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Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery Co., Ltd
The 1500L single cone vacuum dryer ordered by Sinopec has been successfully delivered
Date: 2025-12-05Read: 7
In the assembly workshop of Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery, a colossal object standing at a height of 4.5 meters stands quietly, with a silver stainless steel shell reflecting sunlight. Engineers are conducting pre factory inspections on this 1500L single cone vacuum dryer specially developed for Sinopec.
01 Industry Challenge: Technical bottleneck for drying high-end catalysts
The chemical industry, especially in the field of catalyst manufacturing, has extremely strict requirements for drying technology. In early 2024, Sinopec launched a high-end catalyst production line upgrade plan aimed at enhancing its market competitiveness in hydrogenation and cracking catalysts.
These special catalysts are sensitive to drying conditions and require dehydration and solvent removal processes to be completed in a low-temperature, oxygen free, and controlled environment to maintain their microstructure and catalytic activity.
The traditional double cone drying equipment can no longer meet the production requirements of the new generation of catalysts, and there are problems such as uneven material mixing, long drying cycles, and high risk of local overheating. After multiple rounds of evaluation, the technical team of Sinopec has determined the technical route of the single cone vacuum dryer, but there are doubts about the technical feasibility of the 1500L large-scale equipment.
This volume is of the same type of equipment in China, and it is technically difficult to ensure the stability of equipment operation while meeting the continuity requirements of chemical production.
Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery, with its technological accumulation in the field of pharmaceutical grade drying equipment, voluntarily volunteered to undertake this challenge. We believe that the cleanliness requirements of pharmaceutical grade and the stability requirements of chemical grade can be combined, "said Zhang, the company's technical director, at the project kickoff meeting.
02 Precise Focus: Sinopec's Five Core Requirements
In the technical specification document for the 1500L single cone vacuum dryer released by Sinopec, five core requirements are clearly defined, which has become a clear direction for Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery's technological research and development.
To achieve temperature control accuracy, it is required that the temperature difference between different areas of the cone does not exceed ± 2 ℃, in order to avoid catalyst deactivation due to local overheating. The second is the vacuum holding capacity, which requires a system leakage rate of less than 5Pa/h under full load to ensure that the solvent can evaporate quickly.
The third is the design without dead corners, which requires the surface smoothness of the equipment to reach Ra ≤ 0.4 μ m, and there should be no material residue dead corners. The fourth is the explosion-proof safety level, which needs to meet the Exd Ⅱ BT4 explosion-proof standard and adapt to the chemical production environment. The fifth is the level of intelligence, which requires the ability to memorize process parameters, remotely monitor, and self diagnose faults.
These five requirements may seem independent, but they are actually interrelated, "said Li Gong, the project manager of Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery." For example, vacuum retention capability is directly related to blind spot design, and any blind spot may lead to solvent residue, affecting the maintenance of vacuum degree
03 Structural Innovation: Three Breakthroughs in 1500L Single Cone Design
The core of the single cone vacuum dryer lies in the "single cone" design, and by enlarging this design to a capacity of 1500L, the R&D team of Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery has achieved three major technological breakthroughs.
Firstly, there is the optimization of cone proportion. After extensive fluid mechanics simulation experiments, the team has determined an ideal cone angle design of 61 °, which can ensure that the material forms an ideal fluidized state inside the cone without generating excessive axial force during cone rotation.
Next is the multi-stage heating system. Unlike conventional single zone heating, Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery divides the cone into three independent temperature control zones, monitors the temperature of each zone in real time through 32 high-precision temperature sensors, and dynamically adjusts the heating power through intelligent algorithms, successfully controlling the temperature difference within ± 1.5 ℃.
The third is the supporting structure. The vibration control of large cones during rotation is a key challenge. The team has developed a "bidirectional balanced support system", which effectively disperses the rotational inertia by setting adjustable support wheels on both sides of the cone, resulting in a vibration amplitude of less than 0.05mm under full load conditions, far below industry standards.
04 Material Revolution: Application and Treatment of Special Stainless Steel
To meet Sinopec's dual requirements for equipment corrosion resistance and cleanliness, Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery has made a new attempt in material selection.
The main material of the equipment is selected as UNS S31254 super austenitic stainless steel, which is a special steel with a molybdenum content of up to 6% and a pitting corrosion equivalent value (PREN) of over 43. It has strong resistance to chloride ion corrosion and is particularly suitable for corrosive media that may exist in chemical production environments.
After material selection, surface treatment process becomes another challenge. To achieve the requirement of Ra ≤ 0.4 μ m internal surface finish, Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery has introduced a five step polishing process: from initial mechanical polishing, to electrolytic polishing, and then to particle jet polishing, each step is precisely controlled by parameters.
The key innovation lies in the special passivation treatment. The team has developed a composite passivation solution based on citric acid and nitric acid, which forms a dense chromium oxide film on the surface of stainless steel with a thickness of only nanometers, but improves the corrosion resistance of the equipment by three times.
