Although the Drake well once provided us with energy, today, the global energy problem has become a challenge that we must face together. In order to solve this problem, countries are vigorously developing new energy sources to supplement traditional fossil energy.
At the same time, due to the deterioration of the quality of imported products, we need to research and develop inferior heavy oil hydrogenation technology to achieve clean production and efficient use of energy, so as to meet the requirements of environmental protection regulations.
This is the general trend of future energy development.
Petroleum is converted into petroleum products through a variety of physical and chemical treatment processes to meet the needs of people's production and life, such as gasoline and diesel. This transformation process is petroleum refining, which has become an indispensable part of the global oil economy.
No matter how much the eco-friendly refining process is carried out, it is impossible to avoid the production of large amounts of residual oil. Since the seventies of the last century, the trend of the world oil industry has gradually shown a decline in quality: the content of heavy oil has increased, the content of sulfur, nitrogen and metals has also increased, and the rate of residue has also increased.
The United States has the strongest refining capacity in the world, accounting for about one-fifth of the world's distillation capacity. In this process, the Cherry Horn refinery is able to successfully produce 100 tonnes of sulphur per day through hydrotreating, while also obtaining a clean product.
With the growth of market demand, the processing problems of heavy oil and residual oil are becoming more and more apparent. How to transform these poor quality and difficult-to-process raw materials into lighter oils that are easier to use has become an urgent problem to be solved.
In the process of scientific and technological development, the hydrotreating technology of residual oil has gone through a tortuous process. The first to use hydrocracking technology, among which the combined hydrocracking unit of the Cherry Point Refinery in the United States is the most typical, and its appearance shocked the whole world.
However, in the past 25 years, no new refinery has been equipped with a catalytic cracking unit.
The products processed by the Cherry Horn Refinery in the United States using an advanced hydrocracking unit contain very low levels of nitrogen, sulfur and other impurities. This kind of device can convert hydrogen sulfide into elemental sulfur and nitrogen into nitrogen, which greatly reduces environmental pollution and is more environmentally friendly than traditional catalytic cracking units.
In addition, hydrocracking units have a natural advantage in processing high-sulfur feedstocks and producing high-quality diesel due to their high liquid recovery. However, the operation process of hydrocracking is quite complex, and safety issues such as reactor overtemperature, circulating compressor failure, and high pressure separator liquid level too low need to be considered.
At the same time, due to its high investment and operating costs, the hydrogen source problem for many refineries needs to be solved urgently. With the increasingly severe atmospheric environment and the more comprehensive and perfect environmental protection restrictions, the original hydrocracking unit is difficult to meet people's multi-field and multi-level production needs.
In this context, residue hydrodesulfurization technology came into being.
When the hydrodesulfurization unit was introduced, a reactor or a group of reactors was mainly used to fill catalysts with different functions in layers, and its main role was to remove heavy metals from the residue.
Compared with the distillate hydrorefining process, the residue fixed-bed hydrodesulfurization adds a hot high-pressure separator and a hot low-pressure separator. The data shows that after hydrodesulfurization, the sulfur removal rate can reach 84% to 90%, and the metal removal rate is more than 80%.
Hydrotreating changes the hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of feedstock oil, providing an ideal feedstock for catalytic cracking and delayed coking of residues. The use of hydrodesulfurization to treat residual oil greatly improves the flexibility of processing, increases the yield of light oil, improves economic benefits, and reduces environmental pollution, which is an ideal method for dealing with heavy oil and residue.
The global oil resource reserves are about 3 1012 to 4 1012 bbl, including unconventional oil resources such as oil sands asphalt, heavy oil and super heavy oil, with reserves reaching 8 1012 bbl.
At present, the demand for light oil products in the international market is growing. In addition, as a key piece of equipment in the hydrogenation unit of an oil refinery, the hydrogenation reactor has a long service life although it is extremely expensive.
As a result, the lead time of the hydrogenation reactor usually affects the construction schedule of the entire plant. With the improvement of hydrocracking and hydrodesulfurization processes, the manufacturing technology of hydrogenation reactors is also constantly improving and upgrading.
Since 1963, when Nippon Steel first developed a hydrogenation reactor, the manufacturer has been the world's most productive and technologically advanced plant.
Oil at sea or on land must go through complex processing processes after extraction. If the large-scale processing equipment in the petrochemical base is a refining monster, then the hydrogenation reactor is the King Kong of the monster, the heart of the machinery.
