Table of Content

28 July 2026, Volume 26 Issue 7

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Contents

Cover and Contents

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  0. 

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Research Paper

Collaborative optimization control technology for ladle argon blowing and alloying based on the fusion of industrial vision, data and mechanism

Jun XU Qi PENG Zilei ZHENG Jindong ZHOU Haijun LIU Jing GUO Yongwei FANG

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  693-702.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225243

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In the field of modern steel metallurgy, the precise control of molten steel quality constitutes a critical bottleneck constraining the performance enhancement of high-end steel products. As a domestic steel plant endeavors to upgrade its product quality, the increasingly stringent requirements for molten steel cleanliness and compositional homogeneity have rendered traditional, experience-reliant control modes for alloying and argon blowing inadequate to meet practical demands. Confronted with challenges such as alloy composition fluctuations and argon flow mismatches during the refining process—issues that frequently result in unstable molten steel quality, product rework, and grade downgrading—this study develops an intelligent argon blowing control system integrated with industrial vision, data analytics, and metallurgical mechanisms. Leveraging a dynamic coordination mechanism, the system achieves the integrated regulation of key process parameters. Industrial experiments show that: by employing a machine learning approach that combines metallurgical mechanisms, back propagation (BP) neural networks, and the improved simplex method, the compositional compliance rate for Q195 steel increases to 98.1%, while alloy costs were reduced by 5.3 CNY/ton; The industrial vision-guided adaptive intelligent argon blowing control system reduces argon consumption per ton of steel by 9.9%, decreases the proportion of inclusions with a grade of CT3.5 or higher from 35% to 16%, and yields an annual comprehensive benefit of approximately 2.2832 million CNY.

Prediction of viscosity of monoamine solutions based on interpretable machine learning models

Ying ZHU Ziteng ZHANG Wang TANG Tianxiong LIU Hongxia GAO Zhiwu LIANG

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  703-714.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225261

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Viscosity is a critical transport property in amine-based CO2 capture systems, as it directly influences solvent circulation, pumping energy consumption, and gas-liquid mass transfer rates within absorption-desorption columns. Despite its importance, viscosity determination in traditional research and industrial practice largely depends on experimental measurements, which are not only labor-intensive and time-consuming but also impractical for evaluating the rapidly expanding library of candidate absorbents. To address this methodological bottleneck, this study establishes a data-driven prediction framework for accurately estimating the viscosity of monoamine aqueous solutions using machine learning techniques. Molecular descriptors are systematically extracted from SMILES representations via RDKit and subjected to feature engineering to eliminate redundancy and enhance model generalizability. Two ensemble-learning algorithms, random forest (RF) and gradient boosting decision trees (GBDT), are developed and optimized using Bayesian hyperparameter tuning. Benchmarking on independent test datasets reveals that the RF and GBDT models achieve coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.9939 and 0.9986, respectively, with GBDT exhibiting higher robustness toward extrapolative predictions under varying temperature and concentration conditions. To elucidate model decision mechanisms, SHAP analysis is employed, revealing that viscosity increases monotonically with amine mass fraction while decreasing with temperature, aligning with thermodynamic expectations. From the perspective of molecular structure, molecular weight (MolWt) makes a positive contribution to overall viscosity, while the electronic state descriptor MinAbsEStateIndex makes a negative contribution to viscosity, indicating that differences in electron distribution can regulate intermolecular interactions and affect viscosity. Overall, this work bridges computational chemistry and process engineering, offering a scalable pathway toward accelerated solvent discovery and optimization for next-generation carbon capture technologies.

Two phase flow-mass transfer characteristics in a new type of internals stripper

Ziyu ZHENG Rui NAN Wenhao LÜ Leyan LI Chaowei LIU Tao LIU Kaijun HOU Zhifeng WANG Yiping FAN

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  715-725.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225235

