UMATAC Industrial Processes A company of Polysius ATP Oil Shale Plant in China UMATAC Industrial Processes Inc., a company of Polysius (Calgary, Canada) Fushun Mining Group not process the fine portion of the The FMG ATP Processor, shown above, is crushed oil shale. The fines are cur- The Fushun Mining Group (FMG) is a similar in size to the Processor for the Stuart rently being discarded. Once the ATP large state owned coal mining, coal Oil Shale Research and Development pro- System is in operation, the rejected processing, and manufacturing com- ject, built in Gladstone, Australia in 1999. fines will be redirected to the ATP pany based in the city of Fushun, plant. This material was tested in 2005 in Liaoning province, China. FMG has UMATAC’s 5 tonne/ hour pilot plant. now completed construction of an oil Project Highlights Following the test program, the parties shale processing plant that uses the held further technical discussions and Alberta Taciuk Process (ATP) technol- x First application of the ATP Technol- ogy to Chinese oil shale. review meetings, culminating in De- ogy under license from UMATAC In- cember 2005 with signing the contract dustrial Processes Inc., a company of x Design teams located in Canada, for design and construction of the first Polysius. Germany, and China. ATP System for FMG. FMG is famous in China for their West x Leading edge field machining tech- Open Pit coal mine, one of the largest nique was proven. This has over- The FMG Project, Fushun, China mines in the world – 6 km long x 2.2 km come a previous equipment size limi- Design and construction of the first wide x 400 m deep. Coal production tation. FMG ATP plant commenced in early capacity is 8.4 million tonnes/year. x Environmental performance has been 2006 and was originally scheduled for enhanced and greenhouse gas emis- completion in mid to late 2008. A com- sions reduced. bination of equipment delivery delays, Project Development high demand for commodities world- wide, pressures within China due to the UMATAC, in cooperation with Polysius Olympic preparations and limited Chi- AG, a ThyssenKrupp company based nese engineering availability resulted in in Germany, began discussions with delay of the plant completion. Plant FMG in 2002 to explore use of the ATP construction is now complete and is in Technology with the Fushun oil shale. commissioning phase. UMATAC obtained small oil shale The FMG ATP facility has a rated oil samples from FMG in 2003. These shale processing capacity of 1,750,000 John Barge, Senior Mechanical Engineer, in front were tested in UMATAC’s Calgary pilot tonnes/year (230 t/h). of the Fushun West Open Pit Coal Mine, Fushun. plant facility. Based on the test results, If operating results from the first unit Oil shale lies above the coal deposit the parties held a series of technical meet expectations, FMG will install and is mined as over-burden. FMG discussions and review meetings in three to five additional ATP System produces oil from a portion of the oil China in 2003, 2004, and 2005. In trains, and opportunities for expansion shale using an older vertical retort 2004, FMG shipped 100 tonnes of oil into other locations in China are technology, but the vertical retorts can- shale to Calgary. opened. UMATAC Industrial Processes Inc. October 2010 A company of Polysius UMATAC Industrial Processes A company of Polysius The ATP Processor The ATP Technology for the FMG Project Preheat Zone: ¾Feed enters ATP unit Flue Gas ¾Indirect heat transfer from the cooling zone ¾Feed heated to ~250°C to 300°C Preheat ¾Feed is dried, generating steam Steam 1 ¾Steam-rich vapors are removed ¾Preheated and dried kerogen-bearing solids moved to the retort zone through a solids transport seal Cooling Zone Combustion Auxiliary Zone Retort Zone: Burner ¾Direct heat transfer from hot spent solids recycled from the combustion zone Feed Hydrocarbon 2 ¾Material heated to ~480 to 550°C in the absence of oxygen Evolved Vapours ¾Pyrolysis occurs yielding hydrocarbon gas, hydrocarbon vapours, Preheat Zone Steam Retort Zone and coked-coated solids. Hydrocarbon vapours sent to Coked hydrocarbon recovery system for recovery as liquid and Solids gaseous products. Combustion ¾Coked solids move to the combustion zone through solid Heat Transfer Air transport seal Combusted Cooling Zone Solids Solids 3 Combustion Zone: ¾Addition of air to burn portion of coke byproduct from pyrolysis Spent Solids ¾Coke combustion usually sufficient to supply all process heat 4 Cooling Zone: ¾Solids heated to ~700°C to 750°C ¾Heat recovery: hot solids and gases indirectly supply heat to ¾A portion of the solids are recycled to the retort zone through a the preheat zone solids transport seal ¾Solids and flue gases are cooled to ~350°C to 425°C ¾Combusted solids and combustion flue gases flow into the ¾Solids and gases leave the ATP Processor cooling zone The ATP Technology x The ATP System yield and recovery achieve the targets set for the project. of oil from the shale is higher than the The design teams have