World-Class Innovative Projects
World's First BFG High Value-Added Utilization Project
Hengyang Valin Steel
Blast furnace gas is rich in CO gas with a high utilization value. At present, the utilization of blast furnace gas is not sufficient. Most metallurgical plants are in short supply of high calorific value gases, while blast furnace gas is in surplus. With different extents of BFG emissions, effective utilization of BFG can't be achieved.In 2012, PKU Pioneer designed and built a PSA CO purifying plant from blast furnace gas for Hengyang Valin Steel Pipe Co., Ltd., which adopts PSA technology and Cu-based adsorbent to separate and purify CO from the feed gas. PSA technology has the advantages of low investment, high flexibility, high degree of automation, simple operation, etc. Compared with the 5A molecular sieve used in traditional PSA process, the Cu-based adsorbent has a larger separation coefficient between CO and N2, which makes it especially suitable for purifying CO from blast furnace gas with high N2 content. The PSA-CO plant was designed to achieve 92% recovery rate, and the purity of CO in the product gas could be adjusted in the range of 60%-70% according to the user's needs. The product gas would be used as the fuel for steel pipe processing, which is of great significance in energy saving and consumption reduction.Before the PSA CO purification plant was put into operation, Hengyang Valin mixed natural gas into the BFG to improve its calorific value for the heating furnace at the rolling section. After the project was completed, Hengyang Valin purified 17,500Nm³/h CO, with a purity of 70% and a calorific value of 8,800kJ/Nm³, from 67,000Nm³/h blast furnace gas, and delivered directly to the heating furnace. According to calculations, it can replace 3,382×10^4Nm³ of natural gas per year, equivalent to 38,000 tons of standard coal, which is equivalent to 1/4 of Hengyang Valin's original natural gas consumption, which has largely alleviated the users' tight demand for natural gas.The project has been operating stably since its start-up on June 8, 2013. It is the first industrialized project of purifying blast furnace gas for high-value utilization in China, which is of great significance for the demonstration of efficient utilization of secondary energy in the iron and steel industry.
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Ultra-Large Benchmarking 60,000Nm³/h VPSA-O2 Plant Project
Valin Lianyuan Iron and Steel
The VPSA oxygen unit (62,500Nm³/h, 80%) designed and constructed by PKU Pioneer for Valin Lianyuan Steel was officially put into production at the end of March 2021. The project is divided into two phases (the first phase with an oxygen production capacity of 25,000Nm³/h and the second phase of 37,500Nm³/h), which is the largest VPSA oxygen generation unit in China. It would greatly support the "10 million tons of superior special steel" capacity optimization project of Lianyuan Steel.Before the commissioning, Lianyuan Steel could only rely on purchasing liquid oxygen to meet its production needs. During peak production periods, the daily amount reached 450 tons with the price as high as ¥1300/ton, which almost accounts for all the liquid oxygen output of Hunan Province. And when the supply was insufficient, the liquid oxygen even had to be dispatched from Guangxi, Guangdong and Fujian Province. Under the huge supplying pressure of liquid oxygen for the user, PKU Pioneer actively responded to the customer's demand. Prioritizing the customer's benefits, PKU Pioneer made every effort to promote the construction and the project was finally delivered 10 days in advance. With the oxygen unit fully reaching the designed capacity, the local liquid oxygen price once dropped to ¥800/ton and Lianyuan Steel successfully achieved the low-cost oxygen supply balance for 10 million tons of steel production capacity, thus completely resolving the long-pending oxygen supply and demand contradiction. In addition,a part of the cryogenic air separation capacity was successfully transferred to the converter, thus enabling a favorable timing for the air separation shut-down for maintenance.As the initiating unit of the EPC project, leading the designing units and the construction & installation companies, PKU Pioneer is fully responsible for the overall designing, supply of the complete set of equipment, installation and debugging, on-site construction management, instrument control software programming, systematic commissioning for oxygen production as well as operation optimization, etc. On the premise of ensuring the oxygen equipment meets the design indicators, PKU Pioneer got down to solve the problem of tight construction work from various aspects and worked as carefully as possible.According to the comprehensive power consumption since the VPSA oxygen plant went into operation, the operating cost is less than ¥0.2/m3 (100% pure oxygen), saving more than 30% of the oxygen usage cost. In addition, by increasing the oxygen enrichment rate of the blast furnace, the output was increased by 500,000 tons, the coke ratio was drastically reduced during the same period, and the coal gas power generation was increased. In sum, the annual comprehensive profits were remarkable.The successful completion of Lianyuan Steel's 60,000Nm3/h VPSA oxygen generation project will positively promote the application of ultra-large-capacity VPSA oxygen production technology in steel industry in the world. In the future, VPSA oxygen generation technology, serving as an effective means for the blast furnace oxygen enrichment, will attract more and more 10-million-ton steel mills to make it an important component of their energy system, and strongly supplement the steel mill’s oxygen supply with significant advantages such as short construction period, low cost, and fast effects.
