Recently, the first/set of Rums process polypropylene polymerization reactor designed and manufactured by Tianhua Chemical Machinery and Automation Research and Design Institute Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Tianhua Institute) under Sinochem was successfully put into operation in the 300000 t/a polypropylene project of CNOOC Ningbo Daxie Petrochemical Co., Ltd. As the core equipment of the project, at present, the device operates stably, the materials and design standards comply with relevant regulations, and the key parameter indicators meet the design requirements. The successful operation of the unit filled the gap in the design and manufacture of polypropylene reaction equipment in China.

CNOOC Ningbo Daxie Petrochemical 300000 t/a Polypropylene Project Site

First/set of core equipment:

Polypropylene polymerization reactor of Loomis process

Novolen process is one of the most licensed polypropylene technologies in the world in recent years, with low operating cost, high reliability and the most widely combined products. This process can produce about 60 kinds of polypropylene resins with different types and purposes. The product isotacticity is 90-99%, the crystallinity is high, and the melting point, tensile strength, bending modulus, impact strength and other properties are good; The maximum tensile modulus can reach 2400 MPa, and the maximum rubber content can reach 50%. The material is more rigid and firm; The range of melt mass flow rate is 0.3-100 g/10 min, with high reliability and guaranteed quality. At the same time, the impact copolymerization part of the product produced by this process has no swelling or dissolution problems, and has good quality.

These product advantages mainly come from the core equipment of Loomis process - polymerization reactor.

In a complete Loomis process, two reactors are usually configured, and their arrangement in series or parallel is flexibly adjusted according to production requirements. Among them, a single reactor can produce homopolymer polypropylene, random copolymer polypropylene and ternary copolymer polypropylene products; The two reactors in series can produce impact resistant copolymer polypropylene products; When two reactors are used in parallel, the production capacity of homopolymer can be increased by 70-100%.

In practical applications: homopolymers are mainly used in containers, fibers, molds, automobiles and other fields; Random copolymers can be used in film, blow molding, injection molding and other fields requiring high transparency; The terpolymer can be widely used in cooking bags, composite films, melt blown fabrics, etc. of food packaging. Therefore, the performance of the polymerization reactor will directly affect the quality of the final product.

As an excellent supplier of equipment in the domestic polypropylene industry, Tianhua Institute has deep technical reserves in the design and manufacturing of related equipment, strong design capacity and manufacturing strength, and can provide excellent technical services for major domestic polypropylene manufacturers, which has been widely recognized by the industry. In March 2020, the project party finally determined that Tianhua Institute would complete the design and manufacture of the polymerization reactor for the 300000 ton polypropylene project after multiple inspections.

The first/set of Rums process polypropylene polymerization reactor in China is in the production workshop of Tianhua Institute

However, it is not easy to independently complete the domestic design and manufacture of Rums process polypropylene polymerization reactor.

According to the process requirements, the polymerization reactor has a large specification, and the thickness of the head is 130 mm. Due to the characteristics of polymerization reaction, the design pressure is up to 4.0 MPa, and the gap between the bottom agitator and the container is required to be about 2 mm during operation. It is difficult to design, high processing requirements and severe challenges.

Procedure from 0 to 1

More than 100 times of innovation and breakthrough

The project team of Tianhua Institute, based on its years of research experience in the field of polypropylene reaction, according to the requirements of the process patent dealer and the differences between the standards based on which the domestic equipment and imported equipment are based, carefully reviewed and studied relevant domestic and foreign data, made breakthrough and innovation in the process and devices, and first solved the problems of equipment design, material selection, built-in multi-point temperature measurement tube, tungsten alloy parts manufacturing and processing.

After nearly 3 years of efforts of Tianhua, the first Rums process polypropylene polymerization reactor in China has finally completed delivery.

The data shows that compared with the imported equipment, the single equipment cost of Rums process polypropylene polymerization reactor designed and manufactured by Tianhua Institute can be saved by more than 50%. The smooth operation of the reactor has effectively improved the comprehensive capacity and core competitiveness of Tianhua Institute for research, design and manufacturing, filled the gap in the design and manufacturing of polypropylene reaction equipment in China, indicating that the design and processing capacity of equipment in China's petrochemical industry can meet the needs of the industry for large-scale and high-end devices.

In the field of chemical equipment

One set, one set "made in Tianhua"

In recent years, Tianhua Institute has adhered to the market orientation, based on its own technical advantages, continued to explore and innovate, and actively took the initiative to carry out continuous efforts around the localization of chemical equipment, realizing the transformation and implementation of a number of scientific and technological achievements, and contributing one set of "Tianhua made" equipment to the chemical industry.

In the petrochemical field, in March 2021, China Soft Packaging Group Fujian Zhongjing Petrochemical Co., Ltd.2 undertaken by Tianhua Institute × The loop reactor of 600000 t/a polypropylene plant was successfully delivered. The single set of reactor weighs 1720 tons and is composed of 16 pieces of 55 meters long and 8 pieces of 180 degree elbows; In November 2021, the "R&D and industrial application of complex raw material million ton ethylene complete technology" participated by Tianhua Institute won the first prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award;

In the field of lithium electricity, in May 2022, the "flash drying+baking system of iron phosphate" with steam as the heat source developed by Tianhua Institute was successfully put into one trial run in Guizhou Phosphate (Fuquan) 40000 t/a iron phosphate project, which can further help to improve the production capacity of lithium battery iron phosphate materials;

In the field of new materials, in July 2022, another independently innovated product of Tianhua Institute made a key breakthrough, and 18 "SAN unit reactor external circulation wall scraping coolers" applied to the production of ABS resin were successfully started at one time; In September 2022, Tianhua Institute's drying and extrusion technology and equipment will help the first ten thousand ton PGA degradable material demonstration project of Yulin Chemical Industry World, a national energy group, be put into operation successfully