Source from Guizhou Wengfu Lantian Fluorine Chemical Co. Ltd. on February 27 indicated the company's anhydrous hydrogen fluoride device had achieved a long period of stable operations and produced 15,000-t of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride products in 2011 with profits exceeding 30 million yuan, which indicates that domestic technology of producing anhydrous hydrogen fluoride by fluosilicic acid technology has become mature and the device has become the world's first set of stable industrial devices.
The technology has won praise from Chinese and overseas manufacturers. Yunnan Yuntianhua Co. Ltd., Hubei Xingfa Chemicals Group Co. Ltd. and other Chinese companies have conducted a feasibility study on the introduction of this technology and phosphate fertilizer producers from South Africa and Saudi Arabia expressed their intentions to introduce the technology. Industry experts said the technology is expected to bring more orders to Guizhou Wengfu Lantian Fluorine Chemical, given the bottleneck encountered by the traditional fluorite method of hydrogen fluoride production technology.
The technology has been upgraded by Wengfu Group for producing hydrogen fluoride by fluosilicic acid, imported from Switzerland, using the one-step process to decompose fluosilicic acid into hydrogen fluoride and silica. Compared with the two-step method of hydrogen fluoride production by fluosilicic acid that is under research in the nation. The technology involves a shorter process, less energy consumption and lower costs. The requirement for the equipment is relatively high.
The device built by Guizhou Wengfu Lantian Fluorine Chemical using the one-step technology had produced anhydrous hydrogen fluoride by the end of March 2008. In mid-April, the facility produced superior anhydrous hydrogen fluoride products, but later on problems occurred in the equipment. The first was damage in the lining of the mixed sulfuric acid and fluorosilicic acid reactor, which brought about risks to safety production and environmental issues, followed by the scrap of hydrofluoric acid and fluosilicic acid separator, just four months after being imported from Germany under high temperatures and high corrosion conditions.
To solve equipment problems, Guizhou Wengfu Lantian Fluorine Chemical and the domestic equipment manufacturers carried out research on new technology and upgraded equipment structure to meet long-term operating conditions gradually. From successful testing to stable operations, Guizhou Wengfu Lantian Fluorine Chemical spent more than half a year. Devices managed to work in a stable manner in 2009, however incurred losses due to the financial crisis. The device started to earn a profit in 2010 and in 2011, it achieved real long-term stable operations. The anhydrous hydrogen fluoride production directly by the phosphate byproduct fluorosilicic acid took root in the country.
New technology was replicated within Wengfu Group. On January 12, 2012, foundation laying ceremony for the 10,000-t/yr anhydrous hydrogen fluoride plant would be built in Jiaoyang Industrial Park of Fujian’s Shanghang county by Fujian Wengfu Lantian Fluorine Chemical.