GALOTER Method Applied to Solid Heat Carrier Installations: A History and Update

摘要

This presentation will provide the historical facts regarding the creation and development of the GALOTER method that is fundamental to the development of Solid Heat Carrier installations designed by ATOMENERGOPROEKT in the 1950s. This method was invented by Russian engineer S.I. Galynker - an employee of the G.M. Krzhizhanovsky Energy Institute (ENIN, Moscow, Russia). The ATOMENERGOPROEKT institute has been involved in the oil shale industry since the 1950s, and today, a significant part of Estonian oil shale processing technology is based on ATOMENERGOPROEKT's designs, including two of the biggest oil shale power plants in the world (Ahtme 45 MW, Estonian 1700 MW, and Baltic 1800 MW). All installations in Estonia based on the GALOTER method were built using ATOMENERGOPROEKT's designs: the installation of the UTT-200 in Kivioli in the 1950s, installation of the UTT-500 between 1963 till 1981, two installations of UTT-3000 units in the Narva Oil Factory operating now as Enefit-140, and the UTT-3000 on the site of Viru Keemia Group (VKG) in Kohtla Jarve commissioned in 2009 and operating now as Petroter 1 under the license of TTU Ltd (Russia). The technology is proven and economically efficient. VKG has started construction of a second UTT-3000 installation in November 2012, and has plans to build two additional UTT-3000 units (Petroter 2, 3 & 4). Although the latest modifications of the UTT-3000 meet the strict EU regulations for emissions, the technology provider continuously works on improvements to the process. Thanks to the closed water circulation cycle, the water consumption of a UTT-3000 installation is 0.7 bbl per bbl of oil, the emissions of waste water are zero, modifications have been made to: (1) avoid emissions from the drying facility, (2) avoid losses of oil in reactor, (3) increase the efficiency of ash cooling, (4) lower sulfur in final products, (5) upgrade oil fractions to motor fuel quality, and (6) control CO2 emissions. Review of these improvements will be presented. Today ATOMENERGOPROEKT is involved in oil shale projects in Jordan, Israel, Serbia, Morocco, Myanmar, Russia and Uzbekistan.