implemented The main component of the ATP Sys- existing vertical retorts. Processing new equipment configurations and de- tem is the ATP Processor, which is a conditions in the vertical retorts result sign changes to improve environmental large diameter, horizontal, rotating cy- in incomplete extraction of oil from performance, including the following: lindrical vessel. Inside the vessel are the shale. heat transfer and recovery tubes x Installing equipment to recover heat (called the preheat and cooling zones) x The ATP System produces a concen- from the hot flue gas and spent shale that provide high thermal efficiency to trated hydrocarbon stream. The ver- leaving the ATP Processor. This the machine, a retorting zone where oil tical retorts produce a gas stream equipment reduces greenhouse gas is extracted from the shale, and a com- that is diluted with steam and combi- emissions by 15%. bustion zone where all of the process nations of inert gases and flue gases. x Including a preheat gas thermal oxi- heat is generated by burning the car- This results in lower recovery of the dizer to destroy potentially odorous bon by-product after extracting the oil. hydrocarbon products that have been compounds. extracted from the shale. When compared to the existing vertical x Scrubbing sulphur dioxide and am- retort technology, the ATP has the fol- x High capacity – the single FMG ATP monia from the flue gas to reduce lowing advantages: Processor has the same capacity as pollutant emissions. approximately 60 of the existing ver- x Processes 100% of the mined oil x Using high efficiency baghouse dust tical retorts. New ATP Processors in shale. The existing retorts are not collectors to minimize particulate design will have twice the capacity of able to process shale smaller than 12 emissions. the FMG ATP. mm in size, and approximately 20% x Improving resource utilization by x Environmental performance – the of the mined shale is discarded. making use of the 20% of the shale ATP System will emit less pollutant x Uses the by-product coke as the pri- that is currently discarded. and recover more oil from the re- mary process fuel. The existing re- source than the vertical retorts. x Achieving fuel self-sufficiency - no torts burn a portion of the produced imported fuel (such as natural gas) is hydrocarbon gases to provide proc- Environmental Performance required to operate the ATP Proces- ess heat. The ATP plant will use all The first ATP System being con- sor. of these gases to generate electric structed at FMG will be used to confirm power, improving plant efficiency. and demonstrate the plant’s ability to UMATAC Industrial Processes Inc. October 2010 A company of Polysius UMATAC Industrial Processes A company of Polysius Oil Shale Light Shale Oil Inside the ATP Processor Project Organization x ATP Processor detail process design, World-Wide Fabrication process sizing and configuration, and The project was organized to maximize Due to the large size of the ATP Proc- mechanical configuration. China based engineering and equip- essor components, Polysius selected ment supply. The primary parties in- x ATP System operator training and shops from around the world that had volved and their scopes of work are: start-up assistance to FMG. the capabilities to manufacture compo- Fushun Mining Group – Owner x UMATAC worked as a sub-contractor nents of this scale to the required qual- to Polysius. ity requirements. Key portions of the x Project management, procurement, ATP were fabricated in Germany, Ma- design and supply of general infra- Project Construction laysia, Czech Republic, Netherlands, structure and oil shale preparation Since the FMG plant site is located United States, and China, then shipped facilities, project construction, and inland and approximately 450 km from to site for assembly. plant operations. the nearest port, many of the large di- Construction Photographs Luoyang Petrochemical Engineering ameter components of the ATP Proc- Company (LPEC) – Detail Engineer essor had to be shipped in sections x Detail engineering for plant layout, then welded and field machined to civil, structural, piping, electrical, and meet the required tolerances. instrumentation. Specification of A series of pictures of the assembly equipment for procurement. and construction of the ATP Processor Polysius AG – ATP Processor as well as development of the plant site Mechanical Design and Supply follow to illustrate the equipment sizes and erection procedures that had to be x Detail mechanical design and supply practiced in order to meet the specifica- Fushun city – a major industrial centre – at night. of key ATP Processor components, tions set out by Polysius and UMATAC. including riding rings and bearings, These erection procedures included drive gear and pinions, supply of field-welding and leading edge field- specialized high alloy fabrications machining process that has over- and large castings, other specialty come a previous machine size limita- items, and technical assistance for tion.