Project Background:

Shaanxi Yulin Energy Chemical is a subsidiary corporation of China Coal, located in Yuheng industrial park in Yulin, Shaanxi province. Its methanol plant applies the GE coal water slurry axial-radial type gasifier at 6.5 MPa(g). It is the largest methanol production facility in China with the production capacity of 1,800 thousand tons/year. It is also one of the facilities with the greatest economic performance e.g. the annual revenue in 2015 is 1.3 billion yuan.

The plant initially started up using some other catalyst supplier’s shift catalyst for the CO shift conversion. The catalytic performance started declining only after less than a year with the poor stability during the operation. Additionally, the CO content at the outlet of the converter was over the design limit. The problems occurred during the operation could not get solved due to the lack of technical experiences by the catalyst supplier. The client eventually chose our self-developed pre-sulfided sulfur-resistant shift catalyst, KC-103S, after an integrated survey to apply in the 2# shift conversion facility. (Due to the urgent time, the client ordered the same type of catalyst from another catalyst supplier for its 1# shift conversion facility at the same time.)

Catalytic Performance Caparison:

At the meeting on 16th September, 2015, it was agreed the catalysts should be delivered within 30 days. We met the agreed delivery schedule and delivered the catalysts on 14th October while the other supplier’s catalysts arrived on 15th November, which means the 1# shift conversion facilities restarted 1 month later than the 2# facilities.

The DCS system shows the operating conditions for both 1# and 2# shift conversion facilities on 21st September, 2016, which can reflect the respective catalyst performances.

The inlet temperature for the 1# converter had to be raised to 277℃ and the hot-spot temperature appeared at the central gas-collecting pipe or even the outlet. The plant owner discarded this batch of catalyst in November, 2016, giving the catalyst working life of only 11 months. 

1# converter 

At the same time, the inlet temperature for the 2# converter was only 265℃ but the peak temperature in the upper middle part of the bed.

2# converter