Renovation of Qinghua coal-to-gas equipment significantly reduces component wear

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Renovation of Qinghua coal-to-gas equipment significantly reduces component wear Author/Source: Date: 2016-02-26 Clicks: 11 Recently, one year after the technical renovation of the coal lock and ash lock components in the gasifier of the Qinghua coal-to-natural gas project, only two replacements were needed for over forty sets of valves, which helped ensure the stable operation of the gasifier and greatly reduced the costs associated with equipment wear and replacement. As components frequently used in the Ruhr gasifier, coal locks and ash locks have upper and lower valves as their key parts, which need to be opened and closed repeatedly at high temperatures ； Extending the service life of the upper and lower valves of the coal lock and ash lock as much as possible is one of the key guarantees for the stable operation of the project’s gasification unit. Director Pan of the gasification workshop at the Qinghua coal-to-gas project explained that at the end of 2014, joint efforts were made with Hebei Xiaohua to carry out targeted technical upgrades on the upper and lower valves of the coal lock and ash lock. An alloy layer with high-temperature wear resistance is welded onto the sealing surface of the valve head; this alloy possesses stable high-temperature strength, high-temperature oxidation resistance, and wear resistance, and its toughness prevents cracking caused by impacts from tungsten carbide. By the end of 2015, on the first anniversary of the technical upgrade, statistics showed that out of more than 40 sets of valves, only two needed to be replaced, demonstrating significant benefits from the investment in this technical upgrade. Even on a conservative estimate, excluding the operational cost losses resulting from the shutdown of the gasification units, savings in equipment and component costs alone amount to tens of millions of yuan. It is reported that this technological upgrade has also been applied to the gasification units of various coal chemical projects in China, and monitoring during the operation period has shown significant results. The Qinghua coal-to-natural gas project is the first coal-to-gas demonstration project in Xinjiang to receive **approval. The total scale of the project construction is 5.5 billion cubic meters, with construction carried out in four phases. The first phase of this project has an annual production capacity of 1.375 billion cubic meters of coal-based natural gas. The gasification process for this project is Lurgi coal pulverization pressurized gasification, utilizing 16 Lurgi MARK-IV gasifiers. Thanks to the efforts of all parties, the first phase of Qinghua Group’s 5.5 billion cubic meters per year coal-to-natural gas project has been operating steadily since its commissioning in November 2013, with a monthly production volume of nearly 100 million cubic meters. At the same time, the installation, commissioning, and joint trial operation of the LNG plant were completed, allowing LNG products to be produced, which further extended the industrial chain for coal-to-natural gas conversion. At present, the second phase of the coal-to-natural gas project is being implemented smoothly and with full effort.