Its main function is to convert the heavy part of the ** to obtain the light oil that is popular in the market. The hydrogenation reactor can not only be used as a vessel for hydrogenation reactions, but also as a device for mixing gases and liquids.
Depending on the nature of the feed oil in the catalytic hydrogenation process, the catalyst and process flow used will vary. In general, hydrogenation reactors are divided into kinematic bed reactors, fixed bed reactors, and fluidized bed reactors.
If it is divided according to whether the high-temperature medium is in contact with the vessel wall during the use of the reactor, it can be divided into hot wall structure and cold wall structure. In contrast, China's hydrogenation reactor manufacturing started late.
In 1965, the first chromium-aluminum refrigerated wall hydrogenation reactor in China was successfully trial-produced and put into operation.
Although named"Hot wall"Hot-wall reactors are actually safer. It has a short construction period, convenient production and maintenance, can make full use of the reactor volume, and the effective volume utilization rate is as high as 80%-90%, and it is not easy to overheat.
However, the hot wall reactor lacks an internal insulation layer, and the cylinder wall temperature is not much different from the internal reaction temperature, so the requirements for the overall steel are high. In contrast, the cold-wall structure of the hydrogenation reactor is equipped with a non-metallic insulation layer or lined with stainless steel sheath, its advantage is that the reactor design wall temperature can be reduced to below 300, the corrosion rate of hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide will be greatly reduced, so the requirements for steel are not as high as the hot-wall reactor.
However, it should be noted that the insulation layer of the cold-wall reactor occupies a large amount of inner shell space, so the volume utilization rate of the reactor is relatively low.
Under the erosion of hot fluids, the cold walls may no longer be cold, causing the walls to overheat, increasing the safety risk of the reactor and in severe cases, it may lead to the shutdown of the unit. Under China's technological blockade, the process of solving this problem is very slow, and we need to go through a long rock climb.
In 1965, China successfully developed a chromium-aluminum steel refrigeration wall hydrogenation reactor for the first time, but the weldability of the 20CrMo9 steel used was extremely poor. It was not until 1974 that the first successful application of a cold-wall reactor was realized in the construction project aided by China in Albania.
Although the United States and Russia and other major refining countries have been using 2Cr-1Mo steel for many years to make hot-wall hydrogenation reactors, and even at the end of the 50s, the United States first used annealed 2Cr-1Mo steel to make cracking reactors.
To some extent, this shows that the theoretical level and manufacturing process of hydrogenation reactors in China at that time were about 20 years behind those of the West. At that time, developed countries in Europe and the United States did not pay attention to China's efforts in the manufacturing process of hydrogenation reactors, and China was called an "ambitious bumper", or a rookie village player who hit the south wall and died.
However, since the end of the 70s of the 20th century, the hot-wall hydrogenation reactor in the petrochemical system has gradually replaced the original cold-wall hydrogenation reactor. 2Cr-1Mo is recognized as the best hydrogen-resistant steel due to its excellent hydrogen resistance and high creep strength at high temperatures.
In 1979, China began to try to use hot-wall hydrogenation reactors, which usually operate in the environment of high temperature, high pressure, hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide and high temperature sulfur, and the working conditions are extremely harsh.
However, because the main material of the hot-wall hydrogenation reactor is facing a series of serious problems such as stress corrosion, medium corrosion, hydrogen embrittlement, creep embrittlement, hydrogen corrosion and tempering embrittlement, its danger is increasing year by year.
Therefore, how to extend the service life of the hydrogenation reactor, shorten the manufacturing cycle and reduce the production cost has become a hot topic of research. Among them, single-layer surfacing instead of double-layer surfacing technology, the application of multi-head surfacing technology and wide surfacing technology, the exploration of hollow forging formation technology, and the popularization of straight pipe surfacing technology have all become popular research directions.
China's hydrogenation reactor processing industry, despite a difficult start, is like a tenacious child who has never stopped moving forward. After decades of hard work, the strength of this industry is increasing day by day, and the future is sure to bring surprises to people.
China continues to promote the development of hydrogenation technology, and from 2001 to 2006, China's hydrocracking, processing and hydroprocessing unit capacity has been improved. 31% and 8095%。
In order to improve the technical delivery capacity, Zhenhai Refining & Chemical began to formulate a digital delivery plan from 2013 to 2016, followed by national standard verification from 2016 to 2018.
