Solutions-Oxygen-Enriched/Oxyfuel Combustion-PKU Pioneer-industrial oxygen-rich oxygen-oxygen plant-oxygen unit

Oxygen-Enriched/Oxyfuel Combustion

Market Demand Solutions-Oxygen-Enriched/Oxyfuel Combustion-PKU Pioneer-industrial oxygen-rich oxygen-oxygen plant-oxygen unit

Oxygen-enriched combustion is a high-efficiency enhanced combustion technology using oxygen-enriched air with an oxygen volume content exceeding 21% as the combustion gas. It can not only significantly enhance the combustion efficiency and flame temperature, reduce the ignition point of the fuels, accelerate the combustion reaction speed, and consequently save the primary energy, but also can promote complete combustion, minimize the amount of flue gases after combustion, improve heat utilization, lower the excess air coefficient, decrease the generation of hazardous substances, and be conducive to CO2 capture. With the progress of combustion technologies and the reduction of oxygen costs, oxygen-enriched combustion technology is increasingly widely used in fields including iron and steel smelting, non-ferrous metallurgy, industrial kilns, thermal engineering, environmental protection, etc.

Technological Advantages Solutions-Oxygen-Enriched/Oxyfuel Combustion-PKU Pioneer-industrial oxygen-rich oxygen-oxygen plant-oxygen unit

There are 3 ways to generate oxygen-enriched air: 1) generating 99.6% oxygen by cryogenic air separation technology and mixing it with ambient air; 2) generating 80%~94% oxygen-enriched air directly by VPSA and PSA technology; 3) generating 30% oxygen-enriched air by membrane technology. Among them, VPSA and PSA oxygen generation technology has been developing most rapidly in industrial enriched oxygen supply. It shows the following characteristics in the process of enriched oxygen combustion:

Remarkable Energy-Saving Effect

Oxygen-enriched combustion supported by VPSA and PSA technology can greatly improve the thermal efficiency, resulting in significant energy-saving effect. For instance, the natural gas used in the glass industry can be saved by 20%-40% on average. And in the process of blast furnace smelting, every 1% increase in the oxygen enrichment rate can raise the combustion temperature by 40~50°C, the ratio of pulverized coal injection by 20~30kg/t, the calorific value of the coal gas by 3.4%, and the molten iron production by 4% or so.

Wide Applications

VPSA and PSA oxygen generation and oxygen-enriched combustion technology are widely applied. They've been successfully utilized in blast furnace iron making, electric furnace steel making, steel rolling heating furnace, copper smelting, lead and zinc smelting, nickel smelting, recycled lead smelting, secondary copper smelting, fiberglass kiln, glass kiln, cement kiln, rotary kiln, gasifier, boiler, hot air furnace and other fields.

Lower Oxygen Cost

In oxygen-enriched combustion technology, oxygen production cost has an important impact on the efficiency of the whole project. Taking 5000Nm³/h oxygen plant as an example, if the cost of oxygen can be saved by 0.2 RMB/Nm³, then 1,000 RMB/h can be saved, meaning 8,760,000 RMB/y under 100% operation without shutdown. Among the 3 oxygen preparation methods, the VPSA and PSA process has the lowest cost of oxygen at about 0.3kWh/Nm³.

Simple Operation & Flexible Regulation

VPSA and PSA oxygen-generating system has a high degree of automation and simple operation, enabling it to realize unattended operation. Meanwhile, convenient load regulation makes a single set of oxygen unit realize 50%~100% instant regulation, which is very suitable for adjusting the capacity of oxygen according to the order or production plan, so as to obtain better economic benefits.