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World's First Steel and Chemical Co-Production Project-Converter Gas to Formic Acid
Shiheng Special Steel
In April 2018, the world's first converter gas to formic acid project was successfully started for trial production in Shandong Shiheng Special Steel Asd Technology Co. Ltd. and nearly 300 tons of formic acid was manufactured on the day, with its quality reaching an outstanding standard. The project is the first chemical and steel complex project in the world, built by Shiheng Special Steel with PKU Pioneer's PSA CO separation technology.Product CO of 18,200Nm³/h and 98.5% was obtained from 45,000Nm³/h converter gas by dust removal, compression, desulfurization, dehydration, deoxygenation and pressure swing adsorption process to produce formic acid, oxalic acid and other chemical products.The project covers an area of 820 mu, with two 100,000-ton formic acid and downstream products production lines, 50,000-ton oxalic acid production line, self-supply production line of formic acid and oxalic acid raw material gas, as well as supporting power and public auxiliary systems, etc.Replacing the original coal gas, taking the steelmaking tail gases as the raw material gas lowered the user's relocation investment from the estimated ¥3.3 billion to ¥1.8 billion. Moreover, the upstream and downstream products were connected into a chain, which resulted in a comprehensive and efficient utilization of resources and energy, and explored a development route for the steel and chemical industry to unite. Now it has realized annual sales revenue of ¥2 billion, reduced coal usage by 1.02 million tons, wastewater discharge by 470,000 tons, and CO2 emissions by 320,000 tons.
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World's First Calcium Carbide Furnace Exhaust to MEG Project
Xinjiang Tianye
There is about 70%-90% CO contained in the calcium carbide furnace exhaust, a resource recognized as extremely valuable in the industry. However, its recycling is difficult due to its complex composition and difficulty in purification. At present, there are two main ways to utilize the tail gas: one is to utilize its heat energy, and the other is to use it as the raw material gas for C1 chemical products after purification.At the beginning of 2013, the 50,000 tons/year MEG synthesis project of Xinjiang Tianye Co.,Ltd from the tail gas of the calcium carbide furnace was formally put into production, and the PSA-CO plant and the PSA-H2 purification plant from the calcium carbide furnace exhaust, which were designed and constructed by PKU Pioneer, were successfully started up in one run, and the flow of the product CO was 6,000Nm³/h (99%) and that of H2 was 16,000Nm³/h (99.9%). This is an innovative result of China calcium carbide industry's efforts to comprehensively utilize tail gas energy and develop a circular economy. It marks the first time that China's key technology, CO separation and purification for the comprehensive utilization of calcium carbide furnace tail gas, has been successfully implemented in large-scale industrial applications, opening up a new way for low-carbon production and high-efficiency profit generation for the calcium carbide industry.Comprehensive utilization of calcium carbide furnace tail gas is the development trend of calcium carbide industry. Xinjiang Tianye quickly reached cooperation with PKU Pioneer again after the Phase I project operated stably. In March 2015, its Phase II ethylene glycol project with an annual output of 200,000 tons was formally put into operation, which attracted much attention from the calcium carbide and coal chemical industries as the largest project in China to synthesize MEG by utilizing the resources from industrial tail gases. Following the commissioning of the Phase I project, Pioneer again contributed to the project by designing and constructing the core equipment for the separation and purification of CO and H₂. Taking the calcium carbide furnace tail gas and methanol purge gas as raw materials, the purified CO and H₂ were used in the downstream production of MEG and 1,4-Butanediol, thus solving the long-standing difficulties in comprehensive utilization of calcium carbide furnace tail gas, and creating significant economic benefits for the enterprise.
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World's First Converter Gas and Coke Oven Gas to MEG Project
Jinnan Iron and Steel -Woneng Chemical
PKU Pioneer's steel gas utilization technology is an innovative technology that uses BFG, converter gas and coke oven gas from steel enterprises as raw materials to ultimately synthesize high-value-added methanol, ethanol, MEG and other basic chemical products through a series of purification and separation processes. Shanxi Woneng Chemical Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Shanxi Jinnan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. (formerly Shanxi Liheng Iron & Steel Co. Ltd.), reached strategic cooperation with Pioneer in 2018 on the PSA CO purification project from converter gas. The CO was later used as a raw material for ethylene glycol synthesis.On August 21, 2020, the tail gas to 300,000 tons/year ethylene glycol and co-production of 156 million Nm3/year LNG project of Shanxi Woneng opened up the entire process and produced qualified ethylene glycol. It is currently the largest integrated tail gases to ethylene glycol project from coke oven gas and converter gas in China.Shanxi Jinnan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. made full use of the complementary advantages of converter gas with more carbon and less hydrogen, and coke oven gas inversely to produce high-value-added ethylene glycol products. While coke oven gas, which is rich in CH₄, is used to produce LNG through cryogenic technology. With a shorter production process and lower cost, the MEG manufactured by steel enterprises through steel-chemical complex production has a competitive advantage that is incomparable to that of other raw materials. The successful implementation of the project would set a precedent in the comprehensive utilization of converter gas and coke oven gas, which could reduce carbon emissions by 560,000 tons and nitrogen oxide emissions by more than 700 tons per year.
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