BH I announced on the 22nd that it received the ‘Minister’s Award in the Commercialization Technology Category’ at the ‘2023 Industrial Innovation Technology Awards’ hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE). The ‘Industrial Innovation Technology Awards’ program is implemented by MOTIE to actively discover and foster innovative technologies.
BH I won the Minister’s Award in the commercialization technology category with its self-developed ‘enamel coating technology for the inner surface of heat exchanger tubes.’ The Minister’s Award in the commercialization technology category is given to technologies that have significantly contributed to commercialization achievements such as sales and export growth and employment expansion.
This technology is an innovative solution that can dramatically extend the product life of ‘heat exchangers’ exposed to various corrosive environments by 3 to 4 times or more. Heat exchangers are essential components in facilities such as ▲combined cycle power plants (HRSG) ▲thermal power plants ▲chemical plants. Additionally, the technology can be expanded and applied to fields where heat exchangers are used, such as ▲air conditioning facilities ▲various plants.
A heat exchanger is equipment that rapidly facilitates heat exchange between two fluids at different temperatures. During operation, if foreign substances such as scale accumulate inside, acid cleaning is required to restore performance and efficiency. BH I’s technology uses a special coating technique with enamel to minimize damage caused by acid.
When this technology is applied, internal corrosion resistance to sulfuric acid is enhanced by about 14,000 times, and in situations where sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid are combined, corrosion resistance can be increased by approximately 13,000 times. According to the company, this not only secures economic feasibility in equipment operation but also meets strengthened environmental regulations.
Commercial viability has already been verified. BH I has proven the effectiveness by securing numerous orders for environmental facility renovation work applying the related technology to domestic and overseas combined cycle and thermal power plants. The order performance achieved by BH I with this technology until the first half of this year amounts to a total of 88.1 billion KRW, with 72.8 billion KRW domestically and 15.3 billion KRW overseas.
A BH I official said, “As environmental regulations are strengthened, demand for maintenance and improvement of heat exchangers is expected to continue,” adding, “Through heat exchanger improvement work using enamel coating technology, the annual operation and maintenance costs of power plants can be reduced by up to approximately 45 billion KRW.”
He continued, “BH I will continue its research and development to maintain its technological gap,” and added, “The awarded technology has already established entry barriers through patent registration.”
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