?China: ion desulfurizer - innovation and application?? 

China: ion desulfurizer - innovation and application?

To be honest, when you hear aboution desulfurizerfrom China, the first thought is another marketing. But after several years of working with their installations at a thermal power plant near Novosibirsk, you understand that they are not just copying, but actually reworking the technology to suit their own, often more stringent, conditions. The main misconception is to think that this is just wet gas cleaning. No, it has its own physics, and the Chinese have learned to calculate it.

From laboratory to cauldron: where the gap lies

In theory, everything is smooth: ionic solution, circulation, high degree of SO2 capture. In practice, the first barrier is adaptation to our fuel. Chinese engineers initially tailored the technology to suit their coal, with its ash content and moisture content. When we loaded our Kuzbass, we immediately started having problems with the injectors clogging. Not critical, but we had to revise the particle size distribution of the absorbent. This was the first lesson: theirinnovationis not a magic pill, but a tool that needs to be tuned.

For example, Chengdu Yizhi Technology Co. Their stands in Chengdu are impressive, but when their specialists came to us for commissioning, the first thing they did was request a complete analysis of the ash and slag for the last year. Not just the sulfur content, but the behavior of materials in the cycle. This already speaks of a serious approach. Information about their projects and methodology can be found on their websitehttps://www.yzkjhx.ru. This is not just a business card site, it contains technical notes on eliminating specific problems, for example, combating abrasive wear in circulation pumps.

It is in such details that the difference is visible. Many European suppliers bring a completed "black box" - works/doesn't work. The Chinese teams, at least from the same Yizhi, which is the design and research institute of the parent Huaxi Technology, are ready for a long fuss. The authorized capital of 120 million yuan is not about a bloated office, but about the ability to support engineers who can live at the customer’s site for months. This is capital for patience.

Application under real, not ideal, operating conditions

The hardest thing aboutapplicationion desulfurizer is not a start-up, but operation in transient modes. Reduced boiler load, frequent shutdowns on weekends. Here, classical lime methods are more inert, and the ionic system begins to act up: the pH of the circulating solution drops, and crystallization may occur in the wrong place.

We went through this at one of the facilities. After six months of operation, we noticed an increase in pressure in the recirculation system. They opened it up and the channels began to become overgrown not with sulfate, but with something amorphous. It turned out that with frequent stops and cooling of the system, parallel reactions took place in the solution with the chlorides that are present in our water. Chinese colleagues on video conference then said: “Oh, we encountered this.” It is necessary to modify the sludge blowing mode and add an inhibitor, code XIM-7?. They didn’t even specifically patent it, they just use it as know-how in their projects.

This is the same “practical density?” technologies. You won't find this in any catalogue. Only in experience, which is bought with time and, of course, money for unsuccessful attempts. They had a project at one of the thermal power plants in Shanxi with similar water - that’s where the solution came from.

Economics versus ecology: what balance do innovations seek?

People often argue about what is expensive. Yes, capital costs for an ion system may be higher. But if you count not by estimate, but by the full life cycle, the picture changes. The main source of savings is waste disposal. Dry sludge from the lime method is a headache. It needs to be stored somewhere and approved. The product of the ionic method is, in fact, concentrated sulfite, which can be taken away as a raw material at the same chemical plant. In China this is well-established; they have a place to put it. We do not yet have such an industry link, and this is slowing down implementation.

The innovation here is not in the chemistry itself, but in the creation of such a technological chain. Chengdu Yizhi Technology Co. It positions itself not as a seller of equipment, but as a design institute that can calculate this chain “from the pipe to the warehouse of the finished product.” This is an important shift in thinking.

But there are pitfalls here too. Their calculations of payback from the sale of a by-product did not work in Siberia. Simply because the nearest consumer of the same sulfite is three thousand kilometers away. Transport eats up all the benefits. We had to switch to a scheme with minimal purging and disposal of a small volume of waste. The economic profile of the project has changed, but the environmental impact remains high. The innovation turned out to be flexible.

The Future: Where is Development Heading?

Now the talk is no longer just about SO2 capture, but about comprehensive purification. The sameion desulfurizeris an excellent basis for post-treatment of fine aerosols and even partial capture of nitrogen oxides. I saw an experimental installation in Sichuan province, where they are testing a cascade system based on their technology. It looks bulky, but the total emissions efficiency is impressive.

Another direction is miniaturization and modularization for small boiler houses. This, in my opinion, will be the next breakthrough. Because large thermal power plants are equipped one way or another, and small power plants are drowning in smog. The Chinese understand this and are actively conducting R&D in this direction. The mentioned Yizhi Institute, judging by their publications, directs part of its resources to the creation of such compact, almost container solutions.

The problem is that the economics of small installations are even more sensitive. It is necessary to make it not just effective, but cheap to maintain, almost autonomous. Judging by the way they dealt with problems at our facilities, there is a chance. Their engineers think in terms of how it will work for fireman Ivanov in -40 frost, and not just in the ideal conditions of the laboratory in Chengdu.

Conclusions that don't sum it up

So, back to the title. Chineseionic desulfurizers- this is not a myth and not a panacea. This is a living, developing technology, strongly tied to practice. Its main strength is not in the patents for the solution formula, but in the accumulated array of data on thousands of hours of operation under different conditions. And ready to share this array, adapting it to new tasks.

Is this the future of gas purification in Russia? I think yes, but not in the format of a simple “box” purchase. Only in the format of deep cooperation, joint engineering teams, where our experience with our fuel and their experience with their technology will merge into a new solution. This is basically what the same team did withyzkjhx.ru.

And the most telling thing is when, two years after the launch, you stop thinking that the equipment is Chinese. You just think of it as a working system, which has its own characteristics, its own maintenance schedules and its own vagaries in the off-season. And this is probably the best assessment for any technology, regardless of country of origin.