●Nanfang Daily reporter Zhong Zhe
At noon in August, researchers from Foshan Xianhu Laboratory were working with employees from ceramic companies to test new technologies and equipment on the "zero-carbon combustion" pilot line to adjust parameters and increase suitability.
Foshan is the capital of architectural ceramics in my country, with more than 280 ceramic production lines. As one of Foshan's pillar industries, the ceramic industry is not only the "backbone" of local economic development, but also the "hard nut" of energy conservation and emission reduction. In recent years, a number of ceramic production lines have withdrawn from the market under the dual pressure of high energy consumption and high carbon emissions, and the total output value of the province's ceramic industry has also declined. How to make the ceramic industry both "green and prosperous"?
The Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China emphasized that we should focus on building a beautiful China, accelerate the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, improve the ecological and environmental governance system, and promote ecological priority, conservation and intensive, green and low-carbon development.
Foshan Xianhu Laboratory explored new energy sources integrating ammonia and hydrogen, achieved breakthroughs in key core technologies of "zero-carbon combustion", and successfully fired the world's first "zero-carbon ceramic tile". The world's first mass production line will also be launched within the year. Debugging is complete. In the future, this technology is expected to be promoted to more high-temperature industries such as metal processing and thermal power generation, helping Guangdong achieve its "double carbon" goal.
Customized for ceramic kilns
Zero-carbon “upgrade package”
Hydrogen batteries have been widely used in transportation, energy storage and other fields. Hydrogen itself is also an efficient fuel. The storage and transportation technology of liquid ammonia is relatively mature and the transportation cost is low. It can be used as a medium for storing hydrogen and is also a relatively cheap zero-carbon fuel.
Adopting the fusion of ammonia and hydrogen, or the zero-carbon combustion of pure hydrogen and pure ammonia, can meet the practical needs of Foshan ceramic industry for green and low-carbon development.
This is a full-cycle, renewable "zero-carbon road" - whether burning hydrogen or ammonia, the products are clean products such as nitrogen and water, with no carbon emissions.
In fact, high-temperature industries such as thermal power generation and metal processing can all benefit from zero-carbon combustion technology. As one of the provincial laboratories, Foshan Xianhu Laboratory has been focusing on relevant technologies since 2020 based on actual needs.
The ceramic industry was chosen as the first breakthrough point because its production lines are relatively simple and it is easy to customize zero-carbon "upgrade packages."
“The core part of the ceramic production line is the burner of the kiln, which in layman’s terms is the place where ceramics are fired.” Gong Congwen, general manager of the hydrogen and ammonia new energy business department of Xianhu Technology, said that traditional ceramic kilns use natural gas or water gas as the fuel. If you want to mix ammonia as fuel or completely replace it with ammonia, you need to redesign the burner. "There are many technical difficulties, including achieving controllable pure ammonia ignition, stable high-temperature combustion flame, and reducing nitrogen oxides and Residual ammonia emissions."
After more than a year of research, the technical team made a breakthrough and developed a set ofA burner that can mix ammonia and natural gas in any proportion. Next, they urgently need a pilot production line to verify the feasibility of new technologies and new equipment.
Gong Congwen said that in order to verify the feasibility of new technologies and new equipment, they cooperated in depth with ceramic company Oceano Ceramics to build the world's first ammonia fuel ceramic kiln pilot line with a length of 30 meters and a daily production capacity of 100,000 square meters. , Promote the true implementation of new technologies and transform them into new productive forces.
In addition to modifying the burner, this "upgrade package" also has two other parts - the fuel supply system, which provides a stable and reliable source of ammonia; and the exhaust gas monitoring and treatment system, which achieves ultra-low nitrogen oxide emissions and high temperature and high temperature. High-precision online flue gas monitoring in wet environments.
After the transformation is completed, this pilot line can use any proportion of ammonia and natural gas mixture as fuel. If 100% ammonia is used as fuel, carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced to zero, making it truly a "zero-carbon kiln."
