【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Engineering Equipment】From 2019 to 2025, Qingdao Institute of Safety Engineering developed high-performance flame arresters for the petrochemical industry, successfully achieving domestic substitution

Thread Content

Let’s give praise and support to the achievements made in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment. Your participation in discussions is the greatest encouragement. **********************【Ten Years of Great Progress in Chemical Engineering Equipment】A continuously updated summary post is available; feel free to join the discussions: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html ***************** In recent years, the Qingdao Safety Engineering Research Institute has focused on developing key core technologies and innovative solutions for inherent safety. It has achieved significant results in replacing imported equipment with domestic alternatives; the cost of related products has been reduced by 30%–50% compared to foreign counterparts, while their fire resistance performance has improved by 35%. In total, this has helped enterprises save over 60 million yuan in costs. In December 2023, the Innovation Team for Gas-phase Combustion, Explosion, and Flame Arresting/Explosion Resistance at Anhui Institute of Technology conducted research and development experiments on detonation-type flame arresters for DN1000 pipelines at the Haiyang test site, becoming the first enterprise in China and the second in the world to master this technology for DN1000 flame arresters. A flame arrester is a key safety device in the control of VOCs to prevent major fire and explosion accidents. In recent years, with the implementation of plant-wide VOCs control projects, petrochemical companies have seen an increasing demand for large-sized flame arrestors. However, the relevant technologies are held by a few foreign manufacturers; not only are the prices high, but there are also issues such as long delivery times and difficulties in subsequent maintenance, which have gradually become bottlenecks hindering the progress of these VOCs control projects. To address this issue, the gas-phase combustion and explosion team, relying on the project titled \"Study on the Amplification Effect of Flame Arresting Mechanisms and Development of Large-Diameter Flame Arresters\" funded by the Group Company’s Science and Technology Department, formed a task force to investigate the development and quenching mechanisms of deflagration and detonation in the presence of obstacles within expansion chambers. They optimized explosion mitigation techniques and developed a design method for large-sized flame arresters. The team, in collaboration with Angong Equipment, the technology innovation incubation company affiliated with Angong Institute of Technology, successfully overcame the challenges related to the high-precision processing and assembly of large-sized flame arrestors, and completed the prototype development of DN1000 flame arrestors. After more than 2 months of testing, the flame arrester’s performance in preventing deflagration and detonation was evaluated, and both aspects met the requirements of ISO16852 standard. The successful development of the DN1000 flame arrester by Anhui Institute of Engineering is expected to gradually enable domestic substitution in this field, breaking the technical monopoly held by foreign manufacturers in the area of large-size flame arresters. On September 10, 2025, the drawer-type blast and detonation suppression flame arrester developed independently by Qingdao Safety Engineering Institute was installed and put into use at the Shengli Oil Field. This new type of flame arrester provides a solution to the problems of clogging and cleaning of flame arresters in complex oil and gas environments, offering reliable technical support for the safe and stable operation of enterprises. For a long time, key safety equipment such as flame arrestors, vent valves, and safety instrument systems has had to be imported, resulting in high procurement costs and long lead times, as well as numerous challenges in subsequent maintenance. Anhui Institute of Engineering drives technological advancement to provide strong innovative support for improving enterprise quality and reducing costs, while continuing to make efforts and overcome challenges in the field of replacing imported products with domestic alternatives for key safety equipment. Through continuous technological research and development and innovation, ANI has successfully achieved the localization of various types of key safety equipment, with performance metrics that match or even exceed those of international counterparts, along with significant cost advantages. “The domestically produced equipment we have developed, such as high-performance flame arrestors, low-leakage breathing valves, and small to medium-sized SIS (Safety Instrumented Systems), has costs that are 30% to 50% lower compared to imported foreign products. ”Zhang Jiedong, head of the Technology Market Department at Anhui Institute of Engineering, explained. To date, these domestically produced safety devices have been adopted by more than 20 enterprises across the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors of Sinopec, helping to save the companies over 60 million yuan in costs. Reducing costs does not mean lowering standards; the safety threshold must not be compromised in any way. As an important safeguard for safe production, reliable performance is the most critical and fundamental requirement for safety equipment. Over the years, Anhui Institute of Engineering has always adhered to a principle of foolproof research and development, conducting rigorous testing, verification, and practical evaluations before introducing any technical equipment into use. Thanks to its strong R&D capabilities, Anhui Institute of Engineering has repeatedly broken foreign monopolies, helping enterprises reduce costs and improve efficiency while ensuring the safety of protective devices. It is reported that the domestically developed pipe flame arresters, end-of-pipe flame arresters, and various special types of flame arresters created by Anhui Institute of Engineering have a price that is half that of similar foreign products; at the same time, their key flame suppression performance metrics have improved by 35%, achieving cost optimization while maintaining intrinsic safety. In the future, ANI will continue to intensify its efforts in developing domestic alternatives to imported technologies. Focusing on emerging areas such as hydrogen energy safety, it will develop more cost-effective and highly reliable safety technologies and equipment, thereby translating the results of these technological advancements into tangible cost advantages for enterprises in a more direct and widespread manner, and providing stronger technological momentum for their high-quality development.