a hydrogen production plant with a capacity of 12,000 standard cubic meters per hour, a 2,000 tons per year sulfur recovery unit, as well as supporting utility systems, auxiliary production facilities, and service-related structures. Phase I (500,000 tons) commenced construction on April 19, 2012, with a total investment of 2.395 billion yuan. Using 60,000 tons per year of coal tar produced as a by-product of the existing 600,000 tons per year lignite carbonization plant, along with 700,000 tons per year of medium-temperature coal tar generated by seven other lignite carbonization enterprises under the Yanchang Petroleum Group, the project employs natural gas to produce hydrogen and the VCC hydrogenation process to manufacture lightweight coal tar.
On July 7, 2018, the launch ceremony for Anyuan Company’s VCC device products was held. As the first truck loaded with products slowly moved away from the loading line, it marked the official launch of the world’s first VCC unit produced by Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Anyuan Chemical Co., Ltd.
Since its completion by CCCC at the end of June 2015, the VCC unit has managed to complete the entire production process during the two trial runs conducted in June and October 2018; the products were of satisfactory quality, asphalt was successfully formed, and these trial runs achieved partial success. In June this year, the unit was restarted, with the processing load of the two-stage suspended bed exceeding 80%. This device utilizes advanced hydrogenation technology to produce high-quality light wax oil and heavy wax oil using coal tar as a substitute for petroleum resources. This is the world’s first full-range high-temperature, high-pressure slurry bed hydrogenation process, featuring high technical complexity, a complicated process flow, and significant operational difficulties. Furthermore, since there is no existing experience to draw on during the operation process, the parameters must be adjusted through trial and error, **which increases the uncertainty in the operation.
In September 2020, the 500,000 tons per year suspended-bed coal tar hydrogenation (hereinafter referred to as “VCC”) unit of Yan’an Petrochemical Co., Ltd., which was under the general contract of Beijing Petrochemical Engineering Co., Ltd., has been operating steadily for over a hundred days. Both product quality and yield have reached the best levels ever achieved during previous trials, and the 72-hour performance evaluation has been completed.
As of 6 a.m. on August 21, 2020, Project 712 at Yuyu Coal Chemical Anyuan Company (the world’s first high-pressure suspended-bed coal tar hydrogenation project) had been operating stably for 73 days. During this period, a total of 62,900 tons of coal tar, 8,200 tons of light wax oil, 34,600 tons of heavy wax oil, and 4,600 tons of phenol oil were processed, with an average yield for the main products at 75.31%. At present, the main unit’s VCC is operating steadily; the processing load of the two-stage suspended bed exceeds 80%, and all parameters meet the technical requirements of the process, achieving the expected results from the commissioning phase.
It is understood that Beijing Petrochemical Engineering Co., Ltd. carried out major technical upgrades to the VCC unit. Firstly, a renovation plan was proposed to replace the built-in U-shaped elbow with an external large-radius elbow; by leaving the furnace body and internal tubes largely unchanged, the No. 2 feed heating furnace was transformed into a runway-shaped circular heating furnace. After the retrofitting for waste heat recovery, the thermal efficiency increased from 64.6% to 92.5%, resulting in annual savings of around 10 million yuan in fuel gas costs ； Secondly, the membrane separation system was upgraded, resulting in an increase in hydrogen recovery rate of about 20,000 cubic meters per hour, and an increase in the amount of fuel gas produced as a by-product of 4,000–6,000 cubic meters per hour; this led to annual cost savings of around 160 million yuan ； Thirdly, through the optimization of the process flow and the tube banks of the two spiral baffle heat exchangers, the heat exchange temperature rise of the raw material was increased from 10 degrees Celsius to 170–180 degrees Celsius, thereby significantly reducing the load on the feed heating furnace. The above design modifications were completed in 2019 and the first half of 2020. It is understood that the suspended-bed full-distillate coal tar hydrogenation unit, as one of the advanced heavy oil hydrogenation processes that have been validated on an industrial scale, addresses the process defects present in coal tar processing and enables the value-added utilization of heavy coal tar resources. It holds great prospects for industrial application, opening up new paths for the development of the petrochemical and coal chemical industries, and representing a significant technological breakthrough in the lightening of heavy coal tar.
【Ten Years of Great Progress in Chemical Technology】062 – The first domestic experimental plant for producing olefins through crude oil cracking was successfully put into operation in 2018. https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3644163-1-1.html (Source: Huahai Chuanliu – Haichuan Network)
66666666666666