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In the short-contact, high-temperature processes such as fluid catalytic cracking, the stripping efficiency is a critical factor significantly determining product yield. To improve the stripper performance, a large-scale cold experimental model is employed to investigate the hydrodynamic and mass transfer performance of a novel packing stripping column. In the experiment, air was used to simulate stripping steam. Fiber optic probes and tracer gas methods were employed to measure bubble characteristics, solid content as well as stripping efficiency under various operating conditions. The results indicated that the novel internal component effectively broke up the rising bubbles, reduced bubble size, and increased bubble frequency. Downstream of this component, it was found that the bubble size distribution became more uniform, the bubble frequency increased, and the radial solid retention gradient decreased. It improved gas-solid contact and enhanced fluidization uniformity. Based on analyzing the axial flow behavior, the strippers divided into three functional zones: the nature evolution zone, the forced crushing zone, and the recovery coalescence zone. The forced crushing zone was particularly significant as it suppressed bubble coalescence and enhanced mass transfer. The measured stripping efficiency exhibited a non-monotonic relationship to the superficial gas velocity. Efficiency peaked at 98% when the gas velocity was 0.22 m/s, corresponding to the smallest and the most uniform bubbles distribution, along with optimal gas-liquid contacting. Both excessively low and high gas velocities reduced efficiency due to limited contact or particle entrainment. The novel internal structure significantly improved the two phase flow and mass transfer, achieving a high stripping efficiency and providing practical data in optimizing and designing commercial stripping columns in catalytic processes.

Analysis of heat transfer mechanisms in an impinging-orifice jet reactor

Qing LI Zongyong WANG Shibo LI Chenglong JIA Weiye ZHANG

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  726-736.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225270

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Aiming at the problem of insufficient heat transfer in chemical processes characterized by strong exothermicity, low flow velocity, and long residence time, a novel impinging stream composite orifice jet reactor is proposed. This structural innovation integrates impinging stream technology with orifice jet technology, in which the newly developed orifice plate is the key component to break through the heat transfer bottleneck of traditional reactors. Numerical simulation method is adopted to study the heat transfer performance and enhancement mechanism of this novel reactor, with a focus on analyzing the effects of the ratio of the spacing between inflow pipes to the inner diameter of the inflow pipe (c/d1), number of novel orifice plates, and jet orifice tangential angle (βo) of novel orifice plates on the reactor's heat transfer process. The results show that the ratio of the spacing between inflow pipes to the inner diameter of the inflow pipe has a significant impact on heat transfer. The average Nusselt number (Nu) on the tube wall first decreases and then increases as the spacing to diameter ratio increases, reaching the maximum when c/d1=0.5 and the minimum when c/d1=2, a decrease of 22.99% compared with c/d1=0.5, while the Nu at c/d1=5 is 4.8% higher than that at c/d1=2. More importantly, orifice plates with a tangential angle βo ranging from 100° to 130° can all improve the heat transfer effect of the reactor, and their comprehensive heat transfer performance is superior to that of traditional reactors, with higher heat transfer performance at lower flow velocities. Among them, the orifice plate with βo=100° achieves the best effect, with the Nu increased by 231.56% compared with the traditional reactor, and the relative deviation of the local average heat transfer coefficient is as high as about 300%. Furthermore, the superposition of multi-stage orifice plates can further extend the range of heat transfer enhancement, which is a unique advantage brought by the innovation of orifice plates. Focusing on the novel orifice plate, this study not only verifies the feasibility of the structural innovation of the reactor, but also provides important reference for the development of high-efficiency heat transfer equipment and the optimization of heat transfer processes in the chemical industry.

Numerical simulation optimization on multiphysics fields of moisture, heat, and dust in long-distance excavation tunnels based on dual stage variable diameter ventilation design

Yihua CHEN Haonan TAN Qing YANG Xiaonan WANG Xiaochen XIONG

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  737-749.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225218