Finally, in June 2018, the Zhenhai boiling bed residue forging and welding hydrogenation reactor manufactured by China First Heavy Industry was successfully completed and shipped to Dalian Nuclear Power and Petrochemical Company.
The hydrogenation reactor is the world's largest petrochemical technology equipment manufactured by China, with a length of more than 70 meters, a weight of 2,400 tons, and an outer diameter of 54 meters, with a wall thickness of more than 300 mm.
It looks like a giant liquefied gas tank and weighs "the most in the world". This milestone event has brought China to the fore in the international refining and chemical industry and hydrogenation process technology.
This year, Made in China, Created in China and Built in China will continue to change the world. In addition to setting the record of "the heaviest in the world", the Zhenhai boiling bed residue forged and welded hydrogenation reactor has also created the world's largest and most advanced oil converter.
Its manufacturing technology has reached new heights of sophistication and sophistication, and has been evaluated by petrochemical experts as the world's largest and most advanced petroleum converter.
As early as 2017, the Zhenhai boiling bed residue forging and welding hydrogenation reactor has begun to be applied on a pilot basis.
The core equipment of Zhenhai boiling bed residue forging and welding hydrogenation reactor - 225cr-1 mo-0.The 25V steel hydrogenation reactor has been successfully localized, and it no longer relies on traditional refining and chemical countries such as the United States and Russia.
Welding technology is also a key area for the world's largest tonnage forge-welded structural hydrogenation reactor. The austenitic stainless steel pipe in this device is the thickest and largest of similar devices in China, and its thickness and diameter exceed all other similar devices.
As the world's largest hydrogenation equipment, the thickness of its austenitic stainless steel pipes is amazing, and the pass rate of welding is as high as 9938%, known as the international leading position of China's super-large tonnage petrochemical equipment manufacturing technology.
The equipment not only leads the industry standard for digital factories, but also makes an important contribution to the introduction of China's national petrochemical engineering digital delivery standards. Although the United States, Russia, France, Japan and other refining technology powers expressed surprise at this, China's adventurous and innovative spirit made the development of this equipment possible.
The Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Residue Hydrogenation Unit is running stably and efficiently, showing strong economic growth potential. From 2018 to 2020, the plant began to apply a complete set of Zhenhai boiling bed residue forging and welding hydrogenation reactors.
In March 2020, the unit operated efficiently and stably, with 500,000 tons of oil processed and extracted, and the conversion rate also increased significantly, from 60% to 75% at the beginning of construction, bringing new benefits to China's refining and chemical industry.
In November 2021, China's hydrogenation reactor equipment reached a new high - the new 4 million tons-a-year hydrocracking unit of Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd., which was contracted and constructed by Guangzhou Engineering Company, successfully produced qualified products and was successfully started up at one time.
This achievement is inseparable from Sinopec's independent intellectual property rights of the hydrocracking process. Before the reactor system is put into operation, it is a tedious but important process that requires a detailed inspection of safety facilities, including lighting, roads, trench covers, reactor and high-pressure piping insulation.
However, during the start of the hydrocracking plant, it may face many unforeseen crises such as leakage, high-quality mixture, equipment damage caused by vacuum, water danger, and uncomfortable operating temperature, which requires constant vigilance and response.
In February 2022, Sinopec Ningbo Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd. launched a 11 million tons of oil refining and high-end synthetic new materials project, including 400,000 tons of acrylonitrile combined unit, 11 million tons of annual atmospheric distillation unit, 600,000 tons of annual propane dehydrogenation unit and other high-end synthetic new material devices, as well as off-site projects, related public works, auxiliary facilities construction, etc.
In order to cope with the sudden crisis, Sinopec and Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co., Ltd. have conducted comprehensive training.
Petroleum refining is an important cornerstone industry of the country and plays a pivotal role in promoting China's social and economic development. After nearly 70 years of rapid rise and development, China's petroleum refining industry has finally realized the transformation from scratch and from existence to strength.
Today, China's oil refining capacity has exceeded 87.4 billion tons per year, whether it is hydrocracking, catalytic cracking or hydrorefining, have been deeply researched and developed, and gradually show the remarkable characteristics of high technical difficulty, large equipment scale and high product quality.
China's successful manufacture of the world's most complex hydrogenation reactor will greatly increase the production capacity of light oil, once again demonstrating the strength of the country's scientific and technological strength.