AITESA joins Moeve’s Positive Motion strategy and demonstrates its commitment to a more sustainable future by reducing CO2 emissions by 1,413 tons per year, through its energy recovery project in the B-8401 furnace of Moeve Química’s line 3 in Palos de la Frontera.

The Moeve Química Palos de la Frontera plant is the largest integrated phenol, acetone and cumene plant. Line 3 is dedicated to phenol production and has a nominal annual capacity of 600,000 t of phenol. The B-8401 thermal oil furnace has an existing flue gas heat recovery system that is being upgraded in this project.

– Replacement of the existing plate air preheater with a plate preheater of modular design.

– Design, manufacture and assembly of a neutralization system for the treatment of acid condensate from the air preheater.

– Implementation of variable frequency drives on the air fans for better control of excess oxygen in the furnace.

– Adaptation of heat recovery ducts and structures to the new preheater.

– Design of the control system with associated instrumentation assembly.

The new air preheater, with a corrosion-resistant cold module made of AISI904L stainless steel, allows reducing the flue gas outlet temperature from 154°C to 95°C. The preheater operates below the acid mist temperature of the flue gas. The condensing sulfuric acid is neutralized in a tank with magnesium oxide beads.
This improvement in heat recovery increases the furnace’s fuel efficiency to 92.7%, resulting in a 512 ton reduction in annual fuel consumption, equivalent to a reduction of 1,413 tons of CO2 per year.

We value the great performance of Caldererías Indálicas (ES)-CIM (MA) in the manufacture of ducts and structures, of GRUPO MASA in the assembly, of Apex Heat Transfer in the supply of the air preheater, of ABB in the supply of the frequency inverters, and of INERCO in the permitting and collaboration in the 3D models.

We would like to acknowledge and thank the support of Javier Contreras (Project Manager) and Pedro Hernández Amarillo (MOEVE Química Engineering-Projects) for their continuous collaboration and dedication, which were essential for the completion of this project.