On the vast grasslands of central Kazakhstan, a copper smelter that has been operating for nearly half a century is reaching a turning point in its fate. Rezkazkan, a city that prospered from copper mines, witnessed the glory of the Soviet industrial era with its smelter chimneys and also bore the pain of today's environmental transformation. The flue gas treatment system, built in the 1970s, has long aged equipment and sulfur dioxide emissions have become the sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of local residents. The turning point came recently when a consortium of companies under China Chemical Engineering Group and Kazakhstan Copper Industry Co., Ltd. officially signed a project cooperation agreement, a contract worth 213.76 million US dollars, to install a brand new green engine for this old factory.

Old factory welcomes green rebirth

Kazakhstan Copper is a vertically integrated leading enterprise in the mining and non-ferrous metal smelting fields in the country, ranking 20th in global copper concentrate production with an annual output of 271000 tons; The annual production of crude copper and cathode copper is 377000 tons and 365000 tons respectively, ranking 12th globally. Such a heavyweight enterprise naturally cannot afford to miss out on the modernization of its Rezkazgan smelter.

The core driving force behind this renovation is the increasingly stringent environmental regulations. The old metallurgical flue gas treatment system has been in service for more than 50 years, which not only has low capture efficiency, but also seriously affects the continuous and stable production of the smelting plant due to frequent equipment failures. The construction of a new sulfuric acid production plant is the throat project of the entire upgrade and renovation plan - it not only needs to solve the problem of environmental compliance, but also lay the foundation for the continuous operation of the smelter in the coming decades.

According to the plan, the project construction includes the construction of a complete sulfuric acid production facility and the comprehensive modernization of the existing flue gas capture and purification system. In the updated equipment list, converter sealing covers, new cooling towers, electrostatic precipitators, and other dust removal and desulfurization devices are all listed. The new system will also be equipped with advanced automation control and process management technologies, allowing this old factory to truly enter a new era of digitization and intelligence.

The smoke capture rate will reach 99%

Numbers are the most indicative of the strength of change. After the completion of the project, the capture rate of process flue gas in the smelting plant is expected to jump from the current level to 99%. This means that almost every trace of smoke containing harmful substances will be effectively intercepted, and the concentration of sulfur dioxide in the treated exhaust gas will strictly comply with the internationally recognized best feasible technical reference documents.

The designed annual production capacity of the newly built sulfuric acid plant is 350000 tons, and it can process up to 300000 standard cubic meters of process flue gas per hour. Such a huge processing capacity is sufficient to cover the maximum amount of flue gas generated during full load production in the smelting plant. More importantly, the significant reduction in sulfur dioxide emissions will directly improve the air quality in Rezkazgan and surrounding areas, and have far-reaching positive impacts on the local ecological environment and residents' health.

From an economic perspective, this device is not simply an environmental investment. The captured sulfur dioxide will be converted into industrial sulfuric acid products, achieving the transformation of waste into treasure. In Kazakhstan and Central Asia, sulfuric acid is an important raw material for phosphate fertilizer and chemical production, with stable market demand. The annual production capacity of 350000 tons can not only meet some local demand, but also create additional by-product income for the smelter.

Countdown to trial operation in 2028

The timeline has been clearly defined. The large-scale mobilization and preliminary preparation work on site will start before the end of 2026, and the subsequent construction and installation phase is expected to last for about 29 months. According to this pace, the project will be put into trial operation in 2028.

Under the EPC general contracting mode, the China National Chemical Corporation will be responsible for the entire delivery process from design, procurement to construction, which provides strong support for the project to be put into operation on schedule. For China National Chemical Corporation, this project is not only another important achievement in its deep cultivation of the Central Asian market, but also once again confirms the international competitiveness of Chinese engineering enterprises in the field of environmental protection supporting non-ferrous metal smelting.keywords:Engineering infrastructure

From a broader perspective, this project is a vivid epitome of China Kazakhstan capacity cooperation. Kazakhstan is actively promoting industrial green transformation, and the mature experience of Chinese enterprises in environmental protection technology, engineering construction, and equipment manufacturing perfectly matches the needs of Kazakhstan. Starting from the sulfuric acid plant in Rezkazgan, a green industrial corridor connecting the two countries is quietly extending.Editor/Yang Meiling