【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Processing Equipment】The World’s First Residue Tank at 220°C, 1032–2022

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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 your involvement; we welcome everyone to take part more actively in the forum discussions. Be careful with fire risks as the heat increases in July. ---------------------------------------------- On April 17, 2022, the world’s first residue storage tank complex capable of withstanding storage temperatures of 220°C was completed at the site of the Guangdong Petrochemical integration project, designed by CNPC East China Design Institute Co., Ltd. 　　This group of storage tanks serves as intermediate tanks to receive vacuum residue from the atmospheric and vacuum distillation units; it comprises 4 residue dome tanks with a capacity of 10,000 cubic meters each. These are the storage tanks designed to hold residue at the highest temperatures in China, and they represent a milestone for East China Institute in the field of research on technologies for storing and transporting high-temperature, high-viscosity oils. 　　As oil resources become increasingly scarce, the proportion of heavy and low-quality crude oils in the world’s crude oil supply is rising. This leads to more severe problems associated with the high-temperature storage of such low-quality, high-viscosity vacuum residue, thereby placing higher demands on the design of systems for storing and transporting oils at high temperatures. At a storage temperature of 220°C, there are currently no successful design or construction precedents worldwide for technologies such as preventing foundation cracking, tank deformation, pipeline stress calculation, and tank construction. It is understood that Heavy Oil Intermediate Tank Group I consists of 4 storage tanks with a designed capacity of 40,000 cubic meters, and is primarily used to receive and store vacuum residue produced by the atmospheric and vacuum distillation units. Due to production requirements, this tank set must be capable of storing high-temperature residue at 220°C, whereas the maximum storage temperature for similar residue tanks in China is currently 70–80°C. Extremely high temperatures not only have a significant impact on the foundation and tank body of oil tanks, but also pose unprecedented difficulties in their design and construction. The Storage and Transportation Department of Guangdong Petrochemical, along with the East China Design Institute, drew on advanced foreign experiences and conducted thorough evaluations; ultimately, an upward feeding method was adopted for feed intake ； Q235B steel is used for the upper part of the tank plate, while Q345R steel is used for the lower part ； The bottom of the tank is insulated by using ordinary sintered bricks with ventilation holes. To prevent thermal expansion of the tanks, the ring walls of the 4 storage tanks are made of C60 micro-expansive reinforced concrete; meanwhile, high-temperature resistant anti-corrosion coatings have been applied to both sides of the ring walls, effectively addressing the impact of high-temperature residue oil on the foundations and tanks during use. 　　At present, the main construction of this tank assembly has been completed, and anti-corrosion work on the tanks is underway; it is expected to meet the handover conditions by May 30.