With the joint efforts of Foshan Xianhu Laboratory, Oceano Ceramics, Delitai Technology, and Guangdong Anqing Technology, the world's first "zero-carbon ceramic tile" with qualified quality was successfully produced here. After on-site testing by a third-party environmental assessment agency, the kiln exhaust emissions fully comply with national standards. This achievement was selected into the "Top Ten Global Building Materials Science and Technology News".
After the first "zero-carbon ceramic tile" was successfully fired, the technical team did not stop. Instead, based on the actual production, they explored firing ceramic tiles of different specifications, colors, and surface materials to meet different market needs.
Promote the development of high temperature industry
"Green Transformation Road"
From 2017 to 2020, 221 production lines in Guangdong's ceramic industry (with an annual production capacity of 718 million square meters) have withdrawn. The total output value of the ceramic industry has decreased by 35 billion yuan, and more than 30,000 people have changed careers as a result. In Foshan alone, 67 production lines exited in those three years.
Now, Foshan Xianhu Laboratory hopes to improve the green production capacity of the ceramic industry by promoting zero-carbon combustion technology, create a cluster effect, and attract companies back in.
Cheng Yibing, academician of the Australian Academy of Engineering and strategic scientist of Foshan Xianhu Laboratory, said: "The ceramic industry will face the reshuffle of 'dual carbon' technology next."
How to achieve energy conservation, carbon reduction and promote green transformation has become a common concern for many ceramic companies. Foshan Delitai, Oceano Ceramics, Mona Lisa Group and other leading ceramic companies have contacted and negotiated with Foshan Xianhu Laboratory. The laboratory took the lead in establishing a "Zero Carbon Combustion Technology Joint Innovation R&D Center", which was funded by the company. , to develop zero-carbon combustion industrialization technology.
The new technologies in the laboratory are turned into products that are visible, tangible and can be produced on a large scale on the pilot platform, giving enterprises "reassurance". Mona Lisa Group made up its mind to invest in a mass production line for transformation.
Cheng Yibing said that after completion of debugging and official ignition within the year, this will become the world’s first mass production line for zero-carbon ceramic production.150 meters, with a designed annual production capacity of 1.2 million square meters.
Gong Congwen calculated a "double carbon" account: as long as the production line is mixed with ammonia to replace natural gas, it is equivalent to achieving a local "carbon peak", and the carbon emissions of a single line will not increase; with zero-carbon combustion technology Gradually copy to more production lines, the proportion of ammonia mixed in each line will gradually increase, the emission reduction effect will double, the ceramic industry will gradually move towards "carbon neutrality", and the industry will have more room for development.
The more people use it, the lower the unit price of energy——
As the ceramic industry's demand for green hydrogen ammonia energy increases, the preparation, storage and transportation of green hydrogen ammonia continue to mature, and its unit price as a fuel is expected to further decline. Coupled with restrictions on carbon emission rights, the price of natural gas The advantages will gradually disappear.
The lower the unit price of energy, the more people will use it——
With more economical green hydrogen and ammonia energy, cement kilns, glass kilns, metallurgical industry, thermal power generation and other scenarios are expected to keep up with the pace of "zero carbon".
The ceramic industry is the first step for Xianhu Laboratory to promote the integration of ammonia and hydrogen and green transformation. As another pillar industry in Foshan, the aluminum profile processing industry also requires the use of high-temperature combustion. However, compared with the ceramic industry, the aluminum profile processing industry uses more types of heating furnaces, so it takes more time to develop and adapt them.
Gong Congwen revealed that Foshan Xianhu Laboratory has purchased more than 10 commonly used heating furnaces in the three major high-temperature industrial fields of ceramics, metal processing, and power generation this year.
"Breaking through the ceramic industry, paving the way for the industrialization of ammonia and hydrogen integration, allowing traditional high-temperature industries, including the aluminum profile processing industry, to complete transformation and upgrading with the support of new productivity. In the future, Foshan's 'double carbon' The goal will definitely be achieved," Gong Congwen said.
