On March 28, a 490,000-ton-per-year gasification slag incineration and disposal demonstration project, built using a series of key technologies for gasification slag circulating fluidized bed incineration developed by the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, achieved 80 consecutive days of stable trial operation. The facility is currently the world’s largest single-unit gasification slag incinerator by processing capacity.
The project is located in Shihezi, Xinjiang, and is designed to treat fine gasification slag generated by four water–coal slurry gasifiers, with a disposal capacity of 490,000 tons per year. It also co-produces 1.3 million tons of steam annually for industrial use within the park, while the treated fine slag is comprehensively utilized as a raw material for cement production.
To address the challenge of resource utilization of entrained-flow gasification slag, the project team from the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a series of key technologies for gasification slag circulating fluidized bed incineration. Based on the fundamental principles of circulating fluidized bed combustion and combined with research findings on the combustion mechanisms of gasification slag, these technologies were successfully validated on a pilot-scale platform with a capacity of thousands of tons per year. Experimental results demonstrated that the technology enables efficient autothermal combustion of various types of entrained-flow gasification slag without the need for auxiliary fuels. Third-party testing by authoritative institutions showed that the combustion efficiency of the gasification slag reached 99.36%.
Building on the pilot-scale research results, the project team designed and constructed the first gasification slag circulating fluidized bed incinerator. The project was undertaken on an EPC basis by CAS Hefei Coal Gasification Technology Co., Ltd. Construction commenced in May 2023, the hydrostatic pressure test was completed in June 2024, and the incinerator entered trial operation in January 2025.
Entrained-flow gasifiers are widely used in modern coal chemical industries. However, the gasification slag they generate is characterized by high moisture content, high ash content, ultra-low volatile matter, and poor reactivity, making it much more difficult to treat and creating a more urgent need for effective solutions. In China, entrained-flow coal gasifiers produce more than 70 million tons of gasification slag annually. At present, this waste is mainly disposed of through landfilling or stockpiling, with insufficient progress in reduction, resource utilization, harmless treatment, and large-scale application. This has become a key bottleneck restricting the sustainable development of the modern coal chemical industry.
