VOC control may become a hurdle to the development of modern coal chemical industry”

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China’s resource profile of abundant coal, limited oil, and scarce gas, coupled with its high demand for chemical products, has driven the development of modern coal chemical industries, including processes such as the production of olefins from coal (methanol), coal-to-gas conversion, coal-to-oil conversion, coal-to-aromatics production, and coal-to-ethylene glycol. Relevant demonstration projects have already entered the stages of design, construction, trial operation, completion inspection, and full-scale production. With the revision and tightening of **environmental regulations**, strictly complying with environmental requirements to ensure compliant emissions has become a real challenge for operators of coal chemical projects, as well as passing completion inspections and undergoing regular oversight. In the \"Environmental Access Conditions for Modern Coal Chemical Industry Construction Projects (Trial)\」issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, access conditions are established for new, renovated, and expanded modern coal chemical production projects in terms of planning and layout, site selection, pollution control, and environmental impact. It is stipulated that, until standards for pollutant emissions in the coal chemical industry are formulated, emissions from heating furnaces, exhaust gases from acid gas recovery units, and VOCs should be controlled in accordance with the relevant requirements of the \"Emission Standards for Pollutants in the Petroleum Refining Industry\" (GB 31570) or the \"Emission Standards for Pollutants in the Petrochemical Industry\" (GB 31571), depending on the type of products produced by the project. Since 2016, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has approved environmental impact assessments for several coal chemical projects, including those for Inner Mongolia Beikong Jingtai Energy Development Co., Ltd.’s 4 billion cubic meters per year coal-to-natural gas project, Su New Energy and Feng Co., Ltd.’s 4 billion standard cubic meters per year coal-to-natural gas project, China Power Investment Corporation and Total’s joint venture’s 800,000 tons per year coal-to-polyolefins project, and Inner Mongolia Yitai Coal-to-Oil Co., Ltd.’s 2 million tons per year coal indirect liquefaction demonstration project. In all these cases, the use of equipment leakage detection and repair technologies was required, along with enhanced controls to manage pollution caused by VOCs, malodorous gases, and other toxic and harmful gases. The issue of VOC control has once again come to the forefront, becoming another obstacle in the development of modern coal chemical industry. VOCs emitted during the production process of modern coal chemical projects originate from either the coal itself, reaction intermediates, intermediates formed during storage, or substances generated during wastewater treatment. These VOCs are characterized by complex compositions, a large variety of toxic and harmful substances, and high concentrations. Due to different production processes and technological characteristics, the composition of VOCs emissions from various production types in modern coal chemical industry varies greatly. Furthermore, in the actual operation of coal chemical projects, the odors, or even foul smells, emitted represent an important factor affecting the relationship between enterprises and local residents. Therefore, for modern coal chemical projects, measures must be taken to effectively control the release and emission of VOCs, malodorous substances, and toxic and harmful pollutants in areas such as the dynamic and static sealing points of equipment, the storage and handling of organic liquids, sewage collection, temporary storage, and treatment systems, as well as coal preparation and storage.