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For long-distance deep mining in metal mines, the adoption of tandem attached jet ventilation leads to significant air quality attenuation and easy cyclic accumulation of pollutants. This study employs CFD numerical simulation methods to construct a multidimensional pollutant diffusion model of airflow and wet-thermal-dust under tandem ventilation conditions. After in-depth analysis of airflow structure and pollutant diffusion patterns, a dual-stage variable diameter ventilation optimization design is proposed, featuring large-diameter air duct conditioning in the first section and localized pressurization in the secondary section. Key parameters (duct diameter ratio λ and tandem spacing H) are further optimized. Experimental validation in a deep metal mine long-distance roadway confirmed the following findings: the tandem attached jet airflow can be divided into four zones: the jet development zone, deflected airflow zone, recirculation zone, and stable backflow zone. The strong shear vortex structure formed in the recirculation zone causes the aggregation and swirling of comprehensive thermal-dust pollutants in the roadway, which is the key cause of secondary pollution. Under the dual-stage variable diameter ventilation mode, the pollutant removal capacity in four experimental groups (λ=0.75, 0.80, 0.85, 1.00) initially strengthens and then weakens as tandem spacing H (0.5 m≤H≤1.0 m) decreases. Under the same H condition, a similar trend of initial increase followed by decrease is observed as λ decreases. Within the current research range, an optimal operating condition (λ=0.80, H=1.0 m) exists. Compared to pre-optimization, post-optimization results show a 45.8% shortening of the time to reduce breathable dust concentration to 1 mg/m3 in the working zone, along with a 35.4% reduction in the connecting zone. This effectively enhances pollutant emission capacity under tandem ventilation conditions.

Effect of unequal spacing on the flame spread and merging characteristics of triple wires

Yuexin ZHAO Xinjie HUANG Zhipeng YIN Dong SHENG

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  750-760.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225169

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As a typical and critical configuration in power systems, the flame interaction among multiple conductors arranged in parallel significantly influences flame spread behavior. In this work, two types of polyethylene-insulated wires (with copper core diameters of 6 and 8 mm and an insulation thickness of 2 mm) were selected. By controlling a comprehensive set of spacing parameters, defined as S1 (0, 3, 6, 10, 12, 15, 18 mm) and S2 (3, 6, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20 mm) with the condition S1<S2, the flame spread and merging characteristics of triple wires under unequal spacing conditions were systematically investigated across a wide spectrum of configurations to understand their integral flame behavior. The experimental results revealed that the three flames exhibited distinct asymmetric characteristics due to the different spacing. Specifically, flame 1 and flame 2, located on the side with the smaller spacing (S1), demonstrated a higher flame merging probability (Pm) and greater flame height (Hf) than flame 3. Moreover, it was observed that the average flame width (Wf) increased significantly in the transverse direction. Thermal analysis further showed that the heat feedback among the three flames varied considerably depending on the spacing. Due to the strong thermodynamic coupling effect between flame 1 and flame 2, their gas phase heat transfer exceeded that of flame 3, resulting in a faster flame spread rate for the closely spaced pair. As the spacing between the wires was systematically increased, all previously noted asymmetric flame characteristics gradually diminished until there was no interaction between flames. Finally, a heat transfer model of flame spread was established, which accurately predicted the flame spread rate, and the prediction error was within ±20%. This study can provide corresponding wiring spacing designs for multi-wire energy systems and enrich the flame spread theories, both of which hold significant practical importance.

Analysis of droplet dynamics and influencing factors under high-frequency AC electric field

Yuhao WANG Jiaqing CHEN Yi SHI Hongjun WU Xiujun WANG Jian ZHANG Xiangyu CHEN

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  761-770.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225276

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To clarify the effects of chemical demulsifiers, temperature, and polymers on the deformation and coalescence behaviors of dispersed droplets in water-in-oil emulsions under high-frequency/high-voltage pulsed alternating current (AC) electric field, microscopic high-speed photography was employed to systematically analyze the mechanisms of droplet movement influenced by different factors. The results showed that under the electric field alone, the degree of droplet deformation increased with the increase of electric field strength, and the critical electric field strength for droplet breakup was 5.0 kV/cm; the optimal electric field parameters for the coalescence of two droplets were 3.0 kV/cm and 2.5 kHz. Increasing temperature could enhance droplet deformation, reduce its critical electric field strength for breakup, and shorten the contact time between the two droplets. However, excessively high temperature was not conducive to droplet coalescence. When the electric field was used synergistically with a demulsifier, there was an optimal demulsifier concentration of 100 mg/L. The shortest contact time between the two droplets was 6 ms when the electric field strength was 3.0 kV/cm. The presence of polymer would inhibited droplet deformation and increased the electric field strength required for coalescence. However, the addition of a demulsifier and an increase in temperature could effectively promote coalescence and improve demulsification efficiency. The findings of this study can provide theoretical support and practical guidance for determining operating parameters of high-efficiency demulsification and dehydration equipment for the treatment of polymer flooding production fluid.