Materials are the foundation of equipment, and the surface is the 'skin' of the material, "explained Wang Gong, a materials engineer at Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery." We not only need to choose the right materials, but also handle the 'skin' of the materials well, so as to ensure the long-term stable operation of the equipment
05 Intelligent Core: Innovations in the Four Major Modules of Control Systems
Sinopec's requirement for equipment intelligence has prompted Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery to achieve four major module innovations in its control system.
The process curve learning module is an innovative point. The system can automatically generate optimized drying curves based on material characteristics and fine tune parameters after each run, achieving adaptive control of "more intelligent with more use".
The fault prediction and health management module is the second innovation. The system predicts potential faults in advance by monitoring the operating status of key components of the equipment. Experimental data shows that the system can predict the failure risk of mechanical seals 72 hours in advance with an accuracy rate of 87%.
The energy optimization module dynamically adjusts the operating parameters of the equipment by monitoring the power grid load and drying process in real time, and reduces energy consumption by an average of 18.6% while ensuring the quality of drying.
The data traceability module ensures that the drying process of each batch of materials can be traced throughout the entire process, in compliance with chemical production quality management standards, providing solid support for Sinopec's product traceability system.
Our control system is no longer a simple logical control, but an intelligent system with learning ability, "said Chen Gong, the person in charge of electrical automation at Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery, proudly
06 Process Validation: A Leap from Laboratory to Industrial Level
From conceptual design to industrial grade products, the 1500L single cone vacuum dryer has undergone three stages of validation to ensure that it meets the production needs of Sinopec.
The initial stage is fluid mechanics simulation verification. The R&D team used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software to simulate the material flow state at different cone angles and speeds, and determined the ideal process parameter range.
The second stage is the validation of the 1:5 scaled model. The team created a 300L scaled model and conducted continuous testing at the Sinopec Technology Center for two months, collecting over 500 sets of data to verify the feasibility of the large-scale plan.
The third stage is the performance verification of full-size prototypes. At the testing center of Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery, the 1500L equipment underwent a 72 hour continuous operation test, simulating harsh production conditions. The test results show that all indicators of the equipment meet or exceed the design requirements.
It is particularly commendable that in the performance acceptance, the residual solvent content of the equipment was controlled below 50ppm, which is 40% higher than the technical requirements of Sinopec. This has caused quite a stir within Sinopec.
07 Production Application: Dual Improvement of Efficiency and Quality
The practical application of the 1500L single cone vacuum dryer on Sinopec's catalyst production line has brought about a dual improvement in production efficiency and product quality.
According to the three-month operational data provided by Sinopec's production department, the new equipment has reduced the drying cycle by an average of 42%, from 16 hours for traditional equipment to 9.3 hours; The energy consumption per unit of production capacity has been reduced by 31%, which can save approximately 850000 yuan in energy costs annually.
The product quality indicators have significantly improved. The specific surface area of the catalyst increased by 22%, the pore size distribution became more uniform, and the dispersion of active components increased by 18%. These microstructural improvements are directly reflected in catalyst performance: in industrial device trials, the reaction efficiency of the new generation catalyst has increased by 15% -20%, and the lifespan has been extended by about 30%.
At the quarterly summary meeting, the Technical Director of Sinopec Catalyst Company specifically mentioned, "The equipment provided by Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery is not only used to complete the drying process, but also a key part of our catalyst performance improvement
08 Industry Impact: Benchmark Case of Chemical Equipment Upgrade
The 1500L single cone vacuum dryer produced by Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery for Sinopec has become a benchmark case for upgrading chemical equipment and has had a significant industry impact.
In the second half of 2024, six domestic chemical companies have visited and inspected Sinopec's equipment, and expressed their intention to purchase it. Based on this successful case, Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery has developed a series of single cone vacuum dryers with capacities of 800L, 1200L, 1500L, and 2000L to meet the needs of customers of different scales.
More importantly, this project has promoted the improvement of technical standards for domestic chemical drying equipment. Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery and Sinopec have collaborated to draft the "Technical Specification for Large Single Cone Vacuum Drying Machine".
The Sinopec project is the touchstone of our technological capabilities, proving that Chinese equipment manufacturing enterprises are fully capable of providing high-quality chemical equipment, "said the General Manager of Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery at the annual technical conference
When the first batch of catalyst products processed using this 1500L single cone vacuum dryer were sent from Sinopec to overseas customers, a quality certification letter from a Middle Eastern oil company arrived simultaneously.
The letter specifically mentioned that the performance data of this batch of catalysts has reached a very high level of quality. For Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery, this is a high recognition of more than a few days and nights of technological breakthroughs.
At the same time, the twin model of this equipment - a 1200L single cone vacuum dryer specifically designed for drying highly active pharmaceutical intermediates - is undergoing debugging in the assembly workshop of Wuxi Shuangrui Machinery and will soon be delivered to another large pharmaceutical company.
The upgrading path of the equipment manufacturing industry is quietly extending from this customized high-end equipment.