Inner Mongolia Jiutai’s 1 million tons per year ethylene glycol production project utilizes Shell gasification technology

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Air Products signs a contract to supply 1 million tons per year of ethylene glycol to Inner Mongolia Jiu Tai, using Shell’s gasification technology. Author/Source: Yaha Coal Chemicals. Date: 2018-08-22. Clicks: 55. On August 18, a ceremony was held in Beijing to sign the contract for coal-based syngas processing services for a project that aims to produce 1 million tons of ethylene glycol per year. Cui Lianguo, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Jutai Group, and Philip, Vice President for Global Gasification Technology and Bulk Gas Business Development at Air Products and Chemicals, attended the signing ceremony. Air Products recently announced that it has secured a long-term on-site gas supply contract to supply syngas for Jutai New Materials Co., Ltd.’s ethylene glycol project, which involves an investment of several billion dollars in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Air Products will build, own, and operate air separation, gasification, and gas purification facilities, with the gasification units incorporating its recently acquired reliable Shell gasification technology. The project is expected to come online in the fourth quarter of the company’s fiscal year 2021, and it is anticipated to increase the company’s earnings per share by more than $0.20 starting from fiscal year 2022. Air Products will invest approximately $650 million to build, own, and operate the facility, and will receive a fixed monthly fee under a long-term contract. The facility is designed to produce over 500,000 standard cubic meters of syngas per hour, and will consist of five gasification units, two air separation units with a capacity of around 100,000 standard cubic meters per hour, syngas purification units, as well as related infrastructure and utility systems. Jiutai will supply the coal raw materials and obtain all output from the factory. It is reported that this will be the third project for Air Products to expand its industrial gas offerings in China, including coal gasification and syngas supply, following the Lu’an and Yankuang gasification projects. In response, Phil Sproger, Vice President of Air Products’ Global Gasification Business and Large-Scale Onsite Business Development in Asia, said, “The coal gasification market in China is expected to experience significant growth over the next 10 years.” This project will enable Air Products to further demonstrate its capabilities in the gasification sector, in order to expand its business in China and prepare for winning future projects. Possessing and operating gasification units and syngas purification facilities represents a logical extension of our hydrogen and syngas business, built on decades of operational experience worldwide. In November 2017, Air Products announced a cooperation agreement with Yankuang Group to build a coal-to-syngas production facility in Shaanxi, with a total investment of $3.5 billion. In April 2018, the joint venture project for coal-based syngas between Air Products and Shanxi Lu’an Clean Energy Company, previously announced by Air Products, was successfully completed. Earlier this year, the company acquired Shell’s gasification technology and patents. The 1-million-ton-per-year ethylene glycol production project of Inner Mongolia JiuTai New Materials Co., Ltd. is located in the Tuoketuo Industrial Park of Hohhot Helingeer New Area. The project uses coal as raw material, and employs domestically developed gasification technology for coal to produce syngas, as well as Davy Company’s hydroxymethylation process to manufacture ethylene glycol. From August 2 to 3, the kick-off meeting for the process package and preliminary design of Inner Mongolia JiuTai New Materials Co., Ltd.’s project to produce 1 million tons of ethylene glycol per year was held in Hohhot. The meeting discussed the design criteria for the process packages of various units, the specifications for utility systems, and the schedule for submitting the process packages, and reached a consensus. The plant scale, design basis, design scope of each patent holder, overall layout of various plant areas, boundary conditions of the plant, composition of feed gas and product gas as well as waste gases entering and leaving the plant area, etc., have been determined.