Investigation on the thermal stability of activated carbon for the adsorption of multi-pollutant from flue gas

Bin WANG Yuran LI Fang BAI Chao HUA Baodeng WANG Qian CUI Tingyu ZHU

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  771-780.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225265

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Activated carbon flue gas purification technology can simultaneously remove various pollutants in flue gas with high removal efficiency, and has been widely applied to flue gas treatment in industries including iron and steel, non-ferrous metallurgy and coal-fired power generation. However, heat accumulation easily forms hot spots on activated carbon after adsorbing flue gas pollutants, bringing potential spontaneous combustion hazards. Therefore, systematic evaluation of the thermal stability of activated carbon under various adsorption conditions is of great engineering guiding significance. In this work, thermogravimetry-differential thermal analyzer (TG-DTA) was adopted to conduct thermal oxidation combustion experiments of activated carbon. The thermal stability characteristics of activated carbon under the coupling effects of single CO2, SO2, NOx atmospheres, multi-component mixed flue gas and different adsorption saturations were systematically investigated. Key kinetic parameters such as ignition temperature, burnout temperature, heat release characteristics and apparent combustion activation energy were quantitatively analyzed synchronously, and the coupling regulation mechanism between multi-pollutants and adsorption saturation was clarified. The results showed that CO2, SO2 and mixed atmospheres could raise the ignition temperature of activated carbon by 18~77℃, and reduce the average maximum heat release by 8% and 9% compared with raw activated carbon under CO2 and SO2 atmospheres, which remarkably suppressed spontaneous combustion risks. On the contrary, NOx atmosphere exerted an opposite effect, and the highest spontaneous combustion risk occurred at 100% adsorption saturation: the ignition temperature dropped to 340℃, the temperature corresponding to the maximum heat release rate decreased by 26℃ relative to raw carbon, and the average maximum heat release increased by 0.5 mW/mg. The kinetic barrier of carbon oxidation was greatly reduced, and the spontaneous combustion tendency was significantly intensified. The complex kinetic characteristics were governed by the mutual restriction of multiple effects, including competitive adsorption of CO2 on active sites, catalytic combustion promotion induced by chemically adsorbed NOx, and surface passivation and combustion inhibition from SO2 adsorption. This study identifies the distinctive spontaneous combustion risk of activated carbon with high adsorption saturation under NOx atmosphere, reveals the synergistic regulation law of coexisting multi-pollutants on the thermal oxidation properties of activated carbon, and provides theoretical support for the safe and stable operation of industrial activated carbon flue gas purification equipment.

Fabrication, oxidation resistance and electrical conductivity of LaB₆-hBN/TiB₂-hBN/LaB₆-hBN multilayer composites

Yin ZHANG Xiaoming SUN Hong MA Guoliang SUN Weigang ZHANG

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  781-791.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225303

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Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) interconnects are critical components for the durability of stack performance. Conventional materials such as stainless steels or ceramics face challenges including poor oxidation resistance, excessive weight or low machinability. This study proposes an innovative multilayer ceramic composite structure with the configuration of LaB6-hBN/TiB2-hBN/LaB6-hBN, and investigates high-temperature oxidation behavior and electrical conductivity. The composites are fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS), with precise control over powder composition and loading sequence to form a well-defined layered architecture: the top and bottom surface layers, rich in LaB6, provide excellent oxidation resistance and high-temperature electrical conductivity, while the middle matrix TiB2-hBN layer contributes to mechanical robustness and processability. Experimental results demonstrate that the multilayer sample A2 (with top and bottom surface layers each containing 7.5vol% LaB6 and 2.5vol% hBN, and a middle layer of 40.0vol% TiB2 and 40.0vol% hBN) exhibits remarkable oxidation resistance. After being oxidized at 600℃ for 100 hours, it still maintains a high-temperature conductivity of approximately 3 S/cm. The material's compressive strength and strain can reach 450 MPa and 1.67%, respectively, and it also has good processability. XRD, SEM, and EDS analyses confirm that LaB6 in the top and bottom surface layers remains largely unoxidized under long-term air exposure at 600℃, while TiB2 in the middle layer forms an oxidation barrier layer with 20 μm thick TiO2 film, which effectively suppresses inward oxidation. The hBN-TiB2-LaB6 structure, with hBN enriched in the interface layer, ensures a conductive pathway at the interface. This work presents a feasible and effective strategy for designing advanced SOFC interconnects with an optimal balance of oxidation-resistant, electrical, and mechanical properties, offering valuable insights into material selection and structural design for high-temperature energy applications.

