Industrial catalysis is the use of catalysis and chemical principles to achieve large-scale production of chemical science and technology. Humans consume a lot of food, lightweight running shoes, medicine to eat when sick, fuel for cars, fun LEGO bricks、... These things that are closely related to our lives are inextricably linked to industrial catalysis.
Industrial catalysis began with the industrial application of basic scientific research results, and its emergence even predates the concept of "catalysis". In 1746, Roebuck (j. Roebuck) when manufacturing sulfuric acid by the lead chamber method, first used catalysts in industry, and industrial catalysis was born. Researchers then discovered a similar approach that could make many of the original industrial productions more efficient, which was the "catalytic" effect proposed by the Swedish chemist Berzelius in 1836. This effect accelerates what was once a slow chemical reaction, as if entering a highway from a congested section of the city. This miraculous phenomenon aroused the strong interest of scientists and industry, and at this time, the synthetic ammonia research that took place in the 19th century fully demonstrated the art of combining theory and practice of industrial catalysis.
Before the 19th century, the source of nitrogen fertilizer needed for agriculture mainly came from by-products of organic matter, such as farm manure. Some far-sighted chemists have pointed out that in view of the future food problem (the food crisis in Germany in 1847), in order to save future generations from hunger, we must hope that scientists can achieve atmospheric nitrogen fixation. Therefore, the abundant nitrogen in the air is fixed and converted into a form that can be used, so the synthesis of ammonia has become a major topic that has attracted the attention and concern of many scientists. In 1900, the French chemist Le Chatelier was the first to study the direct synthesis of hydrogen and nitrogen into ammonia under high pressure. Unfortunately, however, because the hydrogen and nitrogen he used mixed with air, an explosion occurred during the experiment, killing a researcher, so the experiment was abandoned. Although chemists encountered many difficulties in the study of synthetic ammonia, the German physicist and chemical expert Haber still insisted on the study. Through a large number of experiments, he found that osmium and uranium have good catalytic properties, such as the use of the catalyst under the conditions of 17.5 to 20 mpa and 500 to 600 °C, nitrogen and hydrogen energy is more efficient to generate ammonia. Although there were many accidents during the demonstration process, and even exploded the day after the display was completed, it still aroused strong interest from BASF, which invested heavily and asked chemical expert Bosch to help industrialize the result. He spent 5 years doing more than 20,000 experiments, screening thousands of catalysts, finding the most efficient and practical catalyst for the production of ammonia, and building a high-temperature and high-pressure ammonia synthesis device. Thus, driven by great economic value and social demand, and the efforts of a large number of scientists, after a process of 150 years, synthetic ammonia was successfully industrialized in 1913.
It can be seen that driven by social needs and economic benefits, researchers combine the knowledge of natural science and chemical engineering to overcome unknown difficulties and develop new catalysts or new processes, which is the research mode of general industrial catalysis. At present, about 90% of the energy, environment and chemical production processes are accompanied by catalytic processes, and the role of industrial catalysis in economic development and human life is irreplaceable. Under the current broader framework of global economic integration, industrial catalysis is influenced not only by the natural sciences, but also by business, economics, markets and politics. A good industrial catalysis researcher needs to go through a lot of knowledge accumulation and industrial practice, and even have the ability to grasp the economy and the market. As far as China's national conditions are concerned, industrial catalysis work focuses on the development of clean and efficient conversion technology for fossil energy, the use of new technologies, new catalytic processes and new catalysts to provide scientific and technical support for the national energy security and energy security strategy, not only to continuously optimize the existing process, but also to develop pioneering new processes, taking into account the current needs and future development direction, in the energy, chemical and environmental fields to continue to provide assistance for China's economic transformation and development.
