【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】From 1964 to 2011, China’s first set of automatic sector valves at the bottom of coke towers was successfully put into use in the Cangzhou coking plant

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Happy May Day 2024! Safety first. Let’s give praise and support to the achievements made in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment. **********************【Ten Years of Progress in Chemical Engineering Equipment】Regular updates and summaries are available; feel free to join the discussions at https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html (Source: Haichuan Chemical Engineering Forum) ***************** In February 2011, China’s first set of automatic sector valves for coke tower bottoms was successfully installed at the Cangzhou Refining and Coking plant. After nearly a month of operation, it has performed stably and safely, with excellent results, while also being environmentally friendly and labor-saving. 　　In the past, during each coking cycle in the coking unit of Refining Department 3 at Cangzhou Refining & Chemical Co., it was necessary to manually remove the bottom cover of the coking tower. The bottom cover has a diameter of 1.6 meters; several workers will be needed to use pneumatic wrenches to remove 48 sets of large bolts with a diameter of 30 millimeters, as well as the pipe flanges with a diameter of 250 millimeters. Moreover, after the defocusing is completed, manual effort is required to reinstall the bottom cover in place. The entire process is dirty and labor-intensive, requiring about 15 minutes of work each time for disassembly and assembly. At the same time, during the disassembly process, there is often hot water at temperatures of seventy to eighty degrees in the coke tower, and carelessness can lead to burns, posing a threat to the safety of the workers. 　　The automatic sector valve at the bottom of the coke tower is part of a new product development project, jointly developed by Cangzhou Refining & Chemical, SEI, and Xiangfan Hangsheng Equipment Company. Since its successful commissioning on November 24, 2010, it has fundamentally eliminated the heavy physical labor and safety risks associated with manually removing the bottom cover of the coke tower. The newly installed automatic bottom cover machine is also called a fan valve because of its fan-shaped design. In each production cycle, to remove the coke produced, it is sufficient for the coke removal workers to simply press a button; the sector valve at the bottom of the coke tower then moves sideways, allowing the coke to be removed smoothly. Once the decoking is complete, press the button again and the sector valve will return to its original position, allowing the next round of production to begin. The successful deployment of the automatic sector valve at the bottom of the coke tower ensures safety, reduces the workload for workers, and promotes environmental sustainability.