Intensified indium leaching process from secondary zinc oxide weak acid residues

Jun WU Yuhang CHEN Haida CHEN Liang XU Jiuchu WANG Cheng YANG Shaojie JIANG Zhuo ZHAO

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  792-799.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225134

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To address the low indium recovery rate obtained from secondary zinc oxide weak acid residues, this work focused on the process intensification of conventional acid leaching technology. Key operational parameters, including sulfuric acid concentration, liquid-to-solid ratio, reaction temperature, reaction time, and rotation speed, were systematically investigated to explore their effects on indium leaching efficiency, with the aim of identifying the optimal leaching conditions for practical application. Experimental results demonstrated that under the specific conditions, sulfuric acid concentration of 3 mol/L, liquid-to-solid ratio of 4∶1, reaction temperature of 80℃, reaction time of 120 min, and rotation speed of 500 r/min, the indium leaching efficiency reached 90.51%. To further enhance indium leaching performance and achieve higher leaching efficiency, subsequent intensive optimization was carried out. The results revealed that under the aforementioned optimal leaching conditions, adding sodium sulfite as a reductant significantly increased the indium leaching efficiency to 93.50%, showing obvious intensification advantages for industrial practice. To unravel the intrinsic leaching reaction mechanism, multiple characterization methods including XRD, SEM-EDS, and XPS were adopted to comparatively analyze solid samples before and after leaching. The characterization results indicated that part of indium was isomorphically embedded in the lattice structure of zinc ferrite. During reductive leaching, redox reactions effectively disrupted the crystal structure of zinc ferrite, facilitating the release of indium elements encapsulated within the lattice into the solution in a soluble form. This mechanism significantly enhanced the leaching effect and realized a substantial improvement in indium extraction efficiency. The outcomes of this study can offer a reliable theoretical basis and technical support for the development of new high-efficiency indium recovery processes from indium-containing zinc residues in the metallurgical industry.

Effect of SiO₂ and FeO on physical properties and copper content of copper slag

Erming LAN Haipei ZHANG Bo LI Yonggang WEI Hua WANG Hongao XU

The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering. 2026, 26(7):  800-812.  DOI: 10.12034/j.issn.1009-606X.225295

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The composition of copper slag is closely related to the physical properties of slag and the recovery rate of matte during the copper slag cleaning stage. In this work, copper smelting slag is used as raw material, and analytical methods such as mass action concentration model, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and infrared spectroscopy are employed to investigate the influence of FeO and SiO2 on the physical properties and copper loss of copper smelting slag. The results show that as the FeO content in the mass-action concentration system of copper smelting slag increases, the mass action concentration of Fe2SiO4 increases, Fe3O4 show a trend of first increases and then decreases, and as the SiO2 content increases, the mass action concentration of FeO and Fe3O4 decreases, the reducing ability of slag increases and the oxidizing ability decreases. As the addition of FeO increases from 0wt% to 12wt%, the proportion of liquid slag phase in copper slag system increases, the foaming slag gradually disappears, the complex silicate network structure of slag tends to simplify, and the viscosity and melting point of slag decrease, which is conducive to the polymerization and sedimentation of matte. The proportion of matte layer increases from 21.9% to 28.7%, and the loss of copper due to mechanical entrainment decreases from 5.64wt% to 0.71wt%. With the addition of SiO2 increasing from 0wt% to 12wt%, the high-melting-point spinel phase in the copper slag decreases, while the low-melting-point fayalite phase increases, the mass fraction of chemically dissolved copper in the copper slag gradually decreases, and the loss of copper due to mechanical entrainment decreases from 5.64wt% to 1.02wt%. The increase in SiO2 and FeO content in copper smelting slag can improve the fluidity of slag and enhance the recoverability of matte in the electric furnace cleaning stage.