Based on its advantages and accumulation in the field of industrial catalysis, dalian institute of chemical physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has long been committed to solving the major needs of China's energy strategy, and has achieved a series of research results in the fields of coal chemical industry and petrochemical industry, and has achieved significant economic and social benefits, mainly in:
Completed the world's first industrial test of methanol-to-olefin (dmto) technology, developed a complete set of dmto industrialization technology, and realized the first industrial application of dmto technology and the breakthrough of "zero" industrialization of coal-to-olefins in the world. In addition, the research and development of a new generation of methanol to produce low-carbon olefins (dmto-ii) technology has been carried out. In 2010, the industrialization test was completed, and it received 72 hours of continuous operation assessment and calibration, and passed the national appraisal. In February 2015, the world's first dmto-ii industrial plant, Pucheng Clean Energy Chemical Co., Ltd. built a 670,000 tons / year coal-to-olefin project, successfully opened the whole process. The success of dmto-ii has further consolidated China's international leading position in the world's coal-based olefin industrialized industry. At present, dmto technology has licensed 20 sets of industrial plants, the scale of olefins has reached 11.26 million tons / year, and 10 sets of plants have been put into operation, with a total production capacity of 5.8 million tons of olefins / year. There are still 10 units under construction or pending construction, and these units are planned to be put into production in succession over the next 5 years. After full production, it is expected to add an output value of about 150 billion yuan / year, driving upstream and downstream investment of about 250 billion yuan, the construction of these projects marks the dmto technology to drive and lead the rapid rise of China's emerging coal or methanol as raw materials of olefin industry, the implementation of the national oil substitution strategy and the guarantee of national energy security is of great significance. The technology won the first prize of the 2014 National Technological Invention Award and was included in the national plans such as the "Twelfth Five-Year Development Plan for the Olefin Industry".
In addition, Dalian Institute of Chemicals has also successfully developed a number of new technologies with independent intellectual property rights and realized industrialization. Including catalytic cracking dry gas to ethylbenzene complete sets of technology (has been put into production of 21 sets of plants, a total production capacity of 1.4 million tons / year), lubricating oil hydrogenation isomerization dewaxing catalyst and technology (has been put into production of 1 set of units, a total production capacity of 200,000 tons / year), solid acid catalytic medium pressure propylene hydration isopropanol technology (has been put into production of 2 sets of plants, a total production capacity of 80,000 tons / year), n-butene and acetic acid direct addition production of sec-butyl acetate technology (has been put into production of 1 set of units, production capacity of 50,000 tons / year), methanol to dimethyl ether technology (has been put into production of 2 sets of units , the total production capacity of 300,000 tons / year). Two other projects are in the industrial demonstration stage, namely toluene methanol to paraxylene co-production of low-carbon olefins (200,000 tons/year paraxylene) and methanol to dimethyl ether to ethanol technology (100,000 tons/year). Actively promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, complete the world's first set of 10,000 tons / year syngas to ethanol and 30,000 tons / year acetic acid hydrogenation to ethanol industrial pilot, 10,000 tons / year wind energy hydrogen-based syngas synthesis naphtha and diesel industrial pilot and 10,000 tons / year syngas synthesis fat primary alcohol co-production oil industrial pilot; fine chemical catalytic research areas are: 10,000 tons / year and 30,000 tons / year monoethanolamine hydroamidylation to ethylenediamine industrial production, 20,000 tons / year dimethyl terephthalate hydrogenation to 1,4- Cyclohexane dimethanol industrialization, etc., 300,000 tons / year acetate and propylene esterification hydrogenation hydrogenation to prepare ethanol and isopropanol technology. In addition, in response to the urgent needs of China's environmental protection and fuel oil quality upgrade, Dalian Chemical Institute and Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group cooperated to develop ultra-deep desulfurization technology for gasoline and diesel, which can produce clean gasoline and diesel with sulfur content in line with the requirements of China V standard, and successfully tested on industrial devices of 400,000 tons /year and 200,000 tons/year respectively. The industrial catalytic technology of Dalian Institute of Chemicals creates an industrial output value of about 100 billion yuan per year.
bibliography:
b.e. Leach, Catalysis for Industrial Applications, 1990, Hydrocarbon Processing Press
Wu Yue, Fundamentals of Applied Catalysis, 2009, Chemical Industry Press
Zifeng Zhang, Synthetic Ammonia Production Technology, 2011, Chemical Industry Press
The author is a researcher at the Department of Low Carbon Catalysis and Engineering, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
