News & Media
2024/12/20
436
In November 2024, PKU Pioneer won the bid for a carbon monoxide purification project from 23,350Nm³/h syngas. The owner will use PSA (Pressure Swing Adsorption) technology to separate high-purity carbon monoxide (≥98.8%) from natural gas converted syngas for DMC (dimethyl carbonate) production. The project marks the first export of PKU Pioneer's equipment to the United States and signifies the official entry of PKU Pioneer's PSA-CO separation technology into the U.S. market. It also demonstrates that our PSA-CO purification technology has met the stringent standards required by the chemical industry in developed countries, showcasing PKU Pioneer's exceptional capability to meet customers' practical chemical synthesis production needs.
The ultimate owner of the PSA-CO separation plant, UBE Industries, Ltd., established more than 120 years ago, is a global leader in the manufacturing of chemical products such as polyamide resin, lithium-ion battery separators, synthetic rubber, and cement. It also holds a significant position in fields such as chemicals, materials, new energy, etc. UBE has built factories in multiple countries across Europe and North America, and the DMC production line of this project represents yet another newly built production base in the United States. Slated to commence operations by the end of 2025, it’s designed to produce 100,000 tons of DMC annually for electric vehicle battery manufacturing, further solidifying UBE's position in the global EV supply chain.
Generally, 2 industrial methods are applied for separating or purifying carbon monoxide: PSA and cryogenic technology. Traditional cryogenic technology separates carbon monoxide through low-temperature condensation and distillation. With its core principle based on the difference in boiling points of different gases under ultra-low temperature conditions, it has low production efficiency and is difficult to produce high-purity carbon monoxide product gas. In contrast, PKU Pioneer's PSA-CO purification technology uses self-developed and self-produced high-efficiency Cu-coated adsorbent （Model No.: PU-1） to separate carbon monoxide from other gas components efficiently. Data from multiple experiments indicate that PU-1 offers higher adsorption capacity and selectivity for carbon monoxide over impurities such as H₂, N₂, and CH₄, which effectively solves the industrial technical challenge of separating carbon monoxide from N₂ and CH₄.
In this project, the user's feed gas contains 6.03% CH₄ and 0.11% N₂, additionally, with the DMC production process requiring extremely high purity, stability, and flexibility for carbon monoxide purification, PSA technology can better meet these stringent requirements. Furthermore, given PKU Pioneer's pioneering position in PSA-CO purification technology worldwide and its rich engineering project experience, PKU Pioneer became the client's preferred supplier. Compared to the traditional cryogenic technology, PKU Pioneer's PSA-CO separation process not only has lower investment and operating costs, but also offers advantages such as flexible turndown ratios, stable operation, and shorter construction period, making it the ideal solution to downstream DMC chemical synthesis.
At the beginning of the project, PKU Pioneer’s project team thoroughly knew about the project requirements and specifications. The team custom-designed a professional and efficient solution based on practical operating conditions and application industry features. Coupled with an advanced process design, the solution ensures a long-term and stable operation and a high carbon monoxide recovery rate to achieve the lowest-cost carbon monoxide purification, helping the client further strengthen its market competitiveness. In addition, PKU Pioneer's key components, including the PU-1 adsorbent and valves, all meet the standards of U.S. companies and have been unanimously recognized by the client.
PKU Pioneer's PSA-CO purification technology has won the second prize of China National Technological Invention Award and has been widely applied in the carbon monoxide separation and purification from syngas and various industrial gas mixtures. The high-performance copper-based adsorbent, combined with advanced process design, results in high purities and yield rates of carbon monoxide product gas, efficiently meeting the synthesis requirements of downstream users. To date, PKU Pioneer has successfully implemented over 50 PSA-CO plant projects, among which the highest carbon monoxide product flow rate reached 45,720Nm3/h, making it the largest PSA-CO purification project in the world currently. Furthermore, PKU Pioneer has completed multiple world-class innovative projects and achieved large-scale separation and purification of carbon monoxide from complex industrial off-gases such as semi-coke tail gas, calcium carbide furnace off-gas, blast furnace gas, and converter gas, which established PKU Pioneer as the most professional PSA-CO purification technology service provider globally.
