ABB and Qilu Eastman Partner to Upgrade Chemical Industry Equipment with “Refurbish and Renew” Appro
Time:2026-05-20 Browse: 0
Shanghai, China – May 2026 – ABB has partnered with Qilu Eastman Fine Chemicals Co., Ltd. to implement a groundbreaking “refurbish and renew” approach for upgrading power distribution equipment in chemical production facilities. This initiative addresses the core challenge faced by chemical manufacturers: balancing continuous production with the need for equipment modernization, while providing a replicable model for industrial equipment upgrades.
Leveraging ABB’s OneFit® Easy Retrofit Solution, the collaboration achieves a dual benefit of resource recycling and performance enhancement, combining environmental sustainability with economic efficiency. By focusing on industrial service scenarios, ABB helps enterprises strengthen power supply reliability, transition to smart energy management, and drive high-quality green development in the chemical sector.
Industry Challenge and ABB’s Solution
Power equipment is critical for ensuring stable industrial operations. For chemical enterprises like Qilu Eastman, uninterrupted and reliable electricity supply is non-negotiable. Since the company’s founding in 2002, ABB medium- and low-voltage switchgear has ensured stable power delivery. By 2021, the equipment had been in continuous operation for nearly 20 years, with inevitable wear, aging, and increasing operational risks. At the same time, some components were phased out, creating challenges in spare parts procurement and maintenance, making equipment renewal urgent.
Traditional full-scale replacement of switchgear would involve high capital investment, extensive civil works, removal of old equipment, installation and commissioning of new units, and cable re-routing—causing prolonged power outages that would severely disrupt continuous production.
ABB’s OneFit® Easy Retrofit Solution offers a precise and practical answer. The solution integrates “refurbish” and “renew”:
Refurbish: Reuse structurally sound components such as sheet metal, busbars, insulation parts, and cabling to minimize resource waste and promote sustainability.
Renew: Replace aging, obsolete, or soon-to-fail components with ABB’s next-generation key parts to enhance overall equipment performance and reliability, effectively extending its lifecycle.
This approach reduces downtime, lowers costs, minimizes environmental impact, and can be tailored to the specific operational needs of chemical plants, allowing upgrades to align with continuous production schedules.
Implementation and Impact
As the original equipment supplier and long-term partner, ABB developed a phased retrofit strategy for Qilu Eastman, implementing the refurbish-and-renew method gradually across the facility. Between 2022 and 2025, ABB upgraded medium-voltage vacuum circuit breakers, metering trolleys, low-voltage rooms, low-voltage air circuit breakers, drawer-type switchgear, and capacitor/reactor cabinets, significantly improving operational reliability and extending the service life of the power distribution system.
Key highlights include:
Low-voltage switchgear: Upgraded from MNS 2.0 to OneFit® MNS 3.0, offering enhanced ease of operation, higher current-carrying capacity, and improved short-circuit performance.
Circuit breakers: Original F-series low-voltage air circuit breakers replaced with OneFit® Emax 2, preserving the F-series’ performance while integrating energy management modules for precise load monitoring and smart energy usage.
Medium-voltage switchgear: Upgraded from assembled VD4 vacuum circuit breakers to next-generation cast-resin VD4 breakers, offering maintenance-free operation, lower O&M costs, and higher reliability, reinforcing power supply safety.
Green, Efficient, and Economical
The OneFit® retrofit solution maximizes reuse of existing components, reducing material waste and environmental impact. Compared to full replacement, the initiative reduced investment costs by 30% and downtime by 60%, achieving a triple win in environmental, economic, and operational performance.
Aligned with China’s carbon-neutral goals and industrial upgrading trends, Qilu Eastman’s power equipment modernization demonstrates a new standard for green chemical manufacturing, offering a replicable model for industrial enterprises seeking sustainable, high-quality development.
ABB will continue to expand the refurbish-and-renew model across diverse industrial applications, partnering with enterprises to drive equipment modernization, operational safety, and green industrial growth.
