China’s first large-scale green extraction project for tar phenols has been launched

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On August 10, a coordination meeting for the construction of the 100,000-ton/year green extraction project for tar phenol, which is being carried out by the Coal Science and Technology Institute, was held at the Xuanli project site in Xinjiang. This marks the entry into the actual construction phase of China’s first large-scale project for the green fine processing of coal tar phenol. As the provider of the core technology for this project, the Coal Research Institute has leveraged its years of technical expertise in coal tar processing to develop a green technology for extracting phenols from medium- and low-temperature coal tar. This technology effectively addresses long-standing challenges in the industry, such as low extraction rates of phenolic compounds from coal tar, high amounts of wastewater generated, and poor product quality. It enables the environmentally friendly, energy-efficient extraction of high-value phenolic compounds, with technical parameters that match those of advanced methods used both domestically and internationally. Previously, this technology had completed pilot-scale testing and was approved by the China Coal Industry Association, reaching an internationally advanced level. The launch of this project marks the first time that this technology has been applied on a large industrial scale. It not only fills the gap in China regarding large-scale, green methods for extracting phenol from medium- and low-temperature coal tar, but it will also help advance China’s coal tar processing industry toward more sustainable practices and higher added value. As a successful example of the industry-university-research collaboration model implemented by the Coal Research Institute, during the project construction phase, the institute will establish a technical support mechanism characterized by \"real-time response and dynamic optimization,\" and assign on-site technical experts to monitor the implementation of the processes throughout the whole process, ensuring that technical advantages are effectively translated into practical results for the project.