Official English Translation (Energy & CCUS Industry Standard Version)
The CCUS Project of Huaneng Zhengning Power Plant in Gansu is the world’s largest coal-fired power carbon capture demonstration project. Shengu Group supplied China’s first complete set of 8-stage integrated gear-type CO₂ centrifugal compressor unit for the project. As the core equipment in the carbon capture process, it delivers robust power support to this world-leading demonstration project and sets a standardized model for large-scale CCUS compression systems across the industry.
The project has broken through multiple technical bottlenecks in key links including carbon capture, compression and storage, with 100% domestically-produced core equipment. The world-first 8-stage supercritical carbon dioxide compressor fills the industry gap, elevates China’s CCUS technology to a globally leading level, and sets a new benchmark for the low-carbon transformation of coal-fired power.
The smooth commissioning of the project marks a historic leap of China’s carbon capture technology from "ten-thousand-ton demonstration projects" to "million-ton industrial applications". It provides a Chinese solution for the green transformation of coal-fired power worldwide and strongly advances the delivery of the dual carbon goals.
TIPS: What is CCUS?
CCUS stands for Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage, one of the pivotal technologies to achieve carbon neutrality. In coal-fired power plants, carbon dioxide generated from coal combustion is separated via chemical absorption, thermal desorption and other processes. After purification, its purity can reach 99%. The captured CO₂ can be applied in chemical, biological and other industries, or injected underground for oil displacement or permanent storage.
The project boasts a carbon capture rate exceeding 90%, capturing 1.5 million tons of CO₂ annually — equivalent to the annual carbon emissions of 600,000 automobiles. It enables large-scale, in-depth emission reduction for coal-fired power plants, drives the clean and green development of coal power, and accelerates the realization of carbon neutrality.
What Makes the 8-Shaft Integrated Gear-Type Compressor Unit Outstanding?
This compressor unit realizes eight-stage compression of carbon dioxide. For analogy, a truck-sized cotton bale can be compressed down to the size of a brick. The 8-stage compressor makes large-scale carbon capture economically viable.
Compared with conventional single-shaft compressors, Shengu’s 8-shaft integrated gear-type compressor unit features the following strengths:
Stable Operation: Equipped with adjustable inlet guide vanes to maintain high-efficiency regulation across a wide operating range.
Space & Time Saving: Compact modular structure with a small footprint; the integrated gear rotor can be replaced in far less time than that of traditional single-shaft compressors.
Superior Efficiency: Each impeller operates at its individual optimal rotating speed, delivering high overall aerodynamic efficiency and low operational energy consumption.
High Expandability: Modular design facilitates future capacity expansion or process modification.
How to Break Through Bottlenecks for Million-Ton Carbon Capture?
Large-scale million-ton CCUS application imposes extremely high technical requirements on core equipment. Drawing on profound expertise in high-end centrifugal compressors, Shengu collaborated with Huaneng Clean Energy Research Institute to customize a dedicated solution for the project. The R&D team developed a special physical property calculation program tailored to the unique characteristics of CO₂ medium to guarantee accurate aerodynamic design. Precise dynamic analysis and modeling of the complex shaft system provide core technical support for stable unit operation.
During manufacturing and testing, Shengu adopted innovative technologies and built a dedicated performance test system to conduct comprehensive verification of the unit and ensure product reliability. Throughout project execution, the team coordinated resources efficiently and responded to demands promptly to deliver all milestones on schedule.
The successful deployment of this unit not only supplies critical equipment for million-ton CCUS projects, but its technical experience also offers valuable references for various fields such as supercritical CO₂ power generation cycles, urea plants and coal conveying facilities in the future.
Shengu Group has long been a trusted partner on the road to domestic substitution of high-end equipment. Up to now, Shengu has provided core compression equipment for multiple national-level CCUS demonstration projects. It owns mature, reliable compressor solutions and proven operational track records for various technical routes including CO₂ flooding, geological storage and chemical utilization. The group continuously supplies customers with advanced, field-verified and low-risk compression power equipment to support their exploration in the CCUS sector.
