In the fierce competition of cost in the steel industry, the Energy and Power Plant of Hebei Xinda Steel Group Co., Ltd. has actively responded to the group's call for extreme cost reduction, deeply explored its potential, and actively engaged in the battle of cost reduction and efficiency improvement, carrying out a series of improvement activities. Among them, the project based on enhancing equipment utilization efficiency and reducing cold end heat loss in subcritical power generation has achieved remarkable results and has become a key "weapon" for the company in terms of cost control and production optimization.

According to the data from the fourth quarter of 2024, the average daily desalinated water consumption of the subcritical power generation system in the energy and power plant from October to December was 347 tons, 377 tons, and 425 tons respectively, with the consumption gradually increasing. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2023, the average power generation per ton of steam and the average vacuum of condensers have both decreased. The changes in these data imply an increase in operating costs and a decrease in power generation efficiency, making it urgent to carry out improvement activities.

For this reason, the Energy and Power Plant established an improvement team, whose members cover multiple positions such as production, management, equipment, inspection, and maintenance. They have clear divisions of labor and work collaboratively. The team formulated a detailed activity plan. From the current situation investigation, goal setting to cause analysis, measure formulation and implementation, each link was carried out in an orderly manner.

In the current situation investigation, the team found that the severity of the problem far exceeded expectations. Compared with the industry standards, the temperature of the circulating water is relatively high, and the cooling effect of the cooling tower is weakened. Meanwhile, the consumption of desalinated water is much higher than the industry average, further increasing the cost.

After in-depth cause analysis, the team sorted out the reasons from multiple aspects such as personnel, machinery, materials, environment and measurement, such as inadequate implementation of the system, untimely adjustment of equipment pressure, leakage of high water drainage and boiler air door, and gas quality, etc. Through rigorous confirmation of the main causes, it was ultimately determined that packing blockage, valve leakage, copper tube scaling, and poor heat exchange effect of the heat exchanger were the main reasons, and the implementation sequence was determined according to the degree of influence.

In response to these factors, the team formulated practical and feasible measures. For packing blockage, the solution of replacing the water tower pipes, nozzles and packing is adopted. Although it takes a long time, it can fundamentally solve the problem. After the implementation, the average temperature of the circulating water in March dropped to 39℃, showing a significant decrease compared to before. For valve leakage, replace the valve and formulate a regular maintenance plan. After replacement, the valve body temperature stabilizes at 43℃, and it is tight without leakage. For the scaling of copper tubes, a combination of chemical cleaning and physical cleaning was adopted. After cleaning, the average end difference in February and March decreased to 2.6℃, and the heat exchange effect was significantly improved. For the poor heat exchange effect of the heat exchanger, chemical and physical cleaning was carried out during the maintenance opportunity. After improvement, the cooling water pressure difference was reduced to 0.01Mpa, and the cooling water flowed smoothly.

Through the implementation of these measures, the project has achieved remarkable results. The vacuum degree was increased to -91Kpa, reaching and exceeding the target value. Under the same steam pressure parameters, the vacuum was increased by -3.1 kpa, and the power generation per hour increased by 1.9MW. The consumption of desalinated water has also been reduced to 310 tons per day, effectively lowering the operating cost. From the perspective of benefit analysis, the estimated annual benefit can reach 3.4924 million yuan, bringing considerable economic benefits to the enterprise.

To consolidate the achievements, the Energy and Power Plant has formulated a series of standards and systems, such as inspecting the circulating water system every two hours, promptly observing the changes in circulating water pressure and temperature and keeping records, and organizing training on standardized operation procedures, to ensure that similar problems do not occur again.

"Though the road is long, if you keep walking, you will reach your destination." Though the task is difficult, it will surely succeed if you do it. The success of the energy and power plant's project to reduce the cold end heat loss of subcritical power generation proves that as long as enterprises deeply explore their internal potential and have the courage to innovate and break through in technology and management, they can find vitality in adversity and seize opportunities in challenges. In the future, Xinda people will continue to uphold this indomitable will and the spirit of constant innovation, steadily move forward in the complex and ever-changing market environment, continuously write a brand-new chapter of high-quality development, and forge an immortal legend of a century-old strong enterprise!