Lightweight and corrosion-resistant new benchmark! Large-scale modular fiberglass desulfurization and purification towers are being deployed in batches at the forefront of industrial pollution control.

Recently, environmental upgrade projects of coking, chemical and thermal power enterprises in many places have completed the hoisting and commissioning of FRP tower bodies. The new generation of continuously wound FRP desulfurization towers and acid mist purification towers have become the preferred core equipment for ultra-low emission transformation of the atmosphere due to their advantages such as corrosion resistance, long service life, quick construction and low operating cost.

According to industry data from the China Environmental Protection Industry Association for the first quarter of 2026, the national market size for fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) environmental protection towers is about to exceed 100 billion yuan. In coal-fired power units, chemical pickling, and brick and tile kiln waste gas retrofit projects, the application rate of FRP materials has risen to 65%, a significant year-on-year increase. Traditional steel towers generally experience corrosion and leakage within 2-3 years under acidic flue gas and chloride-containing wastewater conditions, and even 316L stainless steel is prone to pitting and cracking after long-term operation. In contrast, FRP towers, formed by winding vinyl ester resin and alkali-free glass fiber, can withstand acidic and alkaline environments with a pH of 1-13, have a stable service life of over 15 years, and an annual maintenance failure rate only one-fifth that of metal equipment.

The large fiberglass tower deployed this time adopts a segmented modular prefabrication process, with standardized casting and winding in the factory. Individual tower sections are easy to transport, and the on-site assembly and hoisting time is shortened by more than 40% compared to the overall steel equipment. A project manager from a coking plant explained that the entire fiberglass desulfurization tower weighs only 1/4 of a steel tower of the same specifications, eliminating the need for a heavy steel foundation and simultaneously reducing civil engineering investment. The integrated design of spraying, packing, and demister ensures a stable sulfur dioxide removal efficiency of 99.5%, with the outlet flue gas concentration consistently controlled below 35 mg/m³, fully meeting the ultra-low emission standards of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta.

In terms of materials technology, domestically produced modified vinyl ester resin has been upgraded, increasing the tower’s temperature resistance limit to 150℃, breaking the reliance on imported anti-corrosion materials for high-temperature corrosion conditions. With the widespread adoption of fully automated CNC winding production lines, the product qualification rate has increased to 98%, and large-scale mass production further reduces overall procurement costs, resulting in long-term life-cycle cost savings of approximately 40% compared to stainless steel solutions. Besides flue gas desulfurization towers, FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) absorption towers, scrubbing towers, waste gas spray towers, and acid storage towers are also widely used in pharmaceuticals, electroplating, rare earth smelting, and wastewater treatment, achieving a stable purification rate of over 95% for hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, and hydrofluoric acid mist.

Industry manufacturers’ technical leaders stated that with increasingly stringent environmental regulations, the demand for corrosion protection upgrades of existing industrial equipment is strong. Simultaneously, overseas infrastructure orders under the Belt and Road Initiative continue to grow, with FRP purification tower exports increasing by 23.5% year-on-year in 2025. Power plants and chemical industrial parks in the Middle East and Southeast Asia are making large-scale purchases of domestically produced FRP tower equipment. In the future, the industry will iterate towards intelligent integration, high temperature and high pressure resistance, and flame retardant and explosion-proof features, incorporating online pH and flue gas monitoring interfaces to adapt to the management needs of smart environmental protection platforms, continuously contributing to the green and low-carbon transformation of industry.

Company Brief

Hebei Gude Environmental Protection Equipment Co., Ltd. is a manufacturer of supporting equipment for the metallurgical, chemical, environmental protection, and food processing industries. Our main products include: fiber-wound fiberglass storage tanks up to DN25000mm, fiberglass pipes from DN15-12000mm, composite material products and anti-corrosion engineering, plastic products such as PP, PPH, PVC, PE, and PVDF, as well as composite products such as PVC/FRPPP/FRP and PE/Q235, and stainless steel and carbon steel products. By absorbing and digesting advanced technologies from home and abroad, and combining our own characteristics with China’s national conditions, our company has achieved many successes through independent research and development and cooperation with relevant research departments, especially in the design, manufacturing, and installation of complete sets of equipment used in the steel pickling and environmental protection industries.