Application Scenario

PKU Pioneer, as a leading figure in the VPSA and PSA oxygen generation, has constructed more than 300 sets of oxygen generation units for various industrial fields, helping users to further enhance their core competitiveness, and obtaining wide appreciation and favorable comments from them. Common application scenarios are introduced as follows:

Oxygen Enrichment for Blast Furnaces

Among iron and steel enterprises based on long-process production processes, more and more choose VPSA oxygen generation technology to provide enriched oxygen for the blast furnace. Firstly, the oxygen needed for ironmaking is enriched oxygen instead of pure oxygen, and mixing the oxygen generated by the VPSA oxygen unit and air can meet the requirements; secondly, the cost of VPSA oxygen production is lower; thirdly, convenient startup, shutdown and load regulation can be used as auxiliary means to adjust the oxygen supply of the whole factory to reduce the oxygen dissipation. With mature oxygen generation technology and oxygen mixing system before the blast furnace blower with unique structure and process, PKU Pioneer has equipped more than 50 iron and steel enterprises with VPSA oxygen equipment and integrated solutions of oxygen enrichment before the blower.

Non-Ferrous/Secondary Metallurgy

It is a major technical measure to adopt oxygen-enriched air instead of ambient air for combustion in the process of non-ferrous metallurgy, which helps to strengthen productivity, reduce energy consumption and increase economic benefits. PKU Pioneer's VPSA oxygen-generating technology can provide a stable and reliable oxygen source for the smelting of copper, lead, nickel, zinc, tin, gold and other non-ferrous metals to promote energy saving and optimization of the oxygen-enriched combustion process. Providing VPSA oxygen-generating units for users with multiple "adjustable levels" can significantly reduce the cost of oxygen. VPSA oxygen units can be equipped for furnaces including bottom, side and top blowing furnaces, etc. and PKU Pioneer has built more than 40 sets of VPSA oxygen-generating systems for nonferrous metal smelting.

Glass/Fiberglass Furnaces

Oxygen-enriched combustion technology is an effective method to reduce energy consumption in glass/fiberglass kilns. With the decreasing cost of oxygen production, oxygen-enriched/oxy-fuel combustion technology, composed of oxygen and fuel, is replacing the conventional combustion method of air and fuel in glass melting kilns. PKU Pioneer's VPSA oxygen production technology is able to deliver a stable and reliable oxygen supply to the oxyfuel (oxygen-enriched) combustion section of glass/fiberglass kilns. Considering the kilns have high requirements for the stability and continuity of oxygen supply, PKU Pioneer provides industrial kiln users with equipment leasing or operation maintenance services to ensure the safety and stability of clients' oxygen supply.

Cement Kilns

Oxyfuel technology is considered to be the most economical technical solution for achieving effective carbon capture in the cement industry. The process uses enriched oxygen and high-concentration CO2 flue gas circulating in the system as combustion-supporting air to fully burn the fuel and obtain flue gas with a CO2 content of over 75% at the outlet of the preheater, followed by the PSA technology to capture and purify the CO2, which can be used for mineralization maintenance, modified materials, and also be captured and stored for utilization.

New Energy Industry

The application of PKU Pioneer's oxygen-rich combustion technology in the field of new energy includes 3 aspects: First, it is used for smelting high-grade nickel matte from laterite nickel ore in the oxygen-rich side-blowing furnace, which has the advantages of lower cost, flexible control of ferronickel grades, high heat utilization rate and lower fuel requirements. Second, it is used in the calcination section of high-nickel ternary positive electrode materials by stably supplying oxygen (over 93%). At the same time, its features of rapid start-up/shutdown and self-adaptive load regulation help to reduce the dissipation and effectively lower the production cost. Third, it is used as a protective gas in the production process of lithium battery electrode sheets.

Waste Incineration

The principle of applying oxygen-enriched combustion to waste burning is to enrich the oxygen in the air so that the oxygen content reaches 25%-30% and send it to the incinerator as a secondary air, which increases the overall or partial oxygen content in the furnace and reduces the integral air excess coefficient. At the same time, the increased oxygen elevates the ignition conditions and makes the combustion more complete by smelting the slag and reducing it to nearly none, so as to ensure the complete decomposition and combustion of dioxins and other toxic organic gases at high temperatures. Therefore, adopting PKU Pioneer's oxygen-enriched combustion technology in the waste incineration field can not only save energy and reduce consumption but also have significant environmental benefits.

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