【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】Large-scale Ethylene Cracking Furnace Exhaust Fans from 1954 to 2017
Thread Content
This post was last edited by Desert Fish on 2023-7-16 at 11:17. Ten years of remarkable progress in chemical technology – let’s celebrate the prosperity and strength of modern China. This is just a starting point; more contributions from everyone will make the discussions even more lively. Haichuan becomes even better with your participation; we welcome everyone to engage more in discussions on this forum. It’s hot in July, so be careful to prevent fires. --------------------------------------------- The cracking furnace is the starting point of the ethylene production process, and its role is to crack raw materials such as light hydrocarbons into smaller molecular olefins. The exhaust fan at the top of the furnace is a key device for maintaining negative pressure in the pyrolysis furnace chamber, ensuring proper combustion of the fuel, and guaranteeing the safety of the furnace. A failure of this fan can not only affect the production capacity of the facility but also lead to an automatic shutdown due to the negative pressure in the furnace chamber, as well as sudden interruptions in the supply of fuel gas and materials. In severe cases, it may even cause accidents such as tube rupture or furnace explosion. Material interruptions can also cause the unmoving material in the furnace tubes to coking, blocking the tubes and resulting in significant economic losses. The pyrolysis furnace exhaust fan is installed on the steel platform at the top of the pyrolysis furnace, at a height of about 50 meters above the ground. To reduce the potential damage caused by fan vibration to the platform and the pyrolysis furnace itself, the fan is equipped with a integral base along with shock absorbers; the design requirement is that the vibration level of the fan’s bearings should not exceed 2.8 mm/s ； Due to the high installation position of the fan, it is not possible to supply cooling water; therefore, the fan bearings must be cooled by air, which imposes very high requirements on their lubrication and cooling. Currently, only a very few companies in China have the capability to develop such fans. In November 2017, the Ventilation Company of SHENGU Group received a letter of thanks from CNOOC Huizhou Petrochemical Co., Ltd. – the company thanked the Ventilation Company for the successful first startup of the induced draft fan equipment for the ethylene plant’s cracking furnace; the equipment has been operating well at the customer’s site and has successfully produced qualified products. This is a clear affirmation by users of SHENGU’s position in the induced draft fan industry——
On the afternoon of April 1, 2020, the 5 pyrolyzer induced draft fans supplied by Datong Baofu for the 400,000-ton-per-year light hydrocarbon pyrolysis unit of Heilongjiang Longyou Petrochemical Co., Ltd.’s 5.5 million tons per year heavy oil catalytic thermal cracking and 950,000 tons per year polyolefin project were successfully delivered from the factory. These were the first pyrolysis furnace exhaust fans developed by the company, and as a result, Datong Baofu joined the ranks of leading manufacturers in the research, development, and design of centrifugal ventilators.
After securing the contract for the wind turbine equipment for this project, Datong Baofu promptly established a project development team to formulate the best approaches for various aspects such as turbine design, manufacturing, quality assurance, and commissioning. During the period of COVID-19 prevention and control, the company ensured that both epidemic control measures and project progress were carried out efficiently, so as to guarantee that the equipment was delivered on time, in good quality, and in the required quantity. On March 31, 2020, the operational test of the last induced draft fan was successfully completed. The maximum bearing vibration value during the operational tests of all 5 fans in this project was 1.8 mm/s, which is well below the design requirement of 2.8 mm/s.
On May 28, 2021, the 800,000 tons per year ethylene steam cracking unit of Fujian Gulei’s integrated refining and chemical project was successfully commissioned, marking the full onset of the operation and feeding phase. The Gulei refining and chemical integration project is the largest petrochemical cooperation project across the Taiwan Strait to date, and it plays an important role in driving and setting an example for Fujian Province to further develop its key industries and accelerate industrial transformation. The project features a total of 8 pyrolysis furnaces, and Datong Baofu provided all the induced draft fan equipment for these furnaces.